Spring 2020 Publisher's Note
“So fresh and so clean,” says the hook of the song embedded in my head. The catchy refrain reminds me of the ethos of spring. What is more fresh than the new growth, the rain-cleansed forest, the crisp cool air of this season? All around Mendocino County, the landscape is shaking off the snowy and rainy days for warmer moments. To participate in this season of new beginnings, many decide to eat a cleaner diet filled with vegetables, or to start a cleanse, leaving the rich and decadent foods of the holidays behind in search of a new, healthier start.
Spring is one of my favorite seasons because, whereas my friends and family on the East Coast still have months of grey and snow, we in the west are overwhelmed with bright green. The fir trees sprout their fluorescent chartreuse tips, which are filled with vitamin C. Moist soils are still providing mushrooms for foragers. On the seas, crab season is in full swing, ensuring that the markets and crabby events are fully stocked. Even during this relatively lean time of year, there remains significant bounty.
You can embrace this season as an opportunity to make a fresh start of your own. Justine Lemos, a yoga teacher and Ayurvedic expert on the coast, lays out an easy three-day cleanse to support vitality and immunity. Learn about the dynamic young couple behind Wilder Ferments, a uniquely delicious line of kombucha drinks infused with seasonal flavors and their associated nutrients. New this spring, keep an eye out for Jamu, a turmeric, tamarind, ginger, and lime concoction. Many folks are eating less meat, either for moral reasons or environmental and health concerns—our editor shares her story of going vegan, and writer Mayte Guerrero reviews Taste Buds Natural Selections, a vegan restaurant in Ukiah.
As the weather warms and the sunshine lingers a little longer each day, it is a great time to get outside. Maybe now is the time to take up surfing (this has found its way onto my to-do list) or get more movement in your life by hiking the trails or biking the roads of our beautiful county. Spring is the season to plant the seeds of what you want in the future, be that in your garden or in your life.
A wise person once said that the best time to plant trees was 20 years ago, but the second-best time to plant them is today. Now is also is the perfect time for our own fresh and clean start.
Holly Madrigal
Springtime’s Asparagus
This time of year, bright green and purple asparagus tips pierce the soil in search of sunlight. This crop is not an instant gratification project; growing enough to harvest takes years of patience, biding your time for a couple of seasons as the corms are established, until enough is available for harvest. The asparagus patch needs to be tucked away from the garden beds that are frequently tilled or planted. But ooh, the rewards are worth the wait.
This asparagus recipe is so deliciously addictive and easy to prepare that I make it all the time. Asparagus is at its peak in the spring. Find a friend who has a patch or pick some up at your local market.
I credit this recipe to my mother-in-law, Bonnie Madrigal, whom I thank for opening my tastebuds to this savory delight.
Balsamic Asparagus with Parmesan
1 bunch asparagus
2 Tbs olive oil (or a substantial drizzle)
2 Tbs Balsamic vinegar (or a substantial drizzle)
¼ c parmesan, shredded
Rinse asparagus, snap off and discard the tough ends. Lay the asparagus spears in a single layer on a cookie sheet or toaster oven tray. Drizzle olive oil over the spears, using your fingertips to coat. Place in the broiler, or one toast cycle, for 3-4 minutes until bright green. Remove from oven. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and top with parmesan. Return to the broiler for an additional 3 minutes or so, keeping an eye out to make sure the vinegar caramelizes but does not burn and the parmesan cheese crisps up nicely. Serve hot as-is or dip in homemade mayo. Enjoy!
Photo by Stephanie Studer courtesy of Unsplash.
Taste Buds
Navigating the stop-and-go traffic on State Street in Ukiah, it’s easy to miss the building with bright green walls and red-trimmed windows and doors tucked under an unassuming awning. Upon closer inspection, the awning is a vivid yellow underneath, and it seems to be supported by a beautifully carved sign displaying the restaurant’s name, Taste Buds. Outside is a wooden table and a small palm tree, whose ample leaves appear to spread in greeting.
The lucent atmosphere outside of Taste Buds is mirrored inside the restaurant. A combination of the wonderful smells of the hot bar, the stunning wood counter, and colorful menu creates an inviting Caribbean-esque vibe, fitting for their Jamaican-inspired food options.
Cody Akin has owned Taste Buds since June 1st of 2019. His best friend, Carol Laster, is the manager and cook. They worked closely with the previous owners to have a smooth transition, and they have continued to expand and improve their menu to give their customers more options and expose them to how truly delicious vegan cuisine can be.
Both Cody and Carol grew up in Ukiah and became close friends when they worked at the Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op for four years. Owning and running a restaurant together has been a learning process, but Carol says that the community keeps them going. “We’ve had a lot of positive feedback and a lot of support from the community,” Carol says, “People are definitely grateful and show their love.”
Carol says that if she had to describe what they are working towards at Taste Buds in a few words, the goal of the restaurant is to provide “cruelty-free cuisine.” While Cody and Carol have worked together to make sure that the restaurant is able to achieve that goal, the growing success of the restaurant is also largely due to the support from their family. Cody’s mom and sister, as well as Carol’s partner, have played a big role in the positive experience that they’ve had as they journey in the realm of owning and running a restaurant.
Beyond providing healthy options for the community, they are also interested in creating a space that feels welcoming. This is seen through the work of local artists featured in the wall of their dining area. Today, the soft yellow walls of Taste Buds’ dining room are adorned with the works of artists Rachel Ebel and Jessica Standerfer. Ebel’s photography exhibit is called “Escapes to Seascapes,” and Standerfer has a series of paintings and drawings showcased. The very different styles of art add to the charm of the place and to the owners’ commitment towards the community. Along with the kids’ corner, featuring a small couch and plenty of toys, and the salt lamps on the tables, the art increases the feeling of home that the dining area gives off.
The extensive menu at Taste Buds is impressive. Not only does it have a hot bar with eight delicious options to choose from, but it also offers so many choices that you almost forget you are in a plant-based eatery. Some of the choices on their specials menu are barbecue drumsticks and tempeh BLTs and Reubens. They offer “chicken” nuggets with fries and smaller portions from the hot bar for kids. There are also yummy side dishes, among them fried plantains, sweet potato fries, and vegan cheese fries.
Some of the raw dishes Taste Buds offers include taco salad and nachos. A “raw” dish usually refers to vegan dishes made from uncooked, unprocessed foods not heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Many nutritional benefits can be lost through the process of cooking, and raw food advocates believe that there are health benefits—increased energy, better digestion, and clearer skin—in a diet that consists mostly of raw foods.
The various vegan and gluten-free dessert options at Taste Buds make it possible to treat yourself and feel good about it at the same time. There are brownies and cookies, as well as tasty peanut butter cups. They also feature milkshakes on their menu, so people can choose from a variety of flavors to combine with an almond milk base.
I visited Taste Buds during an afternoon outing with my little brother and sister. My sister ordered the veggie burger with fries and a side of ranch, my brother ordered the garden salad, and I ordered the raw kale salad. We also shared green beans, teriyaki tempeh, and mashed potatoes with gravy from the hot bar. The portions were generous, so we took home some leftovers.
The raw kale salad was delicious and filling. Topped with a generous portion of walnuts blended into a mix with olive oil and lemon, the apple cider vinegar and cayenne dressing perfectly complemented the fresh greens.
The coconut mashed potatoes paired with the cashew mushroom gravy was amazing. Though their hot bar options change every day, the mashed potatoes and gravy are a popular feature. If you’re curious about what the day’s hot bar choices are, the restaurant posts the hot bar menu on their Facebook page every day. A quick online search of Taste Buds Ukiah will lead you to their page.
As I walked into the dining area of Taste Buds, and after peeling my eyes away from the art and photographs that filled the space, I noticed a poster on the back wall. It was pretty unassuming, and my first thought was that it was one of those food safety posters restaurants often display. After getting closer to it, I realized it was actually a detailed description of their goals and values for the restaurant.
