'Tis the Season to Pick Chestnuts in the Santa Cruz Mountains

On Halloween morning, our family drove down the Santa Cruz Mountains to Skyline Chestnuts, one of our favorite fall season farms. Late October and early November are supposedly the best time to pick chestnuts, a rare treat whose short season only lasts from mid-October through late November. If you don't squeeze in a visit by Thanksgiving weekend, that's it for the year - gotta be patient til next year.

As we showed up at 10am, several families were already hard at work gleaning and filling huge bags of chestnuts. No, not bags. More like bushels and barrels. Man were they chestnut-nutties! Not to worry though. The trees were loaded and clearly, the harvest was not peaking yet. As a matter of fact, here is what Hans Johsen the owner wrote on the website's forum on November 10, 2010: "We are now in full swing and the chestnuts are still falling like rain! Large size and high quantities prevail." There, you have it. Hurry before the season's over!

We went with my mom and I brought a folding chair so she could sit it out under the trees. This being Halloween, two little girls were rummaging through fallen leaves in princess dresses, their sparkly skirts flickering in the morning sun. Other kids were swatting branches to make chestnuts come down faster.

My own girls were trolling the grounds lousily looking for shiny brown nuts, outfitted with long pants and rain boots. In case you don't know, chestnut burs are prickly - very. Once I had to get the tweezers out to help the daughter of a friend who handled the burs without gloves. I prefer to manage without gloves by using my feet without crushing the fruit. While most people twist the burs between their gloved hands to pry them open, I simply twist them with a swish of the foot and tada!

It's the fourth year in a row that we go chestnut picking at this orchard and through the years, here are a few things I learned:

• kids can easily find chestnuts on the ground under the trees - no need to be big chestnut wizards to spot them.
• while one bucket per family is largely sufficient for the average chestnut lover, a bucket for two is easier if your party decides to split and some of you stay on lower grounds while others climb the hills.
• kids like to take gloves at the entrance but they won't necessarily use them. They don't like to carry buckets either but they still want one. Kids. Truth be told, the buckets are rather bulky for small kids.
• bigger is not always better. Hans Johsen confirmed that the smaller chestnuts are sweeter than the bigger ones. Rather than focusing on size, try to get a nice selection and organize a tasting at home.
• there are several species of chestnut trees on the property - some American, some Chinese, some European. Hence the difference in size and color of the nuts you'll find. Don't worry if some of the nuts are striped green. It doesn't mean they're unripe. If they fell off the tree, they're ripe.

It took us an hour to glean 16 pounds of chestnuts, my husband being the overachiever chestnut person and I being the easy-going chestnutter that day. Amazingly, each year we pick more than the previous year. Why is that? My theory is that we're slowly being domesticated by the chestnuts and as we progress (read, improve), we want more. We used to be newbies and thought chestnuts could only be roasted on an open fire. What a joke!

After I bought Annie Bhagwandin's The Chestnut Cookbook, I started reading it and discovered a cornucopia of recipes, cooking methods and other essential chestnut stuff. Two days ago I roasted a pound of chestnuts in a dry pan (not even a chestnut pan, just a regular one) and it worked wonders. My fingertips are still sore from the peeling part but the roasted chestnuts made a great school snack for my girls. According to the book, there's an easy way to slice them in two, pop them in boiling water and squeeze them out of the husks once cooked through. Can't wait to try that for the Thanksgiving stuffing.

The only disappointment of the day was finding out that Mr. Johsen was already out of his chestnut honey. He's set up beehives in the hills and chestnut honey is my all-star favorite honey for its strong and wonderful flavor. I thought for sure in October I was early and would score a jar this year. Not so. People start calling him in August to secure a jar of the chestnut honey. Sigh. I walked away with a jar of the eucalyptus honey, making a mental note to call in July next year!

Practical details: they're all on the website but I'm copying them below for easy reference.

