Food is about so much more than what lands on our plates. I am so excited to share my adventure to the Cal-Organic Farms in Tehachapi, California, to learn about organic farming and enjoy a farm-to-table meal curated by Chef Guy Turland of Bondi Harvest in Santa Monica, CA. I hope you enjoy reading about my trip!
I cannot even begin to tell you how incredible my 24-hour whirlwind trip to California was last week! As I’m writing this on my plane ride home, I’m having a true pinch me kinda moment. How did I get so lucky to go on such a unique and intimate trip?!
Finding that confidence is a post for another time, but I want to start off with a big THANK YOU to each and every one of YOU who have supported me over the past few years. Without you, my adventure to the Cal-Organic Farms (owned by Grimmway Farms), out in Tehachapi, California, never would’ve happened!
So yes, I’m just about bursting out of my plane seat with inspiration and excitement!
Who knew veggies could do that?!
(Am I the only one raising my hand?!????????)
It’s no secret I’m a veggie fan! Over the past several months I’ve been working with Cal-Organic Farms as part of their Cal-O-Creators program. Every month, they send me a fresh, giant box of their organic produce, that I get to play around with in the kitchen! Did you check out the latest Summer Zoodle Salad I made from this month’s box yet??
So when I received an invitation to join them for a tour of their family farm with a chef-curated dinner highlighting their produce, how could I turn down the incredible opportunity? (Spoiler: I couldn’t!)
So I packed up and flew out to Cali, “just for dinner,” but it was SO much more!!!
My Adventure to the Cal-Organic Farms
As a dietitian, I want everyone to eat more vegetables. Nature’s preventative medicine, as I like to call it, undeniably improves our health, energy levels, self-confidence, and more. It’s easy to stick to what you know when it comes to the veggie aisle of the supermarket, but that’s why I encourage all of my clients to at least visit the farmer’s market every once in a while. There, you’re able to connect with the farmers who produce the food you put on your plate. It gives you a deeper connection with the food you eat.
So I take my own advice, go to the farmer’s market to speak with local farmers, but there’s nothing quite like seeing acres upon acres of beautifully farmed land with organic produce to truly understand that THIS is where our food comes from.
THANK YOU to Cal-Organic Farms for giving me a glimpse into your world!
But I’m getting ahead of myself, so let me rewind and do this recap properly…
I woke up in complete darkness at 440am in New York City (how dramatic!)… Two flights later, I arrived in California at 1pm PST! Time travel at its finest!
I freshened up at The Padre Hotel, a cute boutique hotel in Bakersfield, California, and took a quick stroll down the block to Nature’s Food Market and Juice Bar for a little pick-me-up. I’m usually not quite a fan of juices, but it was SO hot and the E-Lemonator juice made with carrots, spinach, ginger and lemon sounded delicious! I’m always trying to avoid getting sick after flying so I figured the carrots would help boost my immune system, and the lemon and ginger would help settle my stomach, which of course, was acting a little all over the place after flying too!
Then, I met my friend Valorie from Cal-Organic Farms before heading off to the farm. Valorie is one of the absolute sweetest individuals I’ve worked with over the past year! I just wish I lived closer so we could hang out more often! 🙂 She even took all my questions about what to wear! #suchagirl
Off to the farm we go…
Grimmway Farms and Cal-O (as I learned the insiders call it 😉 ) have several different farms all over California and beyond, but we went to Tehachapi. I was joined in the car ride with officials from organic certifying agencies and an organic lobbying group – how cool is that?
Of course, I picked their brains about their work, because who wouldn’t?! Laura and Jake have both been working in the organic industry for YEARS. Yes, organic farming has been around for WAY longer than most of us realize!
As we drove to the Tehachapi Valley I was completely awe struck by the beauty of the land. The car ride was looking a little dry, and then BAM gorgeous, lush land, full of VEGGIES!
I don’t know the last time I’ve seen a farm like this…
After several minutes of mixing and mingling with other guests, including produce industry leaders, chefs, influencers, and farmers (over beet juice-infused cocktails, of course) we headed out for the tour.
We started with the fennel field (1st photo below), then headed over to the various types of leaf lettuce – there were at least 6 in this 1 field!), then radishes, potatoes, romaine, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and so much more. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a carrot farm!
Buuuut, luckily I still got to enjoy Cal-O’s delicious tri-colored carrots and beets over apps…
Yes, the produce was beautiful. Yes, I loved seeing the produce up close and personal. And yes, I loved hearing the inside scoop. (Who doesn’t love gossip straight from the organic farm?!)
BUT, most of all, I loved seeing so many other people with such PASSION for what they do.
Whether it was a buyer from Whole Foods, the CEO of Sprouts, the Grimm brothers, or Jeff Huckaby (the current President of Grimmway Farms), everyone oozed excitement over their vegetables, high standards of production, and the unbelievable quality they share with the world.
I hope you can feel the love that I felt everyone at Grimmway Farms feels for what they do day in and day out!
Here are some more highlights I learned on my trip…
- There’s a lot more hand work in organic farming, compared to conventional. Weeding and even harvesting by hand is necessary because no chemicals are used in organic farming techniques.
- No herbicides are used. Instead, various techniques like planting flowers helps keep noxious bugs (specifically aphids) away. See the picture below for an example!
- Grimmway Farms operates a year-round production. Many farms only operate for their peak season. Grimmway Farms is luckily to employ their staff year-round!
- Grimmway Farms works closely with suppliers (like Whole Foods) to determine what to plant. I never thought about it before, but how cool is that?! They’re predicting the next big veggie trend and Cal-O is bringing it to LIFE! Any guesses?
- Specific carrots are grown to create Cal-O’s uniquely sweet baby carrots! Surprisingly, this was a hugely popular topic of conversation! Every part of the carrot is used when making baby carrots!
Farm-to-Table… Literally!
So after seeing ALL that goes into organic farming, we went back to the barn we started in for a TRUE farm-to-table dining experience! Cal-O collaborated with Tastemade and Chef Guy Turland to put on one of the most elegant farm dinners I’ve ever seen!
Not only was every single thing absolutely delicious and well thought out, but it was STUNNING inside. I wish my pictures could do the tablescape justice…
There was a pallet of green, purple and a deep pink-red, which had farm fresh veggies woven in… (and even hanging from the ceiling!)
As we sat down for dinner, Chef Guy Turland said something that stuck with me: “Food is one of our most precious gifts. Good food doesn’t start in the kitchen. It starts in the field, with the farmers, and I’m just lucky enough to enhance it.”
I can’t tell you how much this rang true to how I feel about food, and even more specifically, food and our health.
Food is really one of the most precious gifts we have in life, which is why I am so passionate about sharing deliciously nutritious ways to enjoy this simple, but incredibly important, gift we’re given.
So thank you to Cal-Organic Farms for having me as your guest at this incredible event. I am so grateful for your support, inclusion, and encouragement day in and day out! Your planning and execution led to an experience I will never forget! THANK YOU!!!
XO
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