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Front to Backyard Urban Farms & Gardens

For all intents and purposes I had put this blog, 100 Miles, to bed.  I wasn’t planning to write anymore posts.  Until I decided to start an urban farms and gardens business.  I realized that this blog led me to starting my company.  The blog is, after all, about living life locally, eating from the bounty outside our back doors rather than oceans away.  I’ve always enjoyed gardening.  I grew up in a gardening family – from my great-grandparents to my mother.  I spent my childhood playing in the dirt as much as possible.  Helping others get their hands back in the soil makes perfect sense to me.

Front to Backyard Urban Farms & Gardens designs, installs and maintains urban farms and gardens.  Need a vegetable garden put in?  We can do it.  Want to start raising chickens or keep bees?  We help with that too.  Composting, rainwater harvesting, raised beds, herb and kitchen gardens, drip irrigation, quiet, green lawn and yard maintenance, restaurant gardens — we do it all.  I am also proud to say that Front to Backyard practices sustainable, organic gardening and farming only.  We use no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers.

A  little over a year ago I started the Certificate in Horticulture and Gardening program at UCLA Extension.  I learned a tremendous amount and I received my certificate at the end of 2012.  I am involved in several related organizations like the American Horticultural Society, the California Native Plant Society, the California State Beekeepers Association, the Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association, the Seed Library of Los Angeles and the Southern California Horticultural Society.  In each I’m meeting new people, gathering massive amounts of new gardening and farming knowledge, and enjoying it all immensely.

The question now is will I be writing any more blog posts here at 100 Miles?  Possibly yes.  Only time will tell.

Happy gardening!

fronttobackyard.com

Cristina’s from Spain

The food of Spain has more and better cachet, and major food cred as time goes on. Lagging behind sister European countries like France and Italy due to the slow return from Francisco Franco’s dictatorial ways, Spain’s foods, cuisine and chefs are now hitting their stride on the world stage. Only due to lack of exposure this writer hadn’t fully experienced the wonders of Spain’s food until the last few years.  Assuredly much like many others who pride themselves in eating well, traveling and experiencing new things.

Cristina Rodriguez, owner of Cristina’s from Spain, was born and raised in Madrid.  She has lived for the last seventeen years in Los Angeles.  Missing many of the foods and flavors of her youth she sought out U.S.-based importers who were already importing some of her favorite things to eat from Spain.  She and her husband Tony Testa sell cheeses, jamons, chorizo, tortilla, almonds, olives and other delicacies at various farmers’ markets around Los Angeles.  The difference between what she sells versus what you may find at big box stores like Costco is that she went back to Spain, found the items she remembered she loved so much, then located the items through an established importer.  As a child she remembers a manchego maker in the countryside outside Madrid that sold his cheese village to village on a donkey.  She found him, he’s still making cheese and now she sells it in Los Angeles.

All the items that she and Tony sell have a similar story.  After tasting one too many mediocre versions of something Cristina knew tasted better back in Spain, she and Tony set out to find the highest quality version of that specific item.  Among the many foods they offer are quince paste, olives, marcona almond flat bread, chorizo, serrano ham, manchego, goat and blue cheeses, and the Spanish favorite tortilla (a potato and egg fritatta).  The couple made sure each item was up to snuff by having Cristina’s mother in Madrid give her approval.  If she didn’t like an item they were considering it wasn’t added to the inventory.  When Cristina and Tony visited Cristina’s mother, Tony took copious notes.  He’s now the official cook in the partnership.  Anything the couple sells that is prepared is Tony’s doing.

Cristina’s goal is to share the flavors she remembers growing up; to find those Spanish delicacies that are a step above the rest; those that taste of the place they come from, the terroir which always affects the flavors in endless nuanced ways.  With the help of people like Cristina and Tony the glorious flavors of Spain will reach more and more willing and hungry mouths.

Cristina’s from Spain (323-719-1974) can be found at these Los Angeles-area farmers’ markets: Tuesdays in Silver Lake, Saturdays at La Canada, and Sundays in Atwater Village.

*A version of this post was previously posted on Honest Cooking.

A Market Meet-Up with Michael McCarty

A shopping and eating adventure with a world-renowned chef and restaurateur: Michael’s Market Meet-Ups — where friends, food and flavor come together.

Chef Michael McCarty is hailed as a pioneer of the California Cuisine movement that began in the early 1980s.  He and a group of California chefs started sourcing and cooking local ingredients only; those solely grown or raised in California.  And a movement was born.  Chef McCarty is the owner of Michael’s Santa Monica, a restaurant that has been at the same location on 3rd Street for thirty-two years.  Chef McCarty prides himself in only serving the best seasonal ingredients and is known for his personal connections to local growers.

Michael’s is two city blocks away from the world-famous Santa Monica Farmers’ Market.  He and his chefs make weekly visits to the market to see what is in season, to decide on menus, and to buy produce for the restaurant.  Considering his knowledge of ingredients and his familiarity with the purveyors it comes as no surprise that he can easily lead a tour of the market, and that he knows virtually every vendor.

