Mid Summer's Day in December

Um, did I wake up today in Australia? It didn't seem like it when I went outside this morning at 7am and the temperature was a balmy 34 degrees F. But by 10am, the Sun was shining bright, and I started shedding jackets and layers like a Siberian Husky blowing his coat (more about huskies later).

I started noticing a few bees around, so I went to check the hives. The little ladies were pretty active at the entrance. They were taking advantage of the nice warm day to take cleansing flights, and even doing a little foraging. The lavender from the distiller seemed to call them over from time to time. And my cup of tea also seemed like quite tasty (I suppose it was the sugar). That reminds me, next week I'll need to order some replacements for a few of the hives I lost last year. Hard to believe it's that time already.

The whole family pitched in today and vegetable garden and the garden around the house. The storms had made a mess of the place. Grass was growing thick, the mint all needed hacking back. The finally dead tomatoes and basil plants needed clearing. And of course, weeding. We even had a chance to harvest a few carrots for dinner tonight. Look at this ugly root my daughter pulled up. Not pretty, but steamed long enough, anything can be tender and tasty! I had some this evening for dinner. Very yummy. Daniella roasted pumpkins for soup tonight. You can make a delicious pumpkin soup very much like the carrot soup I described in my previous post (see Season's Greetings w/ Carrot Soup), but with roasted pumpkin. Use more paprika and garlic rather than ginger (we use jalapeno, because that is the pepper I grow a lot) to spice it up. I'm stuffed now on roots and squash.

I've been taking advantage of the holidays to spend a little time with Sofie, my dog. Sofie is a Siberian Husky. No, she is not blowing her coat right now, thank goodness! But she has been hanging out with me while I do my lavender distilling. Unfortunately, Sofie isn't well. A couple of months ago, she went lame in one of her legs. She's taking medication now, and that seems to be keeping things manageable for now, but the doc says that it is only a matter of time before the medication won't be enough. She is losing weight, but she is still as beautiful as ever. If you know huskies, the advise is usually to make them work for their treats. I've been a bit lax these last few months knowing her state, and she takes advantage of me. Oh well, everyone needs a free lunch now and again. She's comfortable now, and I'm thankful for that.
Well, looks like the mid-summer's day has given way to the realities of the season. The mercury is at 39f and falling. Gonna be COLD tonight!

Season's Greetings w/ Carrot Soup

Season's Greetings from Carmel Lavender. Here at the farm, it is Christmas Eve, and we wish everyone a happy Holiday Season, and a very joyful New Year.

We were fortunate last week to be treated to a mini snow flurry up here at 1700 feet, bringing a white Christmas to us a week early. These things are ephemeral, and it didn't last long, but I took some photos and thought I would share them with you today, along with my recipe for cream of carrot soup!


In this photo, you can see the lavender fields sleeping under the snow. Don't worry, they will be fine. Within a few hours, the snow would be gone anyhow. But it was sure beautiful while it lasted. I am fortunate to have been here to see it.

Cream of Carrot Soup

I would like to share my latest culinary experiment. As you can see, winter has finally come to the farm. The tomatoes, which were actually still producing in early December, have finally succumb to the frost. Within one day of the first frost, the basil was gone. It was amazing it had lasted so long as it was. My turnips and cabbage are not yet ready to harvest. So what I have most of right now are carrots. And lots of them! I planted these last spring, and they are quite large. So I thought I would try my hand at adapting a favorite recipe I make for cream of squash soup, but use carrots instead. The results were amazing! I used real cream, but if you use soy milk instead, it would be entirely vegan!

What you will need:

• Olive Oil
• Onion
• Water
• Carrots
• Garlic
• Ginger root
• Cream (or soy milk)
• Paprika

The ingredients are listed above in the order they are added. I must apologize in advance for the lack of measurements. The fact is that I don't use them. Why? Well, because eating is very much a matter of mood. The proportions change with the mood. But here are some guidelines I used. A large bowl of chopped carrots is about 1 quart of volume. Olive oil is maybe a few tablespoons. I use an entire onion, because the more onion, the sweeter the soup, and I want it sweet. Use less if you don't like it as sweet. The ginger root is metered by smelling the soup as you grate the root into it, while stirring occasionally. Stop when the soup smells "gingery" enough. And the paprika is simply to add a dash of color and zip at the end. So very small quantities.

First, I picked a large bowl of carrots and cleaned them. I cut them into chunks about 1 inch long, and set them aside. I did not bother to peel them. First, the skin is nutritious. If nature intended us to eat carrots without skin, they would grow naked. This is all part of whole food eating. Second, it is work. Why make work out of taking the nutrition out of your food?

Next I got a large soup bowl. Put a thin layer of olive oil at the bottom, and saute an onion. In case it isn't obvious, chop the carrot into small 1/4 inch pieces before placing into the oil. When the onions become translucent, they are ready.

Then add about a 1 to 2 pints of water and the carrots. You want the water to just cover the carrots maybe 1/2 to 1 inch higher than where the carrots would fill the pot w/o the water. The more water, the runnier the soup, the less water, the thicker the soup. I like thicker soup, so I just cover the carrots with water. Let the pot boil, then reduce temp so that it simmers. Let simmer until the carrots start to melt. You should be able to easily mash a carrot with a fork with very little effort when it is done. Don't be impatient. Let the heat do the work for you! I also add a few minced cloves of garlic at this point.