Driving directions

• From the north: Take Woodside Road (Hwy 84) west, Turn left (south) on Skyline Blvd (Hwy 35), pass Page Mill and continue for 3 miles; the farm is on the right side of the road.
• From the south: Take Hwy 9 west, turn right on Skyline Blvd (Hwy 35), and continue north about 5 miles; the farm is on the left side of the road.

Address: 22322 Skyline Blvd, La Honda, CA 94020

Phone number: (408) 395 0337

Applefest at Ravenswood Historic Site in Livermore

The Strawberry Parfait, Scarlet Surprise and Porter's Perfection all have one thing in common. These antique apple varieties were popular in the second half of the 19th century and have practically disappeared of the commercial circuit. Last month, Ranger Amy Wolitzer of Ravenswood Historic Site in Livermore planted more of these antique apple trees in the orchard in front of the house. When you go, look at the tiny trees with the name tag still attached. They will be producing apples in 3 to 4 years. "For the Ravenswood trees, we selected varieties that were popular in the Victorian era, when the Ravenswood estate was in its heyday," wrote Ranger Amy in Valley Wilds, September 2008.

On the last Saturday of August, the real stars of the Applefest event were a dozen mature apple trees with fruit-laden branches. As Ranger Amy instructed kids to pluck juicy apples off these trees, none of the youngsters cared that these apples were not the usual Gala or Fuji or that they might have worms inside.

Harvesting and tasting them was only the start of a fun-filled Victorian afternoon and getting first to the trees was the name of the game.

Built in 1891, Ravenswood was a country estate for Chrisopher A Buckley Sr., a San Francisco politician. In those days, country houses were often surrounded by extensive lands. In Buckley's case, the land was planted in orchards and vineyards, fitting choices for a Mediterranean climate that allowed palm trees and sycamores to thrive.

There are still vineyards in front of the house and if you walk to the end of the garden, you'll see the walls of Buckley's winery still standing without a roof. In fact, wine may well be the only industry that bridges the gap between Victorian Livermore and Livermore today. Just check out the  Livermore Valley Wineries to get the idea. Olive orchards would also - but fruit orchards have all but disappeared. Thanks to Ravenswood, families can still experience a flavor of Victorian life - and orchards - in Livermore.

The idea behind Applefest is simple: get kids to participate in harvest time at the end of the summer, make them taste rare apples and play old-fashioned games. The amazing part is that the event is free. From my estimates, roughly 80-100 people attended, making it a low key affair with a warm feel, in a small town kind of way.

Ranger Amy kicked off the afternoon in period costume with a few words on antique apples and asked for helpers to carry all the equipment needed to taste apples: apple slicer, cutting board, pail with water (to rinse the apples), cloth (to wipe them dry), stool (to be used as table), and knife (to remove the wormy parts).

Though kids were shy at first, they got bold as more hands were raised than there were helpers positions. Fortunately, Ranger Amy knows how to engage everybody and every child present got to participate at his or her level (which I thought was great). Those who did not have an assigned "helper" commitment got to pick apples off the trees.

The first tree was covered in the delicious Pink Pearl, an apple varietial I tasted for the first time two years ago at the Mendicino county fair in Boonville (read the Frog Mom story). It's a real treat, both tart and sweet with a tangy finish and a crunchy texture fit for the best picnics. It is now my favorite apple and I worship Berkeley Bowl for carrying it in season.

After harvesting apples and tasting 8 or so varieties, we all headed to the front of the house where kids made apple cider with an old-fashioned wooden press. What a line to press your own cider! Clearly, video games are so yesterday. Who needs electronics when you can make something with your hands?

Next to the apple press was an apple peeler and corer, a great device that looks like a torture instrument. It clamps onto the table and you skewer the apple on three spikes that hold it firmly in place. As you turn the wooden handle, it peels the skin and produces a thin ribbon of apple that's cored and ready to eat. We have one at the Haas-Lilienthal House Museum but it's broken so I'd never seen one in action. My daughters loved it.

