I Heart Farms

The Food Blogger's World

Pictured here: one of the roosters at TLC Ranch. NOT the one that jumped on Jim Dunlop's leg with his big spur, almost puncturing Jim's boot (and his leg). That rooster was upside-down and being throttled (not to death) within seconds. You can tug on Superman's Cape, you can spit into the wind, you can pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger but you don't mess around with Jim.

So this post is about being a food blogger, and doesn't have much to do with farms in particular, so feel free to skip it if it's not your cuppa.

A few weeks ago, there was a storm causing some ripples in the international community of food bloggers. Two, actually. The first was when Food and Wine magazine columnist Pete Wells, wrote an article, "In the Belly of the Blog," ostensibly about food blogs.

I say "ostensibly" because three of the so-called blogs he cited are not actually blogs at all. Saute Wednesday, the Food Section, and Regina Schrambling's ramblings, aka Gastropoda, are more information clearinghouses. This is not a criticism, but merely reality. Wikipedia defines a blog thusly: "A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order." It also says: "Blogs use a conversational style of documentation. Often blogs focus on a particular 'area of interest,' such as Washington, D.C.'s political goings-on. Some blogs discuss personal experiences." I think anyone who reads food blogs can tell the difference between Saute Wednesday and, say, 101 Cookbooks. Heidi always offers an anecdote or a vignette from her life before posting a recipe and a beautiful photograph. This is commonplace among food bloggers.

IMBB #23: Viva la France!

Blustery weather yesterday provided the perfect inspiration for participating in the current "Is My Blog Burning" themed event: create a French meal and pair it with a French wine.

Having recently acquired a Borner V-Slicer Plus (for only $25!), I was eager to try it out on French onion soup. But while perusing three or four cookbooks, I also made a list of other dishes I might attempt if time or lack of ingredients forced me. I might like to try Coq au Vin, or Boeuf aux Carrottes, or any of a dozen dishes from the Williams Sonoma Savoring France book. But I also pored over the Bouchon cookbook, since Thomas Keller's onion soup recipe looked pretty good. (I was also checking out the same recipe in James Peterson's Glorious French Food book, but do you know what? That man uses five pounds of onions and 25 cups of cheese! I passed on the Peterson.)

Other tempting recipes included a recipe from Bretagne—Soupe aux Huîtres Trois Herbes (oyster soup with three herbs), a cassoulet from the Languedoc, and another recipe from Provence, this one for Canard au Miel de Lavande (duck with lavendar honey).

A Quickie

Pictured here, Logan with some of the six hundred chickens at TLC Ranch a couple of weeks ago.

An announcement. Thanks to Sam B., Helen W., Lori C., and a Craig's List reader, all 18 of the Manresa gift certificates have been sold. My happy attendance at the farming convention in Chicago next month is assured now. Thank you so much for helping me, my friends.

Right now, it's been cold and rainy all day, and it's been the perfect time to cook a French meal à la IMBB#23...I am making "boeuf aux carrotes," which is basically three pounds of beef with red wine, carrots, onions, and herbs. The house smells insanely good, and I am anticipating something delicious.

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WEEKEND CAT BLOGGING: not something I always participate in, but who could resist Cricket sitting in Logan's toy basket with Ernie, Buzz Lightyear, and Orangutan? Not me.

That's all for now.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "A pate is nothing more than a French meat loaf that's had a couple of cocktails." —Carol Cutler

Thanks for visiting!

My Newest Category: Chefs and Restaurants

Pictured at left, cheeses from River Cafe & Cheese Shop. Which brings me to my newest category: "Chefs and Restaurants."

Back in August of 2005, Sam Breach of Becks & Posh asked fellow food bloggers participating in the Eat Local Challenge if anyone had a list of restaurants that were serving local food products. Well, that got me to thinking, and I started asking my farmer friends which restaurants they sold to. I started making a list at my food forum, MouthfulsFood.com.

But I wanted to see these places on a map. I admired the map technology that Adam uses at SliceNY, but didn't want to learn a new programming language: the blog stuff has been challenging enough. Happily, Adam pointed me to Platial.com, where a user can customize a map to her heart's content. (I am a map geek/lover/fiend. I love maps.)

Free Wheelin' Farm, a Fundraiser, & some buzz

It's hard to believe berries are already in flower, but this photo was taken last month at Free Wheelin' Farm, on the bus tour with the Eco-Farm conference I attended.

Logan and I headed up the coast yesterday to meet with Amy Courtney, who farms the one-acre plot on one of the prettiest spots on the Pacific Coast Highway. Very strangely, we never found her, but we wandered around, and Logan talked to the chickens for a little while. No photos, though: I thought I'd wait for an actual meet-up with Amy.

Later in the evening, she telephoned to say she'd been there, and we both remarked on what mysterious circumstances kept her hidden from view to us, given that we were there for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Maybe she was wearing Harry Potter's invisibility cloak.

Eco-Farm 2006 Bus Tour: Part Two

After boarding our bus, the next stop was only a short distance away. I hadn't realized that Route One Farms had a new location, and had expected to head to either their Waddell Creek site, or to the site downtown (which I photographed in January), but couldn't imagine where three long busses were going to park.

Route One Farms is owned by Jeff Larkey, who has been farming for decades.

It was at this particular farm that I had a realization that I can't stop thinking about.

Eco-Farm 2006 Bus Tour: Part One

I apologize for not writing sooner, but real life has been a full plate lately. I am still floating in a kind of happy bubble about my participation in last week's Eco-Farm Conference held annually at Asilomar about 40 minutes south of my house.

Last Wednesday morning, I arose at 5:00 a.m. to get ready for the day's big event: a bus tour of four farms in Santa Cruz county. Traveling with me was Cynthia Sandberg, so I was ready to rumble (with laughter—Cynthia makes me howl.)

We arrived early and milled around. I didn't see many people I knew, and didn't think about it until later that maybe Santa Cruz farmers already know the local farms, so they wouldn't want to spend $70 on a tour. We saw a beautiful young woman with two beautiful, blue-eyed little girls—one on her hip and one clinging to her skirt. The mother turned out to be a farmer from Alaska, whose husband was going to be on the bus tour.

found our way to the front seat of the third bus, which would remain our seats for the entire day. Traveling north from Monterey on Highway One, we listened to our tour guide, Richard Smith, a farm advisor with UC Extension, tell us about the topography of first the Salinas and then the Pajaro valley. We rolled past fields of strawberries and artichokes, the predominant crops in the area. The raised strawberry beds were lined with plastic: even many of the organic and sustainable farmers use plastic, as it keeps weeds down and prevents erosion of the raised beds during the winter rains. (The beds are about 16" tall, which aids the pickers.)

At shortly after 9 a.m., we turned off the highway into the village of Soquel, less than a mile from my house. To think it had taken me four hours to wake up and come back to town! All the busses turned into the big parking lot at the Seventh Day Adventist campground, across the street from Everett Family Farm. Like gangly kindergartners, we crossed the street in rows, and headed to the farmstand, where Jasmine Roohani and her new farming partner, Mike Irving, awaited us, along with Laura Everett, who owns and lives at the farm with her husband and three daughters.