Profile: Fresh Fruit at Farmers Market

There’s a certain quality in the produce featured at farmers markets that can’t be replicated by supermarkets. It's that quality that comes out tasting a ripe blood orange grown by SunnyCal Farms, one of the vendors of .

The SunnyCal Farms booth was full of life last Friday morning, but not just because of the customers. A free sample of the juicy flesh of a seedless Paige tangerine has livened up a cranky soul in the early morning as did a bite into a crisp Pink Lady apple.

The vender offers customers a free sample of a blood orange and then asks if they would like an Asian pear. He’s not going to convince them to buy them all. That’s the taste buds’ job.

The produce at SunnyCal farms goes for a flat $2.50 per pound. Shoppers are expected to mix and match any fruit they would like to buy and pay for depending on the total weight.  

“You just want the ones that have smooth skins and are round,” said Shaun Rosendahl in regards to picking the right fruit.

Rosendahl is the president of Farmer Shaun Company, a privately owned farm that recently partnered with SunnyCal Farms. He operates his business with 14 farmers markets per week including those in Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach, Anaheim, and Great Park Irvine. He also does business near San Diego in the Del Mar area.

According to Rosendahl, the process of growing and shipping fruits from his farm to the farmers markets differ from commercially owned supermarkets. The fruits from SunnyCal farms are raised in Reedley and Fresno where they are kept on the trees longer than most commercial fruits. That lets the fruits ripen to the fullest, he said. While supermarkets sell produce that traveled long distances, Rosendahl ensures that his specialty fruits are sold the moment they’re ripe.

“All the variety that I grow I feel have the most flavor for what they are,” said Rosendahl. “You can’t pack and ship them because they are too ripe and they’ll get damaged.”

In midweek, all the ripened fruits are gathered and sent to a cooler. On Friday morning, the trucks feed off from the cooler and head to the farmers markets where the fruits get sold. The produce gets sold over the weekend and by midweek the process repeats itself.

Coming from a family of farmers, Rosendahl spent the majority of his life helping the family business. His grandfather operated Rosendahl Farms since 1955 in the San Joaquin Valley for fifty years. Meanwhile his father and uncle helped out in the business. Rosendahl started doing farmers markets with his family when he was nine years old and he continues to operate markets for the past 20 years.

After spending the majority of his life operating the farm with his family, Rosendahl decided to work independently and operate a business within his family business.

“It was time for me to have a piece of my own land instead of my family,” said Rosendahl.

This past year, Rosendahl purchased an existing farm in Fresno to operate his business. Despite having no education in a business school, Rosendahl has been using his lifelong experience working at the family farm to operate his own. He currently works with a partner who manages all the farming in Fresno while he takes charge of the business and sales down in the Orange County. Although Rosendahl has spent the majority of his life in farming, the sight of customers buying his products continues to bring him much joy in his work.

“I love the people that are here,” said Rosendahl. “I’m happy to sell it to the people that are coming out.”