Yesterday I visited the organic culinary gardens at the Kendall Jackson winery. (I was probably the only person there who didn’t enter the tasting room. And, yes, it was before noon.) They have a number of different garden plots organized in a variety of ways: by product (such as heirloom tomatoes or herbs), region (South America, Asia, etc.), and color (reds, whites…). Many of the beds were newly planted, with seeds just sprouting and plants just beginning to grow. I love that initial stage of the garden, with everything lined up and orderly before the weeds set in.
I like that the KJ gardens are working gardens not just cultivated for display purposes. The plots are farmed organically using integrative pest management techniques. Local upscale restaurants purchase produce from the gardens and cooks on site utilize the produce as well. While I was there, a cook in her crisp white uniform come out and grabbed a branch of bay leaves off of this enormous tree that was at least 20 feet tall! How cool is that?!
Yesterday I wandered around the plots looking for photographic inspiration and to also gather ideas for when we have a garden again. Incidentally, this weekend we picked up organic seeds to start a container herb garden; maybe I’ll get to planting after Laura’s visit. My favorite parts of the KJ gardens are the herbs, which largely grow year-round, and I love the citrus trees: lemon, lime, grapefruit, and orange. To me, that is by far one of the biggest perks of living in California. I adore citrus.
So we never made it to the barrel tasting. We got wrapped up in other activities: sushi at Ume, milkshakes at Taylor’s Refresher, wine tasting at Grgich Hills and the reserve tasting at Chateau St. Jean, many dips in the pool, giant mixed drinks with foot long straws at the local Mexican restaurant, hightailing it around the Sonoma and Napa valleys and San Francisco, fabulous tapas at Andalu, lounging at the beach, walking along the Golden Gate Bridge, catching the ocean at sunset, and seeing the Picasso exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