While the carrots are simmering, grate a peeled ginger root into the soup. I used a peeler to get the skin off (yes I know what I said about holistic food, but the ginger root skin is too tough and won't melt when you cook it, but feel free to keep the skin if you don't mind some bits of ginger skin in your soup). Grate some root, stir it in. Then smell the soup. Gingery enough? No? Add some more until the ginger smell is apparent. I used about two to three inches of a fairly large root. Don't be shy! Ginger not only tastes great, but it is healthful too.

Once the soup has cooked sufficiently (at least an hour or two), then puree the soup in a blender. This will most likely need to be done in batches unless you have a humongous blender or are making a tiny amount of soup. Once all the soup is blended, put it all back into the soup pot, and add the cream. I add cream until the color starts to turn just a bit pale, but not too much. You also want to make sure the consistency stays thick enough. I put about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cream to achieve this. Remember, cream is very rich. Taste as you add if you aren't comfortable w/ the color guidelines.

At this point, I usually turn the heat off. The soup is pretty hot, and you can burn the cream. But if you want, you can cook it on low for another 10 minutes or so, but take care to stir continuously so the cream doesn't burn. Once the cream is added, you have to be careful.

Serve into bowls, and sprinkle just a pinch of paprika on the top to give a nice dusting of red color. Not too much, unless you really want it spicy. Though consider carefully not to overpower the ginger. Less ginger, more paprika will be okay. If you have made it really gingery, then you're not going to want to complicate the ginger with too much paprika.

Now enjoy! Mmmm. Should be very nice treat on a cold winter night. Happy Holidays.

On Christmas Eve, a family of wild turkeys came to visit us. I watched them through the window as my pumpkins roasted for the pies I will be making tonight. Good thing for them we're eating a traditional Bulgarian vegetarian Christmas eve meal tonight!

Cooperation is Key to Local Success

Last night, the Carmel Valley Cooperative sponsored a local Holiday Faire. It was a small event in size, but the event for me represents what is needed to make local economies work: cooperation and community.

Of course, this sounds obvious. We've been told since we were young, that cooperation is the key to success. We all know this within our hearts. However practice can sometimes be more difficult than concept. For just as we all know the value and benefits of cooperation, we are equally trained in the art of competition. Finding a balance can be a delicate endeavour, but one I feel is worthy of pursuit.

The Faire last night, for me, was symbolic of the purpose for which the Carmel Valley Cooperative was created: for small local producers, to work together, to create relationships with customers. The goal is for each and every product to find maximum potential to enrich the lives of those in our community, and by making our labours of love sustainable for our lives too. After all, if we cannot afford to do those things that enrich our community, then it benefits no one.

Community truly a powerful motivating force behind everything that I do. I am often amazed at how strongly this has developed, especially when I reflect on my thoughts years ago when I first considered farming. In the beginning, farming seemed to be the ultimate independent experience. Just one's self living off the land. It doesn't get any more independent than that, right? Well, as with everything in life, reality is much different when experienced first hand. The reality has been that nature is amazingly complicated and powerful. Living off the land, so to speak, is just as complex. I am a hands-on person. I actually like to get my hands dirty (literally!) and what I have learned is self evident in retrospect, but unpredictable. When you throw a shovel at the earth, and it bounces back from a stone the size of a golf-ball, and you look at the size of the field that must be turned, it is not really overwhelming independence that you feel. In fact, it is quite humbling. The value of neighbors and community is never so evident than when you are doing everything on your own.

Well, yesterday's Holiday Faire reminded me of this value as a microcosm of how we can come together in a community to enrich our lives. I was struck by the thought last night while talking to some of the guests that came looking for Holiday gifts, what an amazing thing it was that they were there. Today's local newspaper (http://www.montereyherald.com/) runs the headline:

HOLIDAYS FILLED WITH PLENTY TO DO
Take a deep breath and count your blessings
Shopping: Four area shopping centers will offer extended hours as the Christmas holiday approaches.

When I read this, I wondered: Is this serious? We are bombarded with messages like these. Go to the large corporate box stores. Be thankful that you can buy plastic toys from China, produce from Chile, cheese from France, and shoes from Italy. Almost every dollar we spend at these malls gets put on a truck heading straight out of town. When it comes to building a local economy, the competition comes from outside the community. The challenge is always to keep our competitive energy focused in the right place: in building a larger local economy for everyone. As a small producer, I have talked with some of these stores about interest in carrying produce from a small producer like myself. There is always initial interest. But so far, the red-tape has made this difficult, esp. with the larger stores. I am pushed to add overheads. Outside of my personal dislike for spending more time on things that are not directly related to growing and producing, adding overhead creates pressure to grow bigger. Something I do not want to do. I want to stay small. I know that sounds strange in today's world. It seems the key is to stick with smaller, locally owned businesses, and to continue to reach out directly to the community.

Last night's event gave me hope. The people there were either friends or friends of friends. They were a community in the truest sense. And they were supporting us in our passions for creating local. This is a very precious gift that we should not take for granted. In return, it is my hope that the product of our passions will make their lives richer too.

