A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free (or ‘mostly free’ as in today’s offerings)! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.
Address:
- Suzie’s Farm – 2550 Sunset Avenue, San Diego, CA 92154 (Tijuana River Valley / Nestor),
Date and Time: Suzie’s Farm Tours – 2nd Saturday of the month, 10 AM – 11:30 AM.
- Hamilton’s Tavern – 1521 30th Street, San Diego, CA 92102 (South Park)
Date and Time: Hamilton’s Tavern – 2nd Saturday of the month, 5 PM – 8 PM.
Best For: Organic veggie lovers, farmers-at-heart, beer enthusiasts, weekend warriors
The Second Saturday of each month a couple of San Diego’s finest commercial institutions have unique events that make for a fun day.
Suzie’s Farm in the Tijuana River Valley has farm tours where visitors can learn about their organic farming operation, walk among the fields of produce, and learn about the history of the farm. The tour costs $10 a person and you’ll also receive fresh produce to take home with you. Click here to RSVP for a tour. (There are other tour programs available for individuals or groups as well.)
In addition to regular farm tours, Suzie’s Farm also has larger festivals throughout the year. The next one of these events is the Strawberry Jam on April 20th from 10 AM to 4 PM. The Strawberry Jam is a celebration of the ever-popular fruit and will feature food trucks, musical groups, and cooking demonstrations of ways to use strawberries. There will be lots of strawberries for sale although in contrast to past years, this won’t be a ‘you pick’ event since it’s at a newly established field. The event is free and family-friendly and picnicking is welcome.
Later in the day on Second Saturday Hamilton’s Tavern in South Park hosts a ‘tap takeover’ – bringing in a brewery and offering a wide variety of their beers typically including some rare offerings and always having a cask or two as well. To accompany the beer offerings, Hamilton’s provides a free food buffet.
For next month’s event on April 13th the brewery will be Bear Republic from Sonoma County. If you haven’t been to Hamilton’s Tavern before, it is a stalwart of the San Diego beer scene and annually selected for Draft Magazine’s Top 100 beer bars in America. For 2013 Hamilton’s was joined on this list by San Diego County’s Blind Lady Ale House, Churchill’s Pub & Grille, Encinitas Ale House, O’Briens American Pub, Small Bar, and Tiger! Tiger!.
The free buffet menu for April has a Mediterranean spring theme featuring:
Slow cooked Lamb with flatbread
Beer Braised chicken thighs with olives, onions, tomatoes and feta
Mujadra (lentils and rice)
Fresh Greek salad
Fried chickpea fritters with mint tzatziki
On the beverage side, Bear Republic will have the following on tap / cask. For Second Saturday draft beers are $3.75 and cash beers are $5. It’s a very popular event and not a huge space so you might want to show up early (3 or 4pm) if you want a table or can show up a bit later but will probably miss out on the more popular offerings – the casks almost always run out quickly.
Racer 5
Red Rocket
Hop Rod Rye
Big Bear
Peter Brown
Apex IPA
Cuvee de Bubba
Double Aught-Bohemian Pilsner
Heritage-Scottish Wee Heavy
2008 Olde Scoutter’s Barleywine
Smokey Bear-Smoked Porter
Tartare
Rebellion (Meridian)
Rebellion (Dwarf Hop)
Nor Cal Ale-California Bitters
Black Racer
Mystery Barrel Aged Beer
I hope you enjoy the next Second Saturday with a couple of unique and excellent San Diego businesses.