Jack Rabbit Hill Vineyards/Farm – Farm to Table Highlight

Jack Rabbit Hill Vineyards and Farm is an innovative 70-acre farm located in western Colorado’s North Fork Valley. Here they make organic and Biodynamic wines that naturally celebrate the Earth. Lance and Anna Hanson are the proprietors as well as wonderful people. I spent almost two days on this farm with Lance and Anna, who
made my visit here well worth this specific blog post praising their passions.

Anna and Lance

 

In we go...

http://jackrabbithill.com/

Chardonnay grapes

 

The pressing process

Our first day on the farm we spent picking chardonnay grapes. I got to pick with Anna all day as two workers always split a row together in order to harvest efficiently.
I had the most amazing day looking out over the mountains while working and getting to know Anna better. I found her to be such a wonderful person and for that experience I am truly grateful. At times during this trip not getting to know our farmers on that personal level at times made me feel like free labor. That was not the case here as they went out of their way to answer any questions and make us all feel welcome.

Meunier grapes

 

All I remember seeing were lots of bottles of grappa around here.

Grappa

The livestock

Lance loves to talk about the practices they use here on the farm. I do hope that I convey all of this information correctly as it can be quite overwhelming. I am anticipating my abridged version of biodynamic wines and farming tells the story accurately. Biodynamic farming develops healthier, balanced soils with fewer off-farm
inputs, using a set of nine herb and compost teas known as the biodynamic preparations. Lance gave several of my fellow cohorts and me an extensive tour of the grounds our second day. We visited a lone dark freestanding building on the property where these compost teas sit in an underground hole. At some point these teas are used in many different areas of producing pesticide free/richer grapes and stronger more fruitful vines as well as richer soil. Part of this biodynamic practice was adding livestock as well as a wildlife habitat to their farm.  Observing and implementing this standard cut their composting needs to a third of what is was seven years ago.

The compost teas

 

After a long and exciting day

 

From there we saw the distillery as well as another building where vodka was aged. Being part of the wine pressing was also a highlight. Getting strung by a bee right under my eyeball was definitely not. It looked a lot worse than it felt. Look close, you can see my one eye is a little swollen. I spent the latter part of the day telling everyone to stop looking at me. Lance informed me that the bees are ornery at this time of year as they know they are dying off. Thanks for the Benadryl Anna!

The hop fields

 

The hops

Another interesting fact about the farm is that the Lance and Anna have started to get into growing hops for beer. We saw the field where the last of the hops had just been harvested.  From there we got to take a look/feel/smell at hops getting ready to be transported to Denver.

Since I have taken an interest in bread making at school along with making my own starter from figs, I saw this as an opportunity to try out a new starter. Since hops are quite yeasty, I figured I give a hop starter a try. Lance was more than happy to give me a big bag of hops to experiment with. The usual procedure with bread starters is to soak your yeast of choice overnight. From there you strain the product and keep the liquid in a cool dark place for several days. The fermentation process will kick in and after a couple of days you start feeding it with certain ratios of flour and water.  There is so much information, suggestions, tips, must-do’s etc. when it comes to starters and what they have the capability to produce. Honestly my brain cannot handle and comprehend the science of it in too much detail. All I understand is that it replaces the typical store brought yeasts and enhances homemade breads with flavors packaged yeast cannot duplicate. There are bakers out there with starters they have been feeding for thirty years!

Soaking the hops overnight

 

 

Whole-wheat flour, water, starter and salt

First rise

 

The finished product and a bottle of wine.

Lately, this all fascinates me so I jumped right in. I have two starters under my wing at the moment and have been fortunate enough to take from them some yummy bread. Last night I made a cranberry-almond whole wheat bread. I toast this in the morning, add some peanut butter and savor every bite. Good thing about bread is that you can freeze it. I have pre-sliced pieces in the freezer along with a bag full of rosemary-garlic croutons from another experiment several days ago. Talk about
carbing-out!

