Gastroanthropology

Love Apple Farm + Tomatoes

I find that tomatoes are one of the best vegetables to plant in a home garden. They are relatively easy to grow and have so many uses. At our home garden in the South Bay of the San Francisco area the tomatoes grow like weeds and all summer long they produce. First, we start by eating them fresh, just plain like an apple. Then, we chop them up and add them to salads, sandwiches, and quick pasta sauces. After a few months of tomatoes they still seem to keep coming, so they get burred up as an addition to homemade fruit + veg juices. Lastly, they are chopped and frozen, canned, or made into tomato sauce. There are always so many, but never too many. I'm not sure I can say the same for the zucchini that seems to grow in overabundance as well...

At my recent visit to Love Apple Farm I was totally wowed by the selection of baby tomato plants for sale. I wanted to buy one of each, but there seemed to be nearly a hundred varieties. 

It can get cool in the Santa Cruz mountains so these little plants are protected by the greenhouse.

Cynthia Sandberg, owner of Love Apple Farm, is famous for her delicious tomatoes and her growing methods are no secret! 

You can check this link for more detailed tomato growing instructions, but here is an illustrated version...

So I bet your wondering what I picked... I got some of my favorite Brandywines and some that were new to me. I got a Gary O'Sena tomato, which is a cross between a Cherokee Purple and Brandywine. It will grow to be a round, black tomato. I know bigger isn't always better, but I found a Chyornyi Tarasenko that I had to have. It hails from Belarus and is rumored to be one of the biggest tomatoes around. I also found a Boar's Hoof tomato plant, a rare find and will be a deep brown tomato. Lastly, the one I'm most looking forward too - German Red Strawberry. I was told it would grow to be baseball size and look like a giant oxheart strawberry. Say goodbye to those tasteless, boring, red tomatoes your find at the grocers all year long! 

My mother will be tending to these for the next few months. I probably won't get to enjoy these off the vine as I will be returning to London later this week and don't have plans to return till after the summer. But, that's the great thing about tomatoes... they can be canned, frozen, or sauced... and I know I'll be enjoying them in some form.

Love Apple Farm + Biodynamics

I'm sure by now you've heard of Chef David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos. If your still living under a foodie rock he was recently on Iron Chef and won with the secret ingredient: cabbage. Manresa is in my hometown so I have a particular interest in the restaurant, not to mention he has a super cool blogging girlfriend named Chez Pim.

These days my excitement for farming and sustainable food procurement outweigh my restaurant interests so I decided to make a trip to Love Apple Farm. The farm is in the Santa Cruz mountains in a town called Ben Lomond, and is the exclusive kitchen garden to Manresa. The original hippy, organic farmers still exist here and the Silicon Valley just a miles east seems like it could be lifetimes away. 

At the farm, tomato plants (post on Love Apple's tomatoes here) and delicious jams are for sale to the public. I went a bit picture crazy and these are about a fifth of what I took. 

I was particularly excited to visit Love Apple Farm because they practice biodynamics - essentially treating the entire farm as a whole organism, using all outputs and minimizing inputs. Check out my biodynamic page for more general information on biodynamics. Love Apple Farm has wonderful descriptions of the preparations used in biodynamic farming, including how these cow horns are used.

When we first arrived, Dali (the Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig, named after Salvador Dali) was hiding under a wooden crate. He couldn't be coaxed out or bothered with the squawking hens.

Then, the chickens were fed some soaked bread and the feeding frenzy began...

Dali gave them a few seconds of a head start and then started to get up and waddle towards the bread.

This is one pig that is so ugly, its almost kind of cute. In an effort not to annoy him too much we moved on to further explore the farm.

I'm looking forward to the heat these habaneros will provide in a few months time. Most plants at the farm were in the baby stages and ready for spring planting. However, in the greenhouse, lettuce was growing magnificently.

The red lettuce looked so delicious and healthy I want to pull off some leaves and enjoy them immediately.

Just outside the greenhouse full of lettuce was this interesting plant...

I was told it was called frizzle. Has anyone used or eaten this plant? I tried a little and it was delicious. A peppery, light arugula taste, and absolutely no bitterness. Not to mention a gorgeous purply color. I've got to get my hands on more of this stuff. 

Of course, no organic farm is complete without the compost... the natural fuel for the soil in the making.

As we were walking out to leave I saw a crate full of these freshly pulled radishes...

I'm sure someone enjoyed them at Manresa for their dinner last night. 

The staff at Love Apple Farm are friendly and informative. As I've said before if they can't stop talking about what they are producing, its a really good sign. It means they are farming a wonderful product and they can't help but share the goodness.

With places like these in California its hard to stop gushing about what an awesome place it is.

I 

Farm.