My co-op partner Elizabeth was there with her soaps. She has been working long hours these last few weeks on her craft. In fact, a conversation only a few hours before I left yesterday, she was in her workshop bottling lotions. You can see the care and attention she puts into her products in her beautiful display as well as the variety. Soaps, lotions, lip balms. Plus two new products this year, a shampoo bar gentle enough to use to wash your hair with, and a lotion bar. The lotion bar is very cool. It looks like soap, but when you touch it, it feels like lotion. You have to try it to really know what I'm talking about! Elizabeth's husband Mark brought refreshments to make the mood more festive. Everyone pitches in to add their touch to the experience. That's what makes cooperation work.

Kerin is a local artist that produces beautiful jewelry. Kerin has been making jewelry in the area for ten years. Kerin has been travelling quite a bit lately, so we were fortunate that she was in town this month. She brought with her special pieces including some stone pieces that were very unique. There was one agate piece that had the most amazing natural spirals in it, a theme that is common in her work. It was fun just to look at the different pieces, and the creativity that goes into each one. Kerin has a business called Acqua Fire, and you can see more about her at the http://www.acquafire.com/ website.

And of course, there was lavender. In the photo at the right, Daniella displays the various products, including the new pint sized hydrosols we showed at the Yule Fest. It was so rewarding to meet the interesting folks that love lavender. Many just enjoy the scent. But I also met some very interesting individuals that use lavender and other essential oils for well being and healing. Learning a bit about people's lives and how what I do enriches them is one of the best gifts of all for me.

Yule Fest at the Gardiner Tennis Ranch

Last week I got a phone call. It was Kathy over at Carmel Valley Olive Company. If you recall from my article this summer (read August article, The Olive Connection), Kathy and her husband Alfred grow olives on their farm just down the road from me. Kathy would be exhibiting their olive oil at The Gardiner Tennis Ranch in Carmel Valley that weekend. She had mentioned our lavender, and the owner, Monique, was interested in having Carmel Lavender there as well.

Yule Fest was an all-weekend affair. There was a dinner on Friday night, wine tasting Saturday, and a brunch and puppet/magic show on Sunday. I spoke to the folks organizing it, and we would be exhibiting on Saturday and Sunday. The folks at Gardiner had really decked the place out nice. The courts were transformed into a Yule-time celebration facility, with large heated tents beautifully decorated with boughs of fir and cypress, holiday banners, bows, and bigger than life stuffed animals. (See the resort at the Gardiner's Resort website)

Daniella and I prepared what to bring that week. We decided to introduce a new product at the Yule fest. Events like these are always good for finally getting around to finalizing that product you've been thinking about. In this case, Daniella has been using the lavender hydrosols in our laundry since August, and she swears by it. The lavender water definitely gives a nice scent to the wash. And what's more, she finds the wash to be softer and fluffy. We don't really know why, but when something works, you go with it. Also, since the hydrosol is distilled water, it is ideal for using in the iron. Daniella's idea is to bottle the hydrosol for laundry use. So we set to work on preparing some product samples for the event. You can see the results in the photo to the right. Each bottle bears the characteristic Carmel Lavender hand-stamped label, and a single stalk of lavender.

Once we arrived, we set up the table. Here Santa Daniella shows off the lavender products that we had. We also included some lavender lotions and bars from our neighbor at Lizard Creations. You can see our new product creation displayed prominently. Daniella also showed-off some gift packaging, with diffuser pendants packaged together with essential oils in a Carmel Lavender gift box. She really put together a nice display.

Going to these events is always a treat. I love talking to people about lavender. So exhibitions where people come to smell the fruits of our labor and enjoy the beauty of lavender make me feel wonderful. In this particular event, there were periods when folks attending were eating or watching the show. And during these times there was opportunity to meet and fraternize with the other exhibitors, which is always fun because it expands your awareness of the creativity of people that live around you.

Here on the right is Kathy and Tracy talking in front of the Carmel Valley Olive Company exhibition table. Kathy was treating visitors to yummy samples of olive oil drenched bread. If you would like more information about the Carmel Valley Olive Company, their delicious olive oil, or contact information, you can find it on the Carmel Valley Chamber of Commerce website. Tracy was exhibiting some of her antiques which included some amazing bola ties, jewelry, and Christmas ornaments.

Also showing her wares was Therese Baisinger. Therese is an amazingly talented artist from nearby Santa Cruz. She makes very beautiful and unusual glassware. Her work really made an impression on me. The first thing that strikes you are the brilliant colors. Vibrant reds. Florescent greens. And each having some unique adornments in accenting colors or gold. In addition to the display in the photo above, her work was being used by the chef serving hors d'oeurves during the wine tasting. Very esquisite I must say. (Visit Therese at her Baisinger Studio website)

In all, it was an extremely fun event. If you wish to see the exhibit, we will be displaying today, Saturday December 20th from 4pm to 7pm at the Monterey Stone Chapel (next to Tarpy's Restaurant) at the intersection of Highway 68 and Canyon del Rey.

Hope to see you there. This year all our family and friends receive the the gift of Carmel Lavender, just as we have throughout the year.