After having tasted or eaten a dozen apples, the kids were ready to burn off energy with Victorian games. Throwing rice sacks through a wooden target got wildly pretty popular, as did the metal hoops and sticks and potato sack races.

However bobbing apples was where it was at. I was blown away by a tween girl bobbing apples like a pro. Apparently she had practiced the previous week and had it down to a science, diving head first into the bucket all the way to her neck, pinning the apple to the bottom and biting hard in the flesh to get it out between her teeth. Wow!

That's when I noticed a ranger riding a high wheel bicycle. "Is it difficult to ride?" I asked him from far. "It's a lot easier to get on it than to get off it!" he replied, continuing to circle the orchard. Yup, I can see how it would be tricky to get off that bike. No brakes. It was called a widow-maker - for a good reason.

These bikes were so fast (faster than horses) and popular at the turn of the 20th century that young men got together in bicycle clubs to buy one of those and show off in front of the ladies. They were the venture capitalists of their times!

A few moments later, the ranger invited people to try the bike by themselves, explaining how you need to literally jump on the saddle once your feet are on the lower wheel. Even the kids got to try, with some help.

Before we left, we visited the 1891 cottage where I fell in love with this child-size wheelbarrow in the bedroom. When you go, ask if the docent can play that incredible music box with the side handlebar to wind it up and the perforated metal discs to play the songs. It has a lovely sound.

Though it's not even September yet, I'm now looking forward to the apple season and also looking for a good illustrated book on Johnny Appleseed so I can tell the story to my girls. Apple Hill festival, I'm ready!

Practical details about Ravenswood Historic Site
2647 Arroyo Rd in Livermore

• Free public tours are given by costumed docents on the second and fourth Sundays of each month (except the fourth Sunday in December), from noon to 4 p.m.
• Two annual community events are held at Ravenswood: the Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Social on the second Sunday in August and the Victorian Yuletide on the second Sunday in December.

Hoffman Farm: The Last Walnut Orchard in Napa Valley

A Napa day trip without wine? For a change of pace and an escape from city bustle, Hoffman Farm is just the place for your next Sunday trip. I found out about this place looking to pick walnuts. I knew it was about the end of the season and walnuts are not a particularly popular u-pick item in the Bay Area. There were orchards in Vacaville/Brentwood but this one in Napa promised to be something special.

This 23-acre farm is maintained by John and Margaret Hoffman, respectively 93 and 90 years old. Visiting the farm is like visiting your grand-parents' orchard, only this one features 3 kinds of walnuts, 3 kinds of prunes, 3 kinds of plums, 10 kinds of apples, 4 kinds of persimmons, 1 quince tree, loquats, pineapple guavas, 5 varieties of pears, 2 varieties of peaches, 1 mulberry tree, 4 apricot trees and 3 kinds of figs.

As I arrived at the farm, I parked the car and looked around. With nobody in sight, I simply made my way into the orchard. I wasn't sure how many walnuts would be left on the ground though. When I called the previous Saturday, Mr. Hoffman warned me that the storm has badly shaken the trees and that many walnuts had fallen. I was set with low expectations and a big wicker basket - because you never know. At first, my non-expert eyes tricked me. I'd never picked walnuts off the tree before. "These are old apples," I explained to my girls, pointing at several trees with shriveled black fruits dangling off the branches, except ... the ones on the ground were particularly hard and round under my shoe. I bent over, peeled a slimy black skin off, and a walnut appeared. I blinked and took a second good look around. All the trees around us were walnut trees. "Bring the basket girls!" I said.

Thus began our walnutty afternoon. We couldn't resist picking up the nuts and filling the basket, slowly making our way through the trees. Soon our hands and nails got pretty black. Walnut husks are a common natural dye and if you want to give it a try, here is how to proceed. Knees in the damp dirt, I kept peeling off husks and my girls got in the game too, comparing walnut sizes. We got to the edge of a clearing and standing there, I got the full measure of the orchard. Trees as far as the eyes could see. I could tell most were walnut trees because they had a darker base and a lighter grafted tree on top (walnuts need grafting to grow well). It was big and the fact that I couldn't see a single grape was re-assuring because we were in Napa.

