Arts & Culture

By Brooke Bratcher

Located at 1219 18th St. in downtown Bakersfield, you’ll find yourself in a beautiful showroom stocked with home decor, a design studio filled with textile samples, wood finishes and home furnishing catalogs, along with specific local vendors who bring added charm to our carefully curated inventory.

Speaking of local vendors, we have hand selected a few favorites. Our products include Buena Vista Extra Virgin Olive Oil bottles from the Edible Schoolyard, “Locally Grown” and “BAKO” merchandise from Kinley M. Designs and a children’s pajamas collaboration with Little Pajama Co., hand-poured candles and raw honey from Olive & Co., homegrown dish and body luffas from The Neglectful Gardener, handmade ceramics from Blue

The Bratcher Basket includes items from several local venders, such as Edible Schoolyard’s Buena Vista Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Olive & Co. and “Locally Grown” and “BAKO” merchandise from Kinley M. Designs.

Canyon Ceramics and handblown glassware from Dougherty Glassworks.

Given so many vendors, an idea to showcase them happened by chance. Being that we opened in the midst of the holiday gift giving season, plus the natural ability to assemble aesthetically pleasing baskets, consequently resulted in one thing: the Bratcher Basket.

These baskets predominantly started with the use of “Locally Grown” and “BAKO” merchandise designed by Kinley M. Designs, paired with unique Bratcher Home kitchen accessories, such as a mini cheese board with spreader and a mini glass honey pot. The baskets quickly evolved into somewhat of a local vendor buzz, incorporating suitable inventory scaled and priced properly for a gift basket. The baskets are typically purchased as a Christmas or birthday present, residential closing gift from a realtor to a proud new homeowner, a housewarming or hostess gift, a year-end teacher’s gift, a more mature Easter basket and especially the most perfect Mother’s Day gift.

This month, we want to spotlight and share the Edible Schoolyard’s story and how its Buena Vista Extra Virgin Olive Oil bottles have quickly become a staple in most every Bratcher basket.

In 2012, beautiful, mature olive trees were transplanted from Woodlake by Darcy Marshall. These olive trees became a source of food, light and health, not only for the students of the Edible Schoolyard Kern

County, but also for the community. Each year, Marshall harvests and presses the olives that are hand-picked. He named the bounty of his harvests Buena Vista Extra

Virgin Olive Oil. Buena Vista Edible Schoolyard Extra Virgin Olive Oil is fresh and local olive oil that is robust, aromatic and full of rich flavor, which makes it perfect for enjoying over a slice of freshly baked bread, in creamy vinaigrette or in hearty dishes such as soups and stews or grilled meats and roasted vegetables. This 100 percent extra virgin olive oil is certified by the California Olive Oil Council and is pressed in small batches resulting in a peppery and authentic taste that cannot be compared to mass-produced olive oils that have been cut with cheaper, less healthy oils. Marshall donates the finished extra virgin olive oil to the Edible

Schoolyard Kern County, a program of the Grimm Family Education Foundation. His wife, Barbara

Grimm Marshall, founded the

Grimmway Academy in Shafter and Arvin, public charter schools for K-6 students. The schools are built around a unique educational-nutritional model of edible schoolyards. With all that being said, you can see how we absolutely love incorporating one of the two size options into our beautiful baskets.

Currently, we have partnered with two of Sully’s Family Store locations: Sully’s Stockdale, located at 250 Coffee Road, and Sully’s Ming, located at 11400 Ming Ave. These specific locations will be stocked regularly and open 24 hours to purchase the Bratcher Basket. However, if you prefer to hand select products for your basket, swing by Bratcher Home & Design from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and every second Saturday of the month where we can create a unique basket specific to your special gift giving occasion.

Brooke Bratcher is the founder and creative director of Bratcher Home & Design.