Ernie Shelton created Shelton’s Market Garden in the summer of 2010 to provide fresh produce several times a week to Shelton’s Natural Foods Market in Healdsburg, the store he owns and operates with his brothers, Marty Shelton and Jim Shelton, and Marty’s wife, Bonnie Jean Shelton.
In response to the overwhelmingly positive welcome by Shelton’s market shoppers, Ernie and his partner Susan Bryer decided to grow the garden, selecting more variety and planning for more volume in 2011. We broke ground May 10, 2011 on our newest section, a gently sloped acre which had been fallow for decades and is now a lush, multicolored vegetable garden!
The garden is located on approximately 1.5 acres off of picturesque Sexton Road, just west of Sebastopol, CA. The 
Sexton Valley micro-climate of Sonoma County is particularly suited for growing the robust, flavorful red lettuces and succulent saute greens that have been the true hits of our first harvest season. We continue to harvest kale, chard, beets, leeks, fennel and more for Shelton’s Natural Foods Market and now have moved into more summer items – mixed squash, cherry tomatoes,lemon and pickling cucumbers, and much more to come.
Our main focus now is providing produce to Shelton’s Natural Foods Market, but we also frequently harvest-to-order for neighbors, caterers, and local chefs. We have launched an “open to the public” on-site farm stand here at 625 Sexton Road, which is open EVERY Wednesday and Saturday from 9am to 1pm – we are closed at this moment but will re-open in 2012. On our farm stand tables we feature all of our wonderful produce, picked fresh in the morning so it’s only hours old when you bring it home. If you’re in the neighborhood, give us a call at (707) 829-6718 to find out what’s fresh and ready to harvest today and we’ll put out a box for you – or – bring your own basket or bag.
