Showing posts with label garden design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden design. Show all posts

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Keeping Them Down On The Farm


They grow them “BIG” in California! Here on the Central Coast they celebrate their diverse agriculture heritage. Lettuce is king in Salinas; artichokes in Castroville; strawberries in Watsonville; and garlic in Gilroy.


Down in the Valley, Carmel Valley that is, Earthbound Farm is queen of the organic harvest. Twenty-five years ago, Drew and Myra Goodman, two transplanted New Yorkers, started their business with only 2 ½ acres of heirloom raspberries and a small farm stand. Today, Earthbound is the largest grower of organic produce in the United States. You probably have seen their packaged baby salad greens at your local grocery store.



Season after season at Earthbound they serve up a bounty of organic produce and related activities for all. This includes “chef walks”, like a recent foray through the fields lead by an Indian curry chef from near-by Quail Lodge. Regular “bug walks” find children buzzing about, and releasing helpful ladybugs into the Farm’s environment.


At the entrance: A burro pulling a tractor, or is it vice-versa?


Fifties-era metal outdoor chair with a tufted cushion of assorted grasses.


You say tomato, I say tomatoe. Either way, it’s heirloom and it’s delicious!



All the usual suspects are in the herb garden. The line-up also includes some lesser known relatives: Hi Ho Silver Thyme, PA Dutch Tea Thyme, Spanish Tarragon, Red Rubin Basil, Kentucky Colonel Mint, and too many others to mention.



Snip your own! More folksy, than Madison Avenue, the signage is simple and colorful. It tempts the palate and the eye.


A blooming business in sunflowers and artichoke florets.

Savor the seasons and protect the earth’s bounty,
Marjorie

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Big Sur Style - Chapter One

Big Sur is calling us.

Down the long and winding road that leads from Carmel to Big Sur we go. This is the land of Kerouac and Miller, Adams and Weston and countless other writers, artists and free thinkers. Though separated geographically by only 26 miles, two places couldn’t be more different. Big Sur is raw and turbulent. It’s the wild-child, to the calm, behaved, and well-groomed Carmel.

Our first stop is the fabled Big Sur Inn, the thirties-era creation of the eccentric Helmut Deetjen and his wife Helen. This historic compound of cabins and a café/restaurant is nestled in Castro Canyon. The overall rustic style is reminiscent of Deetjen’s native Norway. Both the architecture and surrounding landscape feature imaginative and funky found elements.

Welcome to the heart of Big Sur Bohemia.



Bien Sûr! The charming gardener at Deetjen's is French.


This lounge chair carved from a tree trunk has a natural elegance.


“Kitty please come home!”


A psychedelic collage of jewel-like mosaic pieces on the wall of the old laundry shed.



The bleached vertebra of a whale found on a near-by beach is given new life as a garden ornament.



A literary corner in the cozy interior of the café decorated with memorabilia- vintage photographs, manuscripts and a sculpture bust, honors two contemporaries: the poet, Robinson Jeffers and Deetjen.

(To be continued...)

Sur la route,
Marjorie