Photo from Riverhill's website

Each Friday afternoon, I am given the chance to take a deep breath, look at a beautiful farm, and let go of the stress that builds during a week. All of the weight on my shoulders seems to evaporate as I walk down a flower lined lane on my way to pick up my weekly CSA share at Riverhill Farm.

There’s something magical in the air there, I think. Those same cares and regular life stresses seem to leave everyone as they make the trek to the farm stand. It’s an amazing thing to behold. Then you get the opportunity to speak to Alan or Jo, the kind and soft spoken farmers, or to one of their vibrant – though centered and calm – interns. I anticipate the experience each week, and even without the bounty of veggies in my box, I would still want to journey out to the very end of Cement Hill Road on a regular basis, if only for a whiff of that magical atmosphere.

As part of the Eat Local Extravaganza this August, many of you will get to experience the wellspring of relaxation and beauty of Riverhill too. BriarPatch is sponsoring a farm tour on Sunday, August 14 at 9:00 a.m. Anyone who wishes to carpool should meet at the BriarPatch patio at 8:30 a.m. The Patch will be offering refreshments at the farm. It promises to be an interesting tour and a nice way to spend a Sunday morning. Make sure to let me know if you, too, experience the enchantment that Riverhill offers.

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2011 is looking to be a good year. With local produce just starting to really roll in due to the long, wet winter and mild start to the summer, absence has made the heart grow fonder, and I am yearning for lots of local treats. Sadly, stone fruits are scarce this season, but leafy greens are bountiful, tender, and sweet.

Have you been wondering about some of the local products carried at BriarPatch but having been quite willing to pull the trigger on a purchase? August is your opportunity to try tons of items, as every weekday will have local and regional food samples ranging from olive oil to ice cream and everything in between.

The Gold Country Chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation will be holding a screening of “Farmageddon” at the Holiday Inn Express in Grass Valley on Tuesday, August 2 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available at the customer service window for $10. A no host welcome reception will precede the film at 6:00 p.m. and after the film, Mark McAfee from Organic Pastures will be available for an open discussion.

Wendy of In The Kitchen will be teaching a class on canning tomatoes on August 3 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. The class is $50 and should be great for all of you new to the world of canning. Plus, it will be fun, and you’ll go home with canned tomato goodness.

BriarPatch is sponsoring a farm tour at Riverhill Farm in Nevada City on Sunday, August 14 at 9:00 a.m. Alan and Jo are amazing people and are sure to give a very interesting tour of their farm. As the location of my CSA, I can personally attest to how beautiful the land is – a definite not-to-be-missed opportunity.

Local tomatoes should just be getting bountiful around August 28 when In The Kitchen is hosting their very first open kitchen event. The Community Canning Day is $15 and goes from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Imagine a mess of tomatoes brought from yours and every other attendee’s gardens, questions answered, and canning commenced. It should be a lively time indeed. Space is limited, so reserve your spot early.

Of course, you can look forward to many local food oriented blogs from Kathy and me on the BriarPatch webpage as well as blogs from Wendy of In The Kitchen, Kathy, and me on the Eat Local! America national co-op site.

Hooray for local food! Let’s get cooking.

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“Sustainability and a sense of place weave through this essential guidebook on native plants of the Sierra Nevada,” states the back of “Living Wild,” a new book by Nevada County residents Alicia Funk and Karin Kaufman. “This eco-friendly reference, beautifully illustrated with color photographs, offers gardening advice for over 90 plant species, 70 gourmet food recipes using local leaves, nuts and berries and plant medicine remedies for common health conditions.”

As if owning this beautiful, valuable tome on local plants, etc. wasn’t enough, Alica Funk and other contributing authors will be at BriarPatch on April 19 and 20 from noon to 6:00 p.m. signing books and talking about native plants. After perusing “Living Wild,” head over to a demonstration of what can be done with native plants or go into the great outdoors for one of the native plant garden tours from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m.

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I can’t think of a better way to send off Food Film Fridays than with a screening of “Living Lands Agrarian Network” introduced by farmer and Living Lands founder, Leo Chapman.

Amanda Bontecou has done a wonderful job documenting what Living Lands is about and takes the viewer through a joyful local adventure. Watching “Living Lands Agrarian Network” is thoroughly enjoyable and will make the viewer proud to be a part of the community.

After the movie, Bontecou will be available to comment on the movie as well as talking about how to support our local food system.

“Living Lands Agrarian Network” shows on March 25 at 7:00 p.m.

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Beginning and ending in San Francisco, the filmmaker’s hometown, “In Search of Good Food” travels 2000 miles in a tour of California’s sustainable food system.

From Ventura to Hoopa, the viewer is treated to picturesque farms throughout the Golden State, while learning about the trials and triumphs of sustainable farming practices.

Amigo Bob makes a cameo appearance, making “In Search of Good Food” a treat for Nevada County locals. Farmers markets, Veritable Vegetable, ranches, diverse crops, and water issues are all explored in this 60 minute documentary. It plays on Friday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. in BriarPatch’s Community Room and is a great way to experience a wide swath of California agriculture.

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Shoot, I’d do one better than just put it up on Facebook. How could I resist the concept of local, edible flowers for my Eat Local dinner? And if I was going to eat it, I should blog about it, right?