Highlighted in the description is the restaurant’s belief that food is medicine. This is clearly evident in the choices featured on their menu, and also by the quality of foods they choose to use in the kitchen. All of the food and oil they use are non-GMO and organic. The farmers they purchase their food from share the restaurant’s belief in both sustainability and the idea that what we choose to put in our bodies is a fundamental part of leading a healthy lifestyle. The poster also details the health benefits of some of the foods they use in their kitchen, such as the antioxidant properties of coconut oil, the high amounts of iron and anti-inflammatory properties of kale, and lentils’ ability to increase energy.
Beyond the health benefits of a vegan diet, there are environmental benefits that come with reduced meat consumption. Given that the meat industry is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change through the use of large amounts of water and land, as well as heavy usage of fossil fuels, people can also reduce their carbon footprint by reducing meat consumption.
While there are many reasons why a vegan diet is not an option for everybody, people who do have the ability to add a few meatless days to their week can make a big difference to both the earth’s health and the health of their bodies.
If food is medicine, Taste Buds’ food begins a journey towards healing. Visit them for a delicious start to your own pathway toward a healthier future.
Taste Buds is located on 405 S State Street in Ukiah. They are open Mon-Sat from 11am to 7pm. They can be reached at (707) 463-2253.
Mayte Guerrero was born and raised in Anderson Valley, where she developed a deep love for the natural world. She is naturalist who hopes to create wider access to public lands and engage in conversations that expand the definition of what it means to love the earth.
Brain Pleasers
6 Tips to Help Your Brain Stay Healthy
by Joi Sandhu
Neuroplasticity—it’s a fancy word that means our brains can grow new neurons and neuronal pathways, even as adults. The caveat: IF we live appropriately. The health of our brain is largely within our control and depends on the choices we make in our daily lives. This is fantastic news!
At Brain - Body - Health, we see clients all the time who are looking for ways to improve their brain health through lifestyle and diet adjustments. Of particular concern to many is dementia. Two-thirds of its victims are women, and the actual disease process begins 10-30 years before the first symptoms appear. Predictions indicate that dementia rates will triple in the next 20 years, and the cost of treatment is 50% more than other diseases, including heart disease and cancer. The estimated cost for one person’s care is over $342,000, with 70% of those expenses falling on the patient’s family. Scary stuff!
It has been established, though, that dementia is a preventable condition and should, in fact, be rare. Research shows that dementia and cognitive decline are primarily influenced by eight factors: stress, social life, learning, exercise, food, sleep, toxins, and infections. Your genes play a role, but they do not determine your fate.
Here are six habits we recommend to anyone who wants to preserve and even increase neuroplasticity.
1 – Eat an organic, whole-food, plant-rich diet that is low in carbohydrates and sugar, and eliminate processed foods. For a few days a week, follow an intermittent fasting schedule, allowing 12-16 hours overnight without any food. Poor nutrition damages the brain and the body. It can cause systemic inflammation which leads to a buildup of oxidative stress (rusty cells) that injure our blood vessels. Inflammation, which is at the root of most chronic diseases, often starts with our diet. The food we eat is one of the most important contributors to both disease and health.
2 – Play! Laugh—watch comedies and read light-hearted books. Find ways to enjoy yourself and spend time with people who make you feel happy. Do you want to join a book club or take a class? Have you always wanted to try pottery or watercolor or kayaking? Go for it! The joy it brings will add to your vitality and longevity.
3 – Challenge your brain—it needs exercise too. Some of the best ways to do this involve learning an instrument or a language, or joining a dance class. Learn new skills and new words and use them. You can also practice using your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth or stir your coffee. As we get older we sometimes avoid situations that make us feel uncertain or inexperienced, yet that wobbly feeling is great for your brain. Embrace it.
4 – Move yourself! We live in sedentary times, and it’s dreadful for our health. Sitting is the new smoking. Get up and move, every hour. Do some jumping jacks, step outdoors and walk for a few minutes. Get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five times per week.
5 – Rest. Sleep is critical. We need at least seven hours of deep restorative sleep every night. That sleep phase is when our brain cleanses itself, and it’s how our nervous system starts anew each day.
6 – Use clean products. Beauty products, cleaning, and yard products can be some of the most toxic things we expose ourselves to. We inhale them, lather them on, and ingest them. Eliminate those hazardous products with ingredients we can’t even pronounce and replace them with plant-based products that use natural ingredients.
If we incorporate the above practices into our lives, we can protect ourselves from dementia and even from disease in general. While these suggestions apply to everyone, each of us is unique, and we all have specific needs to optimize our health. In order to experience your best health, find a medical practitioner who can assess you as an individual. They can provide in-depth lab analysis to target areas that need support and recommend a health coach to make those goals achievable.
We are not at the mercy of bad luck. We can know health. It takes effort and some discipline, as well as a willingness to be honest and make some changes. But nothing is better than feeling good and being free to live fully for as long as we’re here on this planet in these amazing bodies. Spring is a great time to take control of your health, so think about making some changes to support your brain and your body in the years ahead.
Brain-Body-Health | www.brainbodyhealth.org | Ukiah and Willits, CA
Betty Lacy MD
UJ Sandhu PA, Health Coach, Functional Medicine Practitioner
All photos courtesy of Unsplash: brain scan—Alina Grubnayak; organic foods—Marty Harrington; laughing women—Omar Lopez; trumpet player—Priscilla du Preez; runners—Kolar Io; cat—Kate Stone Matheson; washing hands—curology.
Local Food is a Team Sport
How Cinnamon Bear Farm, the MendoLake Food Hub, and Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op Work Together to Bring You Fresh-from-the-Field Foods
by Lisa Ludwigsen
Farm to table is a popular concept right now. The phrase conjures the vision of a simple journey of the vibrant, delicious food sitting before you on the plate or on the shelves of the grocery store. It’s a simple concept: grow the food nearby and get it to the customer as quickly after harvest as possible.
In fact, there are many moving parts to growing and transporting food successfully. Those of us living in Mendocino County are the fortunate beneficiaries of a thriving local farming community that not only feeds us, but also contributes to a secure local supply of food. However, the logistics of getting food from one part of the county to another hold significant challenges.
Standing in front of the rainbow of colors jumping off the produce shelves of the grocery store, we rarely consider the journey each of those items has taken. It’s a safe bet to assume that the carrot or cauliflower grown locally is going to taste better and have a longer shelf life than the same carrot shipped hundreds or even thousands of miles from a large-scale farm far afield.
To minimize transport distance and maximize freshness, local grocers turn to area food producers like Ukiah Valley farmers Alex and Sarah Neilson of Cinnamon Bear Farm. The Neilsons farm 1-1/2 acres of Russian River riverfront owned by Jack and Mimi Booth in Calpella. The Booths have lived in the area since 1990, when Bob was a wildlife biologist and enthusiastic beekeeper. “We sold honey to neighbors and at the farmers market for many years,” says Jack. “Then we grew tomatoes.” Today, they lease a portion of their seven acres to Alex and Sarah, who grow mixed crops including tomatoes, carrots, garlic, kohlrabi, and greens of all types, to name a few.
“We’re very excited about our microgreens,” shares Sarah. “We grow sprouted sunflower, radish, and peas used in salads, smoothies, and sandwiches.” Micro greens also make great kid snacks. The Neilsons also grow wheatgrass, which is juiced and used in smoothies or consumed as a straight shot.
Not for the faint of heart, Alex and Sarah’s type of small-scale farming is extremely labor intensive, with low profit margins and relentless work. “Since we farm year round, my motto is, ‘Grow better, not bigger,’” states Alex. Their fields produce high yields in a relatively small area, thanks to their use of organic principles. “We are Mendocino Renegade certified, a local program that allows us to sell to local grocers like Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, which sells exclusively organic produce.” Since 2003, Mendocino Renegade has provided county farmers a system to certify the organic quality of their products.
