By Suzanne Allcroft, Agriculture Intern
This Tuesday I had the privilege of attending a pizza party hosted by a group of students from Kennedy Middle School. But this wasn’t just any pizza party. The students made everything from scratch (even the cheese!) and it marked the finale of an after school class called Kitchen Literacy: Cooking, Nutrition, and Food Justice. For the final class, the students had invited their parents and teachers to enjoy their cooking.
Tags: Community Supported Agriculture, internships, Hidden Villa internship program, Hidden Villa Environmental Education Program, sustainable agriculture, food, environmental education, garden based education, school gardens, HVEEP, intern Read More
This dish, featured at Hidden Villa's Second Annual Meat Tasting Tour, combines the sweet-tart flavor of hard apple cider with the earthy aroma of rosemary for an intensely flavorful sauce that, when lamb is in the picture, begs for a chewy slice of bread to mop up what's left in the pan (if there is anything left). By first browning the shanks then braising them in a Dutch oven for a few hours over low heat you are creating a rich, silky sauce and fork tender lamb that will reinvigorate your tired tastebuds in time for spring. Photo courtesy of the Los Altos Town Crier.
Happy New Year, sorry for being a bit late on these, hopefully we’ll get back in the rhythm quickly.
A roulade is a wonderful way to pair your favorite meat with fresh, seasonal vegetables, fruits and herbs with minimal fuss and maximum presentability. Guests will enjoy the elegant spiral of perfectly-cooked meat wrapped delicately around a savory filling; alternatively, feel free to eat this with your fingers right off the cutting board (like we did). This recipe, featured at Hidden Villa's Second Meat Tasting Tour alongside last week's 
On Saturday, December 17th, a small group of Hidden Villa supporters, local meat merchants and a few members of the press was invited to join Hidden Villa's Animal Husbandry Manager for a workshop and tasting tour featuring traditional (and untraditional!) cuts of our sustainable, organically-raised meats. We are delighted to be able to share the recipes for four of the dishes served at this event with you. Starting today, we'll be posting a new recipe once a week with pictures! Here, you will find recipes for anticuchos (heart), braised cider lamb shanks, an apricot-spinach lamb roulade and ice cream with maple and bacon toppings. Photo courtesy of the Los Altos Town Crier.
Happy Thanksgiving! As our season draws to a close I want to thank all of you for your participation in our program this year. Your connection to us as a food source is what allows us to keep farming. I am grateful that people like yourselves are interested in exploring the specifics of our seasonality and entrusting us to provide much of the food that you eat. It is this support that lets us practice the farming and the education that we love. Thank you.
As the CSA season comes to an end, you may be thinking the same thing I am: Where am I going to get my vegetables now? We have been enjoying eating the delicious, organically and locally grown produce for months now- I feel slightly spoiled! I don't know if I want go back to the large supermarkets and buy the flavorless tomatoes, boring lettuce, or pears from Peru...
Daylight Savings always throws me a little off kilter. When I woke at a quarter to nine on Sunday, which is a little late for me, and then realized that it was actually only a quarter to eight, I was pleased. This gave me plenty of time to bake a delicious fresh raspberry and dried apple coffee cake for breakfast. Fall daylight savings is my favorite because we get a free hour. Conversely it also means that it is nearly dark at five and, recently, very cold. This is dual edged sword. I really love it when the season changes and the rains come that replenish our aquifers and change the landscape from the dead brown of late summer and early fall to the bright new green of winter and early spring. Yes, this is another story of how, as the season changes, the farm follows suit.
A breakfast (or anytime) treat my mom makes for special occasions. It is similar to a Dutch baby, but includes apples and cinnamon. 
I wanted to share some thoughts I’ve had about our Animal Husbandry program at Hidden Villa recently. Maybe some of you have seen our eggs and meat at the Los Altos Farmer’s Market. Or you’ve visited Hidden Villa and stopped at Scarlet in her pigpen or watched Cleo the dairy cow graze in the pastures. The animals, overseen by the Animal Husbandry Department, are seemingly separate from our produce farming. However, it’s becoming clearer to me that animals are critical to an organic farming operation. For instance, we make our own compost and worm castings from the manure of our cows and pigs. These are the inputs that make our soil black gold, teeming with life from microorganisms in the dirt to the nutrients our crops absorb to grow. We are essentially creating a closed cycle in which the byproduct of animal production results in robust organic agriculture production; the compost and worm castings we make on site are better than anything we could buy (and they’re free). And though we do buy feed for our animals, their diets are supplemented with grazing in our pastures and the byproducts of our agriculture production. They happily eat our vegetable scraps, such as the sweet corn stalks that were left after you received corn in your CSA basket. Creating a closed cycle is a boon to the farming production- a win-win that is cost effective and minimizes waste.
Cows: The big news is that Cleo is off the farm, hopefully being courted by a bull at Page Mill Pastures.
As I look around my room, my eyes stop at 
A lot of participants in Hidden Villa's recent* Farm School event asked about the recipe for the homemade pita bread recipe that the CSA team whipped up for their demonstration, and we're happy to oblige. Pita bread is one of the easiest breads to make, but you won't know the difference between this recipe and a really complicated one when you're munching on soft, pillowy flatbread. Use these little pockets for a nice cucumber/falafel/salad wrap, or roll them up and dip them in hummus for a healthy treat.
For those of you did not meet him at the farmers' market this summer, we are excited to introduce our new Animal Husbandry Manager at Hidden Villa. He's here to spread the word about producing humanely raised, quality meat and eggs as well as share weekly updates on our farm animals in the form of "Animal Notes." So, without further ado...
What is organic? A broad definition would be any food that isn’t exposed to synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. But anyone who grows organic food will probably give a different definition of what organic means to them.
For the past few months we’ve been in the part of our season where produce is overflowing from our fields. As part of the crew growing this food, I am proud to see it getting sent off to many different outlets, used at Hidden Villa events, and feeding many of the staff who live here. I’ve been reflecting on how a farmer’s work becomes very tangible, especially in the summer months.