Edible Ojai and Ventura County Magazine summer 2010

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OJAI & VENTURA COUNTY

Celebrating the Abundance of Local Foods, Season by Season Summer 2010

Number 33

the wisest tree Inside out

State of the union Member of Edible Communities edible

OJAI & Ventura County Summer 2010

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OJAI & Ventura County Summer 2010

CONTENTS SUMMER 2010 2

EDITOR’S NOTE

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EDIBLE NOTES

by Allison Costa

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Pioneers in the local food market

by Carrie Clough

10 STATE OF THE UNION

by Ramona Bajema 12 THE WISEST TREE

by Kate Riley 16 INSIDE OUT

by Erin Ellwood 21 DR. MONTESSORI’S VISION CONTINUES TO GROW

by Karrie Keyes 22 IN SEASON

by Steve Sprinkle & Olivia Chase

24 GONE PLUM CRAZY

by DK Crawford

30 GOING NATIVE

by Lisa Kring 32 RECIPES FROM READERS Cover photo “Tao with Pakistani Mulberries,” by Kate Riley

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Photo by Carole Topalian

26 EDIBLE LANDSCAPE: GARDENS THAT GROW COMMUNITY

by Amos Miller

OJAI & Ventura County Summer 2010

EDITOR’S NOTE

Celebrating and promoting local family farms and farmers has, in recent years, become a cause célèbre amongst environmentalists and food activists alike. The word “farm” is bandied about in multiple contexts: Farm to fork, farm to table, farm to school, farm dinners, etc. This has become shorthand for a commitment to eating fresh, seasonal, locally grown food—food that is delicious and creates a very small carbon footprint. But the idealization of the family farm and farmer is nothing new. It is one of the principles upon which this country was founded.

We now understand much more about the ecological importance of biodiversity and sustainable agriculture—both of which are served by small farms that produce a variety of products, unlike the vast tracts that represent agribusiness and which promote a monoculture environment that is devastating to the ecosystem. But in the early days of the republic, the small landholder and farmer was also considered to be better equipped to safeguard democratic ideals—it was believed that these farmers were, in fact, the backbone of American democracy.

As we’ve learned from the plethora of films, books and journalistic articles that have appeared in recent years, the proponents of agribusiness and factory farming along with their lobbyists in Congress have created a stranglehold on what we eat. For many, this has become one of the major political issues of our time. But, sadly, the movement exists primarily outside of Washington, which still seems to be in thrall to industrial agricultural interests.

Often neglected in the ongoing discussion about food safety, humane treatment of farm animals and locavorism are the farm workers—the men, women and even children who work long and hard to bring us the food we are so rightfully concerned about. In this issue, Ramona Bajema gives us an update on the ways in which the United Farm Workers’ union advocates on behalf of farm workers. This article reminded me of the artist Jenny Holzer, who has created an inspiring series of works she calls “Truisms,” one of which is: Everyone’s work is equally important. The work that farm workers do is vitally important and we must make every effort to ensure their safety and help to improve the quality of their lives.

Speaking of farms, I recently finagled a visit to Mulberry Haven. It is a mulberry lover’s delight with many varieties growing on this unique Ojai farm. Increasingly, mulberries have been popping up at local farmers’ markets, in restaurants and, whenever my family can get its hands on them, in our kitchen. I haven’t decided yet which variety is my favorite, flip-flopping between Pakistanis and Oscars at a dizzying rate, but the mulberry, no matter the variety, is an exquisite fruit that I recommend to one and all.

Here’s to a summer filled with apricots, grilled corn-on-the-cob, heirloom tomato and fresh basil salads, my family’s new favorite beverage—lemonade flavored with a fresh mint simple syrup—and, of course, mulberries! Don’t forget to share a meal in your own back yard (Erin Ellwood shows us how easy and fun this can be!) and, whenever possible, let local farmers and farm workers know how much you appreciate what they do.

Jane Handel

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OJAI & VENTURA COUNTY

edibleojai.com PUBLISHERS Jane Handel Claud Mann Perla Batalla EDITOR Jane Handel COPY EDITOR Doug Adrianson DESIGN Nina Mecagni WEB DESIGNER Mary Ogle TO SUBSCRIBE: Fill out the subscription form and mail to the address listed below. Or subscribe online by going to edibleojai.com and clicking the subscribe link.

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Photo by Gregory Willard

EDIBLE NOTES

By Allison Costa

Caspar Poyck, Culinary Therapist Caspar Poyck believes in eating the old-fashioned way: sitting with your family and eating together without distractions. He also believes in taking a moment at the beginning of a meal to settle into the present moment and offer either a prayer or, as he said in a recent phone interview, “A moment of acknowledgement of how beautiful it is that this food made it to your plate.”

Caspar Poyck just might be the remedy to what ails many of us: too many meals eaten on the run and a disconnect between our bodies and our food.

This child of two yoga instructors grew up to become both a chef and a mindbody therapist. And with his business, Consciously Culinary, he combines both of these loves into a mission to help people bring awareness to how they interact with food, and let that guide what they eat. Through this unique form of occupational therapy, Poyck works with clients who are looking for a new way of eating, struggling with food intolerance and allergies, and people looking to be more in touch with their bodies. As he explained in an interview with Radio Ojai, “Instead of telling people how and what they should eat, I give people the tools to find out for themselves what the best foods are for them.”

Consciously Culinary offers three-day retreats (often held at Casa Barranca in Ojai) and private consultations in your home.

Consciously Culinary 805-760-7730 consciouslyculinary.com

Photo by frtame.thirty.six

Seasons Catering Cooking Classes If you’re reading this magazine, chances are you like food. And chances are, if you like food, you just might like to cook. And if you like to cook, the cooking classes at Season’s Catering just might be the thing for you. This catering company in Ventura offers six to eight cooking classes each month, taught by a variety of talented and engaging teachers. They offer classes on homemade pasta, gluten-free cooking and classes that will transport you to France, Italy or Greece. Whether you’re looking to learn some new quick-and-easy recipes, explore the joys of cooking the Moroccan way, or if you want to learn how to roast a chicken, they have a class for you.

Seasons Catering 2646 Palma Dr., Ventura. seasonscateringca.com.

Taste of Camarillo Event On Sunday, July 25, the Meadowlark Service League will hold its 23rd annual A Taste of Camarillo Wine and Food Festival from 1 to 4 p.m. on the lawns of the historic Adolfo Camarillo Ranch House in Camarillo. Proceeds benefit Camarillo and greater Ventura County charities. Guests will be able to sample fine wines and tantalizing food from a wide variety of participating wineries and restaurants. Enjoy an afternoon featuring live entertainment, a silent auction and boutique shopping. Meadowlark Service League is a nonprofit organization of women dedicated to raising funds for a variety of local charitable organizations and programs that provide services to meet the needs of Ventura County.

Tickets for A Taste of Camarillo are $75 in advance and $85 at the door. They are available online at meadowlarkserviceleague.com.

For more information, call Mary Little at 805-388-7158 or 805-641-1222 105 S. Oak St., Ventura

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Photo by Allison Costa

Bulk Foods Whether you do it for the taste or simply to cut down on all that packaging, bulk foods are often the way to go when looking for beans, rice or other dry ingredients.

Wondering where you can go to get yours? Here’s a list of some local resources: Rainbow Bridge 805-646-4017 211 E. Matilija St., Ojai Oats, brown rice, granolas, beans, dried fruit, flours, grains, seeds and nuts, coffee The Farmer and The Cook 805-640-9608 3309 W. El Roblar, Meiners Oaks Sugar, flour, salt, rice, beans, dried fruits, quinoa, coffee, laundry detergent and dishwashing soap, plus 125 bulk herbs and spices Lassen’s 805-644-6990 4071 E. Main St., Ventura Flour, grains, beans, rice, nuts, coffee, candy Tresierras Supermarket 805-487-6666 133 W. Pleasant Valley Road, Oxnard Rice, beans, lentils, dried peppers, snacks Albertson’s 805-647-0023 7800 Telegraph Road, Ventura Dried fruit, nuts, beans

Photo by Carole Topalian

Photo by Allison Costa

Spencer Makenzie’s Spencer Makenzie’s may be known for their gargantuan tempura-battered fish tacos, but don’t be fooled: This is not your average taco stand. Whether you stop in after a day at the beach or you’re there for a lunch meeting, this place will not disappoint.

In addition to the renowned fish tacos filled with crispy, crunchy fried fish, the tuna pockets are another draw. These curious little things consist of a tofu pouch stuffed with sweet rice, chunks of blackened ahi that is drizzled with their creamy and spicy dynamite sauce. Order two for lunch and you’re good to go. Spencer Mackenzie’s also makes a delicious ceviche, filled with big pieces of fish and shrimp, chunks of radish and red and yellow peppers. And if you haven’t tried them before, the crunchy Parmesan-dusted taco shells—filled with chicken, beef or seafood—are also memorable.