Once farmers like the Neilsons harvest their crop, they must get it to market. In a county an expansive as Mendocino, delivering produce to grocers and restaurants is a challenge. Temperature-controlled vehicles are required in order to deliver produce in top condition, and delivery can require long drives, adding extensive costs for the grower, which are then passed on to consumers.
Enter the MendoLake Food Hub. Caroline Radice, Food Hub manager, says, “The Food Hub is the centralized link between the local farmer and the customer.” The Hub is a local distributor, providing strategically placed refrigerated nodes throughout Mendocino and Lake counties to accept and store farmers’ products. Twice each week, farmers list crops ready for harvest on the Hub’s website. Grocers, restaurants, school districts, and other wholesale customers then order the produce, which is harvested to order and delivered to their closest refrigerated node. A delivery truck then picks up from the node and delivers the order to the customer. The MendoLake Food Hub also cross-transacts with other regional food hubs to make local produce available to customers from San Francisco to Sacramento. This neat and tidy process has taken over five years to develop, and refinements are still being made.
The average shopper doesn’t realize that a huge network of distribution companies delivers the vast majority of the food to their local grocery stores. Moving food is big business. After the devastating floods hit Houston as a result of hurricane Harvey, a friend there stated, “We don’t have to worry about getting food because we can walk to the grocery store from our house.” She didn’t consider that, if she couldn’t use the roads, then neither could the large delivery trucks moving food around the country—all the more reason to support folks working to create a robust local food system.
One of the Food Hub’s top customers is Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, where produce manager Libee Uhuru streamlines her weekly ordering via the Food Hub. Libee places orders year round from Alex and Sarah at Cinnamon Bear Farm, including the micro-greens, which continue to grow in popularity. “Through my dealings with Alex, I’ve come to see that he is a dedicated and passionate farmer who cares about the quality of his product. He’s also an innovative businessperson, looking for his niche in our local food forest. He really cares about what he’s doing.”
Libee continues, “Placing orders via the Food Hub takes me about five minutes, compared to the hours spent returning phone calls and coordinating delivery schedules before the Hub. My department runs more efficiently, which makes me very happy.”
The Food Hub also serves as the facilitator of Libee’s forward contracts with farmers. “Each year I put together proposals based on the previous year’s sales and pricing. I determine the estimated quantity of an item then submit them to the Hub, which forwards them to farmers.” She continues, ”Forward contracts give me some assurance that I’ll have the produce item on my shelves, and it helps the farmer plan for the year. The Hub is a huge help with this.” It’s a win-win-win—for farmers, wholesale buyers, and consumers.
Farm to table is, indeed, a big deal, and creating a smooth process that allows carefully grown food to reach its intended destination is all the better when the community works together. Mendocino County is proving that a healthy local food system is possible, one carrot at a time.
Lisa Ludwigsen is marketing manager at Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op. For the last 25 years, she has worked with families, farms, and food through school garden programs, small scale farming, and the media.
Photos by Ree Slocum, courtesy of MendoLake Food Hub.
Spring Cleaning from the Inside Out
by Torrey Douglass
There’s the greeting card version of spring—green meadows, golden sunshine, a multitude of daffodils stretching up towards the sun. But there’s another side of spring which is just as prevalent, if not as picturesque. That is the muddy, mucky, sludgy side of spring, when the warmer weather and wet conditions combine into a soggy mess necessitating that you either possess some reliable rainboots or watch where you step.
“The body mimics nature,” says Justine Lemos, PhD, of At One Yoga in Fort Bragg. In the winter, nature hunkers down against the cold, conserving energy and staying put. Likewise, we tend to slow down and eat heavier foods to fortify ourselves through the chilly months. Just as spring’s warmth causes the thaw and flow of moisture, accumulated metabolic waste built up in the body from our winter’s diet begins to “melt” during the spring as well. Justine’s area of expertise is Ayurveda, an ancient holistic healing system from India that refers to this metabolic waste as ama.
Justine describes ama as “the gunk factor.” Ama is distributed throughout the body as it melts, resulting in those annoying spring colds and coughs and just feeling run down. “Our bodies need different things at the junctures of the seasons to move through the transition with ease,” she shares. A person might experience a buildup of ama as physical and/or emotional stagnation, so supporting the body in its elimination can reduce this sluggishness, improve vitality, and help give us that fresh start we crave in the spring.
Justine has a simple three-day cleanse that can encourage the body to let go of this waste buildup. The word “cleanse” can conjure visions of cayenne and lemon juice, minds foggy and bodies weak from fasting. Fortunately, Ayurveda uses a different approach. “Ayurveda doesn’t want us to be hungry,” Justine says. “We want to keep the stomach strong while we give it a break.” Her cleanse gives the digestive system a rest from winter habits, simplifying and lightening the diet so loosened ama can enter the body’s waste stream and be expelled.
Spring weather is notoriously temperamental, with its fair share of cold days as winter attempts to renegotiate its lease. Fortunately, Ayurveda favors warm, cooked food, so you don’t need to worry about shivering over a salad when it’s chilly. Instead you’ll be eating a lot of Kitchari, a warming rice and lentil dish with digestive spices and vegetables that is both nourishing and easy to make.
Before delving into the details of the cleanse, here are some tips to help make the most of it.
Check your schedule. Don’t start the cleanse the same week your big report is due, or when you’re organizing a friend’s surprise party. You don’t need to remove yourself entirely from life, but do select a time period where you can reduce commitments and rest more than usual.
Drink that water. Over the course of the cleanse (as well as for a few days before and after), drink at least one liter of warm water per day. Justine recommends infusing the water with 1/2 tsp fennel seed, 1/4 tsp coriander seed, and 1/4 tsp cumin seed to strengthen digestion.
Simplify. For two or three days both before and after the cleanse, remove stimulants and other problematic foods from your diet, particularly sugar, caffeine, alcohol, yeasted breads, and refined flour.
Take time for some self-care. A dry sauna can counterbalance spring’s warm and wet aspects. Follow with a warm oil massage to nourish your skin. Yoga, either on your own or with a class, is another great restorative while you’re cleansing. But leave the sweaty workout for another time, instead opting for a few quiet walks, which can encourage circulation while also providing an opportunity for meditative reflection.
Spring is a time of renewal, upheaval, sunshine, and mud. With Justine’s Simple Three-Day Cleanse, you can participate in nature’s annual reboot, get rid of winter’s waste, and be ready to jump into all the possibilities of spring.
Simple Three-Day Cleanse
by Justine Lemos, PhD
Breakfast: Stewed Apples (see recipe below)
Mid Morning: Green juice (made from kale, greens, chard, etc.) with ginger in it (can also use carrot, beet, celery, cilantro, or radish). Just take one 8 oz. juice/day
Lunch and dinner: Keep it simple.
Eat a simple grain or legume—rice, quinoa, lentils and some cooked vegetables. You can eat Kitchari (see recipe below) but it need not be every day.
If you feel hungry, you can also eat some rice crackers, rice tortilla, or flat-bread (no yeasted bread). You can eat a small amount of fresh yogurt with your lunch and dinner. Make sure both lunch and dinner are warm.
Remember to drink 1 liter of water per day.
Stewed Apples
Recipe for one person:
1 whole, fresh, sweet apple, cored and peeled
2 whole cloves (per apple)
¼ cup of purified water
Directions:
Core, peel, and dice apple into small pieces. Add cloves, apples, and water in a covered pot. Stew apples until they have a soft consistency (usually takes about 5 to 10 minutes). Remove and discard cloves before serving. Let stand away from heat for 5 minutes, to cool a little.
