The suffocating heat of late May tends to curb both my appetite and any inclination to slave at the stove. This week’s keep-cool approach to menu planning? Gazpacho!
Tuesday morning I headed over to Lakeside’s best source for fresh and healthy produce, the weekly farmers market at the La Huerta de Serna events salon, making a beeline for the Gomis Gardens veggie stand to stock up on my main ingredient – luscious tomatoes just off the vine.
Vendor Geoffrey Gomis was loaded up with a wide selection of juicy globes piled in separate crates, from red and yellow cherry and grape varieties to softball size heirlooms.
Tomatoes are the Gomis Gardens’ speciality, but the farm also produces different types of cucumber, sweet pepper, squash, eggplant and salad greens, all grown according to sustainable farming methods. Water resources are carefully conserved with hydroponics and recycling. Garlic, cinnamon and chilacoyote are ingredients employed for biological pest control. Bumblebees take care of pollination. Weeds and other organic wastes are turned into compost.
Gomis Gardens comes with a fascinating back story. The small outfit was founded by Geoffrey’s father Yves, the descendent of a long line of French tomato farmers who turned generations of experience into a career as an international agriculture consultant. Geoffrey and twin brother Quentin were born in France, but grew up to become global citizens while trailing their dad on work stints to Oman, Morocco, Portugal, the United States and finally Mexico.
Following a life-long dream, Yves decided to retire here to run his own business which, in addition to vegetable production, branches out to broad scope training and research programs related to earth-friendly agronomy. Both of his sons are actively involved in the enterprise.
Gomis Gardens’ produce is also sold at Lakeside’s Monday food market at Hole-in-One and every Wednesday, 4 to 7 p.m., at Colomos 2941, located between Terranova and Alberta in Guadalajara’s Colonia Providencia. To place orders for home delivery see www.gomisgarden.com.