Spencer Makenzie’s 806 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura smfishco.com.

Ideal Seafood You may have already met Alicia and Rick Tharp, the folks from What-a-Deal Seafood, at the Ojai Farmers’ Market or had them deliver the day’s catch to your door. Well, now we’re going to have even more access to their just-off-the-boat, fresher-than-fresh seafood at their new retail space in Mira Monte. Salmon, shrimp, ahi tuna, bass and whatever else they catch each day will be available at this unique drive-through location. They will also carry several cold salads including their ever-popular ceviche, poki and tuna with some others in the hopper. Call ahead to check availability and to place your order.

Ideal Seafood 11512 N. Ventura Ave. (Highway 33 just north of the carwash by the majestic oak tree) Hours: Tuesday–Friday noon–6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Sunday at the Ojai Farmers’ Market 9 a.m.–1 p.m.

805-231-8752

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EDIBLE NOTES continued

Café Verde As you meander through the grounds of the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, taking in the bounty of gorgeous mountain views and fragrant native plants, you’ll eventually make your way to Café Verde. Under the sharp eye of Executive Chef Jamie West, the café launched a new menu and look early this spring. The menu is full of fresh, clean food—the perfect companion to a glass of wine, a cup of freshly squeezed juice or a massage.

Appetizer options include chicken lettuce wraps and a vegetable spring roll filled with refreshing mint, carrots, sprouts and mushrooms. Tempting entrées include the sesame-seared ahi tuna salad, the turkey wrap (filled with chèvre cheese, tomatoes, arugula and a lemon herb aioli) and the organic salmon sandwich on naan bread (topped with avocado, tomato and a ginger-soy sauce).

Café Verde at The Ojai Valley Inn & Spa 905 Country Club Rd., Ojai 805-646-1111 ojairesort.com

Café Verde also offers an impressive selection of smoothies and fresh juices.

TheMother’s Joy, made with cucumber, beet, carrot, pear and ginger, and the Wellness, made with apple, pomegranate and mango, are both crisp and refreshing. They also offer a great selection of cocktails like the Acai Spritz (made with acai liquor, citrus, mint and tonic) and the Spa-tini (made with sake, vanilla rum, cucumber and tonic).

Typical of the Inn, the service is impeccable and gracious—everyone is made to feel welcome and very special. Whether you sit inside or by the pool under the shade of an umbrella, you’ll find that the vibe is one of true relaxation. Having lunch at this little café feels like a mini-vacation.

Photo by James Scolari

Petite Rêve Chocolates

Petite Rêve Chocolates 805-258-9472 petiterevechocolates.com (also on Facebook)

It’s always pretty cool to see a young mom starting her own business. And Kate Dunbar, owner of Petite Rêve Chocolates, is one of these women. She grew up in a family that loved food, honed her cooking skills as she cooked for a child with food allergies and developed an ease in the kitchen making truffles for her husband each year on Valentine’s Day. And all of this culminated this year when she launched Petite Rêve Chocolates.

Dunbar says, “People love chocolate and I want to help people love chocolate even more.” And that she does—in the form of decadent desserts made from local, all-natural ingredients. The list of sweet options will make your head spin—rich and decadent flourless chocolate cakes, buttery madeleines and French macarons made with almond flour and filled with chocolate ganache. Dunbar makes rich, dark chocolate brownies infused with different spice combinations like Chinese ginger or cinnamon chili. The towering crêpe cakes consist of 20 layers of handmade crêpes and are filled with a whipped chocolate ganache, lemon curd, lime curd or vanilla cream. And then there are the truffles....

What makes these truffles truly one-of-a-kind is that they are infused with the most unusual flavors. Rose petal, lavender, Chinese five-spice, wasabi ginger, red wine chipotle and spiced candied bacon are among the most distinct. Petite Rêve also offers a line of truffles infused with flavors from Zhena’s Gypsy Tea—jasmine green tea, coconut chai, ambrosia plum white tea and pumpkin spice herbal teas are just the beginning. The truffles are so decadent and rich, Dunbar advises cutting each truffle into quarters and allowing them to slowly melt in the mouth.

All of Petite Rêve’s goodies are made with local, seasonal produce and the herbs they incorporate are fresh and organic. They also do special orders, if you’re looking for a gift, party favors and desserts for weddings. They offer gift certificates and free delivery to most of Ventura and Ojai.

Allison Costa is a seasoned cook, restaurant enthusiast and lover of all things food, cooking and eating. She works as a freelance writer and restaurant critic for the VC Reporter. She lives in Ventura with her family. Check out her blog venturafoodhappenings.com.

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Authorized Sales/Service

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For Beautiful Summer Leigh By

Leslie Merical To t h o s e w h o n u r t u r e f l o w ers forth Let us Sing Sing Sing In loving hands the trowel, hoe and wellspring become tools of life-ever-giving Let us Sing Sing Sing Fo r t h e t i l l e r o f t h e e a r t h , whose bounty feeds all senes Let us Sing Sing Sing Wo r k e r s o f t h e l a n d b r e a t h e live deeply in the essence of mother earthgod Let us Sing Sing Sing And for you who receives this song May thine ears be filled with the light of our thanksgiving And your soul a deeply felt heart-warming Amen

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PIONEERS IN THE LOCAL FOOD MOVEMENT:

By Carrie Clough

n all the talk about local food and locally sourced ingredients finally making headlines in the last few years, you would think we could now find innumerable restaurants and grocery stores proudly boasting locally produced fare. Truth be told, such bold establishments have popped up too few and far between. But this is how revolutions often begin: very slowly and with a small number of dedicated participants.

I met Rachel Main back in 2005 when she was the executive chef at the San Roque School in Santa Barbara. I knew immediately that this was not only a woman devoted to the craft of cooking, but was as passionate about nutrition and local food as I am. But I could also see that this was someone willing to work a lot harder for her passion than I could ever imagine.

After moving on from San Roque and private chef-ing, Rachel started her own catering company in 2008. It was during this time that she met Robert Jacobi, who also ran a catering company.

They found themselves hiring each other to help with large events: Rachel would hire Robert to work front of house, and Robert would hire Rachel as chef. After working a number of high-end events together, they realized that their styles complemented one another.

Both of them had years of experience and both felt that to live in the midst of such incredible farmland was a local food vision waiting to happen. So they started Main Course California in November 2008.

I had been hearing so many great things about Main Course but was (shamefully) yet to pay them a visit. In an effort to redeem myself, one afternoon I drove to Ventura after work in order to check them out. I planned on getting some food to go for my grandmother and me.

The location is not exactly high in foot traffic, though it’s surrounded by many office buildings and shopping centers. I almost missed it driving by, but once I saw it, it definitely stands out. “Main Course California” is emblazoned in large blue letters, consistent with the strip mall requirements, though they have their personal banner with classy insignia hanging below. There is a beautiful raised bed in front filled with native plants, which immediately hit a soft spot for me. I could tell from first impression that this was an establishment offering many layers of California in their modest but chic little space.

In the kitchen, I met the executive chef, Nadia Licea. She is young, capable and extremely calm. I love meeting chefs like this (don’t

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Photos by Leslie Bryce

we all?). Nadia has worked as executive chef at Main Course for about a year. She is in charge of making lunches, catering (often large events like weddings) and special-order baked goods (specifically wedding cakes).

Most of their local produce comes from Dave Palmer, while Tom Shepherd’s and Phil McGrath’s farms are also highly utilized. For animal products, they’ve sourced Watkins Ranch grass-fed beef and Rocker Bros. Jidori chickens. For seafood, they buy from Ocean Pride in Ventura. Other farms they utilize are Churchill Orchard in Ojai, Hollandia Farms in Carpinteria, Donna’s Goats in Ojai and Underwood Farms in Moorpark.

I was really impressed with their menu. My grandmother said she didn’t want too much dinner so I opted for two salads and two soups. I ordered the Roasted Tomato-Basil soup for both of us, the MCC Wedge with romaine, crispy pancetta, asparagus, heirloom cherry tomatoes, onion sprouts and creamy blue cheese dressing, and the Avocado Salad with sweet and spicy greens, fresh crab, orange supremes, nigella seeds and chive-pistachio vinaigrette.

Both my grandmother and I couldn’t get over how good the soup was. There were toasted rye croutons on top. I think it was the best tomato soup I’ve ever eaten. No cream, no butter—just the richest, tangiest tomato flavor. The salads were good as well, particularly the dressings. I don’t think I’ve ever had a pistachio salad dressing before, and the nigella seeds were a nice touch.

I didn’t get to try their Fennel-Crusted Tuna with grilled radicchio, warm black bean salad and red pepper aioli or the Homemade Pasta Primavera with grilled seasonal veggies tossed in olive oil, fresh herbs and preserved lemon, but know I’ll be back. It will have to be for lunch, since they are no longer open for dinner.