Kitchari “the food of the Gods”
½ c split mung beans or other lentil
½ c basmati rice (or other grain such as brown rice or quinoa)
Ghee or oil
1-inch piece fresh ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 cups of water
¼ tsp each turmeric, ginger powder, coriander powder
Seasonal vegetables
1 tsp hemp oil or ghee
Sea salt
Handful of cilantro
Fresh chutney (optional)
Wash the mung beans and rice. Heat the ghee or oil in a heavy bottom pan and fry the fresh ginger, cumin, and mustard seeds. Add the mung beans and rice, along with the water. Then add the turmeric, ginger, and cilantro. Finally add the seasonal vegetables. Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and cook for 10-20 minutes. Do not stir until the liquid is nearly absorbed or it will go mushy. After cooking, add a teaspoon of hemp-seed oil or ghee and salt to taste. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and roasted seeds and serve. Eat with some fresh chutney.
Justine Lemos, PhD, is an author, teacher, dancer, mother, speaker, and founder of #notacult (a long-term conceptual art piece), The Bliss Academy (an online wisdom archive), and At One Yoga in Fort Bragg. More at At1Yoga.com and JustineLemos.com.
Photo by Daiga Ellaby courtesy of Unsplash.
Mendocino County Farmers Share Their Thoughts on Spring
Vickie and Mike Brock
Brock Farm, Boonville
Spring is so uplifting after the sleepy winter, flowers and blossoms blooming, everything is abuzz. Time to get off your butt and catch it. Now the work really begins.
Carissa Chineff and Ella Hanson
Forget-me-not Flowers, Laytonville
Ella: Spring is all about the trials and tribulations of the seasons, the process of waking up from a long winter sleep and visions taking hold and blooming into fully realized actions.
Carissa: During the winter months, I’m constantly on the hunt for signs that spring is coming. I’m scooting aside leaves and grass, hoping to find the tiny evidence that the bulbs haven’t been sucked down by ground dwelling critters. When spring arrives, so does the thrill of watching the thousands of new seedlings that are about to burst with growth. It signals a time of fresh, new life.
Blaire, Daniel, and Aedyn AuClair
Folk Life Farm, Covelo
We are excited about spring lambs and spring brassicas.
Rita Bates
The Apple Farm, Philo
I love how surprised I am at my enthusiasm every year when spring is on the horizon, and I get so giddy about shopping for seeds and popping them in the dirt. Never seems to matter how zeroed out I was from the end of apple season just a couple months before. Plus the fruit tree blossoms never get old!
Ruthie King
School of Adaptive Agriculture, Willits
Spring! Dormant perennial grasses shooting up out of the ground, using their stored energy to grow new solar panels and push sugar out of their roots, feeding the microbes … Spring for my flock means fast rotation in portable fencing over lush green grass, lambs jumping and playing, and shearing season for the woolies who grow renewable fiber that pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, building it into soil.
Pam Laird
Blue Meadow Farm, Philo
I love the emerald nearly neon-green of spring. New life bursting out of the soil! I come alive as well. Such a time of promise, but this year tinged with anxiety that we may not get enough rain.
Rachel Britten
Mendocino Grain Project
What’s different for me this year is the scale of field preparations. Almost everything we do is dry farmed, so the weather in the spring is critical and especially interesting in the era of climate change. So right now is our planting window and it will be a sprint. I’m looking forward to getting acreage planted and growing.
Kyle & Mel Forrest Burns
Nye Ranch, Fort Bragg
All winter we anticipate those early blooming flowers on our farm and the coastal headlands around us. They’re the sweetest symbol for the most exciting and physically challenging time of the year for a regenerative small farm!
English Gardener for a Day
story and photos by Lisa Ludwigsen
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
— Margaret Atwood.
When I arranged to visit my college friend, Patti Stevenson, in Oxford, England, I thought spending our time touring renowned English gardens would provide inspiration and distraction. After all, any place with a national trust dedicated to the preservation of historic estates and their extensive gardens could not possibly disappoint a scrappy backyard gardener from northern California.
I was also excited to see my old friend in her new career. After years of demanding positions in international and local urban planning, Patti had pivoted into a new vocation about as far as one can get from long commutes, policy-making, and tall office buildings. In response to a health crisis brought on by all those years of stress, Patti decided to become a Royal Horticultural Society certified gardener.
“After I left my job, I volunteered for different nonprofits in Oxford to see what appealed to me,” Patti shared. “In my work with the Oxford City Council parks department, I realized I loved the way my body responded to being outside and to hard physical work.”
Fueled by this new interest, Patti began taking classes at Waterperry Gardens near Oxford. Here she met and soon began working for one of the course tutors, Steve Relton, and from him she learned the intricacies and level of commitment required to care for formal English gardens. After two years of classes and training, she passed the intensive Royal Horticultural Society exams, obtained her British driving license, bought a van, and launched Perbellus Gardens. Today she maintains about a dozen gardens year round, in and around Oxford.
When Patti gave me the okay to work with her for a day in Oxford, I was delighted. After 20+ years of gardening in a true Mediterranean climate, where six months of the year see no measurable precipitation, I was excited to discover some secrets of the legendary English garden culture.
The basics of gardening organically are universal–build healthy soil that will support a diverse system of plants and organisms. Right plant, right place, border shapes and layouts, along with the shared concepts of soil cultivation, mulching, pruning, and irrigation are similar in most places. The level of gardening that Patti does, though, is so much more. Finding balance in design, knowing the characteristics of each plant, and keeping gardens interesting in each season require considerable skills.
English gardens range in style from formal layouts to wilder cottage gardens, perhaps as an expression of the various aspects of English culture. The many gardens of Oxford in late spring/early summer were truly inspiring. One great example of the whimsy factor were tiny flowering plants growing out of stately rock walls. They showed up in unexpected places and were always very sweet.
It was mid-May, just approaching summer, and we set out early, with two gardens on the schedule. Each of Patti’s clients was exceedingly polite and engaged. “Would you like a cup of coffee before getting to work?” one asked. We declined and dug in (pun intended).
We were tasked with getting these gardens ready for public viewing to benefit a charity called the National Open Garden Scheme. Both gardens looked great to the casual eye, but we made them look even better! At each site, the owner reported to Patti the work they’d done over the weekend and laid out the plan for the day’s chores. Both gardens were impressive, incorporating distinct zones within the overall garden.
“Large gardens are thought of as having rooms,” says Patti. One garden had more structural landscape than the other, but both offered a feeling of respite and reflection.
The front yard of the first garden was composed of mixed herbaceous borders, which is a fancy name for a mix of perennials, bulbs, annuals, biennials, ornamental grasses, trees, and shrubs. “This garden is designed for four-season interest,” said Patti. The garden was at near peak that day, with large balls of purple alliums mixed with resplendent spears of yellow lupines, deep purple heucheras, feathery salvias, Icelandic poppies, irises, and other perennials. It barely looked real to me. The homeowners had spent the weekend working in their garden, and it was obvious.
We tackled the back yard, which was more of a woodland with a mix of shrubs, low growing plants, and trees. As I crawled around at the side fence, pruning spindly bamboo and pulling weeds, I was reminded that my old friend is a monster of a worker. I tried hard to keep up with her. At one point I lost my clippers—secateurs as the British call them—and had to dig through a large tote packed with prunings to find them. A rookie mistake, but Patti just said, “That happens sometimes,” as she kept on working.
After a couple hours sprucing up the first garden, we moved on to our next garden, which was also near peak bloom but differed in its layout. The owner of this garden is a successful author and a dedicated gardener. Her layout featured distinctive water features, raised beds for veggies, a small chicken run, and a garden building where potted tomatoes were trellised up the walls. “The front garden is more of a true herbaceous garden,” shared Patti. “In the fall, these plants will be pruned to the ground, so during the winter this area looks bare.”
We worked in the back yard, crawling through foliage at the back of borders to get at the tall weeds and tangles of brambles. When it began raining, we put on our jackets and kept going. My traveling wardrobe wasn’t exactly weatherproof, but I really didn’t care. I had forgotten how really lovely it is to be out in the rain.