Winter Oil

They say if you want the best oil, you have to get up pretty early in the morning. A few years ago, I took a trip up to Sequim, Washington. They grow a lot of lavender there. It is home to one of the largest lavender festivals on the West Coast in July. Anyhow, I was talking to one of the growers, and she told me that the distillers like to start early. They would be up before sunrise to begin distillation. Well, I do want the best oil, so why question what is already known. I got a break in the weather. A full day without rain. So I went outside at 6 in the morning to start up the distiller. It was quite a beautiful morning. Imagine if you will absolute silence. No sound whatsoever. Absolute stillness. To the west, just over the lavender fields, a full moon was quietly setting. With this backdrop, I started my business, turning on power and water, filling the boiler, lighting the furnace. And I sat in the darkness and waited for everything to warm-up. To begin making golden lavender oil from the lavender I had picked up from Ann a few days before.

Opening the sacks of lavender releases some of the wonderful scent. Here you can see a handful of the loose buds contained inside. This is the good stuff. I loaded buds from the sacks into the basket, taking care not to pack them too firmly down. The warm steam will need to permeate each and every bud to release it's treasure, therefore, the more loosely packed the load, the better.


As the buds go into the distiller they have a delicate purple color to them. They are quite pretty. Much different than when they come out, as you will see later in the process. In the photo to the right, you can see the vibrant color and life the buds contain. Our extraction will condense this vitality into the oils that we remove. Pure concentrated tranquility, ahh!


After loading the distiller with the lavender buds, I got to take a break. The sun has now been up for a while. All of the mist and clouds of the morning seem to have disappeared. The air temperature is already about 70 degrees in the sun. Wow, what an amazing day this is turning out to be. In the middle of December too. I took a break from the morning work of setting up the equipment and unloading lavender to take in the warmth and beauty of the day. It is still quite calm out, though the stillness is disturbed by the birds flying about and occasionally chattering at each other, as well as the bees which seem to have emerged to take advantage of the warm weather for a cleansing flight and perhaps a serendipitous forage venture.

Suddenly, my senses were overwhelmed. Now, I've been working with lavender all day, so it's not like I don't know what it smells like. But suddenly there is an intensity that is unlike anything experienced yet today, including when I opened the big burlap sacks shown above. Looking over at the condenser emitter, I see a faint mist, and then shortly thereafter, fluid begins to flow. Here on the right, you can see it coming from the emitter and dripping into the essencier. Now this fluid contains both the essential oil, as well as the hydrosol. The essencier will separate the two from each other, as we see below.


Inside the essencier, the oil and hydrosols are separated. The oils come bubbling up into the glass tube and cascade over the top, where it is collected and bottled. It is always fun to watch the "eruption" as I call it when the oil first starts flowing. It bubbles up in the tube like a fantastic smelling lava lamp. I don't have a video camera, but I wanted to capture what this is like for you. So I put my camera on autodrive, and try to capture the motion in this image. Now, if only there were a way to digitize smell!

When I am at farmers markets with my lavender, one question I get a lot is: "What can you do with essential oil?" I should dedicate an entire blog entry to this question some time. But to help people enjoy lavender and the amazing properties of the essential oil, I started carrying pendant diffusers. These are little terra cotta pieces stamped with different designs (mine has a kokopeli dancer on it). The terra cotta is porous, so a drop of essential oil is absorbed into the pendant, and it's calming, de-stressing effects can be absorbed all day long. Really something useful in these stressful holiday times, and especially so in these times of economic uncertainty which is gripping the world. We can't always fix everything that's wrong with with the banks, with the auto industry, and even the impacts this has on our own local economy, but we will be much healthier and able to do what we can if we can keep a calm perspective on events that are sometimes out of our control. Here you can see me anointing my pendant with a sterile cotton swab directly from the fresh oil. Ahh. I am wearing it now, and can smell the sweet scent even as I type this blog.

While I was distilling, my friend Tara paid me a visit to see the operation. Tara is an aroma therapist. (You can visit her at her website at www.taraspa.com) She knows everything about scents, and how to use them for health and well-being. While we were watching the oil bubbling out, she said that one of the big challenges in here work is educating people that aroma therapy is important to their health, not just a luxury. That is so true. Health is not a luxury. Without health, what do we have? I package a terra cotta pendant with a bottle of lavender oil together in this all natural Carmel Lavender gift box. What better gift to give a special friend or lover than tranquility and health! We will have these available at a Holiday Faire this Saturday, December 20th, from 4pm to 6pm at the Monterey Stone Chapel, right next to Tarpy's restaurant in Monterey. Or you can contact me through this blog. Okay, commercial is over :) Hey, I have to make a living too, you know!

Once the oil stops flowing, it is time to remove the spent lavender and start a new batch. I have included an "after" shot of the basket with the lavender buds that have been processed. Look at the difference in color. The vitality that it had going in is entirely gone. The buds no longer have a vibrant purple hue, but rather are a pink-tan color. They have given up their essence and life. The buds will be taken over to the compost heap, where they have a chance to bring new life to the soil. The essential oils and hydrosols will be used to make our lives more rich and healthy. I guess that is what it is all about. Let us take a moment and be thankful to these flowers for bringing us such magical benefits. Thank you, Lavender!

Mesa del Sol Lavender

At a farmers market a couple of months ago, I met Ann, the owner of the Mesa del Sol winery. Ann said that she had quite a bit of lavender that she harvested from their lavender plants at their winery in Arroyo Seco. At their winery, they have a long drive alongside the vineyard leading up to the house, and both sides of the driveway is lined with lavender!

