Choosing This Year's Heirloom Tomato Varieties

This year, we've decided to plant only heirloom tomatoes in the inn's Anderson Valley Heritage Garden. We traveled down to the Seed Bank in Petaluma to select our seeds.

This store, part of the Baker Seed Company out of Missouri, is a nirvana for gardeners.

This is one of the 30+ varieties we chose.

The Annual Chestnut Harvest

Last Saturday was the annual Permaculture Festival and Potluck at the Zeni Ranch. Located 15 miles down Fish Rock Road and high up on a ridgetop between Mendocino and Sonoma Counties, the Zenis have been working this land for well over 100 years. One of the great things about this continuity is that a discussion with any Zeni about sustainable farming and perennial agricultural systems is usually bolstered by stories of moonshining and revenuers.

But the true stars of this day are the dry-farmed chestnut trees brought to this country from Italy over 100 years ago. Tall and majestic, their branches stretch across 100 feet and more. The chestnuts themselves actually grow inside of prickly seed pods, so it is important to wear boots (to squash them out of the pods) and gloves to avoid getting stuck. Along with three friends that went with me, we were able to harvest almost 20 pounds!

A Favorite Winery in the Anderson Valley

One of the tedious tasks of being an innkeeper is selecting the wines to pour during the evening wine hour. This involves sampling countless wines at numerous tastings. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

During this process, I have had a chance to meet many of the local wine makers. One of my favorite wineries, both for the wines it produces and for the people who own and operate it, is Londer Vineyards in Philo. This small winery was started in 2001 by Shirlee and Larry Londer. They produce an amazing Pinot Noir, a beautiful Syrah and a very dry Gewurtztraminer. Shirlee and Larry were kind enough to pour a tasting for guests at the inn tonight. Just how nice are they? They came to  pour in spite of the fact it was Larry's birthday.

Anderson Valley Pinot Festival

This past weekend, the 11th annual Pinot Noir festival was held in the Anderson Valley. The only festival of its kind to celebrate a single varietal from a single appellation, the event kicked off with a technical conference and a barbecue at Standish Vineyards on Friday. On Saturday, a Grand Tasting featuring over 30 wineries was held at Goldenye. Following that event, 6 separate winemaker dinners were held at venues throughout the region. The festival concluded on Sunday with open houses at most of the vineyards throughout the valley.

The spectacular weather, combined withe the opportunity to sample close to 100 different pinots, made this a memorable weekend. I thought it was interesting that there were winemakers from not just Anderson Valley, but from Napa, Sonoma and other regions pouring wines they produced from grapes grown in our valley. In talking with a number of these wineries, I learned that Anderson Valley yields some of the finest pinot grapes in the world.