Main Course California 1364 Donlon Street #11, Ventura 805-658-8900 Monday–Friday 10:45 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Carrie Clough is a native Santa Barbaran. She is a certified nutritional chef and has her own personal chef business, MANZANITA, specializing in nutritious cuisine. With a great love of native plants and seasonal produce, she seeks to meld the two worlds of ecology and gastronomy into one beautiful, edible tapestry. Visit manzanitachef.com.

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STATE OF THE UNION In the late spring and early summer, if you open your car windows while driving through Ventura County along Highway 101, you will be hit by the smell of strawberries from the surrounding fields. Looking out onto manicured rows, you can see groups of 10 to 12 men and women bent over plants that are not as high as their knees. Despite the heat, their hats, long sleeves and pants attempt to block the blistering sunrays.

On Memorial Day weekend, as thousands of families flocked to beaches just a few miles from the fields, we passed by field workers whose 10-hour days and scant pay prohibited any family outing despite the fact that it was a national holiday.

I scanned the fields for structures that might provide shade during rest times as guaranteed by a law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005. The law also mandated that farm workers would have access to clean drinking water while working. The bill had been a major victory after years of effort by the United Farm Workers union. Five years after this law was passed, I did not see any evidence of shady rest places, only small stands where the strawberries would be weighed and protected from the sun after being picked. As UFW Organizing Director Lauro Barajas pointed out to me, “At least Ventura County’s farm workers are near the coast with cooler temperatures. Think of the ones in San Joaquin Valley!”

The UFW has had its hands full since I last wrote about their legacy for this magazine two years ago. Their battle has multiple fronts: workers’ rights, environmental hazards and immigration. In addition to trying to enforce the shade law to protect workers from heat stroke, the lack of which has accounted for 12 deaths since the law was signed, the union continues to fight

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against farm workers’ daily exposure to carcinogenic pesticides, lack of restroom facilities and the regular lowering of wages as farmers are forced to cut costs. Two of the heat stroke deaths occurred at Kern County’s Giumarra Vineyards, and the UFW has circulated a petition to boycott that vineyard due to the miserable working conditions of its field workers. The UFW’s cause is at the center of food politics, but is also part of an ongoing human rights struggle.

Protecting the rights of immigrants who come to work at lowpaid, backbreaking jobs in U.S. agriculture has been central to the UFW cause since its founding by Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. The union has played an ongoing role in trying to steer immigration reform through Congress. Arizona’s SB 1070 law, however, which authorizes police questioning of individuals for whom they have a “reasonable suspicion” of being an undocumented immigrant, has captured UFW attention. According to Barajas, the “hate” that lies underneath the law has resulted in killings at the border: Within one week, there were two fatal shootings by U.S. Border Patrol agents of a teenager and another man crossing the Mexico-U.S. border. In response, the UFW announced that it would lead a march of undocumented immigrants to Arizona on July 29 to challenge and protest the law that will go into effect that day.

The crisis in Arizona has diverted energies away from the UFW’s pressure on Congress to pass broader immigration reform measures. Beginning in the late 1990s, the UFW made strange bedfellows with the leaders of agricultural business interests in their mutual support of the bipartisan Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, known as the AgJOBs bill. Reintroduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) in

OJAI & Ventura County Summer 2010

to by Ramona Bajema

2009 in response to UFW pressure after languishing in Congress, the bill would allow for legal agricultural guest workers as well as undocumented farm workers already in the United States. First adopted by a Republican administration in 1987, the administration under President George W. Bush allowed for changes to the H-2A visa process for temporary workers that lowered minimum required wage rates and reduced government oversight.

Memories of the UFW’s decades-long grape boycott still loom in my memory—I was a teenager before I first started to eat grapes. Now, strawberries—an important crop in Ventura County—are one of the most vulnerable fruits to pesticide exposure.

Based on proposals presented by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation this spring, the pesticide, methyl iodide would become legal for growers to use. Although a known carcinogen that is used by scientists to induce cancer in laboratory rats, the Environmental Protection Agency approved methyl iodide in 2007 despite protests from scientists and environmentalists, including five Nobel laureates. Although safety guidelines allow for “buffer zones” to protect farm workers and residents who live near fields using the gas, the UFW has warned that farmers often do not enforce safety standards. When I asked Barajas about the pesticide, he breathed a deep sigh and replied, “Every year there are more and more pesticides used in the farms.” Methyl iodide was just one more carcinogenic threat that farm workers and consumers were facing.

I also asked if there was a strawberry boycott planned, but Barajas wondered whether consumers were angry enough to participate. Consumers should be angry. When a study revealed that children who had exposure to pesticides on non-organic

fruits and vegetables were more likely to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the story spread quickly on the Internet. Dr. Maryse Bouchard from the University of Montreal noted that the group of pesticides that was the subject of the study, organophosphates, was designed to attack the nervous system: “That,” she noted, “is how they killed pests.”

A report on which fruits and vegetables had the highest levels of pesticide exposure also went viral: celery, grapes, apples, spinach, blueberries, and, of course, strawberries were among those listed.

The union has 2,500 members in the Ventura County area. The number is a small fraction of the nearly 13,000 farm workers who are active here. Barajas noted, however, that UFW successes are not gauged by membership alone. If they can win a victory on behalf of all farm workers—which they did when they got strawberry farmers to return wages to their 1998 levels after they had been lowered in 2003—then it is a victory for the UFW. But their victories are also our victories—consumers, residents of Ventura County—as well as the planet’s.

Ramona Bajema plans to avoid eating non-organic strawberries and thanks Lauro Barajas for his generosity and time in discussing UFW and food politics with her. She has discovered the joys of the vegetarian burrito and shrimp ceviche at La Gloria Taqueria in Oxnard, her mother’s iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing, and onion rings in Carpinteria.

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THE WISEST TREE A sacred tree for thousands of years, the mulberry tree has once again burst forth in the Ojai Valley. Though it is one of the last to come out of winter dormancy, and hence called the wisest, the mulberry grows so quickly and abundantly that it is one of the first fruit crops of the summer. This mystical, useful and incredibly beautiful tree is one of the best edible landscaping trees and super foods that one could partake of.

Since ancient times, the mulberry tree has pervaded religion, literature and medicine, along with global trade. In China, a Red Mulberry is said to have been the Divine Tree upon which the mythical sun bird sat, providing a gateway from Heaven to Earth. In Japan, paper from the mulberry tree is still used as vessels for offerings. Many sacred rituals and entertainment activities were performed in mulberry groves, and the tree was frequently planted in palaces, sanctuaries and pilgrimage routes all across Asia.

In one of these palaces, it is said that the Chinese Empress Si-Ling-Chi was gazing at the luscious leaves of the White Mulberry and noticed a glistening cocoon hanging by a long, shining strand. She pulled several threads through her ring and made a thicker thread, and with the help of her maids she wove the first silk cloth for a robe to be worn by the Emperor.

Silk changed the face of world trade, and although the Chinese kept the secret of the mulberry for over 2,500 years, by the 17th century the rest of the world was vying for White Mulberry trees for silkworm production. And so the mulberry became hybridized with the native Red and Black Mulberries, native to Asia Minor, Europe and America.

In fact, mulberries are native to practically all continents and zones, with 150 published species and thousands more of cultivars. According to the California Rare Fruit Growers Association, many varieties have been developed and adapted for our state, in its variety of elevations and climates. Mulberries are drought tolerant, flood resistant, require minimal fertilization and can withstand poor soil conditions and pollution. In fact, they are so hardy that the U.S. Forest Service considers the White Mulberry a weed in many urban areas. In other cities worldwide, the mulberry is a popular tree along streets and in home gardens.

In Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, the mulberry is taken for colds, to improve eyesight, protect the liver, strengthen joints and lower blood pressure. Modern research has identified such a treasure trove of amino acids, phyto-nutrients and antioxi-

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By Kate Riley Photographs by Kate Riley & Ramona Bajema dants in the root, leaf and fruit that it is receiving considerable attention for its effects on arteriosclerosis and diabetes, and is a common component of herbal remedies. The mulberry is a powerhouse of a fruit-as-medicine and its healing qualities are immediately felt in the body and soul upon eating it.

For those fortunate enough to have a tree, the fruit is the most pleasing to be eaten alone, right off the tree, with no attention to its amazing staining power—except on a child’s or lover’s lips. Mulberries make a luxurious garnish, and have reached near-spiritual status from gourmets such as Alice Waters in Chez Panisse’s mulberry ice cream. Mulberries are quite perishable but dry and freeze well, and may be substituted in any recipe for blackberries, with less added sugar. They also make superb jams, wine and elixirs.

