CUESA to Remember Eatwell Farm Founder Nigel Walker at Saturday Market

Eatwell Farm founder Nigel Walker, known to many as a fixture of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, passed away last Saturday, July 1 at age 56. To commemorate him and his contribution to Bay Area agriculture, CUESA, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, will have a small memorial altar to Walker at their information booth at this Saturday’s market. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., visitors are encouraged to leave cards and messages for Walker’s family, who will host a private memorial service for him on Sunday and a larger, public memorial next summer.

Eatwell Farm, founded in 1993 on 105 acres in Dixon, near Davis, has been with CUESA since the organization’s beginnings. Walker was born in Leicester, England and educated at Writtle Agricultural College in Essex, where he bucked convention to pursue a practicum in organic farming. After he met his first wife, Frances, at an agriculture conference in the US in 1992, the couple settled in California. Their twins, Eric and Andrew, and his second wife, Lorraine, survive him.

Walker was known as a purist who insisted on growing his own chicken feed lest his “local” eggs be the product of grain grown in China. He wouldn’t miss a Saturday at the San Francisco market, where he was known for his friendly demeanor, heirloom tomatoes, fresh lavender, and his biodisel truck.

CUESA encourages readers who wish to honor Walker’s memory to give to Eatwell Farm's Care Share Program, which provides CSA boxes to members currently undergoing intensive medical treatment, as well as their families and their care givers. Those who don’t already can subscribe to Eatwell's CSA Farm Box program or simply shop at their market stand at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturdays.

• Nigel Walker, Eatwell Farm Founder, Mainstay at Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Dies at 56 [KQED]