Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Chef Roderick Williams of the “New Horseshoe Bar and Grill” in Loomis, CA demonstrated seasonal cooking using local, organic sources at the 2009 PlacerGrown Conference. He explained how, in his experience, using seasonal ingredients results in the freshest and most nutritious meals. Getting to know local farmers provides the added bonus of feeling “connected” and involved in the community. While chopping up the ingredients, he encouraged local growers to just show up at the back door of the restaurant to show him their stuff. He said he often will buy whatever they have and create a Special dish for that same night!

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Here’s the meal he created for those in attendance:

Grass fed Goat (raised by local farmer Dan Macon, Flying Mule Farm http://flyingmulefarm.com/) with Balsamic Reduction

Fennel and Cauliflower Risotto with Sage browned butter

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So delicious and so fresh!

People who grow things love to talk about the weather. It’s a common refrain in the store to hear accounts of an incoming freeze, impending rain, and long days of drought. Animated conversations about rain and chill are especially prevalent around this time of year, when the weather is starting to change and bring the season to a close.  After the long summer of irrigating, farmers and gardeners are eagerly awaiting the rain.  Seth, from Heaven And Earth Farm just came in and commented on our first storm, “that rain was just a tease” he jokingly stated.  But in all reality, rains can either make or break a farm.

Here in the foothills we had our first frost a couple weeks ago, and everyone was scrambling to cover their tomatoes, and prolong the last few juicy, sweet morsels of summer.  Our row cover can keep the basil coming well into the fall.  It’s time however, to trade in the long-suffering zucchini for the Butternut and finish the fall days with fresh greens, newly invigorated by the cool weather.

Living and working on farms the last few summers has changed the rhythms of my lifestyle dramatically.  Spending so much time outside amid the growth cycles of plants has made me much more aware of the turning of the seasons and the angles of light. I relish the first rains, and the knowledge that the hard work of summer will soon be followed by the reflection of winter.  Who knew the weather could be such a fascinating topic!

Twenty years ago, walking or biking to courses at Humboldt State University, I passed a local donut store and inevitably, if it was between 10 and 11 A.M., the dairy farmers were stretched out inside escaping the fog. Unlike myself, my future husband has a fondness for donuts, so I began to find myself on occasion actually inside this donut haven at the same hour as my farming neighbors. Both Mike and I came to enjoy the snippets of local color and conversation much more than the donuts.

As a recent hire to Peaceful Valley, there was something very familiar about the 10 to 11 A.M. hour in the retail store. It didn’t take long to realize, these foothill farmers may not be working dairy cows or escaping the coastal fog, but the morning conversation after what has probably already been a long morning is undoubtedly universal. Farmers are not like fishermen, who protect that secret hole, special bait and times of day they find productive. Farmers do not “compete” – they readily share their wealth of knowledge and are the first to acknowledge what confounds them. They have access to the internet and professional journals, but are old-fashioned enough (be they “young” or “old” in actual years) to value human dialog and how it might just bring about an interesting option worth considering.

From 10 to 11 A.M. most days at PVFS store is my favorite time of day. At first it made me feel nostalgic. Now it keeps me centered, trying to overhear snippets of conversation from our local farmers who seem to find this the best hour to pick up their orders or grab some cover crop before going on their way.

Perhaps we can open an “organic” donut store on the premises? Remember, I don’t like donuts myself, but I could sure use more time with some of these local farmers.)