I am terrible with measuring and being precise. In the baking world this is a no-no. I like to eyeball my ingredients and I know for the most part how the end result should feel in my hands. That’s my religion when it comes to making bread. If I even started to get into the bench rise, the pounding, shaping and scaling, we’d all be confused and making lead balls instead of bread. I know most of you have bread makers so pop them out and whip up so nice hearty whole-wheat homemade bread for a treat. It’s flour, water, salt and yeast, a starter if you are so inclined with an end result of pure gluten indulgence. So simple and satisfying, I say go for it.

Thanks again Lance and Anna for the hops and all that wonderful information you shared.

I will Clippy.

 

 

 

Incoming search terms:

  • bread with hops
  • hops starter bread
  • hops in bread
  • bread hops
  • lance hanson hotchkiss
  • jack rabbit antlers
  • hops on table
  • hops in bread baking
  • hops bread
  • hop starters

1 Comment

Chef Ellen, October 26th 2011 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Recipes

Your Own Personal Chef in Winter Park, CO

 

In our kitchen

The final leg of my FTT knowledge gained was through getting the opportunity to showcase my talents to a group of fifteen women who were on an art retreat in Winter Park, Co. They required two students who wanted to take on the assignment of preparing three meals per day along with appetizers, snacks and desserts. This task-entailed meal planning, a particular budget, shopping, cost management and properly carrying out the assignment at hand. I am no stranger to living within a certain means but this project had me scratching my head at times wondering how I was going to make it all work. That and the fact that two of the women were on gluten-free/dairy restrictions was a challenge I took head-on along with my comrade Emily. I couldn’t have picked a better student to share the load of this assignment. She met the challenge dead-on with the same vision of the successful mission I also envisioned.

Getting up at the crack of dawn is all worth it with views like this

 

Breathtaking

Thai spring rolls and teriyake chicken skewers

 

Soba noodles with beef and carrot-cucumber salad

Almond macroon with ginger ice cream and a pistachio tuille

 

Homemade pizzas

...and gluten-free pizza

 

Emily putting finishing touches on the stuffed peppers

Pork and wild rice stuffed peppers. One vegetarian for Mindy

 

Fresh whole wheat bread, fresh turkey, brie and homemade cranberry chutney

Our version of smores. Gluten-free chocolate cookie, pink marshmellow and white chocolate mousse with a raspberry coulis. HEAVEN on earth

 

Fresh goat cheese with a dessert balsamic and homemade crostini

Cheers ladies

Another beautiful landscape

I felt as though I learned from this opportunity ten-fold. Our production lists were changed and updated on a daily basis. I feel as though we
exceeded our own expectations as well as our employers, Lori Worstl and Lorri Flint. http://www.artcampforwomen.com/ In those last eight days we also were given the privilege of getting to know most of these fifteen women on a much more personal level. Our ages and lifestyles were diverse in addition to our geographical locations all about the country, but every evening we were encouraged to sit and have dinner with the ladies. There we all came together to be grateful for the food in front of us.

I promised one camper, Kathy in particular that I would share my recipe for my Healthier Chocolate Chip/Date Cookies that were made available for snacking. I did tweak the recipe slightly to accomodate the gluten-free ladies in the crowd. It was no too hard as this recipe is pretty close to being that. I have noted the variations in the recipe.

Heart Smart Cookies (Photo by Ted Axelrod)

This delicious cookie recipe is supposed to mock a chocolate chip cookie. Dates and oatmeal are used for an extra chewy cookie. My sister Nancy introduced me to this recipe and our attempts make it better is the recipe below. We substituted the butter with coconut oil and unsweetened
applesauce. Instead of using white flour, rice flour was used with amazing results. I have noted that this cookie can easily be made gluten-free by eliminating the whole-wheat flour and adding more rice flour. The end result is a delicious cookie full of fiber, iron and not a lot of guilt. If you have
children, have them help you out making these. They are a big hit with the children we have tried it out on!

Heart Smart Cookies

4 Tablespoon coconut oil
3/4 C packed light brown sugar
1/4 C unsweetened applesauce
1/3 C white or brown rice flour
1/3 C whole-wheat flour (if gluten-free, sub 1/3 C brown rice/white rice flour maybe a slight bit more for the correct texture)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ C instant oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 C chopped pitted dates
3 ounces coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate or 1/4 C mini chocolate chip morsels
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Bring coconut oil to a melting point and add applesauce and brown sugar and mix till smooth and creamy. Add flours, baking soda, oats and salt. Combine the ingredients, add egg, vanilla and pitted dates.  The mixture will retain its shape but feel moist. Fold in chocolate and mix well.

