Fairall’s Farm Goods
Luscious Jams and Decadent Baked Treats Right Off the Truck
by Terry Ryder
Amanda Fairall is an excellent ambassador for her jams and other products. Her logo declares that her jams are “Jam packed with love,” and after meeting her at the Willits Farmers Market, I can easily believe that is true. I found an enthusiastic Amanda in the serving window of her cheerful blue food truck. Signage on the truck reads, “Preservin’ & Servin’ Local Flavor” and “Celebrating Mendocino County Agriculture.” In between serving her customers, she answered my questions and told me a little about her business.
It all started in 2005, when she joined the Redwood Valley Farmers Market to sell “bumper” (excess to her family’s needs) eggs and produce. In 2011, Amanda added jams and relishes to her offerings. She thought jam would enlarge the reach of her business and provide an opportunity to indulge in the flavor-tinkering that she loves to do. The jams serve as bases for some of her food truck specials like Ginger Plum Chicken, and she serves her berry jam with French toast fingers made from sourdough focaccia.
A huge fan of experimental cooking, Amanda is always coming up with new flavor combinations—a habit that has become one of her strongest selling points. She has come a long way from unadorned eggs and vegetables. I tasted her Cherry Port Jam, incorporating Barra dessert wine and lemon; the Zesty Pear Relish, featuring rosemary, hot peppers, and cider vinegar; the Chow Chow Relish, with red onion, cabbage, heirloom tomatoes, and both sweet and hot peppers; and Apricot Mango with Peppers. The relishes are very snappy and would be a great addition to a grazing table with any cheese platter. And the jams would level-up your morning atop a slice of your favorite toasted bread. Some other jam names that piqued my interest were Apricot Boysenberry, Whiskey Apple Pie, Strawberry Balsamic, Blueberry Rhubarb, and Saucy Blackberry with Zinfandel.
Jams come in both 8 ounce jars and smaller “sampler size” 1.5 ounce jars, which make great gifts and can be bought in larger quantities for weddings or other special occasions, complete with custom labeling. “Spread the Love” or other words of your choice can deliver your desired message, though a lead time is required to accommodate the custom printing. Special Samplers sets include “chocolate lovers,” “champagne lovers,” “wine lovers”—you get the idea.
There are other products like puffed corn (gluten free with no hulls) in wild flavors like Bourbon Bacon, Pumpkin Spice, and Cinnamon French Toast. Amanda is always looking for new taste sensations. She loves to search online then put together a bit of this with a bit of that in unlikely but entirely delicious ways.
Fairall’s is definitely a family affair, with her 19-year-old son working the food truck, her husband, the jack-of-all-trades who keeps everything in working order, and her 7-year-old helping out any way he can. I noticed that kids at the market were very attracted to the food truck, and while their parents might have been buying jam, they were more interested in the banana bread with chocolate chips. There is even a chocolate, chocolate bread (yes, 2 times chocolate that actually has 3 different kinds of chocolate chips). Fairall’s bakes boldly and does not shy away from truly over-the-top deliciousness. Amanda told me, “I don’t sell anything that I don’t eat. I grow what I can and shop from the farmers market for other ingredients whenever I can.” As the manager of the Redwood Valley Farmers Market, she is very sympathetic to market vendors.
You can find Fairall’s Farm jam on Etsy and also locally at the Redwood Valley, Willits, Fort Bragg, and Ukiah farmers markets. With her trusty food truck, she also does special events like the Ukiah Summer Music Concerts, Laytonville Craft Fair, “Arker Day’’ at the Anderson Valley Brewery, and the annual Pumpkin Festival. She also caters by special arrangement.
When it was time to go, I asked her if the business was her full-time job. She laughed and told me that she had gotten up at 3 AM that morning to bake the goodies on offer in her food truck that day. It is very full-time, but she loves the opportunity to evolve and grow as a cook—developing the skills that have built her business—and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Fairall’s Farm Food Wagon can be found at Redwood Valley, Willits, Fort Bragg, and Ukiah farmers markets. Find details at MCFarm.org.
Photos by Terry Ryder
Terry Ryder Sites lives in Yorkville with 4 cats and 1 husband. A graduate of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Clown College, she writes a weekly column for the Anderson Valley Advertiser.