Thanksgiving prep

The week before Thanksgiving tends to be a time of great preparation. 

While Halloween feels attached to Autumn, Thanksgiving seems 

to be our kick-off to "the holidays," the winter end-of-year flurry of 

parties and meals shared with friends and family. 

And of course, centered around a big meal as it is, 

Thanksgiving celebrations require lots of preparation. 

Executive Chef John Toulze 

Preparations we all enjoy—for those of us at home it involves 

planning the meal, foraging through cookbooks or drawers 

to hunt down that favorite family recipe that you "must have" on the table, 

searching for inspiration to liven up the traditional feast with a new twist on something, shopping, choreographing the cooking to maximize 

one oven and not enough counter space.

All part of the countdown to a creating a great feast. 

We have similar preparations at the restaurant, although we have 

more room and the recipes are at our fingertips!

We are also engaged in a countdown at the farm 

as we continue preparations there. 

Ongoing labors to prepare the beds, amend the soil, 

harvest what we still can and looking ahead to winter constitute our work right now. 

beans still growing in the Orchard

While the hustle of activity pre-Thanksgiving leads up to that one dinner, 

we see our farm preparations this time of year as

 the foundation for many healthy and delicious meals soon to come. 

The Orchard is still abundant with beans, persimmons

and our JuJu tree

Yet even as we do all this prep work,

we are still harvesting from the farm 

and getting creative with our winter vegetables.

delicata squash prepped and ready

photo by Steven Krause from
Plats du Jour: the girl & the fig's Journey Through the Seasons in Wine Country

And the greenhouse at the fig is our savior.

The temperature and moisture controlled environment 

means we can be growing delicate microgreens 

as well as nurturing seedlings no matter what the weather outside. 

onion seedlings enjoy controlled misters in the greenhouse

arugula microgreens

red microgreens are bull's blood beets

So, even as our attention turns to holiday feasts, we stay focused 

on what we are growing now and also what to do 

with our farm project to ensure we always 

have fresh beautiful gems to share with you.

 The continuous cycle is all part of our preparation for a a new farming season.

Tell us about your preparations this time of year, 

whether in your garden or as you shop at 

farmers markets preparing for your holiday feasts.