Another farm tour I did while in Washington over the summer was at Cloudview Farm, just a few miles from my grandma’s house in my hometown. Most of the farmers where I grew up are the typical farmer that you see across the United States today. High use of pesticides and fertilizer, focusing on large amounts of one/a few crops, and not very excited about the organic movement. Cloudview Farm is completely different. It’s organic, focuses a small amount of land (comparative to the other farmers in the area) on a broad range of crops, and attracts a crowd with a bit of a hippie vibe. During the summer the property fills with schoolteachers and other individuals with flexible jobs that allow them to come over and live in motor homes, trailers, and structures that look like tee-pees while they help work the land and sell the produce at farmer’s markets around the area.

It was started by Jim Baird, and I imagine him to be a version of what Joel Salatin must have been like when he first started out. My dad has partnered with Jim on a few potato trials (planting different varieties of potatoes, at different times, in different places, to test out how they grow best) which is how we scored ourselves an invite to this particular tour.

 

Cloudview started in one farmer’s market in the central Washington area, in a town called Farmer’s Market. The place where I grew up, and the towns that surround it, aren’t very progressive and so farmer’s markets aren’t highly attended. They’ve grown over time though, and now they sell to schools and provide a CSA subscription, as well as visiting the markets each week.

Jim described what he’s doing as a community style farm, where employees help determine the direction that things move. They started a hog operation this year, and already have goats and chickens on the property. In what I consider to be a pretty small space, they were growing close to 70 varieties of vegetables!

These apricots, fresh off the tree, no artificial ripening whatsoever, were DIVINE. I made myself sick on them.

On the left is a man discussing organic trials and studies they are doing on the property, trying to answer the question, “Is organic really better for the environment when it comes to carbon emissions?” My dad is on the right, talking about his potatoes.

My two favorite pictures from the day.

Pigs!!! If you have seen my Childhood album on the That Wife facebook group page, you know I can’t get enough of them.

I loved this place so much, I came back a few weeks later and did a high school Senior Portrait session on the grounds. I really hope I can establish more of a base and do more portrait sessions like that in the future!

After our dinner was the most extreme version of a localganic dinner that I’ve ever had. Almost every single thing available in the buffet was not only made from scratch, it was also produced on the premises.

I wanted to write this post not only to document what I thought was a really unique experience, but also to leave you with this thought by Jim (via some notes taken by me on my iphone). He left some time during the tour for questions and answers, and someone asked if it was really realistic for farmers to spend their time trying to develop a business operating on an organic model.

Can this type of farming feed the world? 200 acres of orchards could feed all of Seattle. What if we stop spending so much time shipping our food, and think about translocation of people? Get more people living closer to their food and being involved with their food. Are people willing to do the labor? Would you literally “work for your food”? Harvesting the food fosters a sense of community, conversation and hard work and laughter, and selling to farmer’s markets allows them to connect with the people buying the food.

I enjoyed mulling this thought over, that maybe (at least here in America) some of the answer lies in more people being willing to become involved in food production. Moving away from the city and experiencing what the country (not the suburbs, the country) has to offer.

That is how I grew up, and even though I never thought it would be possible as a teenager, I long for it now. I want a garden, and a goat, some chickens, and a pig or two. And I wouldn’t mind strapping my baby to my back and bending down in Jim’s field to harvest some kale once or twice during the summer either.

Pinterest is awesome, but how do you know which recipes are any good? I had an idea how we can sort through the duds… a collaborative recipe board! Go here and see the recipes I’m loving lately, and what changes I would recommend.

Like this carrot soup from Eat Live Run. I think the changes I made are a must try. I’ll blog the process the whole recipe some day, but for now, check out my pin for the changes I made.

Would you like to join me as a collaborator on this board? Remember this isn’t a board for repinning things that just look delicious or pretty, I want to see recipes you’ve actually used and loved! That way I can make them and love them too.

If you’d like to be a collaborator I need you to comment below with a link to your Pinterest profile. I will start following one (or all if I like them!) of your boards and once I’m doing that I can invite you to be a collaborator on the group board. This may take some time, but I’ll try to get to it this weekend. Then we can start having fun, swapping recipes!

