On my quest to unplug from technology and get back to nature, I recently took a trip to what seems to be the outdoors-y capital of the United States -- Boulder, Colorado.
I was there for work, spending three days in a very cool net-zero home in a development that's now on the market. But when we weren't sitting in the house learning about the awesomely energy-efficient appliances, the whole-house water filtration system, or the electric and hybrid cars parked in the garage (this place was green, let me tell you), we spent most of the trip exploring the outdoors, eating, or both.
Fennel, Apple, and Radish Salad. Try it at home!
One of the coolest parts of the trip was the hour I spent at the Boulder Farmers' Market. Like my fellow blogger Terri was a few months ago, I was absolutely smitten with all of the farm-fresh produce and local food for sale.
But the best part of the week was a visit to Pastures of Plenty, a 32-acre organic farm a few miles outside of the city, where husband-and-wife owners Sylvia Tawse and Lyle Davis treated us to an amazing farm-to-table meal.
Pineapple and Jicama Salad with Honey Vinaigrette. Delicious!
Sylvia, in addition to helping run the farm (which hosts a CSA program and sells its bounty at local markets), runs PR firm The Fresh Ideas Group. One of her clients is Earthbound Farm, and so they planned their menu using recipes from the new Earthbound Cook cookbook by company co-founder Myra Goodman.
So you can try them at home, they've provided three of the recipes we sampled during our lunch (click below and a PDF will open in a new window), and I can tell you first-hand that they were delicious.
Get the Recipe: Fennel, Apple, and Radish Salad
Get the Recipe: Pineapple and Jicama Salad
Get the Recipe: Oatmeal, Carrot, and Apple Breakfast Squares
Give them a try and let us know what you think. And in the meantime, here are some more photos of the farmers' market, our trip to the farm, and other great sights around Boulder -- one of my new favorite cities!
1 It's tomato season! My trip to Boulder was full of fresh fruit and veggies.
2 No trip to Boulder is compelte without a trip to the farmers' market.
3 I've never seen pattypan squash before. So cool looking!
4 There were so many colorful root vegetables, like beets, carrots, and radishes.
5 Talk about fresh from the farm!
6 I've never seen this much basil in one place before. The purple leaves were beautiful!
7 The ridges on these striped cucumbers give their slices a cool flower look.
8 I love that these tomatoes were sold in reusable bell jars rather than in paper or plastic.
9 These Adaba food bars are made with amaranth flour, while the crackers are made with quinoa and sprouted buckwheat.
10 Tiny tomatoes everywhere!
11 I loved the wild and crazy look of these carrots.
12 There were lots of beautiful organic flowers for sale, as well.
13 At one booth, children were invited to make art out of dried beans and nuts.
14 I chowed down on a vegan bean tamale with delicious green chile on top.
15 So many colors of popcorn!
16 The best part of the farmers' market: Lots of free samples.
17 Many different mushrooms from Hazel Dell farms.
18 This is a close-up of mache, a type of tiny lettuce leave also known as lamb's lettuce.
19 These are calabacitas, which means "little squash" in Spanish.
20 I sampled some amazing cherry pie from a local baker.
21 One of my housemates for the weekend, nutritionist and writer Cynthia Sass, RD, loved these Mexican salsas.
22 Our house was stocked with Yellow+Blue wine, which is sold in eco-friendly tetra packs that take less fuel and energy to ship. My favorite was the Malbec (not pictured), but they were all tasty!
23 For dinner, executive chef Kevin Kidd from Boulder restaurant Salt, brought us lots of ingredients from the market for us to make our own pizzas with.
24 Here's my creation, pre-oven: carmelized onions, corn, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, and cilantro.
25 This pizza was topped with colorful -- and edible -- flowers from a Colorado herb company.
26 I went for morning runs in Wonderland Lake Park. Such a nice change from the same old loop I always run in Brooklyn.
27 Being on New York time the whole trip made it much easier for me to get up with the sun!
28 We stayed in the model house at SpringLeaf, a LEED-platinum development currently under construction. The homes won't have much individual back-yard space, but there will be a central, communal green space meant to foster interaction and socializing among neighbors.
29 This is the model house we stayed in: It's net-zero, which means it produces as much energy as it consumes over the course of a year. The photovoltaics on the roof are black, so they're not glaring or distracting the way some solar panels can be. LG energy-efficient appliances will help keep energy costs down. The TV only costs 7 cents a day to operate!
30 Here's Pastures of Plenty Farm, where we had our delightful farm-to-table meal.
31 Is this deserving of a spread in Martha Stewart Living, or what?
32 A view of the brick oven ...
33 ... and of a more conventional oven!
34 The owners use this space to host catered events.
35 We drank Prosecco with amazing in-season peaches.
36 I couldn't get over how many colors of vegetables were on the farm.
37 Being a farm dog is hard work, apparently.
38 The mismatched chairs at the table were accumulated one by one over the course of several years.
39 I thought this old boot was a birdhouse, until I got close and realized it was filled with yellow jackets. Yikes!
40 All of the flowers on display were grown right at the farm.
41 The farm has about 12 full-time employees, and only one actual machine. Most of the work is still done by hand.
42 We sampled some arugula straight from the plant: so peppery and flavorful, because it's enriched with soil and not diluted with water the way a lot of factory-farmed lettuce is.
43 They're experimenting with red-leaf lettuce here in plastic crates. Owner Syvia Tawse says it's an easy container crop that you can grow even without a garden.
44 Cabbage and kale.
45 Come and get it! Sylvia ring the dinner bell.
46 We started our meal with two delicious salads from the Earthbound Cookbook. You've got to try them!
47 We had chili with flour tortillas and a farm-fresh fried egg on top.
48 The group sits down to enjoy our meal.
49 This makes me want to kick back, relax, and go live on a farm.
50 Pasture of Plenty organic farm is about 32 acres.
51 Here's a look at Sylvia and Lyle's kitchen.
52 They may live on a farm, but the family is still busy with work and school -- as shown by the laptop station in the kitchen.
53 Their kitchen cabinets contain huge aluminum plates designed by the Amish and shipped all the way to Colorado.
54 A look at the farmhouse's beautiful dining room, with a long wooden table perfect for entertaining.
55 Thanks for a great visit, Boulder!
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From: cybele pascal | 9/19/10 at 1:40 am
Lovely photos! And I'm very intrigued by the net-zero homes. Please continue to update us on these new developments.