“It’s a real conversation starter,” says farmer Rebecca Bozzelli, laughing because it’s not something people often say about an avocado.
But when she brings her fresh, plump, nearly softball-sized Reed, Bacon, Gem, Hass, and Mexicola Grande specimens to farmers markets — most likely the only locally farmed avocados sold in Sonoma County — customers want to know every detail about each variety.
“Then when they come back for more, they’re telling us how each variety tasted and which ones they liked the best,” says Bozzelli, who crowns the Reed as her favorite because they’re “so buttery.”
Scan any annual report from the California Avocado Commission, and you’ll never see Sonoma County mentioned amid the thousands of acres planted in southern counties like Ventura, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Riverside, and San Luis Obispo.
That’s because avocados are typically grown in subtropical-to-tropical climates. Not surprisingly, Mexico is the world’s largest producer. But at 10-acre Seven Moons Farm in Sonoma, where Bozzelli toils the earth with husband Nick Rupiper and partners Ross Cannard and Kate Cherry, there are nearly 200 thriving trees that seem to defy Mother Nature.
The trick is one of geography as much as farming: “They get the first sun in the morning because the hill they’re on is facing east,” Bozzelli says. “And because it’s such a steep hillside, it gets a lot of wind flow when it’s cold, so it doesn’t freeze.”
So far, Seven Moons only sells avocados during late spring and summer at two farmers markets (Sonoma Valley and the Santa Rosa Original Certified) and to Chez Panisse, the iconic Berkeley restaurant founded by Alice Waters, who became world famous cooking with countless tons of produce grown by pioneer organic farmer Bob Cannard, father of Ross.
Last year was the first Seven Moons avocado harvest, about four or five years after the trees were planted.
“It’s kind of been a wild ride, because I didn’t really know what I was signing up for,” Bozzelli says. “We were a little worried a couple years there, wondering, ‘Are they just not gonna fruit because it’s not the right climate?’ But last year felt really nice. It’s so rewarding to bring home avocados and have them for breakfast and know that you grew them.”