I clocked out and headed to the produce department, giddy with anticipation. I was going to craft a dinner around flowers! Awesome, awesome, awesome! My brain began to spin with options. Obviously, I was going to make a salad with the flowers as the main ingredient. Local greens, blackberries, and Sungolds rounded out the edible posy. We had some green beans we had picked during our last visit to our CSA farm. If I kept it simple and tossed them with some regional butter, they’d compliment the sweet greenness of the salad. Then a little bit of protein… Charles helped me out with that decision – regional chicken it was (and it was reduced – score!).

The minute we walked in the front door, I started warming up the stove-top, cast iron grill and put a pot on to boil for the green beans. Then I began arranging the salad. I must admit that almost half of the local blackberries didn’t make it into the bowls. They’re wild, so they have that wonderful untamed tang as well as sweetness. A healthy amount of Sungolds, sliced in half so their juices incorporated with the greens were next, and then I added the flowers. It was like arranging in a vase, but better, because it would soon end up as our meal. As soon as the green beans and chicken were cooked, dinner was served.

The flowers gave a green pop to the palate. I especially enjoyed the nasturtiums. They presented a sprinkling of spice across the tongue followed by a delightful burst of mandarin oranges. Charles wasn’t as enthusiastic about his edible arrangement, so I helped myself to his nasturtiums too. Because of the wild, green flavors of the flowers accompanied with the chicken and green beans, I’d recommend a Sauvignon Blanc made in the New Zealand style. It complements the range of flavors wonderfully.

A little bit of exotic beauty for dinner – it’s so great to work in a place where I get to be introduced to so many wonderful, new experiences, especially when those experiences are on a plate.

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My past few CSAs have been a rainbow of produce – tons of basil, patty pans, chard, collards, radicchio, amazingly sweet onions, mint, lemon verbena, Japanese eggplant, strawberries, and so much more. I love to spend a few moments gazing at my box before I place it lovingly in the car.

The drive home is a feast too, with the amazing aromas of the herbs and strawberries mingling, filling the vehicle with so many tantalizing smells, Charles and my stomachs begin to rumble louder than the gravel road.

And then the joy of turning those aromas into meals! I love the bounty of summer.

Cheesy Tomatoes Love Herbs

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon water

1 egg

1 package 8 oz Sierra Nevada Cheese Company Chevre, made into four rounds

4 very thick slices of fresh tomato (heirloom or slicing)

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, plus a drizzle for dressing

1 small head of curly endive (or you could use traditional endive)

1 bunch cilantro (or you could use fresh basil)

1 bunch wrinkled cress (or you could use radicchio)

drizzle of red wine vinegar (If you use the basil & radicchio, use balsamic vinegar instead.)

How-to:

Mix breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Add water and work until crumbly. Beat egg is a small bowl. Dip Chevre rounds in the egg and then the bread crumbs. Place in fridge for 15 minutes.

Place tomatoes on plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Add olive oil to a skillet and heat on med/high until the oil is hot but not burning. Carefully place the Chevre rounds in the oil and cook 45 seconds, then flip and repeat. Place rounds on tomatoes.
Toss greens with the drizzles of red wine vinegar and olive oil. Add a little seasoning if desired. Heap 1/4 of the greens on each tomato slice, and voila!

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Yet I can’t help but love this extreme giver of food. You can do so many, many things with summer squash.  My grandma has been gifted with zucchinis that are too large to cook and has discovered that they pickle as easily as cucumbers. Then of course, there is the gloriousness that is zucchini bread. They’re a great addition to stir fries. They’re lovely as a side dish. They’re terrific stuffed, as casserole, and even as appetizers. How could I not love something that gives so much and asks for so little?

Zucchini Bread Recipe

Ingredients

2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups grated fresh zucchini
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add zucchini and butter. Sift flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together and gently spoon into mixture, a third at a time. Fold in walnuts.

Divide the batter equally between 2 buttered 5 by 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour (check for doneness at 50 minutes) or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.

Makes 2 loaves.

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So far this year, I haven’t been able to have that experience. The plant at my house has a small collection of blossoms. The plants at the farm through which I have my CSA have more blossoms, but no fruit. It’s almost August, and I ain’t got no tomato satisfaction.

Such is the way of the world of produce. Some years, the bounty overflows. Others, your garden yields up your first harvest at the very end of the season. Our house is at 3600 feet, so the garden’s timeline for growth is already shorter, and during a year like this, it’s even less.

Thank goodness for the wonders of modern invention, like porch green houses. I wouldn’t even be able to harvest a handful of fruit this year if it wasn’t for that glorious creation. Isn’t it amazing the good that can come from a few metal pipes, shelves, and plastic? (My fresh herbs like it too.)

And thank goodness for local farmers that are just down the hill. Because of those wonderful farmers with their steadier, slightly warmer weather, we just got heirloom tomatoes in the store. While nothing can completely replace a fresh tomato plucked from the plant and still warm from the sun, these come a close second.

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The leaves are large and a glossy, dark green. I found that the greens had a lovely mix of flavors — sometimes a dance of dill, sometimes a mustard bite. I enjoyed everything about Komatsuna — the texture, the tastes, the ability to be used in so many dishes.

It was great sliced thinly and added to a salad mix. It was wonderful as a spinach substitute in a breakfast scramble. It was delightful as the main attraction in a stir-fry. It was an amazing new treat for me, and I ate it accordingly. I can’t wait until we get our next batch in some future CSA box… Why couldn’t it be this week?

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