Where art and fresh produce meet

Lara Montagne returned from Barcelona, Spain five years ago with visions of flowers and fresh produce. Her time abroad brought Montagne in daily contact with all types of outdoor vendors and farmers markets.

“I’ve always loved farmers markets,” Montagne said. “It’s an opportunity to reach the community and support farm families.”

Upon her return, the Santa Ana resident began chewing over the idea of running an outdoor market with friends Branden Willman-Kozimor and Delilah Snell. The three girls, who at the time worked together at the Gypsy Den in Costa Mesa, joined forces and formed The Grain Project, a non-profit organization with one goal in mind, establishing a farmers market in Santa Ana.

It was a simple enough sounding idea, but what started as a hopeful plan between three friends turned into a three-year struggle to help Santa Ana officials see the benefits of a farmers market.

“We weren’t embraced by the city; it was a lot of red tape,” Montagne said. “It took three years to just get permission from Santa Ana, and now they’re grateful.”

Word got around, and Montagne’s story reached Shaheen Sadeghi, owner of the Camp, the Bristol Street art and fashion center. Sadeghi, who remembered the 28-year-old from her days at the Gypsy Den, decided that Montagne was the perfect choice to lead a similar project he had planned for Costa Mesa.

Now the driving force behind the Santa Ana farmers market, which celebrated its first anniversary in May, has taken on a new task one town over.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays in the Camp’s parking lot, The Farm and Art Market offers something not often seen at the other 18 farmers markets across the county ? fresh produce and fresh art in the same venue.

Sixteen vendors offered a variety of goods from oranges and cacti to scarves and face painting. The coffee was free and the produce fresh, fresher than anything you find in the average grocery store, Montagne said.

“Most everything here is picked the day before, or in some cases the morning of,” Montagne said.

“I heard a statistic somewhere that most supermarket produce travels more than 2,000 miles from where it was grown. At a farmers market it travels less than 50 miles and the produce has more nutrients.”

Pretty much everything is fresh in the Camp’s parking lot on Sundays, including the music.

Costa Mesa resident Mike Vavak brought his acoustic guitar down to share his lyrics and a bit of his soul with those attending the market’s launch.

The market’s first performer learned about the gig after receiving a message on MySpace from the owner of a gallery where he had played. He may have been leaving for Humbolt at noon, but nothing would dissuade him from performing at the outdoor event.

“A lot of my friends live in Northern California,” Vavak said. “They always say how they played a farmers market and how great it was.”

“I said, man, I want to play a farmer’s market and now I got the chance.”

Only a small number of people attended the market’s inaugural run, yet just like a plant the market is expected to grow, and with some tending, Montagne hopes to see something new each week.

“If you come back in a few weeks you’ll see new and different additions,” Montagne said. “Plus the art co-op has a rotating schedule, so you’ll see new artisans every week.”

The farmers market will aim to answer the community’s requests for entertainment, she said.

Stephen Crout, who runs the art co-op at the Camp, said he sees the farmers market similarly filling a community need.

“Give it a few weeks and this place will definitely become a destination spot,” Crout said.