I Heart Farms

Where I've Been Since April 8 (Part 1)

Pictured here: our neighbors' darling baby boy, Julian, who occupies a little of my time nearly every day. Because babies are church.

The short answer is that I've been working really, really hard for the "Grow a Farmer" Campaign, on an almost daily basis. The good news there is that we (the board of directors for the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden, and the staff and everyone affiliated with CASFS) have very nearly reached our first goal of $250K. The next goal will be to replace the funds that we took from our resources, which is not like robbing Peter to pay Paul—those funds were for general use, such as scholarships and other needs for apprentices. 

It feels FABULOUS to be in this position, especially given the severity of emotional turmoil surrounding our little grandson's broken leg. (He is fine, after nearly four months in casts, a metal boot, and being careful.) Coming up: swimming lessons for a boy!

I have had several great adventures, including turning fifty (April 30), something I had dreaded badly—turned out to be one of the best birthdays of my life. 

So here's installment #1 of "Where I've Been Since April 8."

April 13: a visit to Love Apple Farm, to meet up with the wonderful Harold McGee, who arrived seeking advice for his new garden in San Francisco. It's been three years since we had dined under redwoods on foraged food and wild boar, and it was a great visit. Cynthia chose some tomatoes especially for his climate (and palate), and he in turn autographed our "McGee" books. 

Any day that one can spend at Love Apple Farm is a blessing, a de-stressing. This was a fine day, indeed, especially because the sweet peas were tall and fragant.

On April 24, I got to do one of my favorite things in the world, which is to cook for the apprentices at the UCSC Farm. This is the annual reception, a couple of weeks after they've arrived. So many new faces, and so much great experience among them. 

I just walked around and met a few folks before heading over to the kitchen to help my darlin' friend, Forrest Cook, get things prepped. Our team (other board members and volunteers) shelled ten pounds of fava beans, peeled 11 dozen hard-boiled eggs, and made a whole lot of other stuff. 

Also got to see Brent Walker (Tennessee's loss, California's gain: he stayed after his apprenticeship last year), who came down from Oakland to make hush puppies for the party. These aren't your mother's hushpuppies: he made some with rye, and some with jalapeños and peppers...best hushpuppies I've ever had. And the only hushpuppies some people have ever had. Brent's now managing the farm for the People's Grocery in Oakland, and is loving it. (Lucky them!)

The very next day, Matthew Sutton, co-president of our board, hosted a pizza and beer fundraiser with some other former apprentices. Some hundreds of people turned out for Matthew's famous wood-fired pizza, live bluegrass, and more: the event raised over $1500 for the "Grow a Farmer" Campaign.

A little later in the week, I headed up to SFO to bring Sam Miller back to Love Apple Farm. Sam's hoping to move from England to start up a farming venture of his own—something that would make a huge number of people I know very happy. We came down coastal Highway One, stopping in Pescadero. First stop: Harley Farms Goat Dairy, where the goats were just coming in to be milked. Well, not this little kid.

There is only one place to eat in Pescadero—rather, only one place worthy of consideration—and that is Duarte's Tavern. And there is one thing that I order every time, weather permitting, and that is the combination bowl of cream of artichoke and cream of green chile soup. Served with fresh, warm bread and butter…

Sam had never had calamari, so we shared a steak sandwich and agreed that it wins Best of Show for All Breeds of Seafood Ensconced in a Perfect Roll. A little beer, a little wine, and that was Pescadero in April.

Coming up next: my birthday, some farm visits, some food-centric happenings, Big Sur, and more.

TWO QUICK ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. If you're going to be downtown Santa Cruz after the farmers market next Wednesday, June 24, see about getting a ticket to the "Grow a Farmer" Summer Soirée. Appetizers and wine, great people…all proceeds benefit the campaign. Also: the Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors will present the "Grow a Farmer" Month proclamation for the month of June. It should be a fine event, and there will be more news about our progress in raising the funds for the apprenticeship housing project.

2. Want a direct way to support a local farm? TLC Ranch (my friends and heroes) are trying to buy the house they've been renting before it gets sold out from under them. For a limited time, you can purchase egg shares at a substantial discount: visit their website for details. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "I work during my leisure time, and play while I work." —me

Thanks for visiting. More soon. (And thank you, O Generous Blog Sponsor!)