Mulberry Haven is a historic farm in Ojai, with 66 mature mulberry trees of the cultivars Riviera, Oscar, Persian, Pakistani and Wellington. The long, dark red Pakistanis come on first, in early May, followed by the black Oscars and Wellingtons, and purply-black Rivieras. The Persians provide a luscious finale in late June, lasting until August, and are much sought after by fine chefs. Carol Vesecky, current owner of Mulberry Haven, was taken by the foresight of founding farmers Gordon and Marie Kennedy, who planted the orchard in the late 1970s as back-to-the-landers. They not only chose unique trees like carob, che berry, sapote, sunshine grapefruit, cherry-plum and natives such as Catalina cherry to fill their orchard, they also showcased the potential of the picturesque mulberry in the landscape and as an arbor over the drive.

The wisdom of the mulberry tree is again enjoying acclaim in the culinary world, as well as in medicine, Permaculture and conservation. Indigenous groups from Vietnam to Papua New Guinea have developed campaigns to preserve the rainforest through the sustainable cultivation of the mulberry and the renewal of ancient crafts, such as the making of paper, sacred vessels and silk. This endlessly practical tree is even now being researched as a biofuel for the developing world. Here in the Ojai Valley, we are fortunate to have such a resource— even if only to enjoy its berries!

Kate Riley is a sustainable landscape designer who lives at Mulberry Haven in Ojai and can be reached at Kate@ innerlandscapedesign.com. Carol Vesecky is the owner of the teaching farm Mulberry Haven and founder of Biointensive for Russia, at cvesecky@igc.org.

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organic cafe+grocery+

the farmer and the c

organic cafe+grocery+f the farmer and the cook the farmer and the cook

organic cafe+grocery+farm organic cafe+grocery+farm

RECIPE:

MULBERRY SAUERKRAUT 5 pounds green cabbage 4 cups of mulberries 3 tablespoons sea salt Equipment: 1 gallon ceramic crock or glass jar Lid or plate that fits inside crock Bottle filled with water (or a scrubbed and boiled rock) Cloth cover Mulberries are famous as a wine ingredients because they so easily ferment and have a deep, rich flavor as a result of this process. This recipe combines the sweetness of the mulberry with the sour of green cabbage to form an unconventional sauerkraut and tonic. Serve with ripe avocados.

well enough, you don’t need a weight to insure the mixture is submerged. You may also add a little filtered water to cover the mixture. Or, you can place a weight on top of the plate or lid. Cover the whole thing with a cloth or a towel. Set aside and wait for it to ferment! Tamp or press down your sauerkraut daily and check on its tanginess. I like this sauerkraut “young” and eat it after one or two days, and store it in the refrigerator.

For more information on making sauerkraut, see Sandor Katz’s books and site www.wildfermentation.com.

the farmer and the cook organic cafe+grocery+farm

the farmer and the cook

339 w.w.elelroblar dr 339 roblar 339 el roblar dr 339 w. w.w. el roblar 339 el roblardr dr near ojai, california near ojai, californ near ojai, california near ojai, californi near ojai, california

organic cafe+grocery+farm

Shred the cabbage in a food processor or by hand. Layer the crock or jar with a few inches of cabbage, then a layer of mulberries, then sprinkle some salt on top. Continue with the cabbage and mulberry layers, topping with salt, until you reach the neck of the jar or crock. Press it down with a plate, or pack it down using a tool like a thick bamboo stick, to force the water out of the mixture. The idea is for the brine to cover the kraut, which protects it from mold. Sometimes, if it is juicy enough, and packed

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INSIDE

Story & Photos by Erin Ellwood

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OUT edible

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As the parent who is happily responsible for the Food For Thought–sponsored produce stand at San Antonio Elementary School two days a month, I clearly see the importance of generating a positive energy and environment around eating healthy foods. I was amazed at the number of kids who were willing to try strawberry guavas and ended up loving them and coming back for more.

When presented in a casual and organic environment (not the dining table), and surrounded by the swirling comfort of hungry

I’ve learned, as probably most par clude your children in the process and experience more joy in the ou friends and parents picking up their children at the end of a long day of school, they always seem willing to try anything—and they do.It got me thinking about how one could create that kind of energy and environment at the dining table. I am the parent of a truly picky eater, so I often feel like a magician in the kitchen… distracting my child with one thing so I can sneak in something healthy when she isn’t looking. That gets old fast.

I’ve learned, as probably most parents have, that when you include your children in the process, they tend to have more interest and experience more joy in the outcome.

We’ve all seen it with gardening. Children love to plant seeds and watch them mature. We just planted an apple tree at San Antonio School with the second grade class, and their enthusiasm was electric. They were literally fighting over the shovels and couldn’t wait to dig!

So, how can we tap into that enthusiasm at home and get them to enjoy eating what grows on those plants as much as they enjoy the process of planting, picking and cooking?

My solution? Bring the table outside to the garden. What better way is there to spend a summer evening in Ojai? Children like

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connecting the dots, and it’s where most kids are most comfortable anyway, right?

If you don’t already have a table and chairs outside, get creative and get the children involved. You could use an old piece of plywood and prop it up on some old sawhorses or cinderblocks, bring out your dining room chairs and find a beautiful piece of cloth

rents have, that when you ins, they tend to have more interest utcome.

to cover the table. Make it a family project to decorate the table using whatever you can find around the house. This can also become a very natural lesson in recycling. Gather a bunch of empty wine bottles and put candles in them for the centerpiece.

Bottom line: Bring the inside out and recruit your children in the process. Eat among the trees and plants that have been so generous to your family. Take the time to connect the dots for your children, and I believe you will see a renewed interest in the relationship between plants, food, eating and joy.

Erin Ellwood was born in Los Angeles and has over 20 years of experience designing and decorating sets for television and film.

She moved to Ojai almost three years ago, and created the Lone Arranger, an affordable redecorating service that appeals to those individuals whomight not have either the courage or the finances to call an interior designer for help. For more information and a look at before and after pictures: www.erinellwood.com

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The vision for the future is to expand the program by providing fresh produce to local food banks, offering demonstration gardens to the community and offering after-school programs to disadvantaged and at-risk youths.

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DR. MONTESSORI’S VISION CONTINUES TO GROW

By Karrie Keyes

Photographs by Kristine Ellison

T

he Montessori School of Ojai (MSO) is a private school in the Ojai Valley serving infants through eighth grade. Inspired by the highly successful Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, MSO has spent the last two years renovating its garden, which is now thriving on over an acre of land.

Garden instructor Jon Ellis and staff work together to link garden experiences with science lessons as well as environmental stewardship. Students plant, maintain and harvest produce that contributes to both the school’s hot lunch program and the middle school’s weekly farmers’ market. Proceeds raised by the market helped to fund the middle school’s participation in the Montessori Model United Nations Conference in New York.

Through extensive fundraising, volunteers, parent support and a generous grant from the Gould Family Foundation, MSO has been able to add dozens of fruit trees, berry plants and several raised beds. It plans to install a water catchment system to the garden for the next school year, acknowledging the need to be water-wise and sustainable. A pony named Star and our goats, Mocha and Oreo, round out the garden experience.

At MSO, we have found that the garden program has given our students a better understanding of their relationship with nature and a solid foundation for learning core subjects. The students have learned to conserve natural resources and how to take care of the environment. The garden also encourages self-confidence and a sense of responsibility to the community. Dr. Maria Montessori’s vision of creating a joyful, diverse and family-oriented community in which each child can reach independence by building confidence, competence, self-esteem and respect for others is truly enhanced by this program.

MSO believes in sharing what we have with those in need and encouraging children to live responsibly in the world. At the Montessori School of Ojai, students are inspired to live both passionately and compassionately in a global community. To that end, we are seeking partners to expand our program into the community. If you would like to be involved please contact Karrie Keyes at HYPERLINK “mailto:karberry67@gmail.com” karberry67@gmail.com.

Karrie Keyes is the proud parent of MSO alumni and now straight-A students at Foothill Technology High School and El Camino Middle College Academy. She is also an avid gardener, the monitor engineer for Pearl Jam and head of special activities and Montessori Model UN at MSO.

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$25oforgarlic morebecause the year before Last year I planted oneofbed Allmore Things TeaI could handle. Last year’s harvest I had planted than 300 Lantana Suite 37 · Camarillo · 805-445-8327 was needs, experience had taught me With this not coupon.enough Not valid withfor other our offers. Offer expires but 7-29-09 . to be conservative. The year before I had observed the rows of garlic slowly withering June cupinofthehot orsun and each day I promised myself I would gettea to it, just as I always promise iced buy one cup of hot or iced myself I will get to everything. tea, get the 2nd free (excludes gold level teas)

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to pull the tomato stakes out of the ground in the fall after it has rained and the ground is soft. You can harvest winter squash today or tomorrow, unlike cucumbers.

You3:03:32 can harvest beets for 6/3/09 AM weeks. Take your time. But not with the tomatoes—they ripen in a panic. If I had it to do all over again I would have been a walnut farmer.

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Unlike walnuts, maturing garlic has a definite harvest window. Yet, like walnuts, garlic can be stored for months without refrigeration. The harvest timing is not as critical as zucchini, but failure to act yields more dire results because the bulbs have been growing for nine months, and you pay rent on that ground all winter waiting for the payday.

