Alcantar Family Farm

July 21, 2011

The Alcantar family farms in Espanola, and you will find Estela behind her table every week, accompanied by her daughters Erica and Fatima and sometimes her husband Jose (and once in a while by her mother). Erica, by the way, is a superb English/Spanish translator, but Estela is good at conveying her meaning even when she can't find the exact word. Estela is the sort of person who gets things done on a shoestring, and when she decided she wanted her apron to have the name of the farm, she embroidered it on the apron while at the market one day. Her produce is of course seasonal, and she works hard at presentation. Last week her French filet beans appeared, the first of the season, piled in a glorious mound (which didn't last long). They were delicious! And when the produce is skimpy, as happened to us all early in the season, she makes sage wreaths and animals to tempt the buyers.