Thanksgiving and Thanks Receiving

I don't have a farm. I don't plant seeds, I bury them. So naturally ("nature" + "ally"), I am grateful to all of the farmers in my life. They're my heroes.

This year in particular, my appreciation has grown enormously, as I have gotten to be good friends with a handful of farmers, with whom my family have shared many beautiful dinners. These farmers and ranchers have not only supplied me with the meat and vegetables on the table, but they have shown me, through good times and bad, what it means to be a real friend.

Pictured above is Love Apple Farm, owned by my friend—more like a sister—Cynthia Sandberg. Tomorrow my family will join hers, and her crew of helpers who've traveled from around the world to work on the farm. I'll get there early to help with the turkey, which we'll cook using local herbs and shiitake mushrooms. My ex-husband and our daughter, as well as his two young sons, will be there, along with my biggest hero, Bob, who's been my partner for over seventeen years. The little grandson we having been raising for four years is out of town, but Logan is truly the center of our gratitude to a beneficent universe for his presence in our lives.

A Month of Sundays: Where I've Been

Pictured here: squashes and pumpkins at Love Apple Farm, where I've been visiting lately. There are many reasons I've not been writing—all of October, even. Foremost, I've got some steady part-time work, and second to that, we've had more visitors and socializing in the last three weeks than in the past ten years. Some other projects and interests have popped up—not the least of which has been the birth of a baby boy in the house next door, and I've been (self-)appointed Court Photographer. I'm behind in e-mails and in other areas of life.

I only have time today for three brief announcements of some events very soon, and maybe you can avail yourselves of them. And then I hope to get back in the saddle with blogging. Much is happening on the local farm scene, and most all of it is wonderful.

Time's Running Out: Raw Milk ACTION ALERT!

SHORT AND TO THE POINT:

Make 17 phone calls to save raw milk in California, please.

LINK.

These are some of Jean and Bob's cows out in Watsonville at the very beautiful Deep Roots Ranch.

An Afternoon with Kirsten Roehler at Everett Family Farm

NOTE: something about this entry is wackadoo in its layout, so apologies while I try to debug it.

Pictured here: Kirsten hugging her little pet goat, Audrey. I have so many photos of the tender-hearted Kirsten without a face, because she is so often hugging a critter on the farm.

Logan and I spent an hour and a half with farmer Kirsten this afternoon: we haven't visited she returned to the farm, replacing my wonderful friends, Mike Irving and Teresa Kurtak, in running the farm. (Here they are, pictured at the last farmers market of the season last year. Mike's moving to Washington to get a farm started up there, and Teresa will join him when she finishes her master's degree program at UCSC.)

Love Apple Farm: Seedling Sale & Joy, Joy, Joy; Plus "Your Comments"

Pictured here: hundreds of tomato seedlings at Love Apple Farm.

I used to write about my girlfriend, "The Tomato Curator" (as I think of  her), Cynthia Sandberg, and her beautiful Love Apple Farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains. That was before I introduced her to Manresa restaurant (matchmaker!), and she forged a partnership with the chef, David Kinch, turning her once-organic farm into a biodynamic enterprise. And then Cynthia entered the stratosphere of celebrity—if farmers can be celebrities, that is. (I wish more of them were, instead of the lot of  anorexic, plastic headcases that are plastered all over the internet. I keep saying: "Farms Are the New Black." Maybe I should make a bumpersticker.)

Now the people writing about Cynthia's beautiful little Eden are big media and publicists, as the farm provides Manresa with the most exquisite vegetables that human care and love can produce. People all over the world are becoming aware of biodynamic farming, and it helps that Cynthia makes it look so darned pretty, and that Chef David Kinch is so respected. (Is there a stronger word than "respected," when it comes to talent and genius? I dunno.)

But outside of that lofty realm, mere mortals like myself can avail themselves of a touch of Cynthia's magic by attending the wildly popular tomato seedling sales at the farm.

Tana in the Sunshine

Pictured here: a stone that my friend and client, Ben Bording, spontaneously carved yesterday. He called it "Tana in the Sunshine," and surprised me with it when I visited his family. (He's a landscaper, and I'd link to his site, but it's under development and in transition.) This sweet gesture is kind of the theme of the week: people have said and done and offered the kindest things lately.

Yes, it really has been two months since I wrote here. This week must have been some kind of watershed, because I got a bunch of e-mails from people who miss me, asking if my absence was because of "fabulousness" or "otherwise."