I recently signed up for a pilot program with Rafflecopter, working toward developing a platform to connect companies looking to promote their products with bloggers interested in running giveaways, and so you’ll see several giveaways from me over the next little bit. It’s exciting to see new opportunities pop up, but I’m working hard to only apply for products that I know I’ll love. That way my reviews aren’t just marketing mumbo-jumbo, they’re what I really think!

First up, we have these re-usable product bags from A Greener Kitchen. I am in no way a model for 100% eco-friendly living, but I am trying to make small changes. Was anyone around when I posted about my transition to re-usable shopping bags? Each “green” step has felt like that, like a big deal or something, and then after I do it for a few months I wonder why I made such a big deal about it. One thing that I think about every time I go to the grocery store (and at the farmer’s market as well, though it isn’t as bad) is how many plastic bags get used up as I collect my produce. Avoiding ultra-processed foods and eating nearly-vegetarian means we buy a LOT of vegetables, and during the winter months when the farmer’s market is closed I depend on good old Treasure Island to keep our fridge stocked. I hate bagging up everything in individual plastic bags, but I’ve never taken the time to work out a better solution. I usually tie knots in the top of them, and sometimes I can’t get the knots out, so I’m left with ripped bags that just end up being thrown out.

Which is why I wrote a very passionate application to review and giveaway these 100% organic cotton produce bags from A Greener Kitchen. No more filling my cart with bags of plastic covered fruit! I can put everything in these bags, and the clerk can weigh my fruits and vegetables right in them. When I opened the package they were mailed in I was pleasantly surprised to see they were packaged up all pretty, Etsy-style. Whenever I order from a company that puts time into details like this I want to order them again. And it was really green packaging. they wrapped up 5 of the bags in the 6th one and printed the label on recycled paper. I like the green-topped ones but they have a few different patterns/colors to choose from.

A little bit about A Greener Kitchen’s origins and where they source their materials from:

Founded by Lacey Lybecker in 2009, A Greener Kitchen offers you sustainable style solutions for kitchen and dining with eco-friendly kitchen products and accessories, including organic cotton aprons and reusable produce bags. We are proud to be a Green America Approved Business and members of One Percent for the Planet.

Our organic cotton products are cut and sewn in the USA by family-owned Tailoredwear, Inc. using fabric from Harmony Art, one of the USA’s few eco-friendly textile artisans. Harmony Art sources their organic cotton from Texas and India. For their fabrics made in India, the fiber is Fair Trade Certified, and the fabric is produced in a Fair Trade certified facility. Working together, A Greener Kitchen, Tailoredwear, and Harmony Art are bringing eco-chic into the kitchen.

I’m still visiting the farmer’s market each week, and when I brought these out some of the vendors were really impressed. Most of the stalls at the market rely pretty heavily on plastic bags when giving out produce, something they might not like but don’t really have a lot of power to change. I picked up a little green bin of grapes and turned them over right into my bag.

Then I took the elastic loop in the corner and cinched it shut. I put the grapes and the bag right in the fridge and snacked on grapes with T1 throughout the week. Once the grapes were all gone I rinsed the bag out and laid it out to dry overnight.

Pros:

A light organic cotton that dries quickly after being washed

The elastic loop that cinches it closed

Very light, so won’t add extra costs to your grocery bill

Can be used to store your produce as well as to transport it (I have a bunch of onions sitting in the larger sized bags right now.)

I received 2 large, 2 medium, and 2 small bags. I liked the variety of sizes.

They make you feel good about yourself (being nice to the earth (and to the workers who make the products) feels nice!)
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When we announced we were moving I asked for your favorite places to eat, and one of the places that was brought up was Next. Back then it was just a concept, but I was intrigued by the idea. World famous chef Grant Achatz, the same chef/creator of Alinea (the place we plan to eat at early next year!), launched this restaurant based on the idea that diners might be interest in pre-paying for seating at a restaurant, which happily eliminates any anxiety about how much to tip. The menu rotates several times a year and isn’t just seasonal or local or regional, it’s even more specific. The debut menu was entirely based off of a famous cookbook, Escoffier’s “Le Guide Culinaire,” first published in 1903. According to the little mini tour we had, this was not a riff on the cookbook, it was the cookbook.

