Dinner at Be Love Farm
This past weekend Brandon and I had the opportunity to experience our first farm-to-table dinner at Be Love Farm in Vacaville.
I had first heard about the dinners during one of our visits to Cafe Gratitude in Berkeley and immediately thought it would be something that we would love to do. The fact that they serve a completely organic and vegetarian (or vegan upon request) meal is perfect for our meatless diet too. The cows on the farm produce milk for cheese but outside of that, they live a long and happy life! :)
The owners of the 21-acre farm, Matthew and Terces Engelhert, are also the founders of the Café Gratitude franchise and Gracias Madre in San Francisco. During the productive summer season Be Love supplies nearly 50 percent of all the produce consumed at their restaurants.
Once a month from April to November they open their doors and welcome the public in for a cozy home cooked meal.
We got there around 5pm as everyone gathered into their home for lemon and fennel infused water along with their own red wine and a selection of Terces’ handmade cheeses.
I didn’t drink very much because I was battling the end of a sinus infection but from what I was able to taste, the wine was delicious!
In addition to the cows, they have about five dogs who I thought did surprisingly well with such a large group of strangers.
The smallest one was really attached to Matthew and followed him everywhere as he showed us around the farm. He was so cute! I wanted to steal him and take him home.
After taking in a short preview of the documentary that the Engelhert’s son produced called Kiss the Ground, we all went out for a tour of the farm.
They have their own vineyards and an orchard with over 2,000 fruit and nut trees including figs, pecans, walnuts, chestnuts, peaches, mulberries (pictured below) and even goji berries!
The most impressive collection were the almond trees which Matthew said were currently getting a bad reputation due to their water consumption. However, he mentioned that if you take into account the amount of nutrients and calories that are yielded per gallon of water, they’re actually not all that bad.
As we walked around there must have been at least fifty chickens roaming all throughout the farm. They were producing so many eggs that Matthew and Terces were selling them for just $6 a dozen which is a steal for pasture-raised organic eggs around here.
They also had an impressively large greenhouse growing heirloom tomatoes that will be distributed to their restaurants in the summer. Mmm…
And of course, they had plenty of beautiful kale! If you’ve ever been to one of their restaurants then you know there’s always kale on the menu.
Matthew said a lot during the tour that’s difficult for me to relay in one post but you could really feel his passion for sustainable farming. One thing he pointed out that I found interesting was that the average American spends less than 7% of their income on food while the average European spends up to 20%.
He also stressed the importance of restoring the damage that we’ve done to our soil by composting our organics. I spend a large chunk of my income on food because I believe that my dollar counts as my vote but outside of saving small scraps for our patio garden, I admit that I don’t do a very good job with composting. That part definitely hit home with me and getting a compost bin for our kitchen is officially on my to-do list!
After we wrapped up the tour, we all made our way back inside to sit down for dinner in the dining room.
On the menu was a sunflower sprout and kale salad with strawberries and candied walnuts served alongside freshly ground polenta and the first zucchini of the season topped with spicy cashew nacho cheese.
Then dessert was a strawberry crisp served with raw milk ice cream and fresh mint tea.
Everything was really, really good but that crisp was definitely the best part. And Terces mentioned that raw milk has the necessary enzymes to help you digest lactose so apparently lactose intolerant people can eat it too.
Overall we had an awesome experience at Be Love Farm! It was a great way to celebrate Brandon’s birthday. I just hope we’re able to go back in the fall to see all of the squash and changing leaves! :)
Now this just looks like a dream. I absolutely adore farmers who have such a big passion for what they do, and being able to enjoy food fresh from farm to table would probably make it hard for me to ever go back to buying it at the supermarket again. I’m going to have to check if we have anything like that around here — thanks for sharing, Sarah!
PS – how cute are those cows?!?!
PPS – and that boot!
This looks like an amazing experience! I would love to do that – just another truly authentic California opportunity, I think :) I’m intrigued by raw milk ice cream now!
This sounds like so much fun!! I absolutely love visiting places where food (and wine) is made and listening to the passion that the owners have for their business.
How fun! I recently started composting and while it’s definitely taken me some time to get used to, I feel better throwing my food scraps into something that will ultimately be doing something good for the earth! That strawberry crisp looks SO good – I’m craving a crisp now!
That’s awesome that you compost, Taylor! Keep up the good work! :)
What an awesome experience! And those dogs … I’ll take all of them! haha Not so sure how Emma would feel about that! :)
We definitely spend a good chunk of our money on food – I feel the same way – it’s important to me (and showing support for what I believe in!). Have an absolutely fantastic holiday weekend!!
Absolutely beautiful post! Thanks for sharing your photos and the stories…it was filled with wonderful info. All the animals look super relaxed and they indeed enjoy a charmed life…your post reminded me of reading a book from yesteryear…thanks again. :)
Thank you, Jerilyn! It was really nice to visit a farm that did things the right way. I only hope more start to jump on board with him!
I’m definitely high on that average spent on food. I swear we spend 20% of our income on our food. I actually am kind of sickened by how much money we spend on food. :( That’s why I planted a garden this year. I really don’t know enough about composting. Hopefully it’ll be something I can learn more about in the future! Oh, and I also do agree that I vote with my hard earned money, that’s why I continue to spend so much on organic, and I think it has made a difference. The Safeway in our town has an amazing organic section as well as an organic bulk bin section as big as my old Whole Foods. I think that food is changing, it just takes time and education.
If it makes you feel any better, I spend more than 20% of my income on food. It does suck but like you said, by doing that we’re slowly making a difference. Hopefully healthy and organic food will become cheaper as it becomes more popular!
That’s the goal! Have you been to Costco recently? Their organic section is getting bigger every time I go. It makes me happy to see organic maple syrup, eggs, veggies, fruits, etc.
Yay for sustainable farming! I would definitely love to spend a weekend relaxing in the nature and learning how a farm works.