A mish-mosh of a post, with lots of information about some happenings.
First of all, if you are fortunate enough to love farms, love bicycling, and live near Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, or Sebastopol, then you might be interested in the Tour d'Organics (their site is currently down, but I'm sure it will be up soon) taking place over the next three months. The Santa Cruz county event will take place on July 23: read this article in the Sentinel about the day. Riders can choose 35-mile, 65-mile, or 100-mile options, touring the county and visiting small farms. (The farms are the rest stops.)
All routes begin at Cabrillo College. I've mapped out all the locations over at Platial: 2006 Tour d'Organics Farms: Santa Cruz.
My friends at Crystal Bay Farm, Ella Bella Farm, Live Earth Farm, UCSC Farm, Homeless Garden Project, Everett Family Farm, Freewheelin' Farm, and Love Apple Farm are all participating. When they're done, all riders get a vegan lunch from La Vie Cafe. (Bring your own bacon, kids.) Cost: $30, $30, $40, or $50.
And Crystal Bay Farm has sweetened the pot: the night before the ride, they're hosting an outdoor screening "The Real Dirt on FarmerJohn" outdoors on their lawn. (The farm is located at 40 Zils Road in La Selva Beach. For more information, call Jeff or Lori Fiorovich at 763-3604.)
The Sebastopol event is August 20, and Santa Barbara is September 17. Austin and Portland already had their tours...you'd think someone would be blogging about this, wouldn't you?
Cool, huh?
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Friday found me putting nearly a hundred miles on "Marilyn Monroe," my blonde Volvo with chef Sandy Garcia, newly hired at the Davenport Roadhouse, scheduled to reopen in August. For those familiar with the coastal highway between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, the Davenport Roadhouse and Inn are the renovated Davenport Cash Store and inn.
Sandy had come to my attention when friends at the River Cafe and Cheese Shop mentioned the whereabouts of the nice lady who used to have the coffee stand next to them. Terri (the nice lady) had since gone on to manage the new project, which intrigued me instantly. My ears perk up now when I hear about restaurants with one-acre organic gardens on site, and when I hear that a chef is interested in local farms. Putting the network to work, I managed to hook up with Terri and Sandy, and spent the better part of two hours helping them brainstorm ways to hook up with the local community and non-local travelers. I told Sandy I'd take him around to some farms, and we met last Friday morning.
First stop was all the way out to Gilroy, to see Betty Van Dyke's orchards. We were just in time to pick some of the last of her amazing cherries—with Logan and Betty's grandson, visiting from Costa Rica, chasing butterflies and whooping it up. We watched Betty do quality control over her apricots, which were going onto the pallettes as they had when I visited last July. Sandy and I explored the orchard, picked some cherries, noticed the presence of a whole lot of bees, and headed with the boys back to the house. Betty took us through the garden, showing us the caper bushes that have been growing for decades, and watched her little grandson, "Pinky," pick "bikinis" (zucchinis, which she kindly sent home with me). Short and sweet: Betty's one busy woman. Love her.
When the noontime sun started to heat up, it was time to get back in the car: the thermostat registered 106 degrees as I headed up over Mount Madonna. By the time we reached Hecker Pass, it had "cooled" to 85, but the car was getting really hot. Down the other side, we found ourselves just a mile or so from Deep Roots Ranch, so we did an ever-so-brief driveby to let Sandy meet Jean, who was busy killing chickens. We gave her a few cherries—she pronounced them the finest, and she gave us each a pound of butter from the beautiful cow, Nutmeg.
Then it was on to Crystal Bay Farm, so I could hook Sandy up with the good strawberries that Jeff and Lori grow. Once we arrived, the thermostat read 66 degrees: a 40-degree differential! We had time for only the briefest of visits, but Sandy got to see the farm and find some of the most beautiful purslane—seriously, he's going to be buying some of it from Jeff. The stuff was gleaming.
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NOTHING TO DO WITH FARMS: A client of mine, Sierra Azul Nursery, in Watsonville, is sponsoring something absolutely amazing, and which I recommend to anyone coming to the county before the end of the month. It's an installation called "Sculpture Is," and involved the placement of nearly eighty sculptures from nearly forty artists in the county. Situated among the stunning mature landscaping in the two-acre demonstration gardens, some sculptures tower twenty feet or more. (You can see some in the gallery.)
If you are coming to town, head out there. You will not regret it. Promise.
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Finally, short and sweet: get thee thither to one of my new favorite blogs.
The Ethicurean: Chew The Right Thing.
Oh, do I love these people—it's a group blog. Who wouldn't? Sistah! Start with Dairy Queen's "Meat and Greet: A Tale of Two Piggies." And then have a peek at her Marin Sun Farms tour.
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That's all for today. Busy, busy! And ooh, baby, wait until you see my good news on Thursday.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: “To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.” —
Pearl S. Buck
Thanks for visiting.
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