The end of August finds me in San Francisco, with a belly full of Little Star Pizza and looking forward to September's Eat Local Month.
Are you still wondering what the mystery machine was? The first guess, Anita's, was correct. It was a cherry pitter -- a machine that John Lagier showed us on our tour of Lagier Ranches through CUESA's farm tour program. It was a fascinating tour, and I want to be able to tell you more about it. But until I get to that, check out Marc's post about visiting the almond orchards and a discussion of the new law that will affect raw almonds.
On the same day, we visited Hidden Star Orchards, an organic almond, stone fruit and grape orchard who sells at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market. Johann Smit and his family have an amazing story, starting with his parents who immigrated from the Netherlands and started a dairy farm on the land where Johann now grows apples.
If you are a Flickr lover, please keep an eye on my photos, as I have been spending quite a bit of time on my flickr site. I am doing an exciting new project called "365 days" in which I take a photo a day for a year. I'm on day 22, and it's been a really interesting experience so far. I am really grateful to the project as it's causing me to have my camera with me most of the time which can only be a good thing.
I'm leaving tomorrow for a couple weeks in Los Angeles. The timing of this is interesting, as it's the beginning of Eat Local month. I am really looking forward to spending time there exploring the local options available to those in Southern California. I will be going to farmers' markets and working local foods into my family's menus as much as possible. While I won't be attempting the 100% local foods diet that I have done in the past, I think that being in Southern California while concentrating on eating local will be an interesting spin on a routine that is part of my daily life in San Francisco. The energy of the Eat Local Challenge is always such an exciting thing, and it continues to be a very invigorating part of my life. Thanks to all of you who support it, or at least tolerate my talking about it fairly regularly.
Have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!
Photo taken in San Francisco at August Street and Union Street, August 29, 2007.
