I recently subscribed to the newsletter from The New Farm, produced by the much-respected Rodale Institute. Today my first issue landed in my in-box, and I was delighted to see Andy Griffin, one of my favorite farmers, holding court there with this article: "Small farms can go mano a mano with food shows like 'Iron Chef' in reconnecting Americans with good food." (Speaking of "Iron Chef," that's Logan doing his very best Chairman Kaga imitation with one of the first ripe tomatoes from our garden.)
One of Andy's best customers is Traci Des Jardins, one of San Francisco's finest chefs. Her ardent fans gathered recently in the city to watch her best Mario Batali, who himself is probably one of the most respected chefs in the world. In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle: Did she get to bring California ingredients? "No," [Des Jardins] frowns. "And when there was a comment that a dish wasn't quite as good as it could have been, I told them it's because my ingredients came from New York!"
Today included a short visit to Everett Family Farm,
which is in full and gorgeous bloom. Logan wanted to see his beloved
chickens, and I indulged him. The chickens were all inside when we
arrived; no one else was in sight. But we went to the pen and started
talking in chicken language, and one by one, they emerged from their
henhouse. Jasmine showed up shortly thereafter, and took Logan inside
to see if there were any eggs. There were indeed: he joyfully picked up
the two little treasures and handed them to her.
Love Apple Farm announces that tomatoes are now officially on sale at the tomato stand at 9299 Glen Arbor Road in Ben Lomond. She is also brave enough to be throwing a tomato party, September 4. View the website for details.
Welcome to all the new visitors from Metafilter (thanks for the tip, "Trip and a half"). It's amazing to me that anyone could be cynical about farms ("well-groomed botique [sic] farmers"? "Yuppie farms"? What the ______?), but I've seen stranger things online than cynical people. The farmers I photographed were clean because 1) I don't interrupt them when they're working; 2) lots of the pictures were taken at special occasion dinners. Well, and everyone knows that Californians are just better-looking people, right?
Tra la la laaaaaaaaa.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California." —Edward Abbey
Thanks for visiting.
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