Heirloom Organic Gardens consists of 235 acres, including two locations in Hollister and an additional plot in Panoche Valley. We started our farm tour at the Brians Ranch in Hollister, where farmer Grant Brians and his family live, about 100 miles from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

If you had to sum up Heirloom Organic Gardens in one word, it’s diversity. Grant grows about 150 crop varieties, including root vegetables, squash, potatoes, apricots, walnuts, herbs, and specialty greens (14 types of lettuce, eight types of kale, and many more). “I try to grow what I like, and I’m addicted to variety,” he says.

Grant Brians started growing vegetables on an acre of land in Los Altos when he was 10 years old. His mother, Janet, “wanted to move where the air was cleaner,” and in 1974, his family purchased the property in Hollister, which was previously used for dairy farming. When he was 14 years old, Grant convinced a commercial seed company to give him a contract to grow vegetable seeds. At one point, he was growing seed for seven companies. Eventually, he returned to his original love: growing vegetables.

When the Brians family started farming in 1974, they named their farm Brians Ranch. They started farming organically in 1975 and are the only original member of CCOF remaining. In 2006, Grant bought Heirloom Organic Gardens from an Englishman named Stuart Dixon, who made a business supplying heirloom produce to restaurants like Chez Panisse. He also helped launch the "baby vegetables" craze. With a built-in market, Grant decided to keep the name and continue growing heirloom and baby produce.