Rhythm of the seasons

Imagery Estate Winery grapevines facing the farm

Regardless of the recent warm weather, it is fall at the farm.
As Halloween creeps up on us and the sharp golden light
of autumn afternoons remind us that dusk arrives earlier each day,
we harvest the last of the tomatoes, eggplant and basil that is still growing.
But the chefs are beginning to think of fall foods.

This colorful roasted squash salad, with mizuna,
candied walnuts, vanilla vinaigrette
has replaced summer's popular
tomato and watermelon salad at the girl & the fig.

The name pomegranate derives from medieval Latin pōmum "apple" and grānātum "seeded" 

Santa Rosa Press Democrat food writer Michele Anna Jordan reminds us 

"Pomegranates have always been a singular herald of fall."  

And even though recently an "international food company 

planted acres of pomegranates in a way that has shifted the seasons,"

it lifts our spirits to see the red orbs plentiful at the farm this time of year.

We agree with Michele's sentiment when she finds 

pomegranates at farmers markets in October: 

"I enjoy the rhythm of the seasons that I have enjoyed since I was a child, 

when I received my first pomegranate ever on Halloween night.

pomegranate mid September at the farm. 
Interesting etymology fact:
Due to similar shape, the French term "grenade" for pomegranate gave its name to the military grenade. 

 Did you know that pomegranate aril juice provides 16% of an adult's 

daily Vitamin C per 100 ml serving and and is a good source of vitamin B₅ 

(pantothenic acid), potassium and natural phenols, such as ellagitannins and flavonoids?
In addition to these healthful properties, pomegranate juice 
can liven up a party—when sweetened and thickened the juice 
becomes Grenadine syrup—an ingredient in many cocktails!

our pomegranates at the farm now

But how to eat pomegranates? 

"After the pomegranate is opened by scoring it with a knife 

and breaking it open, the arils (seed casings) are separated from the peel 

and internal white pulp membranes. Separating the red arils is easier 

in a bowl of water because the arils sink and the inedible pulp floats. 

Freezing the entire fruit also makes it easier to separate. 

Another very effective way of quickly harvesting the arils is 

to cut the pomegranate in half, score each half of the exterior rind four to six times, 

hold the pomegranate half over a bowl and smack the rind with a large spoon. 

The arils should eject from the pomegranate directly into the bowl, 

leaving only a dozen or more deeply embedded arils to remove."

no need for all that work to get to these arils!

Our chefs are right on track with the current "salad of the season" at the girl & the fig: 

shaved apples, pickled fennel, toasted pepitas, pomegranate-apple vinaigrette.

Here are a few of Michele Anna Jordan's favorite pomegranate recipes.

What do you like to do with pomegranates?

Bold and tasty farm colors

Recently we focused on our greens at the farm. 

But as we look ahead to Fall Harvest, we savor 

the last bits of summer flavor and all the other colors at the farm. 

It's a whimsical mash up of reds and purples that seem 

to suggest summer, fall and winter simultaneously. 

Red cayenne peppers nestled in green leaves 

say summer with their heat taste 

but remind us that the red and green 

of Christmas decorations are not all that far away.

cayenne peppers

And there is more color on display that look like Christmas ornaments.

pomegranates in the Insectary

Black Beauty eggplants

Rose Bianca eggplants

But of course we are getting ahead of ourself with Christmas references. 

A recent unusual spate of hot weather pulls us back to summer 

as does the juicy taste of our French improved plums 

that can be eaten right from the tree. 

French improved plum

There are many varieties of plum trees. Our French plum is of the European variety 

which are self-pollinating and can grow to 25' tall. 

Sweeter and less juicy than some plums, they are luscious to eat, 

but these same qualities are why they are ideal to dry for prunes. 

And then right next to the plum trees, are the other late bloomers 

our pluots, which dot the Orchard with more variation of color. 

Did you know there are 22 varieties of pluots?!

Pinkish yellow Flavor Grenade Pluot

 and lavender purple Flavor King Pluot

Or, you may be saying you don't even know what a pluot is? 

Andy Rooney had some fun with that in 

one of his signature "really?" segments on 60 Minutes:

Pluots are a plum-apricot hybrid and indeed originated in California. 

They were developed near Modesto by Floyd Zaiger,
who has been called "the fruit innovator to the world."
Profiled last year in the San Francisco Chronicle, Zaiger, now 86
is described as "arguably the most famous plant breeder alive today.
He has created novel new fruit - like the pluot - that grace tables around the world.
He has also improved familiar varieties,
such as creating plums that can weather an intercontinental voyage.

These innovations have revolutionized an increasingly global fruit industry, 

earning him a reputation among farmers and fellow fruit experts 

that is hard to overstate."Big, with all capital letters," suggested Tom Gradziel, 

a geneticist and professor of plant sciences at UC Davis."

one of our 4 pluot trees

In our Orchard 4 pluot trees stand appropriately
between 3 plum trees and 4 apricot trees.

 We know that's how they were planted that way,

but it is as if the plums and the apricots did their thing right in our Orchard!
Floyd's goal was "to capture the aromatics and texture of an apricot
and the sweet juiciness of a plum, but without the bitter skin of the latter."
Now that you know what they are and how they came about,
here's a take on what to do with a pluot.


For us at the girl & the fig right now, our plums
are taking center stage with a Garden Plum Crisp
as the finale to our bistro Plats du Jour.

Now that you know a little more about them 

and before we are only able to enjoy these summer fruits dried, 

what's your favorite thing to do with plums or pluots?

The many faces of our farm project

So we are planting our first winter garden out at Imagery Estate Winery.

Beds from the summer bounty have been cleared.

John and the crew were out with a rototiller 

and we've been amending the lower beds 

with natural sources of calcium, straw and
compost readying them for our winter crop.

Our first planting has been garlic.

Rafael and Jaimie painstakingly placing cloves in the ground.

While the Glen Ellen farm segued from 

late Summer to Fall and now to Winter, 

our garden at ESTATE held onto Autumn a little longer.

It was not too long ago that the pomegranate tree at ESTATE 

cast a golden glow on the walkway.

The red of the fruit and the bright yellow leaves 

were incandescent and radiant, fooling you into thinking

Indian Summer would linger a little longer.

But then, just like the misty mornings 

at the farm brought frost to conclude our Autumn harvest

the windy days hastened the pomegranate tree's transition.

The luscious fruit ripened in the sun, 

and the tree gave us forty pounds of pomegranates 

changing from smooth red orbs 

to art objects adorning the tree

The birds couldn't resist and the fruit 

literally burst with flavor.

Our chefs were inspired as well.

ESTATE's Chef Brian kept a close eye 
on these pomegrantes and began 
a 4-course La Cena di Famiglia meal with 
shaved brussels sprouts salad
hazelnuts, pomegranate, ricotta salata, white balsamic vinaigrette

At the girl & the fig, Chef Erin created a salad of

red and white endive, fuji apples, pomegranate seeds, 

fourme d'ambert cheese, candied walnuts 

with a simple syrup pomegranate vinaigrette: 

pomegranate molasses, red wine vinegar, blended oil, salt, sugar, lemon juice.

salad photo by Deirdre Bourdet before she took a bite!

Farm to table is not just an idea —  it is becoming a mantra for us.

While we may not be able to grow everything 

we serve at the restaurants, our experience 

at the farm and in our gardens 

continues to guide us in our endeavors to bring you simple good food.

We welcome your comments on your favorite meals at the restaurants

or a dish that you particularly enjoyed.

And please do comment here about our farm project.

We want to share it with you through this blog 

so you have a deeper connection with what we are doing.