MORRO BAY, CALIF. ─ Maybe it was their "any excuse for a party" attitude. Or their eclectic home-grown crops – including oysters they raised in the bay.
But, Team Beach Tractors had just the right something to win Sunset Magazine’s One-Block Challenge.
And now, nearly a year later, they are still harvesting a bounty of publicity for their new-found agrarian talents. And they garnered some well-deserved praise for their picturesque seaside village. "Surfing outpost" Morro Bay shares a showy eight-page spread with the Tractors in the April 2012 issue of Sunset, with 1.25 million copies reaching food, garden, and travel aficionados throughout the West. Their story has also gone out to a number of media outlets and blogs around the country during the past year.
For the "grow-your-own-block-party contest, the eight families (15 adults and 16 kids) from the town’s Beach Tract turned their small yards into lush gardens to prove that great food comes from Morro Bay. They milked goats, raised chickens for meat and eggs, grew vegetables and herbs that tolerate damp weather, fished for rock cod and turned wheat and barley into beer.
In August, the adults celebrated their win with a feast aboard the beautiful Morro Bay yacht, Papagallo II, featuring a menu of dishes made from the fruits of their labor. The children prepared and shared their own celebration meal, as well.
According to the Tractors team leader, John Diodati, the real reward came from the connections they made with each other and with their community.
"We celebrated Morro Bay, this treasured little part of California that we call home," Diodati wrote in a blog after the feast. "Most importantly, we celebrated the simple fact that even in this chaotic, distracted and detached culture of the 21st century, we humans are still capable of slowing down, coming together as a group and connecting with our land, our food and one another."
Like the Beach Tractors, visitors can enjoy the Morro Bay lifestyle with a cruise aboard the Papagallo II, shopping farmers markets, feasting on freshly harvested fish and oysters and spending quality time with family and friends. More information about Morro Bay is available at
Stories, recipes and photos from the Beach Tractors adventures in Morro Bay are available online, including at:
Beach Tractors Blog
Papagallo II Blog
Beach Tractor Gibsey Beckett Blog (SLO Coast Journal) (May, June, July, August, September)
Picking Daisies Blog
Sunset Announcement of Winning Team
