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The Mad River Market hosted by the Green Spiral Farm in Arcata, CA - Saturday, April 19th 2025

Anthony DeLuca
4 days ago
5 min read

Updated: 12 minutes ago

Graham and Chelsey Gagne at the Certified Organic* Green Spiral Farm in Arcata, CA

I'm proud to write about the Green Spiral Farm because the people I'm about to introduce are great friends of mine. It makes it all the sweeter witnessing all they've created. Graham and Chelsey Gagne have been feeding our community with weekly wholesale deliveries to the local food stores, with California State Agricultural Association boxes (CSA), and at the Arcata Farmer's Market on the weekends - for many years! Graham and Chelsey Gagne met at another local farm known as the Wild Rose Farm, where we all spent many wonderful years working together for the legendary Blake Richard. Graham and Chelsey eventually got married and set off to cultivate dreams of their own. Now we can all be proud for all they're doing individually, together, with, and for our community.

For example the Mad River Market is having it's fifth go around this weekend, Saturday, April 19th, 2025. Last Fall, the public was able to see the corn maze and buy pumpkins for Halloween. And now for Spring, The Green Spiral Farm is hosting a Seed Exchange along with 30+ vendors, live music, and raffles all at the Mad River Market! It’s time again to gather and eat local foods, meet the many vendors selling arts and crafts, and celebrate the changing seasons. The kids zone will be fun and supervised, for parents who want to spectate on their own for a bit, for a small fee which is explained in the photo below. I’m also looking forward to tuning in with the Blooming Bus and many more great familiar locals who will be sharing their passions. I'm listening to the Farm Fresh band practice as I write this, a band composed of Green Spiral Farm crew and friends who will be playing live at the market.

This year we’ll be accompanied by other local music acts such as Wild Abandon Music, Deaf Eye, and Royal Propolis

For a list of Vendor Info, see the Mad River Market ig

the MRM is a great opportunity for the community to come together and witness a small piece of farm life. Farmers plant the seeds, transplant the starts, move water pipes to water them in, and spend long days hoeing and weeding, in order to harvest the crops to send them on their way to people's plates. Food is an essential part of life that's known for bringing people together, literally keeping us alive. And we're all so lucky to have local sources of produce. I'm grateful for every day I get to work with the Green Spiral Farm crew. Everyone here is a solid individual with a good heart, and we push ourselves to be efficient as we can to get the work done out of necessity. It's hard to keep up with it all! It's true that farmers work in all types of weather, during all hours of daylight and sometimes at night too.

Green Spiral Farm provides Humboldt County with many standard kales such as dino, green, red boar, and red russian. They grow cauliflower varieties including purple and cheddar yellow, as well as romanesco. Their carrots are well known for being very tasty. There's parsley, leeks, beets, salad mix, romaine lettuce, sugar snap peas, cabbage, artichoke, zucchinis, and cucumbers. In the Fall, red onions will be drying in the greenhouse along with a variety of squash including green kabocha and delicata. Then there's the snacking peppers that just keep producing, red peppers, and cayenne. We’ve even got golden berries thanks to Mike! Arugula is grown typically in the Spring, so get it while it’s available. And I saved the most exciting for last, over the past few years Graham has learned how to grow amazing celery!

It's not always super easy farming, but we’ve got a great farm crew of hard working individuals who love being here. Graham and Chelsey have had plenty of time to learn and their family has grown along with the farm. After working at the Wild Rose Farm, Graham managed the Organic Farm behind the Mad River Hospital until him and Chelsey started their own small farm on the side. As life would have it, they've put in some years on their own farm and are now able to practice regenerative agriculture techniques such as allowing the ground to rest for years at a time. I've always been impressed by Graham's knowledge about the soil science, plant varieties, and agricultural practices that make everything work out. Chelsey is also utilizing the space here quite well by organizing events like the MRM and inviting community involvement, she's a great farmer too!

Last year, I witnessed Chelsey grow and curate flowers for a friends wedding successfully despite it raining two days before the wedding! I've seen their family grow, the animals and kids are all living their best life here. Their love and passion for the farm life is apparent in the produce that’s grown. Farming is a practice that's deeply rooted in our humanity, it's something we do to feed ourselves and I'm proud to write about the Green Spiral Farm. I'm always happy to witness what happens here in the day to day, and I believe this farm is an asset to Humboldt County. Readers can show their support by signing up for a CSA on their website. And of course by coming to the Mad River Market which is a free event and a great opportunity to get a taste of the farm life!

We hope to see you at the Mad River Market this Saturday, 4/19/25. Look for the Green Spiral Farm label on your produce when you're shopping at any of the local natural foods stores, and remember to thank the farmers when you say grace! I want to thank Graham and Chelsey, and everyone who works together to make both the farm and the Mad River Market possible. I very likely wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for farming, or these people in my life. The truth about me is that I've never felt quite like a farmer inside, but I've done the work enough to know what it's like. And I really enjoy writing stories about places like this, and the people I respect, so I hope you’ll come join us for a get together this weekend.