Cover and refrigerate for about 45 minutes. When you remove the mixture will be more solidified and easier to assemble.

Spoon mixture by tablespoon full on pan sprayed cookie sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes till tops are dry to the touch and cookies are lightly browned.

Sexy mama (Debbie)

Much thanks to Debbie also. She gave me a jar of her homemade pepperjelly at the camp. I was never really a big fan until the past week. I have been putting the jelly on everything! I even made a zesty salad dressing. Yum!

Thanks ladies. You were all a pleasure to cook for!!

Coming soon…

A special post to Jack Rabbit Hill Farm/Vineyards in Hotchkiss, CO http://jackrabbithill.com/

Also, another special post coming soon for my friend Emily who is about to launch the most adorable apron business she and her friend Liz have been working on like crazy. These two talented women are taking feminity and the empowered woman and bringing her back to the kitchen while looking fantastic as she prepares meals. You’ll look hot in these nostalgic aprons even if you’re just pretending to cook.  Mine is being made as I write and it has avocados all over it! I am going to be one hot mama in the kitchen with my new apron by “Sparrow Waits.”

Our model Pat. Thanks Pat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guess who is graduating one week from today?!

Incoming search terms:

  • gluten free cookies winte rpark
  • private chef winter park co
  • winter park co views

11 Comments

Chef Ellen, October 22nd 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Recipes

Favorite Moments of Farm to Table

Fresh plums just picked

The past several weeks have been a whirlwind of moments for me. It has been a lot of traveling, working and learning. I am close to completing my final stage. It’s is about 7 am Sunday morning as I am about to leave to prepare breakfast for the Art Camp for Women. This is the final leg of Farm to Table experience in school. I am in Winter Park, Co. We got to sleep in a little later today given the fact that it is Sunday and the ladies want us to prepare Brunch. That one extra hour of sleeping in was glorious. I am watching the sunrise this morning plus got to fully enjoy it. The past week has been such a perfect one weather-wise. Brisk and chilly in the morning followed by absolute perfect falls days. Last night Emily and I got home around 9 pm and got to view The Milky Way. That was a first for me as the stars were infinite and inviting for anyone willing to observe.
That moment had me thinking about all the pictures I still have hanging out on my laptop waiting to be shared. I have several blog posts in mind that I still want to convey so i figured when things slow down more in the next couple of days I will devote more time to that task. In the meantime I’ve decided to post some great moments that I was fortunate to capture from these last couple of weeks.
Hope you all enjoy.

A beautiful sunrise

Everywhere there's lots of piggies...

living piggy lives.

beautiful

Potential new spokesperson for Big B's juice?

Saying goodbye. We witnessed the slaughter shortly after : (

Elk antlers are heavy

I love making bread

Chef Bob

Sarah

That one is for you mom. xo

So sleepy

wine grapes

Farm fresh

Accomodations. Four women to a bathroom?? Did a man think of that?

I ate one of these while we got the tour at the Living Farm. mmmm

Calling it a day

Incoming search terms:

  • big b\s juices

4 Comments

Chef Ellen, October 17th 2011 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Farm to Table – The North Fork Valley

Monday evening 10/10/11

I am sitting at the Laundromat with Emily from school. Mostly everyone is gone now from the lodge. We leave from the lodge here in the North Fork Valley early in the morning to complete the last leg of culinary school. We are in a pretty remote part of Western Colorado and just completed our farm to table experience here. There is so much to talk about and emphasize yet I do not know where to begin. I just looked up and saw this sign in the Laundromat and realized how far away from home I am. It was a great week. There was so much to see and learn about. I guess the best way to describe the last nine days is simply stating that these farmers work hard. The area is rich in farms, orchards, vineyards and the arts. Most farms here are organic. There is a special emphasis on programs and activities dedicated to Taste Education, Defending Biodiversity and Building Food Communities. Slow Food and sustainable living is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. They utilize every single aspect of their land and they are passionate about what they do. They have a quality of life that makes me jealous but also inspires me.