At day’s end, Patti had a specific routine of cleaning, drying, and storing her tools. I was pooped. Patti, however, responded to emails, made a few calls, then made us dinner. It was a great day.
In reflection, I realize that Patti’s specific brand of gardening service isn’t about just maintaining a landscape. Instead, she enters into an ongoing conversation with her clients so that they may realize the gardens of their dreams. It is a collaboration, sharing the creative process and the hard work.
When I returned to my semi-rural acre in northern California, I understood that my established drought-tolerant gardens can withstand a lot of neglect, but I am happiest when my gardens are happy. Like the gardens in Oxford, my gardens speak of the place and living things that inhabit them. Gardens everywhere speak a common language. I believe it is the language of connection—connection to nature, to others, and with oneself.
For more inspiration from English gardens:
https://www.rhs.org.uk
https://www.waterperrygardens.co.uk/
https://patientgardener.wordpress.com/
https://ngs.org.uk/
Is Now the Time for Canned Wine?
by Holly Madrigal
The click-pop-fizz of opening a can is not the sound one would usually associate with fine wine. But rules are meant to be broken, and a whole crop of wineries are throwing caution to the wind and filling cans with their high-quality vintages. Much like the twist-off cap versus cork controversy of the early two thousands, innovation stirs things up, and into this maelstrom steps Allan Green of Anderson Valley. With 45 years in the industry as a winemaker and grape grower at Greenwood Ridge Vineyards, Allan helped to found the Mendocino Wine Competition in 1979. So it was not a huge leap to launch another first—The International Canned Wine Competition, held at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds in Boonville.
Since 1980, Allan has curated a personal collection of over 1,400 wine cans. In fact, in 2015, he had the Guiness Book of World Records biggest wine can collection of 450 cans. Says Green, “Originally, I was a beer can collector. The first wine cans I collected were from other beer can collectors who didn’t want them. So, I switched to collecting wine in cans . . . Back in the 1930s, some wineries tried selling in cans, but it never caught on.” According to Allan, in the 1980s every major supermarket chain in England had its own brand of wine in cans. Now many high-quality wineries are giving it a go.
Turns out there are many reasons to consider drinking your favorite wine from a can. Cans of wine can be easily packed for campouts and adventures, and they can be crushed to a smaller size for pack-out. Their smaller size—usually equal to 375 ml—also reduces waste. (You might be surprised to learn this size is equivalent to half of a bottle.) Some wineries prefer the narrower but taller cans which hold 250 ml, roughly a glass and a half of wine and a good option for those who don’t want to quaff an entire half-bottle.
Advancements in canning technology have made the storage method more appealing from the producer perspective. Says Green, “I probably would have tried it at Greenwood Ridge, back when I owned it, but the technology just wasn’t there yet.” But thanks to changes in portable canning machines, wineries can now put relatively small craft batches into cans. In addition, the environmental impact of transportation is lower because cans are easier to package and lighter to ship. All of this innovation has increased the canned vino options, which are now available in well stocked markets, by mail, and in tasting rooms. Mendocino County has a few wineries selling their vintages in cans—including Bonterra Organic Vineyards and Graziano Family of Wines. Green is sure that more will join the fray.
One wine writer provides an insider tip for this new trend: pour the canned wine into a glass. Packaging wine in cans is all well and good, but the drinking experience is heightened when sipped from a glass. This allows the bouquet to develop, and aromatics are a huge part of wine enjoyment.
The first International Canned Wine Competition convened in July 2019 and had more than 200 entries from multiple regions of California, Oregon, Spain, Michigan, Australia, and Argentina, to name a few. Panels of judges, professionals from the wine world, scored and rated in categories of red, white, rosé, sparkling, carbonated, and spritzers. When the dust had settled, two wines from Napa Valley took the best in show—Insomnia Pinot Noir and a 2017 Riesling from Sans Wine Co. Archer Roose Bubbly from Veneto won a gold medal. Benmarl Winery of New York scored a number of Best in Class honors. Local photographer and competition panel moderator Tom Liden says, “The wines were surprisingly good, and I was very impressed with the amount of varietal selection and broad international representation. All the judges seemed to be impressed as well.” Plans are already underway for the 2nd annual competition, which will build on the foundation created in 2019. Mark your calendars for July 22, 2020 at the Boonville Fairgrounds.
Interest in this unorthodox way to package wine has only increased over time. Those wanting to picnic outdoors, take wine on a trip or to a concert now have a delicious, travel-worthy option. And next time you hear that click-pop, think of it as the sound of innovation and get ready to enjoy some stellar Mendocino County wine.
For information on the upcoming 2020 International Canned Wine Competition, or for the full list of winners from 2019, see cannedwinecompetition.com. Check your local store, restaurant (Princess Seafood sells wine only in cans), or tasting room for availability.
Holly Madrigal is a Mendocino County maven who loves to share the delights of our region. She’s the director of Leadership Mendocino and takes great joy in publishing this magazine.
Photo courtesy of Allan Green.
Wilder Ferments Kombuchas Capture Coastal Flavors
A Fresh Spin on an Ancient Brew
by Karen Lewis
What happens when you blend water, organic teas, sugar, a SCOBY, herbs, and say the magic words? You get Wilder Kombucha, which is one of Mendocino County’s newest startups, launched by Nicholas (Niko) Ramsdell and Evita Sikelianos. Kombucha is a fermented beverage thought to have originated in China more than two thousand years ago, where it was called the “Tea of Immortality.”
Kombucha develops during a controlled fermentation process into a beverage that’s refreshing, like soda pop or beer, yet ultimately low in sugar and <0.5% alcohol. One of the fastest growing bottled beverage sectors in the United States today, kombucha delivers complex fizzy flavors along with probiotic (healthy bacteria) and antioxidant elements, vitamin B, and other nutrients.
Niko and Evita take pride in their small-scale production, with careful attention to craft. It’s a multi-stage process to get from raw tea to bottled kombucha. Wilder selects a blend of organic, fair-trade green and black teas, filtered water, and organic cane sugar. Every batch of kombucha requires a “starter” to get the fermentation going. Fondly known as a SCOBY—Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast—this membrane grows during fermentation when wild yeast interacts with natural bacteria and sugar. After several weeks, the SCOBY is removed from the Kombucha and can be divided and used to start new generations of the brew. Niko held up a SCOBY that will jumpstart a new batch of “booch.” It reminded me of a moon: round, gorgeous, and wild as a journey across craters. There’s a sense of reverence here, in the same way a baker guards their sourdough starter, knowing it’s connected to history as well as to future generations of nourishment.
The balance of sugars to alcohol and yeast develops in dynamic synergy. Careful control of temperature and timing assures a consistent product. “After the first fermentation, we remove the SCOBY and add the herbal blends. Then, secondary fermentation starts,” Niko explained. Once secondary fermentation with flavor ingredients is complete, Niko and Evita filter and bottle the new kombucha. After bottling, traces of residual sugars continue to ferment, lending fizz to the live, raw brew in the bottle.
In the production area where Niko and Evita bottle the beverage, one batch caught my eye with its shimmering ruby color. “That’s the elderberries,” Evita explained. “Elderberries give a blush to the Elder Tonic, which is one of our bestsellers.”
A glimpse of Wilder’s secret recipes—handwritten notes and diagrams—calls to mind a treasure map. Since Wilder products are fermented in small batches, the partners often create new flavors based on seasonally-available fresh ingredients like locally grown peaches, watermelon, or wild-crafted mint. According to the founders, “We’re always innovating. It’s a carefully measured alchemy.”
Niko and Evita met while they were studying film and photography at Syracuse University, and Niko admits to a childhood fondness for the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), where a youngster’s misadventures in the “Fizzy Lifting” soda room lead to mayhem. As an adult, during an extended visit to coastal Kenya, Niko, with some friends, brewed his first batch of kombucha with some surprising results. He learned that at equatorial temperatures, kombucha ferments very quickly. A small batch of tangy ginger booch was ready in just three days. After that, Niko continued to explore and fine-tune his home brewing skills, all the while brainstorming how to turn this passion into a business.
