June « 2007 « jerrychacon.com

The Paul Masson Mountain Winery in the foothills above the town of Saratoga, California hosts a summer music series.

This last Thursday, Paula and I went to see Diana Krall (jazz) with two of our good friends. Yes, Diana was wonderful…but this review is not about the new mom of the Costello twins…this review is about the venue.

First, I have to be fair and give the disclaimer — Paula and I were married at the Mountain Winery (we closed the venue and held a private ceremony for family friends and a choir of 50). But I digress…except to tell you that I hold fond memories of the Mountain Winery.

What struck me when we walked into the amphitheater was how small it was. It seemed to me that there really wasn’t a bad seat in the house. In fact the place is so small that it seemed easy / natural for Ms. Krall to actually interact with individual people in the crowd. It was as if we were in a small jazz club in New York and this was just the normal Saturday night player. It was truly unique.

The fact that the performance was outdoors was not lost on any of us. The moon over the winery buildings playing tag with Venus and Saturn was spectacular in juxtaposition to the playful jazz of Ms. Krall.

The acoustics were marvelous — although I do not know enough to attribute the sound quality to the venue or to Ms. Krall’s sound engineer. Her quiet notes were clear and recognizable and her more boisterous runs were not muddied at all.

I did bring a jacket, but certainly didn’t feel like I needed it.

If I had any complaint, it would be that the plastic chairs on the main floor were a little too narrow…but that was a pretty trivial nuisance.

Would I go back? Absolutely!

It is only too bad that I missed the Indigo Girls.

Ever since I wrote “In Search Of A Shorter Food Chain,” I have been meaning to do a full blown review of Live Earth Farm. We have been subscribers of Live Earth Farm for three seasons now (plus the new winter season that ended a few months back). I should know enough for a review by now…so…here goes.

CSA – Community Supported Agriculture

Live Earth Farm is located in Watsonville, California and sells nearly all of its produce as a CSA. CSA or Community Supported Agriculture refers to one of many methods of creating a direct link between (in this case) consumers of farm produce and the farmers that grow such produce. In the case of Live Earth Farm, the direct link is a mutual commitment — the subscribers / community commits to buy a share in the farm’s harvest and the farm commits to grow “exceptionally high quality vegetables, herbs and fruit, and deliver a bountiful portion of it to [the subscribers] every week of the season”. [Quote from the LEF Website]

Subscriptions

In the case of Live Earth Farm, the commitments last 33 weeks and, from the subscriber’s point of view, costs $28/week for the large box and $23/week for the small box (costs are for the 2007 summer season). Note that (for an additional charge) there are options for extra fruit and options for Pastured Eggs.

The Box

The large box (also know as the family share) is roughly sufficient for a family of four for one week. For this season, we are subscribing to the large box, feeding three adults and two children, and we rarely run out of produce before the week is over. The small box (also known as the small share) is roughly sufficient for a couple without kids.

The large share typically has the same types of produce as is contained in the small share but in larger quantity. Of course, there are a number of occasions when a particular fruit or vegetable is not picked in sufficient quantity to include in both the large shares and the small shares (such as early or late in that vegetable’s harvest). In those situations, the small share and the large share will include slightly different types of vegetables. [For those that seek more specifics, I encourage you to review one or more of the weekly newsletters — which describe the contents of that week’s shares).

Our Thoughts

Our family loves its membership with Live Earth Farm. It has changed our eating paradigm completely. Rather than plan out meals and then buy food for those plans, we instead receive the produce that happens to be in season for that week and then are forced to plan our meals around that produce. We have been forced to learn how to cook and eat a number of vegetables that were previously outside our normal routine and it has been wonderful. Our meals are more diverse and far more fun.

Where Next?

For those that are curious about Live Earth Farm and that read this post in time, this weekend is their Summer Solstice celebration. Summer Solstice is open to members and non-members alike, requires no tickets or reservations and includes an amazing pot luck dinner, farm tours, and a BIG bonfire. Include with all that a wonderful view of Venus and Saturn to the West and Jupiter to the South. It should be a nice afternoon and evening…and if all goes well, we’ll be there. If you attend, do try to find us.

Monthly Archive for June, 2007

Mountain Winery — Mini Review