Local brews

This is a place where phone booths still exist (phone books attached – I am serious.) There are neighbors congregating in small hidden bars
sipping local beers and knitting at tables while they eat lamb bratwurst from another neighbor’s livestock. They look up and wave because you had just visited their farm earlier that week. They remember that we are the visitors in town and they make you feel at home as well as completely welcome.

 

Oh Krystal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and Jazy

 

 

This was delicious

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You do not seeing me drinking a beer too often.

 

The woman who raises lamb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much thanks to Elaine Brett, our guide and North Fork concierge. She is an amazing woman who exemplifies what it means to know
your farmer.

Elaine had us attend a community event called the Kids Pasta Project http://www.kidspastaproject.org/ Check it out Chris! It was an amazingly fun night where children ages 7 through 14 took on the role of front of the house staff. They use all proceeds of this weekly event and donate the money back to the community.

In conversation with Elaine I also voiced my interest in getting a closer look at how the area feeds their children in the school systems. She relayed to me that there is a strong emphasis on eating better and bring more awareness to a healthier lifestyle especially with the children. The next day she let me know that she had arranged for me to give a presentation on healthier snacks for a group of thirty-five children in the 7th and 8th grade. That scared me. “Tough Crowd” was my initial reaction. I let the butterflies pass and took on the task with much enthusiasm. Two of my classmates (Krystal and Jazmin) joined me and together we had them all hooked on homemade salsa made with local ingredients. There was not a clean plate in the classroom and the kid’s hands were flying high with questions. I will add that some of them a little more poignant than others. “How old are you?” “Have you ever cooked for someone famous?”  “Do you throw up vegetables and chop tem mid-air?” I am waiting on the video from that day. That too will be an interesting clip to share for another post. I look forward to that immensely. Those young adults and their eagerness to learn about food simply motivated and encouraged me to want to touch other young lives with similar results. Thanks again to Elaine and her husband Jim!

Sometime ago I stated to my chef that I felt like a convict getting out of jail. The meaning is this is that I feel safe hear (in school.) I am still learning and in a controlled environment where I can continue to learn. They say sometimes convicts will commit more crimes upon being released to go back to what is comfortable. That being said, comfortable and controlled is not what life is all about. It is about learning more, experiencing the real world, stepping outside of the box and taking a chance. In the last six months I have learned so much more than I knew six months prior. I did leave my former comfort zone and I went to a place where control was in the hands of my
instructor. I gave up control for knowledge. As hard as that was for me especially, I am truly better for trusting that this was the right choice for
me and that makes this experience and memory all worth the time, money and effort it took to complete my training here.

I think the pictures will speak for themselves and I will truly devote more time to those who stood out more in another post. I have over
300 pictures uploaded on my computer from this past week so getting to “where to start” is overwhelming me at the moment.

I am taking a deep breath and switching gears now. Clean clothes are a great start at the moment. Early tomorrow morning Emily and I start our personal chef stage at a retreat in Winter Park, Colorado. In the last twenty-four hours I have realized that it is now time to move on. I have
nearly completed the education I was hoping to gain. Six months have come and gone so quickly it seems like yesterday that my niece Brianne told me she was going to lock herself in the bathroom for six months until I returned.

Like I stated earlier there is so much more to share. Please be patient. I am excited to collect my thoughts and arrange my pictures
accordingly.

To be continued.

 

Bread baker

 

 

Emily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CA #3 a.m.

 

 

How cute are my red shoes?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pizza baked in an outdoor hearth

 

The vineyards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kat - check out her Junior Mint and Chocolate Wafer Ice Cream recipe http://sensiblelessons.com/

 

Dusk in the orchard

Me, Emily, Sarah, Kat and Angel

Jake

Jenna

We didn’t stage this one. My friend Krystal got to witness this firsthand. I am only privy to the video. It still made me cry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGHMLfoDSks

2 Comments

Chef Ellen, October 11th 2011 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blog, Uncategorized

Farm to Table – Part I Ends and Part II begins

It’s about 5 a.m. on Sunday and I have pretty much packed more than enough clothes for my fifteen-day excursion that I will call “The last leg” of my culinary experience. In about two hours I will meet Krystal and Jake (two of my classmates) and we will carpool to Crawford, Colorado (The North Fork Valley). We will spend the next nine days living the farm life and exploring the natural beauty of this area.