The lavender has been harvested already, and Ann needed help distilling the essential oil. So I took a ride out to Mesa del Sol, which is actually fairly close to my farm. It is quite a stunning property. If you are interested, you can check it out on their website (http://www.mesadelsolvineyards.com/). There is an adorable historic farmhouse. Ann is an architectural designer, so the whole place is done esquisitly. There is even a very charming rock-walled workshop and a gorgeous pool and grounds. My son and I got the grand tour. There is a stunning view of the Arroyo Seco river (which is going quite nicely). And an ominous view of the burned hillsides from this year's Indians Fire which got quite close. Ann grows her own vegetables there as well, so we got a wonderful tour of the private garden.

The lavender was sacked in very large burlap coffee sacks. We stuffed the truck full to the brim on our first load. In the photo on the right you can see the sweet smelling load. We called them giant sachets. The ride home was absolutely intoxicating. We played loud music to keep us from slipping into a lavender induced coma while driving home.

I'm preparing the distillery now for the distillation. This should keep me busy for the rest of this week and most of next too most likely.

I have a feeling my truck is going to be smelling mighty fine for quite some time!!

Fall Markets & Winter Gardens

Well it's been a while since my last post. For this I must apologize. I've been spending quite a bit of time outside and haven't been turning on my computer as much. Good for farming, not so good for keeping up w/ the blog ;) Anyhow, I'll try to catch up with what's been going on.

September, October, and November have been a time for going to market. Working with the Carmel Valley Co-op (http://www.carmelvalleycoop.org/) we've been trying to get to as many markets and craft faires as we could. So a lot of time has been spent preparing for and going to these events. To the right is a photo at the local village market. We had a great spread, with essential oils, soaps, dried bunches and sachets. It is always enjoyable to get out in the sunshine and talk to people about lavender.

The home garden has been another focus these last couple of months. Next spring I plan to expand the garden. So I've been preparing a new field for growing vegetables. Fortunately I finished tilling the field and sewed a cover crop just before my tiller blew up. Unfortunately, my tiller blew up. Threw a rod right through the side of the crank case. Anyone have a spare 5hp motor they want to sell? Oh well, I have a month or so to get it fixed before it gets critical. That's the breaks when working with equipment with "personality" :) I'm still getting good carrots and peppers. If you can believe it, it's December and we haven't got a frost yet. So even my tomatoes are still going, albeit very slowly. Everything else I've turned under. I've sewn turnips, cabbage, and fava, radishes and lettuce amongst others. The little plants are all doing fine. Tonight Daniella made a Bulgarian meal from our garden tomatoes and peppers called paprikash. Yum!

December is a busy month. I'm working on my distillery, making it a bit more comfortable for year round use. Also, I'm distilling essential oil from lavender grown by a local winery (more on this later). And of course, being the Holiday season, I have been spending time organizing the local Santa's Parade. Santa comes in on helicopter to a crowd of screaming kids. (http://www.santaflyin.org/)

What fun is that!

Hidden Apples

Many Carmel Vally residents over the years have had the wisdom to plant fruit trees on their property. Sometimes a single tree, and sometimes even small orchards. These trees provide shade in the summer, and delicious fruit too. Apples, apricots, peaches, pears, almonds, figs. The variety is quite extraordinary. And every year, these loyal trees do their job making their fruit. I'm always amazed when I discover yet another hidden treasure of sustainable food located in some private place in Carmel Valley.

Our friends the fruit tree however are sometimes more efficient than we are. Producing more than their owners can possibly consume at once. And of course canning for the winter requires some set-up and more significantly, time, a commodity in short supply in today's modern life. The bottom line is that there is a tremendous quantity of food in Carmel Valley, that is ripe for the picking!

So Tuesday, Elizabeth and I headed out to pick apples. We collected enough apples for our current orders. The apples were weighed and bagged back at Elizabeth's Farm, and I distributed them to CSA subscribers with my usual rounds on Wednesday. Fresh apples are always nice, but just as important is knowing that they were 100% natural, and come from a local, sustainable source.

Today we will cook down some of the bruised and damaged apples for our own enjoyment. Some day we hope that the Co-op will be able to build a commercial kitchen and we can offer locally grown and canned apple butter and apple sauce to our CSA subscribers too. In the meantime, you'll just have to believe me when I say that it is delicious!

The Art of Local Soap Making

This week Elizabeth, my neighbor and co-op partner, called to tell me that she was making Castile soap. Castile soap is a soap that is made exclusively from vegetable oil, and commonly used to refer to soap made from olive oil (you can find more information about Castile soap on Wikipedia here). Elizabeth is a soap maker, so making soap is not necessarily a unique event at Lizard's Creations, but today it was different. This particular batch is a milestone in a concept that she and I have been exploring with our Co-op: How to live more local?

Living the Vida Local

So how do we live the Vida Local? With vegetables, the answer is simple. We set a geographic radius (50 miles) and receive all of our vegetables grown from within this area. My lavender is also rather straight forward, the lavender is grown here on my farm, and the essential oils and hydrosols are manufactured here. A radius of zero. But when you go up the chain and start thinking about applying local to things like soaps, what does it mean? Elizabeth has of course always crafted her soaps locally. And as we started working together, she began integrating my local lavender oils and buds into the process. This got her to thinking: how far can I go using all local ingredients?