Besides, nobody begs you to take their surplus garlic off their hands. There is no such thing as surplus garlic unless you are a Chinese exporter.

One day too late the garlic tops were lying askew at Gozo, scattering in the breeze, completely separated from the heads below the surface of the soil. I struck a spade at the dirt where I thought a garlic might be hiding and it bounced off. I think I probably drove off to buy a beer at that point.

Eventually I tried to rescue the garlic crop by ripping it out of the soil with a tractor implement, and I got a few boxes of un-salable garlic, but garlic is still sprouting in that section of the farm after three years, mocking my lethargy.

Or my failure to plan, as the late John Wooden said—which is also a plan to fail. Since other garlic growers may read this I probably shouldn’t reveal my desperation, but they might be empathetic.

I seem to have learned very little from these misadventures.

Last season I had planted 30% compared to the year before so this season I planted 500% more than last year. Farmers are not supposed to be impetuous. Risk-takers, OK, but I court folly regularly. Garlic is in just about every room that I inhabit or work in except the bathroom. It is in the cab, on the dash and in the forbidding backseat area of the truck. It is in the truck bed, in boxes at the farm, the store, the barn and my house, in my wife’s car, hanging in frightening quantities from the rafters in storage and there is still three quarters of a mile of it left to be harvested: 4,400 linear feet.

Glad I planted it in three-week successions.

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Another advantage inherent to the last 4,400 feet is that the last garlic planted on Gozo was grown in Oregon the year before, so the crop is sort of like a vegetable with jet lag. The calendar does not match its biorhythms. The Oregon garlic is used to being harvested in July because the year previous it slumbered so long in the cold highlands of Klamath Falls. This will be the best garlic by far, especially if I can get it out of the ground on time.

Photo by Steve Sprinkel

I have grown many crops of garlic, and consume a lot of it. I eat a few raw cloves of the stuff every day when it’s in season and I start chewing on the green stems in the early spring when the garlic is long enough to grab and pull out of the ground. Garlic goes very well with a sandwich and a modest pile of potato chips and especially young radishes. Eating raw garlic was long considered barbarically uncouth, but like a few other of my activities has come the long way around to being cutting edge.

Organic farming, for example, was only peopled by heathens, and now of course the Philistines love to measure its value by the dollar billions in organic commerce that our hobby now derives.

In a diversified organic market garden, growing garlic is as safe as owning a Treasury bill. Garlic is not as flashy an investment as stock in Apple or buying in at the World Series of Poker. You can’t make as much money per acre for nine months on garlic as you might by growing spinach, lettuce, radishes and another quick hitter like cilantro in the same nine-month period, but there is not nearly the risk with garlic. Garlic will not die in a freeze, has few pest problems, will make a crop on average fertility and will survive, even thrive, during one of those five-day blasts of 96 degrees in April that we are prone to have in the Ojai, as long as you throw enough water on it.

No crop but cannabis or opium has nearly as much lore and love attached to it as garlic, and you won’t do time in jail for growing it. For example, the number one return on an Internet search for “lettuce book” yielded a nifty $213 tome on diseases that afflict the crop. There are lettuce festivals, to be sure, but they take place in Yuma and Palestine, both of which would need invented means to draw visitors to their notably grim neighborhoods.

Garlic, on the other hand, inspires festivals in dozens of states and dozens of countries. Garlic rhymes with “gourmet.” The USDA calls us “garlic aficionados,” officially. Lettuce may have admirers, even lovers or adherents, but probably never aficionados. Garlic is about art and culture, gastronomy, history, vampires and bouillabaisse. If not for Cesar Cardini, lettuce would scarcely have any romance at all. But when you put garlic together with a big bowl of lettuce, olive oil and the usual accomplices, the sum of the salad’s parts is superior even to garlic’s inimitable standing in the kitchen. With garlic you have a meal.

Steve Sprinkel, a native Los Angeleno, has farmed in Texas, Hawaii and in many localities throughout California including five sites in Ojai, where he also operates The Farmer and The Cook market and restaurant with his wife, Olivia Chase. From 1997 to 2007 he was an associate editor for ACRES, USA, the national alternative agriculture monthly published in Austin, Texas.

RECIPE: PARSLEY MOJO SAUCE ¼ cup olive oil 4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced 2 limes, juiced ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes ½ teaspoon sea salt ½ teaspoon cumin ½ cup parsley, chopped finely

To make the mojo de ajo sauce, heat the oil and the garlic in a small saucepan for about 8–10 minutes on low heat until the garlic is soft. It should not get browned. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Stir in the lime juice, red chile pepper flakes, cumin, salt and the finely chopped parsley. Drizzle the mojo de ajo over freshly made tortillas, beans or steak.

Artful Living delights for the craft obsessed

Olivia Chase has been making food for others since she sold bread to her neighbors as a teenager in Ventura. She fell in love with Ojai’s beauty and moved back to the area after college.

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Barbara Beck, Owner 107 S. Signal Street Ojai, California 93023 Phone: 805-640-0800 Artfulliving@ojai.net Hours: Mon-Sat • 10:30-5:00 Sun • 12:00-4:00

OJAI & Ventura County Summer 2010

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GONE PLUM CRAZY: By DK Crawford The Flight from Perfectionist Imperfections Just So

Watching my great, great aunts from Mississippi bottle homemade jam and roll out buttery half-moon Parker House yeast rolls from scratch to spread it on was pure heaven. The aunts’ blackberry jam and fig preserves were legendary. The smells that emanated from their kitchen were intoxicating and watching their exacting culinary practices was akin to studying master craftsmen.

They were fiercely intellectual, independent-spirited women my mother dubbed “the three furies.” Products of both the Reconstruction and the Great Depression, they rarely minced words. They commanded respect and demanded perfection. They rode stallions and tended a magical sunken garden. One of the three aunts, Myrtle, regularly challenged me well into her late 90s with lightening-speed mathematical tables and grammar challenges, impatiently tapping her cane on the ground when I took too long.

My grandmother and namesake, Dorothy, grew up under the aunts’ loving yet intense Victorian tutelage. She shared a room with fierce Myrtle much of her life and together they helped mold her into the exacting person she became. By the time I was born, my grandmother was a reserved, lion-hearted scientist who patiently taught me about the natural world.

made all sorts of future plans for ceiling fans, attic insulation and yes, more window units.

Meanwhile, with the onslaught of Ojai’s summer, my sister’s plums were starting to shrivel. She had bags of them in her fridge and I had some in mine. One morning we discovered tiny bits of mold on the top of two plums and panicked. Mother Nature had decided for us that, ready or not, by Jove! It was time to jell.

Lys showed up with an urgency usually reserved for medical emergencies. As we rushed the plums from her car to my kitchen we felt the stifling heat starting to build and quickly closed the door.

Our goal was to honor the plum’s essence, as my grandmother had, by making the jelly not overly sweet, leaving a bit of tartness and making it that gorgeous, clear consistency.

Lys had ordered organic sugar so we had our precious, crystalline bags that would most resemble the pure sludgy sugarcane flavor of our youth. We’d also decided to use the metal-screw-top jars rather than face paraffin. We rinsed the plums, removed the few that had gone bad, and put them in large soup pots on the sea-foam green antique Chambers stove I’d recently rescued from a local curb.

Her scientific nature shone through almost everything she did, especially in the kitchen.

Everything was just so and I honestly can’t remember her ever making mistakes or blunders.

Everything she (or her cook Laura) touched turned out well due to tried-and-true recipes and techniques.

One of my grandmother’s culinary coups was her plum jelly. It was a crystalline clear, clarethued concoction, slightly sweet and lightly tart.

Her jelly honored the plum’s essence and subtly enhanced what nature had rightly created.

As the kitchen started to warm, the heat outside started to build and I attempted to adjust the vents on the air conditioning unit in the living room. We added a third less sugar than called for and hoped the jelly would still set. We watched the plums slowly melt down to a soupy, sticky stew. I cleaned the jars and lids and left them simmering in another pot on the stove.