When the idea of starting a company was first conceived, Evita was finishing a ten-month apprenticeship with herbalist Liz Migliorelli at Sister Spinster. Although Wilder is careful not to make any medicinal or nutritional claims, Evita is excited about the many herbs that support our bodies. “First Green was created during our local foraging forays in the spring, when nettles, horsetail, and mint are all beginning to grow, providing the body with much-needed trace minerals after winter.” The partners work together to test new blends. According to Evita, “Black Birch was inspired by flavors from the original soda pops—birch bark, sarsaparilla root, and vanilla.” Seasonal Wilder Kombucha flavors have also featured strawberries from Nye Ranch or hops from Wavelength Farm.
Connections to community are important to Evita and Niko. The first public tasting of their kombucha happened during the 2018 Mendocino County Herb Guild Craft Fair in Caspar. Partly due to public enthusiasm, and also following long-held ambitions to start their own business, they launched formally as Wilder Ferments in early 2019. “It was a culmination of years of research and development, followed by months of licensing, logistics, and supply sourcing,” says Niko.
In the spring of 2019, Niko and Evita built a booth for the Mendocino County Farmers Markets and began sampling and selling bottled Wilder. They also established retail accounts like the Elk Store, Corners of the Mouth, Surf Super, Fog Eater, and Café Beaujolais. In 2020, Wilder anticipates distribution countywide using the MendoLake Food Hub.
According to Niko, “The Farmers Market is where we really started, and it’s where the most fun happens. We meet a lot of tourists coming through, as well as locals. We do taste tests for new seasonal flavors and have a chance to communicate with customers and also local growers, where we discover new ingredients.” Evita applauds the local Farmers Markets, noting, “It was exhilarating to show up in the public eye with a product that we were proud of. It also means a lot to me to be a part of the incredible community of farmers and makers at the markets.”
Current production takes place at Chubby’s Commercial Kitchen in Fort Bragg, a shared-use facility where Wilder enjoys a dedicated, climate-controlled fermentation room and secure refrigeration space in a community of other small-scale food entrepreneurs. Wilder bottles their kombucha in traditional brown glass to protect live cultures from UV light. A friend from college days, graphic artist Christopher DeLorenzo, designed the distinctive Wilder Kombucha labels. Black line art on white labels adds a fresh, fun look to the bottles, with botanical designs that reflect pure and healthy Mendocino lifestyles. Once bottled, there’s little hint of the color, nor the fizzy effervescence that’s characteristic of kombucha, and because unpasteurized kombucha has a life of its own, it must remain refrigerated until drinking.
My first sip of Wilder Kombucha was a complete surprise; it delivered a bubbly champagne-like joy along with hints of mint and something wild. The refreshment fortified my energy for a long drive home. I also learned that Elder Tonic isn’t just for elders, but for everyone who loves elderberries. Elder Tonic, Black Birch, Heart + Thorn, and First Green are consistently available. Other seasonally-available flavors have included Blackberry Mint, Ginger Lemon, Fall Fruits, Rose Mint, Watermelon Chili, Turmeric Black Pepper, and Strawberry Tulsi. The future will bring new recipe innovations including a line of kombucha vinegars soon to hit the shelves.
Every drop of Wilder Kombucha is connected to a centuries-long tradition, reinterpreted by Niko and Evita and flavored with restorative herbs and fruits, many of them sourced locally. These seasonally inspired brews are as refreshing and invigorating as a walk beside the ocean, with the salt-sprinkled winds and sun-shimmered water prodding our hibernating minds awake.
Wilder Ferments can be found at the Farmers Markets in Fort Bragg, Mendocino, Gualala, and select retailers. On Instagram @WilderFerments.
Karen Lewis is a poet and writer who lives near Albion and cherishes this wild, inspiring place we call home.
Photos by Nik Zvolensky, courtesy of Wilder Ferments.
Journey to a Plant-Based Life
by Dawn Emery Ballantine
Heart disease is the biggest killer in America, followed by cancer, and trailing not far behind, complications from Type Two Diabetes. Nevertheless, I was shocked when my husband—a healthy, lifelong tennis-player—recently suffered a heart attack. Coming home from the hospital with a heart stent and a pile of meds, he immediately began to search for some alternatives. He read articles and watched documentaries (Forks over Knives, The Game Changers, What the Health, to name a few). Researchers were demonstrating tremendous improvements in cardiovascular health and a reduction in diabetes and cancer rates in people who removed all meat, eggs, and dairy products from their diet, and instead ate whole-foods (non-processed) meals made exclusively from plants.
Our research convinced us that this plant-powered diet would be the way to both heal his heart and continue to play tennis into his dotage. So, though he was a stalwart carnivore, we are now following a vegan diet and mostly loving it, in spite of reactions from friends and acquaintances that range from surprise to dismissive frustration.
Apart from health considerations, there are other compelling reasons to consider a more plant-based lifestyle. Greta Thunberg, the young climate change activist, has contributed to the conversation, amplifying the message that animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of global warming and climate change (a greater impact than the total of land, air, and sea transportation). This industry uses 20-33% of the world’s fresh water and occupies 45% of the world’s total land, which might otherwise be used for cultivation of crops.
Greta is not the only one calling out the ag industry’s impacts on the climate. A study by the University of Oxford showed that switching to a plant-based diet could reduce both your personal water use “footprint” by 50% and your contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by 73%.
Initial interest in the vegan diet came out of the animal rights movement, whose leaders encouraged people to avoid animal products because of the heinous way animals are treated in factory farms. And indeed, the more one researches this aspect, the clearer our personal choice remains. So begins our journey to plant-powered eating.
Cooking at home, I’ve enjoyed learning a host of new recipes and can usually whip up a feast of goodness, comfort, and health with the help of some plant-based cookbooks and Pinterest. The local food movement has made wonderful produce available year-round, whether through farmers markets or grocery stores. But sometimes it’s nice when somebody else does the cooking.
It’s easy to say that any restaurant should have at least one gluten-free, vegan option. There are a few fairly simple substitutions one can make to any traditional recipe (the delicious vegan tacos at Little River Inn come to mind), and concocting a stir-fry vegetable and rice/quinoa dish, or a baked potato with black beans and a salad, would go a long way toward making customers feel cared for. Even Forbes, a financial magazine, recently published an article on “How to Make Any Recipe Vegan.” Chains like McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Panera are now offering vegan options, the latter vowing to make at least 50% of its menu offerings plant-based. Celebrities are all aboard the vegan train, with the Golden Globes, the Oscars, and the Screen Actors Guild awards celebrations all offering vegan meals this year, the latter serving, for the first time ever, an entirely plant-based menu.
Our initial eating-out reality was not so shiny. My much-beloved Mexican restaurants often cook beans in lard and rice in chicken broth, and they put that yummy cotija cheese on everything (oh, how I miss that!). American-style restaurants have been the most challenging. With fewer alternatives, even the salads showcase cheese or have non-vegan dressings, and paying $15+ for a bowl of raw veggies is a bit off-putting. I recently went to a very nice restaurant, which we had enjoyed greatly in our omnivore phase, where I could “build my own” pizza. I came away with a $29 bill and the saddest pizza I’ve ever seen or tasted. (Note, I have made delicious gluten-free, vegan pizza at home, so I know it’s not that complicated or expensive.)