"Girls, apples!" I yelled. Across from us, a Fuji apple tree. This time I was right about the apples. Getting closer, I understood why Mr. Hoffman had said that there were still a few apples on the trees "if I could get to them." At 5"5, I wasn't tall enough to grab the first apples! So I climbed in the tree, careful not to damage the branches. I got my girls to move the baskets below so I could aim properly. Next to the apples, another apple tree, and a persimmon tree. We were enthusiastic and picked as if we were hosting a fall banquet the next day.

That's when I saw a man in the distance: Mr. Hoffman in person, hanging his laundry to dry in the sun. I introduced myself. He was standing under yet another apple. "Arkansas black," he said, "My favorite apple." Of course, I wanted some and again, I was too short. "Could this help?" said Mr. Hoffman, offering his cane to knock down the apples. I gladly took him up on his offer and had my girls run under the tree to get the apples as soon as they rolled on the grass. Mr. Hoffman started telling me about the orchard and I discovered a slice of Napa that's now almost all gone.

When he and his wife bought the land in 1949, it was almost entirely planted in French prunes, with other small crops such as an acre of cherries. "There was a factory downtown that made maraschino cherries," said Mr. Hoffman. Instantly, I had pictures of post-Prohibition cocktails with bright red cherries on the brim of clear glasses in my head. The factory's now gone. There was also an acreage of wheat down by the river - the Napa river, that is. "The wheat was milled in the mill by the river and shipped by boat to San Francisco," he went on. Again, I tried to imagine a pre-grape era Napa. The mill's gone too now. Mr. Hoffman bought the land and a tractor and got to work. He started pulling half of the prune trees and planting walnut trees instead, gradually increasing the acreage of walnut trees through the years.

"Why walnuts?" I asked. "There was a man up the road here who had a small walnut orchard," said Mr. Hoffman. "I consulted with him and decided it would be a good crop that was not too time-consuming." With four children at home, he needed a crop that was not too labor-intensive. Back then, there was a backlog of old Italian people living in a hotel downtown who pruned the trees during the winter.

I wanted to know more about the walnuts, when did they arrive to the Napa valley? Mr. Hoffman, a living encyclopedia about trees -he wrote a book called Trees of Napa Valley that you can order here -obliged. The first walnut variety was Franquette, a French varietal. A man named Mr. Hartley brought back a bagful of them in the late 1880s and planted them at his ranch in Napa. In 1892, he experimented with a new Franquette-based varietal that later became known as the Hartley walnut. "It was an outstanding nut," said Mr. Hoffman. The Hartleys brought their walnut to the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 and won a blue ribbon. Hartley walnuts thus became very popular. Showing me a tray full of walnuts drying in the sun, Mr. Hoffman pointed to some big ones. "These are Carmelo walnuts," he said. They were twice as big as the regular kind.

Mr. Hoffman's wife, Margaret, joined in the conversation. "We live here as in the 1940s," she said with a smile, adding:"When we moved here, our plan was to grow as much food as possible." Indeed, they have a vegetable garden for their meals; a well for their water; they keep their house warm with a wood stove during the winter. When they were raising their children, they also raised a couple of cows and goats for milk, and made a goat cheese similar to the Neuchatel cheese. Honestly, you've got to love a nature-loving couple who grew and ate locally seasonal produce before the word "sustainable" went around! More than sustainable, all the fruits they grow are organic (they don't spray) and because of the proximity to the river, the orchard is not irrigated. How's that for the green award?

Before I took my bow, I went to pick a few Asian pears (the variety that actually looks like pears, not like apples) and Mr. Hoffman weighed all my produce on his wood and metal scale. I might come back before the winter is over. There are still cartwheels of walnuts around and there will be persimmons until Christmas.