Many of her soaps include ingredients include oils such as palm oil, and other ingredients that are just not produced locally. But with creativity, there is always an answer. That is where a serendipitous meeting she had w/ Carmel Valley Olive Company created an opportunity. This local farm and producer of olive oil less than ten miles away. Elizabeth asked the essential question, can I make this into a locally made, and locally grown Castile soap? If the olive oil and the essential oils were local, then the bulk of the primary ingredients (save the lye used to induce saponification) would be entirely local as well. Imagine the carbon savings if gallons upon gallons of heavy oils were no longer shipped from abroad, but rather obtained locally from a few miles away!

Today was the day to put this ideal into practice. Being such a significant event, I grabbed my camera and headed over to watch and record the history.

Making Soap

Dressed in her blue and white soap making smock, Elizabeth had already prepared the lye mixtures according the careful measurements. I carefully handed her my contribution, Carmel Lavender essential oil from this year's harvest and distillation (read my previous blog entry on the Lavender Oil Harvest here). She was about to begin measuring the bounty from Carmel Valley Olive Company, so we went into her soap workshop to begin making local soap.

With soap making, the measurements are absolutely critical. Without precise measurements, the saponification process will not be right. And if the saponification is not right, the soap will not be right. Elizabeth began measuring out the oil very carefully on here scale. Look at the beautiful golden green color of the oil. The smell of delicious olives filled the room. What a wonderful way to start a soap. We also measured out the essential oil, and set it aside for later.

Next the oil needed to be heated to a precise temperature. For this, the oil was placed on the stove, and Elizabeth carefully monitored the temperature with a thermometer. Likewise, the lye solution I mentioned earlier needed to reach the proper temperature as well. interestingly, the reaction of the solution had naturally preheated the solution, so for this, it is a waiting game for the temperature to cool as the reaction slowed down. She told me that at times she could float the mixture in cool water to help cool it. But today, that was not necessary.

Once the oil and the lye solutions reached the proper temperatures, they were mixed together. This is where it got tricky. Elizabeth told me that the soap now needed to "trace". I.e. when saponification started, it should begin hardening. As you mix the solutions together, this leaves traces behind the spatula. The tricky part is that usually the soap recipes have other oils and fats in the mixture. Pure olive oil was a new experience. And apparently some of her research told her that the tracing stage could take some time. Or maybe never? We really didn't know. So we mixed. And mixed. And mixed. And mixed. After a few hours of mixing, Elizabeth made the call that the saponification was going to take some time if it were going to happen. She would monitor it through-out the day, and give me a ring if it started to trace. So at this point, I collected my camera, and called it a day. I left with a lot of anticipation. The idea of locally grown ingredients is very compelling. I very much wanted to get a good shot of the hardening soap in the mold. But this would have to wait until the soap is ready.

Soap History - The Soap Maker's Birthright

While we were waiting, Elizabeth pulled out an old dry cake of soap in a dish. "Here, look at this" she told me. She continued that this cake of soap was made by her grandmother in the 1940's. You can see the dry cake of antique soap in the photo to the right. It turns out that Elizabeth's grandmother was a soap maker. She made handmade soaps in Nebraska during the war. Her contribution to the war effort. Coincidentally, her grandmother was also called Elizabeth. And even though Elizabeth told me that she never had the opportunity to learn soap making from her grandmother, I felt that the connection was an important one. For 70 years soap had been made in her family. The basic process of saponification has remained the same, and so must have been the need for precise temperature and measurements. And yet in a world that is so different. Here we are today, trying to simplify life by making local products. A luxury in today's time, thought most likely a necessity in yesterday of 70 years.

Meanwhile, back in good ole' 2008...

I had returned home. I called that evening, but no trace. I called the next day, still no trace. We were starting to lose heart. Perhaps no amount of patience would bring saponification. On the third day, I called, and almost reluctantly asked, "well, did it trace?" YES! It had traced! Apparently we were a day short on the patience. Today it was hardening. Elizabeth had already poured the soap mixture into the molds. But I wanted a victory shot for this article. So I picked up my camera and headed over. Wow, what a color! The dark golden green had changed to a buttery yellow / beige. The soap was not solid and no longer even jiggling in the wooden mold. Here the soap will rest, probably for a couple of weeks to further harden and cure.

Once the soap completes the curing process, it will be removed from the mold, cut into bars, and wrapped in the signature wrapping of Lizard's Creations. The locally made and locally grown soaps will be available in locally owned retail shops, such as the Diamond Horseshoe in Carmel Valley, as well as through the Co-op (you can purchase Lizard Creations soaps at the coop website here).

A beautiful soap for a beautiful dream. I feel fortunate to be part of the journey to rediscover how to work together as a community to provide for the essentials of our life, be them food, soaps, or whatever.

Basil Pesto

I've got one word for you. Basil. This year has been a tremendous year for growing Basil. And I don't know why. Last year, I nursed one plant all summer long and would scrupulously harvest 3 or 4 leaves a day to chop into a tomato salad or some such. I dreamed of making bowls of delicious pesto for sandwiches, pasta, whatever, but alas, the poor little plant never really was able to make enough for such an enterprise.