We have discovered that many restaurants put in the effort to provide options for folks with limiting dietary needs, like Plank in Cloverdale, where they made a delicious gluten-free, vegan sandwich with no fuss at all. And there are more than a few restaurants that feature plant-based cuisine in Mendocino County. Try The Ravens at The Stanford Inn (Mendocino) for multiple delicious vegan and gluten-free choices, as well as Fog Eater Café (Mendocino), Taste Buds (Ukiah), and Café One (Fort Bragg)—all yummy and happy to accommodate alternative diets. Little River Inn also offers super tasty vegan menu items, and it’s hard to beat that view! Asian and South Asian restaurants usually have a few options, such as vegan sushi or veggie rice noodle bowls—try Miss Saigon (Ukiah), Oco Time (Ukiah), Thai Spice (Cloverdale), and the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas restaurant (Ukiah), to name a few.
By following these new food tenets for the past few months, my husband’s lab numbers have enormously improved, and his medications have already been reduced. Greta and others are convinced that a plant-based diet will help to save our planet, and Joaquin Phoenix makes a poignant plea for the more humane treatment of our animal friends by not eating them and their by-products. I am on board for all of these reasons.
This seismic shift in our eating has been made easier thanks to the many vegan blogs and websites (check out WorldOfVegan.com or PlantBasedOnABudget.com). Some include shopping guides, tips on popular food chains with vegan options, and recipe alternatives to make the food we love healthier for us and the planet. In the interest of cleansing and hitting the restart button after the quiet of winter, going plant-based even one day a week could make a difference to our health, our animal friends, and our carbon footprint. Meatless Mondays, anyone?
Dawn Emery Ballantine lives in Anderson Valley, where she curates books for her bookshop, Hedgehog Books, edits this magazine, and enjoys learning new recipes to please the plant-based palate.
Photo by Mariana Medvedeva courtesy of Unsplash.
Fabulous & Forageable
A Refreshing Pesto from Spring’s Wild Herbs
by Torrey Douglass
Spring is the season of hope. It’s teeming with new beginnings, from baby lambs bouncing about the fields like popcorn to fresh shoots pushing through the rain-soaked soil. With all that inspiring potential and (hopefully) sunshine in the air, it’s tempting to immediately roll up your sleeves and dig into whatever projects capture your fancy. But before you get started on your spring pursuits, you can give your body a welcome boost with this super green pesto.
This blend of forageable plants is delicious and versatile. It works as a sandwich spread, pasta topping, or side condiment for your protein of choice. Dandelions and chickweed are pretty common throughout the county, but nettles are best foraged on the coast (and be sure to use heavy gloves to protect your hands when you do). Dandelions are good for the kidneys and a great source of beta carotene, and chickweed soothes bronchial tissue and aids digestion. Nettles contribute a bounty of minerals and vitamins—and some folks have reported nettle tea decreases their allergic reaction to pollen in the springtime. Taken together, this blend of seasonal greens will power you up to make the most of spring’s possibilities.
Wild Pesto with Spring Herbs
Gather nettles, chickweed leaves, and dandelion greens. (Be particularly careful when foraging for chickweed, as there are some similar-looking plants that are not good for eating.) Clean the plants thoroughly, being careful of those stinging nettles! Shake dry and pat with paper towel to further remove moisture. Blend the greens together in a food processor or an old fashioned mortar and pestle. Add a dash of salt, a smattering of pine nuts or walnuts, and olive oil as needed until the pesto is smooth and tasty.
Thanks to herbalist Mary Pat Palmer and forager Abeja Hummel for their input for this article.
Nettle picture by Giovanni Dall’Orto
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nettle_-_Ortica_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto.jpg
Dandelion picture by Fir0002, Covered by GNU Free Documentation License
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dandelion.jpg
Chickweed picture by Kaldari. Made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaldari_Stellaria_media_01.jpg
Prickly Pear Cocktail
The spiky, bright red or yellow fruits of the prickly pear cactus are eye-catching and a bit dangerous. Like foraging for stinging nettles, prickly pear fruits require special handling and can cause injury. That’s the kind of produce I like—hazard food.
This cactus grows in arid climates and has found its way to Mendocino County. Prickly pears ripen from late spring through fall. Fruits are ready to harvest when soft to the touch, but beware, they are covered with tiny bundles of stickers called glochids (seriously, wear gloves!). If you buy the fruits at the store, the stickers have likely been removed. Note: The pads of the prickly pear plant, called nopales, are a staple in Mexican cuisine and worth further recipe-exploration on their own.
For this recipe, we call for the fruits. Using dish gloves, peel the outer layer, removing all the bruised spots. Alternately, you can halve the fruit and, holding it in a gloved hand, scoop out the flesh, leaving the little seeds, hard as rocks, for now. (Like tomatoes, the flesh around the seeds is some of the most flavorful, so you want to retain as much of that as possible.)
Use the fruit to make the syrup below. Prickly Pear Syrup can be used to make jelly and candies, as well as cocktails. Live on the wild side and try out some hazard-foods like prickly pear. You won’t be disappointed.
Prickly Pear Syrup
1-½ c Prickly Pear flesh—halve the fruits and scoop out the flesh
¼ c sugar
3 c water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Combine all ingredients except lemon juice in a pan. Cook over medium heat, mashing the flesh until it becomes liquid and the sugar is fully dissolved. Simmer 30 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken. Add lemon juice and stir. Remove from heat, let cool slightly, and strain the liquid over a bowl, pressing the pulp through and removing the seeds. Discard seeds and pour the syrup into a bottle for later use.
Prickly Pear Cocktail
2 oz your favorite Rum or Bourbon
½ c Prickly Pear Syrup
Ice
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shake vigorously, and pour into glasses garnished with lemon.
Northspur Brewing Company
by Holly Madrigal
photos by Matthew Caine
The ten-foot-tall train-shaped arrow catches the eye as you pass Northspur Brewing Company, Willits’ fun new watering hole. The striking visual design continues inside, where giant train axles have been repurposed into tables, and rails have been incorporated into the bar and the railing. The appearance of the place is not the only thing being done differently here. I caught up with owner and friend Jakob Foley to learn about what is afoot.
WOM: How and when did you start brewing beer?
NBC: I started brewing longer ago than I care to admit. I think my friend’s dad first introduced us to brewing well before we were old enough to drink. I can remember a bunch of us standing around in my friend’s garage while his dad made an early attempt at brewing beer. My interest in the process stuck with me, and I think by my second year of college I was making beer in the kitchen of our Santa Cruz rental house. I don’t recall anything I made there being particularly drinkable, but it was a start. And it was free to my roommates who, as a result, happily consumed it and encouraged me, regardless of how bad it was.
WOM: Why did you choose Willits to open Northspur Brewing Co.?
NBC: Because I’ve thought for years that Willits needed a brewery. Mendocino Country was the birthplace of some of the earliest craft breweries, and I felt as though it was getting left behind by the current craft beer boom. I’ve been seeing successful craft breweries pop up in towns much smaller than Willits for years now. I looked into starting one in Willits seven years ago but was not able to get anything off the ground. Then a chance meeting and a lucky set of circumstances just dropped an opportunity into our lap in late 2017. My wife, Sarah, and I decided we needed to take advantage of it, and by early 2018 we were starting the paperwork for what would become Northspur Brewing Co.
WOM: Where do you see yourselves fitting into the local craft beer scene in Mendocino County?
NBC: I think we’ve filled a vacancy by opening up in Willits. Ukiah has had a brewery for years now (they had two while Mendocino Brewing Company was still operating). Fort Bragg, of course, has North Coast Brewing, and while we were building out, Overtime Brewing opened up over there as well. Even Potter Valley has a little commercial operation. The breweries that have opened up in Mendocino County over the past few years, us included, I think have helped our area catch up to the craft brewing scene in the rest of the state.
WOM: What is the hardest part of owning a brewery?
NBC: Paperwork. Always the paperwork. And the juggling. There are so many things going on at once, and we’re way too small to hire people for specific jobs. I’ve already cut back my time behind the bar so I can focus on other tasks, and we’re still perpetually behind.
WOM: Will you have a kitchen?
NBC: We are still in the process of building out our kitchen. Until then, patrons are welcome to bring their own food.
WOM: What is your favorite part of brewing beer and/or having a brewery?