Since the Hoffmans don't have a computer (nor a website), here are the practical details:
Hoffman Farm,
2125 Silverado Trail,
Napa CA 94558
(707) 226-8938.

My last words: the Hoffman Farm is an endangered species in the Napa Valley. These walnuts grow on land worth millions of dollars in grapes. Let's hope that whoever takes over from the Hoffmans prizes this luxury as much as they do. More than a reminder of the past, I'd love this farm to be a sign of the future. And when you go there, don't forget to stop at Dorothy's, their neighbor up the road. She sells fresh brown eggs by the dozen.

Harvest Festivals Around the Bay

Two weeks ago, San Francisco's Chinatown kicked off the fall season with the Autumn Moon Festival. With my girls, I walked up and down historic Grant Avenue, pedestrian for two days, looking up at rice paper lanterns hanging on blue skies.
Streets were more crowded than usual but the bountiful moon cake displays, mystery herbal remedies in cellophaned packages, lion dancers and the China Dance School & Theatre show of rare ethnic dances, totally made it worth the parking nightmare.

Energized, I left summer behind and am now looking forward to my favorite season of the year and some fantastic Bay Area fall festivals . On top of my list come two outstanding celebrations of the fall. Autumn at Filoli will take place this coming Saturday October 3rd from 10am to 3.30 pm when one of the most gorgeous gardens and orchards of the Bay Area will open its doors to the public. This 1917 property, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is Woodside's glory and a short 20 minute-drive down 280 from the city. True to October, Filoli volunteers will organize children's activities including Halloween crafts in front of the Georgian mansion. Expect pumpkins, hay stacks and face painting. The horse-cart hay rides in the field adjacent to the house are also a family favorite. Hopefully Filoli's beekeeper will be there to show pictures of Filoli's beehives and bees, and give a taste of honey to the young ones. On an autumn note, there is always a long line for children eager to make apple juice on an old-fashioned wooden apple press.

However to me, the highlight of the day is a stroll through the historic apple and pear tree orchard and gardens decorated with whimsical scarecrows and gentle witches. I've never seen such well-crafted garden creatures anywhere else. Explore the walled garden, look for flowers around the sunken garden and southwest terrace, say hello to the birds in the garden and by all means, don't miss the pool. No you can't swim in it, but you'll sure wish you could.

Ardenwood Historic Farm's popular Harvest Festival on October 10 and 11 from 10am to 5pm comes pretty close to farm heaven for rustic life lovers and corn-picking maniacs. This Victorian ranch turned into an educational farm about 1870s farming practices is a peaceful oasis in the sun-drenched East Bay. As you come in and walk through the park, you follow the path on the right and get to the beating heart of the farm: the farmyard. Listen to folk music, pay a visit to the blacksmith, card and spin some wool, go pet the sheep, or take advantage of the crafts and activities. There's always something fun to do and my girls' favorite is sneaking to the outdoor kitchen and raising their hand just high enough above the table to snatch a freshly-baked cookie coming out of the wood-burning stove. The best thing about these cookies is that they are made with corn and wheat grown and ground on the farm directly - and the cookies are prepared under your eyes by volunteers in period costumes.

For my friends, the highlight is always the corn field. Sure you've seen corn fields before, but ... have you ever picked jewel-like indian corn off the stem or dried corn that you'll be able to pop in your kitchen next month? Now, that's heaven. If you feel like baking with locally-grown whole grains, buy a bag or two of the corn or wheat flour to bring home. They come in charmingly quaint fabric sacks and you might even see them ground in front of you.

If you can't make it to either of these two, there are loads of great options for fall festivals and I will mention a few here, but don't hesitate to let me know about yours in the comments section. I'm always looking for non-strictly-pumpkin harvest & fall events.

