Two Small Farms |
Sunday, Nov. 11th $65/per person Call (831 786 0625) or email our CSA office(csa at twosmallfarms dot com) to make a reservation, checks are the only form of payment |
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Above are photos of the Ventana Wilderness that the Alliance is trying to protect. At the far right is a photo of the piglets when they were still small.
Andy's letter about this dinner:
Two Small Farms C.S.A. is hosting a benefit dinner to honor John Libby and the Ventana Wilderness Alliance on Sunday, November 11th, 2007 at Stokes Restaurant and Bar in Monterey.
Ventana means “window” in Spanish. The Ventana Wilderness Area is a 250,000 acre roadless area in the Monterey Division of the Los Padres National Forest, taking in the rugged heart of the Santa Lucia Mountains. The Santa Lucia mountains may lack the verdant alpine meadows and sculptured ski slopes of the Sierra Nevada, but they make up for it with plenty of loose rocks, precipitous cliffs, spiky yuccas, scratchy brush, and rattlesnakes. Ironically, when the first Spanish galleons sailed up the Pacific coast exploring the route that would carry them to Manila, these mountains were white with snow so the sailors named them la Sierra Nevada, or “the snowy mountains.” I grew up on the northern edge of the Santa Lucia and these mountains are still my favorite place in the world.
Five rivers flow from the Ventana, the Carmel, the Little Sur, the Big Sur, the Arroyo Seco, and the San Antonio. The tallest mountain in the Santa Lucia Range is 6000 ft high Junipero Serra peak, but the most unusually shaped mountain in the wilderness is the Ventana Double Cone. Before the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, an immense slab of rock spanned the curious square notch in the the ridge line that lies between the twin peaks of the Double Cone, creating a ventana or “window” on the horizon. The earthquake caused this gigantic rock to fall into the gap below and shatter, but the notch—and the name— remains.
The Spanish left a legend of a fabulous gold strike in the Santa Lucia Mountains. If you stand on the right spot on the right mountain, so goes the myth, you can spy the site of the gold deposit by looking through the ventana as if you were aiming through the sights of a rifle. I don’t want to mine for gold, especially in the middle of these beautiful mountains, but I like the story. For me, the Santa Lucia mountains are a window into different world. There’s the past to see here, in the abandoned homestead ranches of the early American settlers and the almost forgotten village sites of the Esselen Indians. And the quiet that a person can find here gives me the calm I need to think about the future. In the modern era quiet is a real treasure.
John Libby has worked for us for two seasons, delivering the Two Small Farms C.S.A. weekly share boxes to San Francisco, the Peninsula, and the Monterey Bay Area. I can’t tell you how grateful Stephen, Jeanne, Zelda, Julia, and I are for the help he has given us. John’s enthusiasm, his consistency, and his attention to detail have made our lives so much easier. We wanted to do something to show our appreciation for all that he has done, and it occurred to us that he would like an event that draws attention to and benefits the Ventana Wilderness Alliance. John is past president of the V.W.A. and a persistent, dedicated activist for wilderness.
The V.W.A. is a volunteer organization that promotes the well being of the Ventana Wilderness through clean-up projects, back-country trail maintenance, public out reach and lobbying efforts. The Los Padres National Forest is like every other public institution— charged with a broad mandate, but given insufficient funds to get the job done. The V.W.A. does what it can to fill in the gaps by doing work the Forest Service can’t afford to do. And because the Forest Service is subject to the pressures of various interest groups, the V.W.A. speaks up on behalf of the public for wilderness values.
My father, James Griffin, was a botanist who did a lot of research in the Santa Lucia Mountains. As a kid, I helped him by hauling his tools and notebooks on lengthy hikes through the Los Padres National Forest. I have a copy of a letter that my father wrote to John Libby, thanking him for the work that the V.W.A. had done to re-open a trail in the Ventana that he needed to reach some of his research sites. So before John helped me, he helped my father.
Stokes Restaurant is the obvious place to have a benefit dinner. Chef Brandon has supported our farm for years, and he bought produce from us even before we started the C.S.A. John has been delivering produce to Stokes Restaurant as he’s gone about making the C.S.A. deliveries, and he’s struck up a friendship with Brandon. “Every time I go in their kitchen it always smells so good,” he says. When I go I remember Brandon’s mother, who was a frequent market shopper at our stall at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market before she passed away. If she saw vegetables on display at our booth that she hadn’t seen on his menu she’d call him up and chew him out. Say what you will about marketing strategies, but I’ll say there’s no better way to get a chef’s business than to get his mother on your side.
Brandon is used to working with whatever vegetables Stephen and I have available, so I’m sure the meal will be great. Brandon also does his own charcuterie, so I’ve raised two pigs for this meal. I bought two organic feeder piglets a while ago from Jean and Bob Harrah at Deep Roots Farm. Bob and Jean have their own milk C.S.A. that Julia and I belong to, and they raise poultry and pigs too. The pigs are an heirloom breed called Gloucester Old Spot. I’ve been fattening them on vegetables and letting them range over several acres at our home ranch to root and graze. If the two pigs knew that they were going to “benefit” the Ventana Wilderness Alliance they might not eat all my leftover heirloom tomatoes and French Fingerling potatoes so fast, but that’s life. They do seem to be enjoying themselves now. Please consider joining us to thank John Libby and The Ventana Wilderness Alliance for all they’ve done for. All proceeds go to the Ventana Wilderness Alliance.
Two Small Farms
831.786.0625
PO Box 2065
Watsonville, CA 95077-2065