Dirty Girl Produce

The farm is split between two of the best growing areas of the Bay Area — Santa Cruz’s banana belt, where the weather is relatively hot and dry in the summer and La Selva Beach where there is a stronger coastal influence. This mild climate enables most Santa Cruz farmers to grow vegetables almost year round without having to worry about bolting in the summer and freezing in the winter. The river bed soil is some of the most fertile in Northern California.

Dirty Joe

Farm owner Joe Schirmer grew up in Santa Cruz and began working at Dirty Girl Produce in 1997, eventually buying the farm in 1999. A graduate of both UCSC and the UCSC Farm and Garden Apprenticeship Program, Joe worked on several farms before ending up back in Santa Cruz. Joe expanded the business from 3 to 12 acres, selling year round at farmers markets, and adding several items to the growing list including strawberries and early girl dry farmed tomatoes. Joe currently sits on the board of directors for CUESA (Center for Urban Education on Sustainable Agriculture) which runs the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and is current President of the board of directors for the SCCFM (Santa Cruz Community Farmers Markets).

The Story Behind the Name

Dirty Girl Produce gets its name from its original owners, Ali Edwards and Jane Freedman, who owned Dirty Girl Produce from 1995-1999. While originally called Fan Tan Farms, Ali and Jane were nicknamed “the dirty girls” by other local farmers and eventually the farm was re-named Dirty Girl Produce.