Other Bay Area events:

Hoes Down Harvest Festival at Full Belly Farms in Capay on October 3 from 11am to 11pm. What better place to celebrate rural living than at a farm? The 22nd annual Hoes Down Harvest Festival at Full Belly Farm offers educational farm tours, a magical children’s area, hands-on workshops, farm products and an abundance of organic food, live music and good times!

Harvest Festival at Slide Ranch on Saturday October 10 from 10 am to 4pm. Take a hike in this wonderful coastal and educational farm part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin. There, breathe in the sea breeze and spin some wool, milk a goat, make bread with herbs you pick in the garden, or participate in craft activities. Slide Ranch is always a hit with my girls.

High Grounds Organics Harvest Fair in Watsonville on October 10 from 10 am to 4pm. A few years ago, it would have seemed impossible to conjugate strawberries and pumpkins in the present tense. And yet... this unique harvest event takes advantage of Watsonville's gentle climate and abundance of strawberries and apples.

Fall Masquerade Festival at Green Oaks Creek Farm and Retreat near Ano Nuevo on October 17 from 1 to 11pm. Suggested by a member of GreenMoms, this event promises to be great. Here is the description: Local art, live music, farm fresh crepes, local brew, u-pick tomatoes, raffle prizes, farm tours, workshops, fun for kids and more.

Harvest Festival and Halloween Mask Workshop at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center on October 25 from 1.30 to 4pm. The Marin Headlands is possibly San Francisco's best green idea over the Golden Gate Bridge and I never fail to take my girls to the Marin Headlands for nice coastal hikes - sometimes on iffy twilight hikes. This festival will have your family make masks for the season using non-native materials found around the Headlands and sample heirloom apples.

Potrero Nuevo Farm

Potrero Nuevo Farm is a newcomer in Half Moon Bay's agricultural landscape. Not even two years old, it has already accomplished a lot and promises lots more in the field of sustainable farming and living. An offspring of the Potrero Nuevo Fund, a foundation that supports community based organizations, the farm is a slice of heaven.

Set in Half Moon Bay amidst rolling hills on Tunitas Creek Road, a winding paved road popular with bicycle riders, the farm could be a model farm. Thanks to GreenMoms.com, we joined a private tour by coowner Bill Laven, Vida Verde co-founder Shawn Sears and Suzie who works on the farm. While GreenMoms events always have an (obvious) environmental slant, this one was exceptional both in choice and inspiration.

Bill set the tone with a description of the barn/kitchen where we were sitting. "The walls are insulated with blue jeans," he said, "and the roof with soy products. The roof is also covered with solar panels that SolarCity installed. In addition, the farm is hoping to set up a gutter and storage tank system that will make it possible to collect rainwater to irrigate the fields." Right at the outset, we were impressed. Bill is a former teacher and took the time to learn the children's names before asking them questions - a nice plus for a family-friendly organization. Out of the barn, we crossed the road and headed up the hill to milk a goat.

Shawn led the way. He leads Viva Verde trips, environmental education programs for Bay Area 4th to 6th graders. Kids come, one class at a time for three days, and do stuff they don't do at home - such as sleep in teepees, milk goats, make fresh cheese, work on the farm or hike in coastal redwoods.

Our group got to pet the goats, learn how to make a teat with our fingers (to practice) and then milk a goat aptly named Squirt. Once we (more or less) understood how to make the A-OK sign with thumb and pointer to squeeze it down, we volunteered, children first, to fill the pail with warm goat milk. Slightly anxious in front of so many strangers, Squirt was eating a bucket of her favorite cereal. Each child took a turn, at first timidly and then with authority, while Squirt patiently withstood our milking trials. Adults followed, either intrigued or plain eager to see how it felt. Shawn caught us off guard when he asked around if anybody wanted a quick taste .... right off the tits! Giggles in the audience as Shawn began his targeting exercise, aiming directly at the drinkers' wide-open mouths. This was no easy task but clearly, he'd done it before. I tried and enjoyed the warm milk. It didn't have that strong goaty flavor but rather was mild and creamy.