NBC: Free beer. That’s really the only reason we did this in the first place.
WOM: What surprised you about what you do?
NBC: Holy Sh*t, people actually like what we’re making! It is so hard tasting your own stuff, and not everyone will give you an honest opinion when you stick a free beer (or anything) in front of them and say “Hey, try this, I made it. What do you think?” So its been really nice to see people come back frequently and discover and really care about a favorite beer. If we run out of something now, we’ll even get phone calls asking when that beer will be back on tap.
The other thing that really got our attention was the Willits community. People here care so much about this little town and its success. While we got a ton of support from the beer community, we’ve also received a tremendous amount of support from people who don’t even drink beer. For just about everyone we’ve met, what’s most important is that Willits succeeds as a town and a destination. It’s really refreshing to see how many people care about this place.
WOM: What is the most popular beer, and which do you enjoy making the most?
NBC: The Blonde (insert blond joke here). Style-wise, we sell more IPA than anything else by a wide margin, but the Blonde is our single best-selling beer. I love (and hate because it takes me ALL day) making IPAs. So many new great hops have been introduced in the past decade or so, and that gives us, as brewers, the opportunity to experiment endlessly with IPA styles and get all sorts of fun flavors into our beers. We’re even getting flavors such as coconut and whiskey from some of these newer hops.
WOM: How did you design the interior of the place?
NBC: The idea from the start was to have an open floor plan. Sarah and I have visited lots of breweries over the years, and the ones that have the brew-plant and fermenters front and center were always our favorites. We’ve also seen a number of breweries with large shared tables and found, from observation and experience, that shared tables are a great way to meet new people. Having a space and seating to foster that was really important to us from the start. There were a few practical design choices as well, such as having the walk-in cooler directly behind the bar, which makes getting beer to the bar taps super simple. Other than that, we wanted to create a warm, comfortable space for people to hang out (and drink beer, of course). We were lucky to get a space with lots of natural light, a garage door that opens onto the patio, and a classic wood truss warehouse ceiling, all of which contributed to that goal. The train theme was put together by Stu and Seth at Pinwheel. I’d asked them to help build a a square tube metal railing to separate the brewhouse from the tasting area. Once Stu saw the logo, though, he started trying to convince me that he could get an old rail for the top part. I let him roll with it and shortly after, he suggested the axles as a table base. At some point, I just started nodding my head “yes” to all of his ideas (which was his plan to begin with), and the result was the amazing industrial train theme that dominates our tasting area.
WOM: Dog friendly?
NBC: Yes. We love dogs. Unfortunately, when we open our kitchen, they’ll be relegated to the patio to comply with health department regulations.
WOM: Future plans?
NBC: Take over the world, of course. Before that happens, though, we hope to be able to get our beers out of just the taproom and into pubs and restaurants in Northern California. We’re also looking at a very small canning line so we can get our beers on the shelves of local retailers. And the kitchen.
For craft brew fans in Mendocino County and beyond, Northspur Brewing Company is a welcome addition to the scene. We’re so glad Jakob decided to turn his passion into this local gem producing truly tempting beers.
Northspur Brewing Co
Northspurbrewing.com | 101 N. Main St. Willits
Open 11:30am-9:00pm Wed-Thurs, 11:30am-10:00pm Fri-Sat,
11:30am-7:00pm Sun. Closed Monday & Tuesday for Brewing
Humboldt Bay Oysters
A Merry Merroir
by Elizabeth Archer
The North Coast is home to an impressive assortment of the world’s best and most prized foods, and nothing illustrates that point more finely than the famous oysters of the majestic Humboldt Bay. California’s second-largest bay produces the majority of the state’s oysters, a $6 million industry for our neighbors to the north.
There are hundreds of acres of oysters farmed in the bay using “off-bottom techniques,” in which human-made oyster beds are built above the ocean floor. This is in contrast to “bottom culture” oyster farming that prevailed until the end of the 20th century, at which time environmentalists, marine experts, and fishers started understanding and reacting to the damage caused by ocean-floor dredging. Since off-bottom techniques have been implemented, oyster farming has thrived as an industry and has helped the bay thrive in return.
Oysters are like the vacuum cleaners of the ocean. Each oyster filters as much as 50 gallons of water a day, removing pollutants, keeping algae in check, and helping to maintain the bay’s diverse flora and fauna. With a natural tidal design that completely refreshes the bay’s water twice a day, oysters and Humboldt are a match made in heaven.
The hardy Pacific species of oyster, which comprises well over 90% of global oyster production, flourishes in the bay. So do their smaller counterparts (both in size and market share), the Kumamoto species. Similar to Pacific oysters in that they both are from Japan, both tolerate changes in salinity and temperature, and both are delicious to eat. “Kumos,” as they are affectionately known to aficionados, are especially prized for their soft texture, sweet taste, and lack of “fishy” flavor. Thanks to the perfect water conditions, Humboldt Bay Kumos are considered by many to be the best in the world.
One of the main players in the Humboldt oyster game is Aqua-Rodeo Farms (pronounced like the cowboy contest, not the famous street), which sports the delightful motto, “We Round Them Up. You Shoot Them Down.” Owner Sebastian Elrite graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in wildlife management in 1997 and has been farming oysters ever since. “We’re in a pretty good spot as far as environmental quality,” explains Elrite, “but there are windows where we can’t harvest that are unpredictable. We’re always monitoring for red tides in the summer, and heavy rain in the winter can prevent harvesting.” When booked in advance, “Captain Sebastian” treats visitors to two-hour, low-tide boat rides filled with educational information about oyster farming and the (optional) hands-on experience of harvesting.
Elrite also operates Humboldt Bay Provisions in Eureka. In addition to eating at the oyster bar, visitors can purchase locally made products including wine, beer, cheese, olives, and more. When Elrite eats oysters, he likes to keep it simple: grilled with butter or raw with a zesty cocktail sauce. At Humboldt Bay Provisions, a dozen raw or broiled oysters, likely harvested that morning, costs about $25.
Just like terroir informs how a wine tastes, explains Elrite, merroir—the ebb and flow of the tide, the salinity level of the water—imparts the subtle qualities and flavors of each oyster varietal. Kumos sell themselves; everyone wants them thanks to a very effective marketing campaign. With Pacific oysters, farmers name the varietals they cultivate. Aqua-Rodeo Farms is famous for the Bucksport, so named by Elrite after a town of the same name which became part of Eureka in the late 1800s. Almost all of Aqua-Rodeo’s oysters are sold locally in Humboldt County, with one notable exception: The Peg House in Leggett is one of Elrite’s oldest and most loyal customers.
If you’re looking for a good excuse to head to Humboldt, this year is the 30th annual Oyster Festival, hosted by Arcata Main Street, on June 20, 2020. This is the largest event of the year in Humboldt, attracting more than 15,000 oyster enthusiasts for mollusks, micro-brews, and music. It’s also a kid-friendly affair, incorporates art activities for all ages, and to top it off, boasts a Zero Waste badge. Elrite likes to participate in the festival, so keep your eyes open for Aqua-Rodeo oysters if you go.
With Humboldt Bay heavily monitored by a variety of organizations and governmental agencies, and with the farmers and oysters themselves doing their part to keep the bay healthy, you can feel good about eating these local delicacies. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch gives off-bottom Pacific oysters the “Best Choice” rating, and oyster-eaters everywhere give them a satisfied slurp salute.
Humboldt Bay Provisions
205 G St, Eureka | (707) 672-3850
www.humboldtbayprovisions.com
Open Mon-Thurs 4:30–8:30pm
Fri.-Sat.1–9:30pm & Sunday1–8:00pm
Elizabeth Archer is an enthusiastic eater and promoter of the local food scene in Mendocino County. She and her husband run Carson and Bees, a beekeeping operation in Ukiah.
Photos courtesy of Humboldt Bay Provisions.