I Heart Farms

Moving Ahead: Thanks for the Insights

(Pictured here, the calmest, smilingest goat I've ever seen, out at another apiary that I visited with Cynthia Sandberg this week.)

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed me and who left me comments about my dilemma.

There is a difference between the words "decide" and "choose." The roots of "decide" are in the same place as the words "suicide" and "homicide" and so on. It has to do with killing the alternatives. This wasn't a decision for me. I had to choose, which has much more to do with an emotional alignment: more like embracing what you do want than shoving away what you don't. And it was hard for me to think about embracing supermarkets.

I don't see it that way now...I realized I have some options that I can exercise.

Dilemma

Pictured at left, the wonderful sculpture of Cate Geyer, partner with Ronald Donkervoort of Windmill Farms, today at the market downtown.

I'm in a bit of a moral dilemma. What do you think?

I was contacted by SN (Supermarket News) with a very nice letter:

I work for Supermarket News magazine, a weekly business to business publication in New York, owned by Fairchild/Conde Nast. We are running a story on farmers’ markets this week, and I found your Small Farms website when I was researching photos to use with the story. I was wondering what your usage fee would be, and if it would be possible for you to email or provide a link to a high res version of an image on the website.

I have to finish designing the story by Wednesday, so it is rather short notice, but I thought I’d try to get in touch with you since both my art director and myself think that your photos are wonderful.

She e-mailed too late to make the deadline, and inquired about using my work in upcoming issues.

Integrity

Saturday morning, I got a call from Jim Dunlop at TLC Ranch, asking me if I was going to the farmers market. He said he'd bring me one of the newest batches of chickens he's been raising on the clabbered milk from Claravale Dairy. He promised that this would be even better than anything I'd last year, and was pretty excited about the flavor.

"These clean more easily than any birds I've ever raised, because they're so healthy. No ingrown feathers: nothing but easy."

Who am I to turn down a free chicken? (Actually, it isn't free: they need a website and I'm happy to do a trade.) I took Logan: we went to the market and got our bird. And I got to hold and dandle (a damn good word) sweet and blond little Fiona, Jim and Becky's baby girl while Jim and Becky went off to check out the market. Oh, that Fiona is a sugar crystal. She is so sweet, she is so sparkly.

The minute I opened the bag with the chicken, I could see its quality, and it only got better. While not exactly dry to the touch, the bird wasn't wet. Slightly moist outside, but barely. I towel-dried it inside and out, and set about roasting it in the Cuisinart 175BC Convection Toaster Oven that I still love almost as much as my Macintosh computers.

I'm Covered in Beeeeeeeeees!

(If you are not familiar with the title of this post, you are probably not acquainted with the funniest human alive, Eddie Izzard.)

Yesterday found us (Logan and me) on a hillside in Corralitos, where we were visiting an apiary (or a "bee farm," if you will) and ranch owned by friends of Cynthia Sandberg, my tomato-kook friend who is turning Love Apple Farm into a biodynamic farm. She's reduced the number of tomato plants she's growing from over a thousand to right around a hundred, and has added about a dozen or so other new crops. She had asked for my help (resourcefulness) in helping her find bees and goats—I guess part of the biodynamic thing is to have animals on the farm.

I'd been up to the farm on Thursday, meeting with Cynthia and a new aquaintance of hers, Luca, a fifth-generation Italian beekeeper who now lives here. Luca studied in Italy, and I think (if I understood properly) helped create courses on the study of bees, himself.

A Day without Food Blogs: SAVE THE INTERNET!

Don't think it can't happen. Don't sit there and change channels. Don't put it out of your mind, and for goodness sakes, don't procrastinate.

As soon as you are through reading this post, go to SaveTheInternet.com and sign a petition to your Congressperson and Senator, letting them know in no uncertain terms that you, like every sane person in the world, are vehemently opposed to new legislation that would allow big companies like AT&T, Comcast, Yahoo, Amazon, and others to dictate the speed at which you are allowed to use different sites on the internet. Kate at Accidental Hedonist does her usual great work detailing some examples that affect everyone.

Folks, we cannot allow this to happen. CANNOT. MUST NOT.

I actually bothered everyone in my address book with this one. PLEASE go sign the petition and bug everyone in your address book, too.