Michael’s Market Meet-Ups are monthly tours of the market led by Chef McCarty followed by a lunch prepared from items purchased at the market.  On the most recent meet-up seven of us met Chef McCarty at Michael’s at 8:30 in the morning for coffee and house-made cinnamon buns.  Shortly thereafter we set out for the market where he introduced us to his favorite vendors while also grabbing items for that day’s lunch.  Since it’s spring in California it was all about spring ingredients: English peas, fava beans, ramps and morel mushrooms.  As we toured the market Chef McCarty offered lessons on produce of the season, as well as tips for navigating the market and selecting the best ingredients.  We met Alex Weiser of Weiser Family Farms, a McCarty favorite.  We stopped by Pudwill Berry Farms, another McCarty recommendation, where his executive chef bought berries for the restaurant.

When we returned to Michael’s for lunch we were served Morel Mushroom Wonton Soup (English peas, fava bean wontons, ramps, tempura morel in a morel mushroom broth), followed by Warm Spring Salad (ramps, pickled English peas, morel lardons, and a poached egg in a mustard and fava bean dressing).

The final hurrah was receiving a copy of McCarty’s cookbook Welcome to Michael’s and having him personally autograph it.  A fun, educational culinary outing with one of California’s best-loved chefs and food personalities.  Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday morning.

For more information on Michael’s Market Meet-Ups, and to find out when the next one is scheduled, check the Michael’s Santa Monica website ~ http://www.michaelssantamonica.com/

*A version of this post was previously posted on Honest Cooking.

Pancake Breakfasts

This sign went up recently in a Wells Fargo parking lot in my neighborhood.  It brought back so many memories.  When I was little before my father left, and even after he left, Sunday was pancake day.  The day my father made breakfast.  It was always pancakes.  They were nothing fancy.  He used Bisquick pancake mix.  They were thin and he made big stacks of them.  It seemed like I ate five or six at a sitting but that could be my memory exaggerating.  I loved putting loads of butter between each one and dousing them with syrup.  Again, it was Log Cabin syrup, nothing fancy.  When I cut into them with a fork all the butter and syrup would squish up, the pancakes acting like a saturated sponge.  It was starchy, buttery, syrupy pancake heaven.  I looked forward to Sunday all week.  I ate until I was sick (literally once!).

After my parents divorce my father would still come around on the occasional Sunday to make us pancakes but as time went on, and he remarried that ceased.  That’s when we started going to pancake breakfasts put on by the Lions Club, or the Kiwanis, or some other men’s social group.  Just like the one in the picture, they took place outdoors if the weather was nice, or in a church hall if it wasn’t.  There were long tables with chairs to sit at and eat.  The men’s club members made the pancakes, and I believe some of them were all-you-can-eat.  They were also inexpensive so for my mother raising two children on her own it was the perfect outing.  Food her children loved, away from home, we might have gone with neighbors or friends so it was social as well.  I grew up in a small California town so these pancake breakfasts had a real community feel to them.

Living in large cities all my adult life I’d forgotten about them until I saw this sign.  I just might have to go this one.  The area of Los Angeles I live in, Atwater Village, has a small town vibe to it so a Lions Club pancake breakfast fits right in.  I’ve lived here for five years, this has been going on for sixty-seven, I’m not sure why I never noticed it before.  I’m glad I did.  It’s brought back some very nice memories.  If I do end up going, I’ll report back, and post some pictures.

Are there pancake breakfasts in your community?  Do you go to them?

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Casa Vega, Hang With The Stars on Cinco de Mayo.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, peas, spring garlic.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

*The Local Report – Lindy & Grundy Local, Pastured & Organic Meats

7.7 miles, about 20 minutes from my home in Atwater Village.

Lindy & Grundy, Local, Pastured & Organic Meats opened a few weeks ago in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles.  The shop which was sorely needed and highly anticipated opended to throngs of customers and rave reviews.  Owned by wife-and-wife team, Erika Nakamura and Ameila Posada, Lindy Grundy (as it’s affectionately called), only sells pastured and organic meats sourced within 150 miles.  “Lindy” and “Grundy” are the women’s nicknames: Lindy is Posada aka the Shop Mama, and Grundy is Nakamura aka Meat Maven.  The Tokyo born Nakamura learned the butchering trade from Josh Applestone of Fleisher’s Grass-fed & Organic Meats, a sustainable butcher in upstate New York.  Posada, a native of the Los Angeles-area, oversees the day-to-day operation of the shop, and is also a food activist committed to teaching America how to eat.

Lindy Grundy practices nose-to-tail butchering, allowing them to use the whole animal which produces very little waste.  The small, family farms they source their meat and poultry from never use antibiotics or hormones, and the grass the animals eat is not treated with pesticides or herbicides.  In addition to the beef, pork, lamb and poultry they carry, they make their own sausages and charcuterie.  Because they only sell from whole animals running out of stock is always a possibility which happened in their first week.  The anticipation in the community was such that by the end of the first week of business they had sold out of almost their entire stock.  This is not only a good sign, it’s a great one.  It speaks to the high-quality one can expect when shopping at Lindy & Grundy.

Los Angeles can never have too many small, neighborhood, and in this case artisan butchers so welcome to Lindy & Grundy, and best wishes for much success.

Lindy & Grundy Local, Pastured & Organic Meats, 801 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046, 323-951-0804, http://www.lindyandgrundy.com/

**A version of this article was first published in Honest Cooking, April 14, 2011.

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Grilled Cheese Invitational 2011.”  I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, peas, spring garlic.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

 

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