This year was different.

First, in early April, I seeded about 30 or so plants in 3" pots and put them into the cold frame with the other starts. All took. In fact, by May / June when I planted them out, they were looking already better than my poor little plant from 2007. I actually had too many plants and not enough space to plant them out, so I had to give half of them away to friends and neighbors. Already the season was looking good.

When I did plant them out, I made a brand new raised bed with galvanized 1" hardware cloth on the bottom to keep the pesky gophers out, and filled the bed with compost and oak hummus that I collected from under an old oak cluster. They seemed to love it. They grew nicely all summer long, but in early August, for whatever reason, they exploded. And my healthy plants turned into a giant hedge of Basil. Oops. Now I have to eat it all. Way too much for Tomato salads, even every night. Time to make Pesto!

I have spoken to many different Pesto makers, and each have their own recipe and special tricks. I like to make a very basic pesto. It is easy, not too expensive, and very yummy to eat. I start with the following 4 ingredients:
- Basil
- Walnuts
- Lemon
- Olive Oil

In this batch, I made about 1-1/2 to 2 pints of Pesto, which took about 8-9 cups of basil leaves (essentially a two quart bowl almost full), about a pint of finely chopped walnuts, 4-5 lemons, and a few tablespoons (maybe a bit more) of olive oil.

Alright, I hear half of you yelling already "Walnuts! That's sacrilege!" I know, I know, everyone who is anyone uses pine nuts. Well my personal feeling is that pine nuts are just too snooty for my taste. They are typically twice as expensive as walnuts, and I just don't really think the difference is worth it. So feel free to substitute the pine nuts if you wish. Sniiifff. (smiles)

The lemon is absolutely essential. And it is not to be used sparingly either. Without enough lemon, the pesto will turn an unappealing brown color almost immediately. It also helps to remove the bitter edge that Basil can sometimes have (esp. if you don't trim the stems well enough!). If you don't have lemon, use lime, or SOMETHING acidic.

First clip the leaves from the stems and place the leaves in a big bowl. Make sure to get any large piece of stem, even if you need to cut the bottom part of the leaf off to do it. I've found the stems can add a bitter flavour. This can be somewhat neutralized w/ lemon, but not entirely. So it is best just to err on the side of caution and try to get rid of all the stem you can.

I chop the Basil and the Walnuts separately in the food processor. I do it this way because I don't like to measure things out, but prefer to cook "to taste." Chopping separately, I can then blend the Basil and the chopped walnuts together in exactly the right proportion to my current mood. Typically, the ratio is about 1:1. I do, however add the lemon to the Basil just before I chop it. So put the leaves into the food processor, squeeze the lemons directly into the chopping bowl, then chop. I do this to try to preserve the freshness and color or the Basil as much as I can. it is amazing how fast Basil will turn brown when cut. Obviously, when making a batch as large as two pints, it is going to require several batches of chopping. Make sure you add the lemon proportionally, so each batch of chopped Basil is done w/ enough lemon juice.

Once the Basil and nuts are chopped, then mix them in a mixing bowl and add the olive oil, until the texture is easy to spread. Like I said above, 1:1 ratio of chopped Basil to nuts is a good mental starting point, adding the oil sparingly until the desired texture is reached. Taste, and add more lemon, basil, or nuts if necessary.

I'm sure many of you have your own yummy twist on Pesto making. Please feel free to comment and tell me how to make it better!

The Honey Harvest

Last Sunday, after my visit to Catalan Farms, my son and I prepared to harvest some honey. I've spoken quite a bit in previous articles about the difficulties that I've had with the new hives this year. The good news is that the established bees from last year seem to be doing quite well. So whatever the affliction, the stronger colonies seem to be able to withstand it. This year was not a complete bust. While very small, there was indeed some surplus honey for us humans to enjoy.

After collecting the frames of golden honey, we headed over to neighbor Steve's house. Last year, Steve and I, together with another fellow beekeeping neighbor, went in even on honey extraction equipment. Steve is a year ahead of me in terms of establishing his colony. Last year we got to sample his bee's miracle. This year, we get to see what mine can do. We decided the easiest thing to do was to transport the frames over to his house and do the extraction there.

Bees are orderly creatures. When they finish filling up a honey cell with delicious honey, they cap it off with a nice cap of wax. The first step in extraction is to perforate these caps so the honey can flow out. There are many ways to do this including electric capping knives that get hot and slice the caps right off. Well, we used the "poor man's" tool called a scratching tool. In the photo on the right you can see the tool; essentially it is a series of needles on a handle that you rake across the comb, perforating the caps so that the honey can come out.

Once the caps are scratched, we placed the frames in the extractor. The extractor is essentially a centrifuge. The frames are placed inside, and are spun at high speeds by cranking the handle. The centrifugal force (okay, for physics folks, there is no such thing, but this isn't a physics class now is it :) pulls the honey out of the cells where it sticks to the walls and slowly slides down the sides, collecting at the bottom. There it creates a gorgeous pool of honey. We repeated this step multiple times until all the frames of honey had been evacuated.