I did not have enough pots and pans, nor counter space, so we had to drain the plums in stages. Every pitcher, bowl, pot and surface Photo by DK Crawford was filled with the scalding hot sugary syrup. If Though I am my grandmother’s namesake, I am far from exacting a drop got on you, its heat would travel deep below the surface of or perfect. In fact, the harder I strived to be so, the less possible your skin and the sugar would make it hard to get off. it became. I used to struggle to hide my mistakes, culinary and We let the slow-dripping sanguine liquid fall willingly from the otherwise, but finally learned that as a creative, I have more highs pulp-filled colander, waiting patiently for every precious drop. The and lows than I do steady accomplishments. It took me half a literature we’d read said you could squeeze it through cheesecloth lifetime to accept that I am destined to be perfectly imperfect. but it might make the jelly cloudy, so we coaxed it but tried not to Decades after my grandmother’s death, in Ojai (the valley of the press. moon), my sister, Lys, had the brilliant idea to step into our culinary As we poured the strained fruit back into the pot and added the legacy in homage to our Grandmother Dorothy by recreating her gelatin, we dried the jars and lids quickly. We funneled the deep plum jelly. The tiny plums on the trees outside my sister’s cottage appeared to be just the right variety. Our plan was to bottle and send plum liquid into the Ball jars, wiped the threads and hand-tightened the lids. As the water started to boil, so did we. Between simmering jellies to our Mississippi relatives for Christmas. plums, a simmering pot of lids and jars and a boiling pot of water As we waited for my sister’s two laden trees to ripen, I had a for sealing the jars, it was like a sauna. For survival, with each crisis that caused me to move from my serene single gal’s pad added degree of heat, my sister and I started shedding layers of in downtown Ojai to a fixer-upper in Meiner’s Oaks. With the clothing. fixer came three dogs, two cats, a man, a child and one tiny air Jelly making without the proper equipment is challenging and can conditioner in a house that turned into a sweltering, un-insulated be a bit dangerous. Filling the jars with the hot liquid is touchy. coffer in the summer.

Lowering them into boiling water and keeping them from tipping My male roommate, Rich, quickly realized he was living with a over is tricky. After they boil, you then must find a way to pick Southern princess who needed a modicum of climate control and them up, from the still boiling water and set them on the counter. As

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they cool you listen for the ping, ping, ping! of the jars sucking on their metal lids—the glorious sound of a successful seal.

Not having jelly jar tongs or silicon gloves or a jelly rack is asking for trouble and it’s a miracle if you don’t get burned. The combination of needing to remove clothing to keep cool(er) and the splattering, boiling, often-sticky liquids invited plenty of skinscalding opportunities. Just as we were negotiating some of these challenges, my new roommate called and informed me he was coming home.“Ummm… can’t you come home a bit later?” I asked in a frantic tone as I glanced at my sister hopping in her underwear and apron at the stove trying not to get splattered. And with that question Rich became exceedingly curious. The more I tried to suggest he not come home, without wanting to explain that two crazy Southern women were cooking in their skivvies, the more determined he became.

Finally he insisted he was coming. I dashed around the house looking for the lightest decent layers I could muster. When I explained to my crimson-faced sister we were going to have to put some clothing back on, she glowered at me.

When Rich got home, he charged into the kitchen like it was on fire. The wall of humid heat hit him. He looked at our flushed faces and went into action mode, dragging in a system of fans to try to channel the airflow from the living room air conditioner, oh so far away.

My sister and I took to wetting our hair in the shower and using damp towels to wipe down. Kindly, it wasn’t until much later that evening when Rich asked why we’d chosen

a 107+ degree day to take this on.

as Chinese New Year gifts.

When my roommate’s child, Noah, arrived home from school, in a fashion similar to his father’s, he charged into the kitchen.

He’d been told the Southern sisters were up to something mysterious when his father picked him up.

We got busy buying tiny boxes and making address labels. While labeling the jars, we came up with a name that appropriately summarized our jelly-making experience: Gone Plum Crazy. We checked to make sure each jar was sealed, signed festive cards as “The Sisters Grimm” and gleefully sent them.

Upon opening the door, he gawked with his 10-year-old mouth wide open. Watching our sweaty, haphazard production line and the sticky liquid drips everywhere was probably the closest to an I Love Lucy moment he’d ever witness. After the shock wore off, he begged for a bite. I gave him a large jelly-coated wooden spoon to lick and he declared it “the best jelly ever!”

My imperfections don’t stop in the kitchen—they also extend to the realm of social graces and thank-you cards. My grandmother and mother practically had thank-you notes written before they’d even enjoy a gift and always mailed packages and letters on time. My siblings and I have always been slower. We are flawed and often run late. I do email, text and call, but in the Southern realm, that’s not the same. You must send something wrapped or handwritten, that physically leaves one place and arrives at another (preferably on time) to make a genuine connection.

Of course Lys and I intended to send our plum jelly as Christmas gifts but, as might be predicted, our jellies remained throughout the entire holiday season on the pantry shelf. We’d not forgotten; just failed to post them in time. As we opened our thoughtful gifts and cards from relatives, lamenting this fact, my astrologically esoteric sister proposed we send the jellies

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In short time, we began receiving beautifully handwritten notes from our relatives thanking us for their Chinese New Year gifts. And one of cousins wrote that the jelly was clear, not too sweet and reminded her of our Grandmother Dorothy’s. Then, further down the card, she used those words—perhaps the highest praise in Southern expressions—she described our jelly as just so!

Now I can’t quite imagine our grandmother getting scalded in her skivvies making her pristine plum jelly and I’m not even sure we ever managed to send our thank-you notes for gifts received that Christmas. But in one sense, in our own perfectly flawed sense, we had represented. It was the closest we’d ever come…

DK Crawford specializes in food writing and food photography. Originally from the bayou country of Southwestern Louisiana, DK now lives in Ventura.

Her most recent work can be seen in the VC Reporter, Ventana Monthly, www.ojaipost. com, and online at her food blog: www. thefoodsavantblogspot.com. She is a longtime member of Slow Food and the Southern Foodways Alliance and received two special mentions in 2008 from the Symposium for Professional Food Writers.

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Edible Landscape

G A R D E N S T H AT GROW

COMMUNITIES

t henvironment a t g r o w c has o mampowerful u n i t y impact on The architecture of our what we experience. The divisions we create on a material plane often coincide with our capacity for human connectedness. We have created very safe and sterile environments that leave us feeling isolated from some of our most vital needs. Water and earth are being packaged in plastic and sold. Is air next?

BY AMOS MILLER

Some of us feel so lonely that we seek connections through virtual worlds. But deep in our hearts, I believe we are all seeking more tangible forms of relationships. The types that include hugs, muddy hands and feet and something tasty to chew on that might have a little grit in it.

Some sort of cohesive alchemy occurs between humans when inspiration, mixed with physical effort and the awe of watching new life expand from a tiny seed, conjoin together. It’s kind of like making love to the earth herself, and watching the fruits of that loving communion begin to flourish.

Mark Harris is a radical and mildly eccentric self-made eco-activist who recently had his property in Newbury Park transformed from a typical suburban lot into a lush, diverse ecosystem: food forests, sprawling recycled-urbanite-raised vegetable terraces, rainwater harvesting swales mocked into dry creek beds, a pool converted to a biologically filtered pond where he is raising catfish. This place is amazing and already producing more food than he can eat himself or dry, preserve and give away. And this is just the first year of growth.

From the beginning of the installation, this place became a neighborhood hub. Neighbors are continuously flocking by for tours and snacks. He can’t keep the kids away, and most of the fruit isn’t even ripe yet. This place has become an inspiration to the neighborhood. People are coming to barter and share their excess fruits, to gather and to socialize. It has become an event to see what’s new and blooming, how things are evolving and changing. Mark notices the garden having the greatest impact on the children. For kids who have never eaten anything that isn’t from a can or package to get handed a warm, freshly laid egg or to pull a carrot from the ground is like magic. The kids are enticed to witness and participate in something that creates a real integral connection in their minds as to how life works.

In Mira Monte, Rick and Lisa Monzon chose to do their own installation of an edible garden that I designed on paper. Having a clear visual representation of what they had been dreaming of helped give them the courage to step beyond their initial fears of being the scorn of the neighborhood. Within a few months they took what was once a barren front yard, and filled it with an arc of fruit-bearing trees and a number of wooden raised vegetable beds. As many people do, they had previously considered the vegetable garden to be something to hide in the backyard.

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Photo by Mark Harris

It takes some bold pioneers to stand out in the suburban crowd and show off their vegetables. They chose to step out and let it shine and were happily surprised to receive an overwhelmingly positive response. Consistently, they are getting feedback about how much people respect what they are doing, how they are impressed at the beauty. Now, many others are inspired to do something similar. The Monzons sit at their breakfast table each morning and watch people on their morning walks stopping to admire their property.

Their little sanctuary has drawn new friendships into their life. A man from Italy, who lives on the other end of the neighborhood and whom they had never known before, approached them one day and began to offer his extensive gardening knowledge. He’s bringing them heirloom lettuce seeds from Italy like they have never had, as well as giving them lessons in pruning and fruit tree care. When Rick and Lisa’s son has friends over to play, some of whom would never eat vegetables before, they are now happily munching on sugar snap peas and whatever else is in season. Rick and Lisa are also trading seedlings with neighbors who have spawned their own gardening projects.

Everyday affirms that this family made the right choice, from the money they save on vegetables to the exciting new connections with people and just how much better it tastes to eat the food they have devoted their energy to grow.

