Sebastopol grower spreading ‘joy and love’ through his heirloom apples | The Press Democrat By Jennifer Graue

Gold Ridge will hold its second Annual Heirloom Apple Celebration later this month, and Brooke Hazen couldn’t be happier about opening his farm to celebrate the season.

Brooke Hazen doesn’t immediately give off farmer vibes.

Sure, he has the deep tan and lined face typical of someone who has worked for years outside in the sun and wind, but his pristine pink T-shirt and two pink jeweled stud earrings in his left ear belie that this is a man who lives to tend the soil and trees at Gold Ridge Organic Farms, his 88-acre apple and olive farm in Sebastopol.

“I love the color pink. I think it brings joy and beauty,” Hazen said. “Pink is really a symbol of the apple blossom, a huge part of what we grow here. So, the power of Gold Ridge is pink power.”

But brown is the color most people might associate with Gold Ridge. That’s the color of the paper bags filled with Hazen’s apples that have been sold for years at 47 Whole Foods Markets all over Northern California...