We left the animal world to explore the vegetable world, led by Bill and Susan. We stopped first in front of three neat piles of compost. I'd always wanted to compost at home but never really knew how. As Bill and Susan explained the ins and outs, composting became very concrete. The key words are: greens to bring nitrogen (carrots, greens, peas...), brown to bring carbon (hay, wood shavings...), water and air. Arrange in layers, let it sit and turn over every other week, making sure the stack remains moist. If you have a farm or stables nearby, you can ask for horse manure to mix to the compost pile. When piles are active, they reach an impressive 140 to 160 degrees F. The children gathered around Susan who was scooping out two handfuls of compost from the middle of the pile to show how warm it was. "Are there any worms in there?" asked a little girl, hopeful. Unfortunately, the worms were busy at work - way down below. However the handfuls were warm and smelled like ... dirt - a pleasant surprise for everybody.

Our next stop was the alpacas and the chicken coop. Susan let the children lift the wooden doors of the chicken coop and browse through the straw to find warm eggs laid in the morning. How glorious the children looked with each a fresh egg in their hands, holding their prized possessions like they'd never seen an egg before. Meanwhile, the alpacas (recently shaven therefore looking like awkward fluffy pets) paced around. Still holding their egg, the childen each grabbed a handful of chicken feed and threw it on the floor. You'd think these chickens had been starved a week. They flocked to the feed spots, avidly pecking whatever they could eat. Out of seven chickens, there were four different varieties: Japanese Bantam, Cochin, Araucana and Brahma. One of them produces an egg with light blue hues, a true beauty.

We moved to the "production field," the vegetable garden where 26 different crops grow year round. Susan pointed to early girl tomato plants. "We're trying dry farming on those," she said. Dry farming combines water savings with sustainable agriculture. By drastically reducing irrigation, you encourage the plant roots to go very deep to get to the water table. "Not all types of soil are appropriate for this," added Bill, "you need a soil that retains moisture such as clay." If you live on stony soils, they might allow too much drainage for this type of farming but the idea to force plants to become self-sufficient for their water needs is fascinating.

"We need a few children to help harvest the lettuce plants!" said Susan, holding a cardboard box. Young volunteers eagerly followed her steps and with some grown-up guidance, neatly cut greens to put in the box. Meanwhile, I asked Bill what they did with all these vegeables. Surely, they sold them at the farmers market? Actually, they just started attending the Half Moon Bay Farmers Market three weeks ago but they only sell a portion there. The rest is donated to the Catholic Worker House for their soup kitchen, so that low-income families can enjoy farm fresh produce in their meals.

There are two last items that are noteworthy when you go to Potrero Nuevo Farm. The first one you see from the road and it's called The Bike Hut. It's a bright red former-garage-turned-small-barn where bicycle riders can stop to make a hot drink and rest. It's open 24/7 and relies on an honor system. There's a suggested donation for tea and coffee, plus picnic tables outside and the opportunity to refill your water bottle.

The second item is much more intriguing. It's an outhouse; not a regular outhouse though, a humanure toilet. In line with the farm's philosophy, it makes "humanure" out of you guessed what. Go on, don't be shy. Step inside and try it out. The inside has a gorgeous round window with a view on the hills, as well as a marble-like cement platform made with sea shells collected on the beach. Once you're done, scoop out a cup of wood chips, drop in toilet, close lid and take a whiff. Smell anything? No, there's nothing unpleasant here. It's actually surprisingly odor-free. The outhouse has two sides that are used every other year. After a year of sitting dry, you get humanure and believe it or not, it's safe to use as fertilizer in California farming. Not that it will be done at Potrero Nuevo Farm (Bill told me they wouldn't use it on vegetable beds not to gross out customers), but hey, it's a great dinner topic regardless. If you want to try a humanure toilet at home, check out this milk crate version. People will always remember you.

As for Potrero Nuevo Farm, you can meet these great folks by going to the Half Moon Bay Farmers Market, calling to farm to arrange a tour, or by keeping an eye on the website or Facebook page as a CSA might be in the plans. You can also join GreenMoms and participate in similar events by signing up here.