Because the edible landscape is dynamic, it needs consistent rearranging and adaptationthroughout the seasons. When intention and loving care go into any creation, it becomes a magnetic entity, an organism unseen from our typical rational observation point. Attractive beyond any physical measure, this inner radiance tends to draw people, bees and other living things towards it.

Investing our hearts and muscles into a garden can become a playful addiction and a source of constant entertainment that is endlessly fascinating and educational for children and adults.

There are lessons in cooperative living lurking in all parts of the garden, and when we spend our time in this dimension these lessons start to filter into our consciousness. Some might wonder why anyone would want to be out getting filthy-dirty, digging, hoeing and getting the sweat cooked out of their pores by the intense sun. The garden is a place of growth, inside and out. It is a holy ground for us to walk on and a welcoming environment where connections of all sorts can blossom.

Amos Miller has traveled from New York to New Zealand dedicating the past 12 years to cultivating the earth with sacred intentions. He now resides in Ojai with his family, running his business Elemental Landscapes, which is committed to creating environments that nourish body and soul.artofecology.com

OJAI & Ventura County Summer 2010

Ventura County certified Farmers’ MArkets OAK PARK SATURDAYS OAK PARK PLAZA, CORNER OF KANAN & LINDERO CANYON 9 A.M. TO 1 P.M. (805) 643-6458 OJAI SUNDAYS 300 E. MATILIJA ST. 9 A.M. TO 1 P.M. (805) 698-5555 OXNARD SUNDAYS HARBOR & CHANNEL ISLANDS BOULEVARDS 10 A.M. TO 2 P.M. (805) 643-6458 PLAZA PARK AT FIFTH AND C STREETS

THURSDAYS 9 A.M. TO 1 P.M. (805) 483-7960 SANTA CLARITA SUNDAYS COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS PARKING LOT 8 8:30 A.M. TO NOON SIMI VALLEY FRIDAYS SIMI VALLEY TOWN CENTER, 1555 SIMI TOWN CENTER WAY (In front of limon latin grill) 3 TO 8 P.M. (805) 643-6458

THOUSAND OAKS THURSDAYS OAKS SHOPPING CENTER, EAST END PARKING LOT, WILBUR RD. & THOUSAND OAKS BVD. 1:30 TO 6:30 P.M. (805) 529-6266 VENTURA WEDNESDAYS PACIFIC VIEW MALL PARKING LOT FACING MAIN STREET 9 A.M. TO 1 P.M. (805) 529-6266 PALM AND SANTA CLARA SATURDAYS 8:30 A.M. TO NOON (805) 529-6266

312 W El Roblar • 646-2546 • Open 7 days 9am to 6pm

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Ojai Valley Trail Riding Company

Private guided trail rides in the Ventura River Valley & the Los Padres National Forest

Open All Year!

805.640.8000 451 east ojai avenue

Please Call for Reservations

(805) 890-9340

ojai Ca

ojaitrailrides.com

blissyogurtojai.com

3.5 Miles from Downtown Ojai

T h e Oa k s a t O j a i He a l t h Spa We invite you to discover why guests return again & again...

IDEAL SEAFOOD Always the freshest - from the boats to you

(Previously What A Deal)

• Full service hair salon 7 days a week • Wonderful day packages • Low calorie delicious spa cuisine dining • The Nest spa boutique • The original & affordable spa of Ojai • Voted by Travel & Leisure one of the best destination spas in the world

11512 North Ventura Ave. , Ojai located north of rite aid and ojai springs car wash 805 - 231-8752 call for hours

Visit us Sundays at the Ojai Farmers Market

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122 East Ojai Avenue Ojai, CA 93023 800.753.6257 • www.oaksspa.com/ojai

Perfect Pizza On Cue Simplicity makes this dish perfect for entertaining or relaxing with a simple summer snack.

This traditional combination of fresh Italian ingredients will please any hungry guest at your table. Make this classic at home, or drop into one of our restaurants to sample one of Jamie West’s favorite pizza’s.

Grilled Pizza

with Mozzarella Cheese, Tomatoes and Basil

Recipe by Executive Chef Jamie West For the Pizza Dough 1 cup warm water (105˚-115˚F) 1 package dry yeast 2 teaspoons sugar 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 2 ½ cups all purpose flour, plus extra for kneading For the Topping 2 - 4 tablespoons pizza sauce 1 - 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese ½ - 1 cup tomatoes, diced 2 - 4 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated 6 - 12 each fresh basil leaves, torn

1. In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast and sugar.

Let sit until yeast is dissolved and mixture starts to foam, in approximately 8 minutes.

2. Add the flour, salt and olive oil and mix well with a spoon.

3. Cover work area lightly with extra flour. Put dough on table or board and begin to knead by gathering the sides and folding the dough into the center. If dough is sticky, add more flour as needed. Knead until smooth.

4. Using a clean bowl, brush the bowl lightly with olive oil, put dough back in the bowl and cover with a towel.

Let sit 1 ½ - 2 hours at room temperature. Punch down the center of the dough and roll into a new ball and let rise 1 more hour. Should double in size.

5. Roll out with a rolling pin or by hand to a 12” circle or two - 6” circles. It should be 1/4” – 1/8” thick.

6. Heat BBQ grill or grill pan to medium high heat. Lightly oil the pizza rounds and grill on one side for 2-3 minutes, or until grill marks are well defined and the dough begins to cook. Turn over and grill the other side for about 2-3 minutes as well until cooked, do not burn it.

7. Spread sauce, cheese and tomatoes on either side of the pizza as desired.

8. Place back on the grill and cook another 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted and bottom is cooked.

9. Sprinkle with basil, cut and serve!

Reservations 805.646.1111 | www.ojairesort.com 905 Country Club Road in Ojai, CA

DOCKET: OV_10_681 Edible Ojai Ad

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DETAILS: Grilled Pizza

NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4

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CREATIVE DIRECTOR

G O I N G N AT I V E Making Sense of Natural Wine

By Lisa Kring

Can wine make itself? A rapidly growing movement embraces this radical idea. In response to the soullessness of commercial winemaking, a new breed of artisan wine producers is going native. For this clan, less is more.

Many call the philosophy behind these natural wines “non-interventionist.” All additives, such as chemicals, pesticides, sulfur, commercial yeasts and oak, are renounced with a kind of fundamentalist fervor. The finished product is less precious and more straightforward. Imperfection is embraced with a knowing sense of pragmatic wisdom. In essence, choosing a natural wine over a commercial wine is much like choosing the blemished, misshapen apple sold by the organic grower at your local farmers’ market over its perfect, genetically engineered cousin found at a chain supermarket. Increasingly, natural wine embodies the impulse to go au naturel—free from human meddling, always skating around the precipice of failure. The finished product may be awkward or even botched, but these wines are always fascinating and pure.

Wine makers once considered a lunatic fringe are now being pushed into the spotlight. One can now locate adherents to this hyper-natural winemaking popping up in nearly every grape-growing region.

By far the most radical and most talented, however, toil mainly around Anjou in the Loire Valley of France. It is here that off-road wine radicals can still afford to rent or even buy a small piece of vineyard. Many live among their vines in trailers. In addition, the proximity to Paris (only a hour away) also allows for easy transport to the most influential wine bars in the world. These wines are have gained street credibility among the Paris wine elite, and the word has spread fast.

Because these wines are unusual in appearance, taste and presentation, they definitely need this PR. They are cloudy, even murky; their aromas and flavors can be funky and unexpected; and their labels can be free of all the usual regional and varietal descriptive information. Natural wines are outliers.

Understanding them takes some education.

So, when it came to natural wine I had many questions. I needed a well-traveled off-road wine guide to help me navigate my journey. I found the perfect person in my friend Steve Goldun, the wine director of Palate Food & Wine in Glendale. When it comes to wine, Steve is tapped in like no one else I know.

He travels to Paris regularly, and tastes in all the right circles. Steve is passionate about natural wines, and can speak in depth about all the producers, quirks and all.

I sat down at Palate recently with Steve and tasted and talked about natural wine. Below are excerpts from our talk, as well as a list of the wines we tasted, which can be found at Palate.

Lisa: “What is natural wine, exactly?”

Steve: “Wine that makes itself, with no intervention. All fermentation vessels are neutral, so that the wine is not influenced by wood. Sulfur is added minimally, and preferably not at all, because it kills the natural yeasts. These wines are made to drink now. [The winemakers] are trying to go beyond the tags of organic or even biodynamic, because they feel that these have become co-opted. At the end of the day, they are looking for an honest expression of place, period. To this end, we can trust these guys, and you can taste it.”

Lisa: “Why natural yeasts?”

Steve: “Yeast, especially cultured yeasts, flavors your wine just like a new barrel. With natural yeasts, however, which occur naturally and which are released only in that place, you arrive at something completely true and alive. The native population of yeasts, through natural selection, have figured out who they are and that they thrive there, rather than mixing your own cocktail.”

Lisa: “Why no sulfur?”

