It’s a perfect mantra for eating well in Sonoma, with the bounty of amazing produce that practically leaps from the soil, and animals that nearly beg to be raised in the bucolic California countryside.
Get a piece of heaven. Photo by Carey Sweet.
Yet leave it to those wacky kids at Zazu Restaurant + Farm, Bovolo, and Black Pig Meat Co. to take the idea to a delicious new level. Chef-owners Duskie Estes and John Stewart are introducing their first annual U GROW BLT this Sunday, May 2, in a party held at Flatland Farms in Sebastopol.
Indeed, BLT means bacon, lettuce and tomato, as in the sandwich that, when properly made, can make even the most jaded taste buds swoon with its magical marriage of crunchy, salty meat, crisp greens, and ruby red fruit dripping juices down your chin.
Fair warning: while the concept is charmingly clever, these home grown sandwiches will take a bit of patience. The lettuce and tomato are being sold as starter plants in pots, the bacon comes in packages waiting to be cooked, and you’ll need to provide your own bread, pepper and mayonnaise. But it’s all part of a creative way to promote Flatland’s once-a-year plant sale, and to move a bit of the Stewart’s heritage Black Pig bacon, to boot.
And as you shop and dream up the perfect BLT recipe from your first harvest later this summer, you can groove to hillbilly music by The Easy Leaves, plus snack on the Stewarts’ outrageously delicious pork sandwiches, vegetarian chili, and cornbread muffins.
The Stewarts, who run their own boutique, certified organic mini-farm behind their Santa Rosa restaurant, buy some of their vegetable and herb starts from Flatland. Flatland, meanwhile, sells apples and plant starts at Bay Area farmers markets (Alice Waters is a preferred customer), plus grows a jaw dropping rainbow of flowers and an array of unusual herbs.
Garden in full bloom. Photo by Carey Sweet
The small nursery, owned by Dan Lehrer and his wife, Joanne Krueger, started out as a backyard business in the Berkeley flatlands in 1995 — thus the name — then expanded to two, then three, then four friendly backyards, until it moved to larger grounds in Sebastopol in 1999.
It’s a private operation, so this party, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., is a once-a-year opportunity to tour the gardens, and fill your recycled grocery bags with peppers, squash, kale, chard, herbs and much more.
More — that means heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, and bacon, natch.
Details: U GROW BLT and Plant Sale Party, Sunday, May 2, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Flatland Flower Farm, 580 Tilton Road, Sebastopol, 707-823-3453.