Cherry Picking In Brentwood

In case you haven't heard, the season for cherries is now. Bing cherries, Rainier cherries, Brooks cherries; there are more cherries than you ever dreamed of just 60 miles east of San Francisco. Hundreds of trees literally loaded with jewel-like shiny plump and juicy ruby fruits.

The Brentwood farmers are well organized and their great website references all the surrounding farms growing cherries (amongst 45 products) with description of the farm settings and "u-pick" options.

Based on recommendations, we took the 1.5 hour drive through golden hills already burned by the sun, fields of wind farms and silver ribbon of winding roads to get to Brentwood. Once there, it's like an oasis in the desert. Somewhere you can't help marveling at the wonders of irrigation. Green orchards all around, and more "Cherries" signs on the roadside than anywhere else I've been.

I fancied Rainier cherries (the whitish variety) so we headed to Pomeroy Farm. Much in the fashion of Half Moon Bay's pumpkin patches, Brentwoods orchards are close to one another and all grow the same fruit (more or less) so there's a lot of choice for families.

At the entrance, we signed a paper promising not to let the kids climb on ladders and to pay for a mimimum of five lbs of cherries ($2/lb) when exiting. We picked a galvanized metal bucket (with handy hook to hang from your picking branch) but our girls preferred to drag along the wicker baskets we brought from home. I bet they felt like the little red riding cherry-picking hood.

Since there were so many cars parked outside, I thought we would need to walk miles before finding a half-eaten fruit on the trees but lo and behold, we found some right in the second row. Sweet. The nice part, for people like us with little (read "short") children, is that most of the trees have low-hanging branches that make for scandalously easy picking at junior level.

Part of the fun is also getting to the highest branches for the "right" cherries and for this, we proceeded with a little imagination and a great team effort. We said kids wouldn't climb on ladders - yes - but we didn't countersign that they wouldn't climb on their parents' shoulders! One on my shoulders, the other one holding the basket, they thought it was great.

Before we brought our girls to the cherry farm, it's fair to say they were not cherry enthusiasts. They wouldn't try one if we bought a pound at our local market. However when in the orchard, I encouraged them to taste one cherry from each tree to find just the right flavor. That was genius, man. They got totally hooked and soon were reviewing sweetness, acidity and texture of the different fruits tasted, hurrying from one tree to the next and offering us better halves.

In less than an hour, we gathered 8 lbs of cherries. Ironically, the Rainier cherries, the very reason I chose Pomeroy Farm, were not quite ready yet. So we ended up bringing back home only red cherries. Plus, the Pomeroy Farm is a former walnut orchard and they still sell walnuts grown on the farm. They were simply delicious and I'm glad we brought back two bags.

Now. What do you do with 8 lbs of cherries? As my father always poetically says, eating too many cherries will have quick effects on your digestive tract. Thanks Papa for the reminder, but let's not forget cherries are loaded with all sorts of antioxydants.

The real answer to my question is a cherry clafoutis. In France there's only one recipe that rhymes with cherries as sure as wine rhymes with cheese, it's cherry clafoutis. Think of it as a thick pancake with cherries baked in the oven and dusted with icing sugar.

I won't post a link to the two cherry clafoutis recipes on epicurian.com because one offers to eat it with vanilla ice cream and the other one includes cinnamon in the recipe, which are both borderline criminal.

I took my recipe from Les Douceurs de l'Enfance, a lip-smacking book with artistic photos of French childhood favorites. However since not everybody reads French, the next best recipe was this one (with metric weight measures) or this one as a strawberry variation that Clotilde Dusoulier from the Chocolate & Zucchini food blog wrote for NPR's Kitchen Window. Enjoy!

As for me, I know I'll be driving on the same road this summer to pick some nectarines, apricots and peaches. Can't wait, apricots were already starting to blush!