Steve: “It’s a lighting rod for discussion. Lots of super-natural producers will never use sulfur, because it can subdue the life of a wine, much like an antibiotic. But it makes these wines potentially unstable and volatile. They need to be kept cool or chilled. More pragmatic makers add minimal sulfur to stabilize the wine for exportation. Sulfur is a tried-and-true ancient method for winery health because it preserves and stabilizes. The Romans used sulfur, through trial and error.”

Lisa: “Is there a philosophy behind the winemaking?”

Steve: “I think it is definitely an antidote to the fast pace and the lack of diversity and character of modern life. With these guys, imperfection is embraced in a radical way. It is also about being inclu-

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sive and accessible. These wines are a reaction to wine as a cult or status symbol. Wine is seen as something you just drink, as a natural part of life. That’s why the labels give no indication of anything—region, grape type, etc. It’s just wine, period. They are made outside of AOC [the French government certification of regional origin] designations and regulations. The ego of the winemaker is taken out of the process. These wines are paradoxical—they are completely handmade, but not made at all. There is definitely a revolutionary spirit behind it all.”

Lisa: “What are the pros and cons of natural wine?”

Steve: “Well, they are less stable, so they don’t ship very well. But, there are no other cons. They are made in small quantities, so selling them is not a problem. By nature, they are boutique products, but they are not precious. They are more expressive, and less pretentious.

Also, they are incredibly affordable. There is little overhead and there are no marketing costs. You are paying only for the wine, period.”

Lisa: “Is natural wine better for your health?”

A “Palate” Tasting of Natural Wines Available at: Palate Food & Wine 818-662-9463 933 S. Brand Blvd.

Glendale CA 91204 info@palatefoodwine.com Whites Andrea Calek, “Blonde” (2009). $26.99 Organically farmed, native yeasts from the “bad boy” of the Rhone.

Naturally sparkling (petillant naturel), this wine is made from 70% Chardonnay, 30% Viognier. With fine bubbles much like day-old seltzer, this wine is Calek’s first attempt at bottling a commercial wine. It has no label and is sealed with a beer cap. It is cloudy and the color of apricot juice, and the flavors correspond. Lip-smackingly good.

La Clarine Farm, Sierra Foothills Viognier “orange” (2009). $21.99 Unlike any Viognier you have ever had before. This wine is fermented with full-skin contact. Medium orange in color, and amazingly aromatic, this surprising wine possesses the structure of red wine. All the while, it maintains the fresh fruit and acidity of Viognier. Pair it with Cantonese or Indian food, and rich cheeses.

Steve: “Broadly speaking, yes. Commercially made wines are often made from grapes grown with fertilizers. These promote nitrogen, which finds its way into the grapes, which in turn promotes histamines, which can often trigger allergic reactions in people. Natural wines will minimize allergic reactions.”

Lisa: “Where in the world is the movement the strongest right now?”

Steve: “France, Loire Valley … [influential wine critic] Robert Parker has always hated Loire wine, so these guys are not concerned with making wines that please anybody. These wines are irreverent. To drink them is to thumb your nose at the Establishment. They rely less on press to sell their wines, so they are not corrupted by marketing forces. They are liberated—it is really about wine for wine’s sake.”

As we spoke, Steve and I tasted through a sampling of natural wines.

It was mind-blowing. Below is a list of these wines, along with tasting notes. A week later, I hosted a natural wine dinner, and these wines sparked great conversation and conflicting reactions. Some people loved them for what they were, others balked in disbelief.

But, everyone came around in support of the spirit in which they are made, which insists that a wine can only communicate clearly when captured in its whole, living and un-manipulated self, no matter how strange.

Lastly, one of the guests, who had long suffered allergic reactions to wine, ventured a few glasses in the hopes that these wines would deliver relief. She loved wine, and yearned to again sip wine with her husband. The next day, I received an excited email from her, reporting that for the first time in years, she experienced no allergic reaction. So, while natural wines are unexpectedly unique, they restore balance, which may improve our health. These modern-day wine ecstatics may be onto something.

Originel, French table wine, Julien Courtoies, Loire, France $29.99 Made with indigenous Loire white grapes (Menu Pineau and Romorantin), this wine is made with no sulfites by a true “vin naturel” producer. A curious mix of nuts, citrus and beeswax. When you take of sip of this wine, you are suddenly driving off-road into geek wine terrain. Great with cheese or any fish sautéed in brown butter.

Reds La Clarine Farm, “Home Vinyard,” Sierra Foothills (2008). $23.99 A “field blend” of Sangiovese and Temprenillo, this domestic wine is grown and fermented with as little interference as possible. Natural farming principles, native yeast fermentation, no new oak, and minimal use of sulfur help preserve the wine’s integrity and terroir.

No sulfur. This is a juicy mosaic of liquorice, herbs, raspberry and blackberry—complex and full of vitality. Enjoy with lamb.

L’Insoumis du Village, Reynald Heaule, $30.00 The label says it all—one black sheep vs. a flock of white sheep. This wine stands alone. Made from 100% Pinot Meunier, it is expressive, quirky, and full of fruit, but with high acidity. Wonderful with chicken.

Lisa Kring lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two children, dogs and biodynamically farmed home vineyard. She is a sommelier certified with the Master Court of Sommeliers, the International Sommelier Guild and the UCLA Vintage Program, but her passion for honest wines that taste of place is experienced most happily at a table with friends and good food. She is on the steering committee for Slow Food Los Angeles, and values and supports all products that are good, clean and fair.

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RECIPES FROM READERS

SALAD WITH GOAT CHEESE AND AVOCADO IN A PIXIE TANGERINE VINAIGRETTE WITH CANDIED PIXIE PEEL From Kate Slaton Dunbar Candied Pixie Peel: 3 to 4 Pixie tangerines 2 cups water 2 cups sugar Remove peel from Pixies with a potato peeler, making sure to remove only the peel and not the white pith, which can be bitter.

Bring water to a boil, add peels and boil for 8 minutes; remove from water and refill the pot with 2 cups water and bring to a boil.

Add sugar and stir until dissolved, then add peels to the water and sugar, boil until transparent, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and allow to dry before storing. The sugar liquid may be reserved as Pixie tangerine simple syrup.

Salad: 1 pound salad greens, washed and dried 3 ounces goat cheese ½ red onion, thinly sliced 1 to 2 avocados, sliced 1 to 2 fresh tomatoes, sliced

3 to 4 Pixie tangerines (from candied peel) Juice from 2 Pixie tangerines (1/8 to 1/4 cup of juice, depending on your taste) ¼ cup red wine vinegar 2/3 cup olive oil 1 tablespoon good Dijon mustard Salt and pepper to taste

IRMGARD’S YAKI SOBA From Irmgard James (chef at Oak Grove School) Serves 6

2 pounds spaghetti, cooked and drained, rinsed in cold water and set aside 1 bunch of carrots, cleaned and sliced ½ head green cabbage, finely shredded 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger Thinly slice red onion and place in a small 4 cloves fresh garlic, chopped bowl. Pour red wine vinegar over onion and 1 chili, diced very fine (optional) let sit for 15 minutes. Take candied Pixie Canola oil tangerine peels and thinly slice; set aside.

1½ cups soy sauce Juice two tangerines; set aside. Slice toma2 cups seasoned rice vinegar toes and Pixie tangerines; set aside. Place greens in large bowl, drain the vinegar and In a wok over a full flame, sauté carrots, onions, then place the liquid in a small bowl ginger, garlic and chile in small amount of and the onions with the salad greens. To the canola oil. Stir-fry until the carrots are pliable. bowl with the vinegar add the mustard, mix Add cabbage and stir continuously until soft. well, then add the Pixie juice and mix well.

Pour this mixture into a large mixing bowl.

Slowly drizzle in olive oil while mixing Heat soy sauce and rice vinegar in the wok. at the same time. Add the tomatoes, sliced Add the noodles and stir-fry until hot. Then avocado and sliced Pixie tangerines and add the noodles to the veggies and mix well. goat cheese to salad greens pour dressing all Place in a serving dish and enjoy! over the salad. Toss and taste to see if salt and pepper are needed. Serve immediately.

- Ojai Valley Inn & Spa and Diablo Magazine Present -

The Outdoor Classic Film Series

Universal Studios 1962

Mirisch Pictures 1961

Universal Studios 1963

West Side Story

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Birds

Saturday, July 31st Special Guest Rita Moreno

Saturday, August 21st Special Guest Mary Badham, “Scout”

Saturday, October 30th Special Guest Tippi Hedren

Q&A starts at 7:45pm with the movie to follow at 8:45pm. $25 per person. Profits will be donated to Help of Ojai and Share Our Strength. Tickets can be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com

905 Country Club Road, Ojai CA | Information 805.646.1111 | www.ojairesort.com/movies

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ojai pool store ad.pdf

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In the Heart of Downtown Meiner’s Oaks

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