The NYT had an article that describes the concept really well:

Just to set the bar a little higher for himself, and make the creative process more invigorating, each menu for Next will draw from a different place and time. So, rather than the earthbound categories of Japanese, Italian or Peruvian, the food will evoke cloudier concepts: Kyoto in springtime; Palermo in 1949; Hong Kong in far-off 2036. A menu might be designed around a single day — say, the Napa Valley on Oct. 28, 1996, the day Mr. Achatz started work at the French Laundry, where he remained until 2001.

Since it’s opening earlier this year, Next has been sold out within minutes. According to our friend, it is incredibly difficult to get a ticket, and last week he was lucky enough to score 4 of them for a 7:30 seating. That Husband called me 2 hours before, asking if I would be interested in going, and we had to decide right then and there if we wanted to eat at Next that night. At about $200/person for the non-alcoholic drink menu it was a pretty big decision! I was excited to share this meal with our friends, fellow foodies, and so I said we should go for it.

I am so very glad we did. This ranks as one of the best meals we’ve ever had, not only because the food was excellent, but because it was such a unique experience from the moment we walked in. The theme on the evening we went was Tour of Thailand. We didn’t choose what we would eat, and I liked that. I walked out feeling like I had actually experienced Thailand in some small way. Now to visit the country to compare, right?

The entrance of Next is completely unassuming, we thought we were going through the back door when we walked in. They took our coats and seated us right away, and at our table we found a Thai newspaper with 4 menus wrapped inside. The waiter came up and presented all of us with our menus, and spread the newspaper across the style. The first course would be street food style.

Next really won me over by offering  interesting and inventive non-alcoholic drink courses throughout the meal.

Eat: roasted banana, prawn cake, sweet shrimp and garlic, fermented sausage, and steamed bun. The prawn cake was fried and salty and my favorite of this course.

Drink: guava, mango, papaya

Eat: hot and sour broth, pork belly, tomato, ginger

Drink: chrysanthemum, lemongrass, lychee

They brought out rice and some sauces/sides and told us to familiarize ourselves with them as they would be on the table for the rest of the meal (barring desserts).

Eat: chili, shallot, garlic; salted duck egg, green mango, white radish; pickles

I missed photographing a course here.

Eat: catfish, caramel sauce, celery, coriander root

Drink: carrot, ginger, orange

We universally loved the next course

Eat: beef cheek, curry, peanut, nutmeg, kaffir lime

Drink: hibiscus, mangosteen, Thai pepper

Drink course time! A fun little shooter of watermelon and lemongrass.

The first dessert was so unique. The textures and flavors shouldn’t have melded well, at least I would never have imagined they could, but they did.

Eat: coconut, corn, egg, licorice

Drink: corn, pinapple

As it was explained to us, Thai meals usually end with fruit (unlike us sugar loving Americans). If you read online reviews people will complains about the rose syrup on the dragon fruit, but everyone at our table loved it. I’d go for some right now actually.

Eat: dragon fruit, rose

Drink: cucumber, vichy catalan

We ended the night with a drink blend of rooibos, palm sugar, and milk, which I didn’t drink.

The couple who invited us asked if we could see the kitchen before we left. It was so orderly, calm, and free of foul language! Very different than what I experienced at Magleby’s and Cave B Inn once upon a time.

Do I think it was worth the money? Absolutely. I’d fly back to Chicago specifically to have another experience like this! I don’t think we have the money in our budget to visit again before we leave, but I’ll be watching the website to check out what the future menus are.

Has anyone else been? I’d love to hear what you thought!

I started a club. It’s an in-person club, so right now it’s only for people in Chicago. Next year I will move to Dallas and it will be in Texas. If you’re in the area would you like to be a part of it? This club was inspired by a post over at Word of Wisdom Living blog (best blog ever you guys, I hope you’re reading!).

Find out more here.

I’m looking for help with the building of the FAQ section, so if there are areas that are unclear to you I’d love to have you point them out. And I need some fellow instructors because I most certainly don’t know enough to teach this all on my own every month!

There have been suggestions on Twitter that I should try to make this a virtual thing via webcasting or something, but I’m not quite ready for that yet. For now I’d like to make sure that the club is sustainable and there is enough in-person interest.