Is this real life?

It's been two weeks since I arrived here at the String and I find myself asking "Is this real life?" My weekend consisted of delicious and sustainably produced Oregon and Sonoma wines, homemade pizzas cooked in the brick oven outside with toppings that included the broccolini that I helped harvest that morning and butternut squash (I can never get enough of butternut, it's just wonderful), an epic bike ride Saturday afternoon into downtown Petaluma with new friends, yummy polenta with leftover veggies for dinner, and a lazy Sunday of laundry and making oatmeal-pumpkin/flax seed-raisin cookies. Everything is so connected to the land and the produce that grows here on the farm - and it feels so good to eat food that I've picked myself. Even though I didn't plant it - I've been told how the plants were treated and grown since they were seedlings.

The people I'm meeting and living with are awesome, and it's been so much fun just hanging out with them here. It's an incredible place that has drawn individuals together who love good, clean food and natural process farming. We've come up with some pretty damn good meals since we've been here, and I promised I'd highlight some of the dishes we've cooked together.

This was an insane platter of freshly made hummus with sliced turnips and carrots from our garden to dip into. The chick peas were mashed by hand to make the hummus!
This meal I actually didn't eat because I was doing a cleanse for a full day and not eating food - just juice and the 'master cleanse' lemonade drink. I just felt like I needed to re-start my metabolism and give my digestive tract a break. It was good and actually gave me some perspective when I was just observing food and not obsessing on eating it as soon as possible. Anyway, Paula (my Irish roommate) is a chef and she made fresh pasta! It was amazing to help make and watch being put through the pasta maker. The night before we had made butternut squash ravioli by making the pasta fresh as well and stuffing raviolis. There were lentils and chick peas mixed in with the pasta and lots of good smelling spices. I think they had kale and kale florets with squash on the side. YUM.
This meal I definitely ate - it was incredible! There were two types of lasagna - one with meat (grass fed beef) and one veggie with three kinds of lentils and chick peas. Both had cheddar and different cheeses mixed in layers. The cheddar was made by the intern class last spring, and finally ready to be eaten! We got a massive block of it - and we've already had quite a bit of it in many meals.

I took some pictures of other meals that I helped make on my camera, but I haven't uploaded them onto my computer as of yet. One dish I made was stuffed butternut squash with brown and white rice, fresh leeks, garlic and lemon. It was deliciouss and probably the best rice I've ever made :)

So needless to say, the eating here has been fantastic. It's a challenge as well because you mainly are eating the same foods (if you haven't caught onto the butternut squash theme you're not paying attention hehe) and you have to get creative to cook and prepare certain foods that you eat all the time. The winter squash are in over-abundance and are piled in the large squash barn left-over from the winter harvest. Along with the winter squash are root vegetables like beets - there are TONS of beets! I think the picture of the beet bins I've already posted - if not I'll add it in. There are many ways to get creative with beets - they have such a fun color mixed with other foods.

I have been craving some foods that aren't available in season yet or aren't grown here - like fruit other than citrus and asparagus. There will be asparagus soon though! And I'll probably have to buy fruit like berries, apples or mango because they just aren't growing here. That's one thing I want more of - fruit. The citrus is fantastic though - the best lemons and mandarin oranges I've ever had. And Bob Cannard was told by many people that he'd never be able to grow citrus here in Sonoma Valley. He definitely proved them wrong.

Anyway, next post I'll write about some of the specific lessons I've had so far - especially dealing with soil. If you haven' seen the documentary "Dirt!" I'd recommend you do. It's a great film that really brings to life the problems we are seeing with modern industrial agriculture, and how degrading our lifestyles are to the soil and lifeforms that give us food, nutrition and oxygen.

I'll wrap it up with a quote that I found through my friend Leigh that really struck me: "When each day is the same as the next, it is because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives each day the sun rises."

Life here allows me to appreciate the beauty around me and the food that I am eating - and every day brings new challenges, fun, adventures, and knowledge. I am up with the sun rise almost every day, and it's incredible to be outdoors for most of the day. More soon! Lots of love.