Today the internet is without food blogs. Today is a big deal. Go now.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "The first people totalitarians destroy or silence are men of ideas and free minds." — Isaiah Berlin

Thanks for visiting.

Certified Humane: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Yesterday was rather surreal but delightful. I found myself seated in the waiting area of Slanted Door at the Ferry Plaza building in San Francisco with two of the funniest guys I've been around in a long time, sipping beer and wine, and feeling hilariously unchic. (And not caring a whit.)

They both happen to be chefs, and they were my plus-ones at a press event held by CertifiedHumane.org, an organization committed to more than organics, more than sustainable, and specializing in ranching. As agribusiness dilutes the integrity of the word "organic," and so-called "organic dairies" engage in factory-farming and inhumane conditions for livestock, ranchers who actually care for their animals and the land put their heads together to come up with the newest, and best, standards for the meat industry.

Yesterday's event was held in two rooms on the second floor of the Ferry Plaza building, with one room overlooking the bay. Representatives from Prather Ranch, Knee Deep Cattle Company, Redwood Hill Farm,  and others brought beef, goat cheese, and lamb for several participating chefs to demonstrate their magic.

Eat Local Challenge: A Progress Report

These beauties are the Violetta artichokes found at the Route One Farms stand at the Saturday morning farmers market in Aptos.

After my great birthday dinner on a farm, I longed to lie about and pretend it happened in the month of May, so I could boast about all the local ingredients on my blog. But that would be pathetic and cheesy.

Alas, the week since has been challenging in small ways. Cinqo de Mayo, for example, was a complete bust, because we were invited out for Mexican food with my ex (who is a Mexican). But at least we ate organically, at least somewhat: Tortilla Flats in my village of Soquel uses organic ingredients when possible.

Tuesday I happened to be downtown, and thought, "I'll finally get around to trying Cafe La Vie." I'd met the owner, the beautiful Yeyen, at Collette Cassidy's birthday party back in September. She wants to buy some farm photographs, so you think I would have hustled my butt down there sooner, but no. Cafe La Vie is making quite a buzz, serving up raw and organic food that has hardcore omnivores and vegetarians alike saying, "Man, that was good!"

Guillermo's Progress; Something Green

Last Friday night, we went over to take dinner to Guillermo Payet, who had been released from the hospital a few days before. (If you haven't read about it, Guillermo was badly injured in a hit-and-run, suffering skull injuries and more earlier in April. You can read about that here.) In addition to his mother, Teresa, who'd traveled up from Peru, and his sister, Mariana, Guillermo's friend, Doug, was visiting. I'd made two pork tenderloins with the Lime Mojo and Latin spice rub, and cooked my last pound of Rancho Gordo cannellini beans. Knowing I would have an army of free hands, I brought over quite a lot of fava beans to be shelled and blanched. A last minute traipse through Epicurious for fava recipes turned up one that had some promise: Fava Bean, Asparagus, and Arugula with Shaved Pecorino.

Eat Local Challenge, and a Nearly Perfect Birthday

I have joined a group of authors writing collectively about the Eat Local Challenge. You can find my first post here. If you are participating in the challenge, come and stick a pin in this Platial Eat Local Challenge map. (You can zoom in and be as specific as you choose. I stuck my pin in the heart of the village where I live.)

An excerpt:

I tell people I live in Eden. As in, "The Garden of Eden," where "garden" in fact means "more organic/sustainable farms than any county in California," and probably the entire country. With roughly a third the acreage and population of Fresno, Santa Cruz County has 30% more organic farms.

It has become my life's work to visit, photograph, and write about these places—not just here, but wherever I travel in the world. Travel itself has taken on a new meaning: I'm not interested in going somewhere unless I can squeeze in a visit to a farm or a farmers market. Last year, I visited New York City, but only briefly. It was more enjoyable to me to stay in northern New Jersey, and drive through the beautiful countryside there, en route to Bobolink Dairy and other agricultural sites.

Bob and I had intended to travel over the weekend, escaping town for my birthday yesterday. But a surprise phone call from Katy, with the Outstanding in the Field farm dinners, convinced me to stick around: they were throwing an appreciation dinner for staff and other supporters of the farm dinners, and the dinner was to be held on my birthday. Whee!