The evacuated frames are just the empty comb with scratched caps. These frames I put right back into the hive after extraction. One of the benefits of writing this article post-facto is that I can report that I peeked inside a couple of days ago, and the little bees had already finished repairing most of the damage to the comb from the extraction, and the had cleaned out and repacked the residual honey. Harvest season over, their work now is for them alone.

Back to the honey harvest, we can now open the gate at the bottom of the extractor and watch the beautiful dark amber honey flow out! This is strained through a double strainer to remove the little pieces of wax that came from the broken caps. The pure honey flowed through the strainer (very slowly that is) and collected in the honey pail beneath it. I must admit that we all took a little sample of the honey at this point (just to make sure it was good, of course). And it was absolutely fabulous. The biggest surprise was the subtle but very distinct taste OF LAVENDER! Yes! Lavender! The bees obviously were hard at work in the lavender fields and brought this back in the pollen they used to make the honey. It was truly a wonderful taste that I did not expect and was quite grateful for the experience.

Most of this work was done indoors, as with hives nearby, the process tends to attract the bees to reclaim the fruit of their labor. However, at the end, we brought the extractor outside and let the heat of the sun warm up the barrel. This helped get more of the honey stuck to the sides to flow faster.

Then we poured the pure honey from the honey pail into 1/2 pint
mason jars ready for the table! This year, I will share the bounty with our Co-op subscribers.

Given the limited quantity, it will have to be on a first come, first served basis. The price will be $8.50. If you are interested, you can contact the Co-op coordinator at http://www.carmelvalleycoop.org/, or you can visit Carmel Lavender Contacts by clicking here.

With all of the trouble that I have had this year with the bees, this experience was a reminder of the rewards of success. It has given me new resolve to try to work through the problems I have had and restart the colonies next year. This week I have checked the progress of the re queening I wrote about earlier. Unfortunately the re queening seems to have failed and the colony is dead. But the hive next door still lives and from the remaining I will get things going again next spring. Despite the trouble, it is a fantastic experience working with these amazing little creatures.

Connecting with Food at the Catalan Family Farm

Our lives are connected to our food.

Everyone knows how important food is to our survival. And lest we forget, our stomach is there to remind us, just like an alarm clock, every few hours (smiles). But there is a deeper physical and emotional connection that goes far beyond satisfying our old friend Hunger. Our lives are connected to our food in ways that are complex, and in ways that we often do not completely understand.

The home garden I spoke of a few days ago helps us make this connection in our own back yard, right down to the roots. Literally. All of our food however may not come from the home garden, but we can still connect with it in this way. And for this reason, yesterday, my neighbor Elizabeth and I travelled to Hollister to visit the farm from where our CSA vegetables come. (Photo on the right shows rows of delicious organic squash ripening in the California sun.)

If you do not know, I work with a group of neighbors and agricultural producers through the Carmel Valley Co-op. We founded the organization specifically to cooperate amongst ourselves and help bring a greater diversity of locally grown foods to our community. We deal exclusively with producers in a fifty mile radius. As part of this, I distribute vegetables in Carmel Valley through a CSA (community supported agriculture) in cooperation with farmer Maria at the Catalan Family Farms. You can read more about the Co-op at http://www.carmelvalleycoop.org/

Our trip had a couple of purposes. One, most definitely, is to keep the connection to the food that not only to I eat, but that I help to bring to our community. The relationship must be personal, and it must be in person. But just as important, we had some business to discuss with Maria as well regarding evolution of the co-op, and it is important our relationships with our partners be as personal as with our food.

When I arrived, I feel that I am truly on a family farm. As you pull into the drive, the house where Maria lives is right up front. Directly next to the staging barn where all of the vegetables are prepared for shipment to CSAs and to the farmer's market. Maria has just introduced eighty hens to the farm. So running around everywhere are chickens foraging through piles of harvest trash earning their livelihood by processing the leftover organic matter that has not market value. The hens will provide eggs. One hen had a dozen or so chicks following her around. Goats and horses too all make living use of the abundance of organic matter. In the fields, there are rows of peppers, right next to tomatoes, squash, strawberries. A diversity of foods, grown together that make up the wonderful boxes we receive every week. I felt that Maria's life was tied inseparably with the farm, as her niece followed us out in to the fields, occasionally snacking on a tomato or strawberry fresh from the field.

Of course, we discussed our business in between our friendly tour and conversation. While the meeting covered a range of topics, the important subject of the day was direct markets. (Photo: Elizabeth and Maria talk business in the field as fresh cherry tomatoes are harvested and stacked by a truck for transport). Everyone wants to get their food locally from farmers who personally care about their farms and their customers. True agriculture is more than profits, but farmers also need to pay their bills and provide for their families. Basically, they need to get their crops to the people who need them. This sounds simple. But in reality it is not. It is amazing how much food is actually wasted as it tries to find it's way to people. Our discussions focused on how to build deeper relationships directly with our customers.

It is my hope that the fruit of these discussions will be that even more of us can have a personal connection with the food that is so important to our existence here on this Earth. And of course, those that grow it and bring it to us.

On the way back to Carmel Valley, Elizabeth and I stopped at another neighbor's to pick apples from her tree. Mmmmm delicious. We picked enough to offer them to Carmel Valley Co-op CSA subscribers. Graven steins I think. You can subscribe at at the Co-op website here.