As part of this leg of our farm-to-table experience we have “lucked out” to drive what is considered the best part of autumn in Colorado. They say that this weekend will be the true autumn at its best. I guess that means snow is on the way also. Apparently the fall is short-lived here in Colorado.

Our week will consist of working with several different farmers in the area. Our itinerary also includes some vineyard work and possibly even a slaughter. The week will be a lot of hard work once again focusing on seasonal produce, where it comes from and how its grown and harvested. We end the week
with an outdoor harvest dinner in the orchards of one of the farms.

There is so much to talk about but I will save that all for my next post as that all starts to unfold. I am very excited and nervous.

At the present time, I am more nervous about how Krystal and Jake will react when they see all the bags I am bringing on the trip. I was told to pack for every season. Great. It is bad enough that I am the worst when it comes to bringing minimal clothing. One thing I am trying to change about myself is the need for too many things. Apparently the clothes and shoe thing has not sunk in yet.

Following my trip to the North Fork Valley, I go directly to Winter Park, Colorado to complete my working stage as the final requirements I need in order to graduate. As mentioned in another post, I will (with a fellow student Emily) be the part of a personal chef duo that will prepare meals morning, noon and night for a group of women from an organization called Art Camp for Women http://www.artcampforwomen.com/

Emily and I will leave directly from the North Fork Valley to Winter Park, Colorado. There are sixteen of us total in a beautiful cabin in the area. We will cook all the appropriate meals as per their needs. This assignment entailed designing a menu, breaking down the cost within a given budget and making that budget work to produce healthy and appealing meals for these women on vacation. That, the shopping, bringing necessary chef tools and necessities along with getting ready for the first leg of this trip has made for one tough week. Here I am though, ready to go and watch the rest of this journey unfold.

Attached are pictures from this past week finishing up our work on the Isabelle Farm. Working on this farm for a week was a great experience. All the workers were wonderful, passionate about what they do, helpful and full of information to share. We got the opportunity to prepare a nice lunch for them using fresh produce just picked from the farm. I loved taking on this task and showing my appreciation for the opportunity that was presented to us. Jazmin, Emily and I were told we could take anything we wanted in order to produce a lunch for about a dozen people. I loved the fact that we could show our appreciation through food. The ingredients I selected were baby eggplant, tomatoes, fresh arugula and mesculan greens and beets. I
also took the willowy tops of the overgrown fennel in order to produce some infused fennel oil.

Our presentation included stuffed eggplants with lentils, quinoa and some fresh arugula pesto served with a fresh tomato sauce. We took the beets and made a beautiful beet salad with the fresh greens. I made some whole wheat bread as well as some baguettes and served that with the fennel
oil. Also threw in some homemade chocolate chip cookies. We had to bring this all to the farm at lunchtime and use what was available for service. Our only
means of heating up the food was on a gas grill. We improvised very quickly and made the best of the given situation. This especially is what our chef tries to
instill upon us. Conditions are not always going to be ideal. We must make the most of any given circumstance, ingredients and work environment. Seems to me our chef did an excellent job. We had a happy crew and utilized all of our ingredients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The calm before the storm

My girls; Jazmin, Jenna and Emily

Cooking on the grill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

close-up

Group shot

Also for your viewing pleasure is a couple of us capturing the infamous spider in action finally!! This is good stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aHvAG0VC5U

I have to say for sure the one thing I took from this past week on the farm is that nature is an amazing thing.  It is such a broad statement and it entails so many differnet meanings for me at the moment. As I post more throughout the week my hope is that you come to understand more of that statement on the level that I am coming from.

 

 

2 Comments

Chef Ellen, October 3rd 2011 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Blog



Powered by STARKIMEDIA