E-I-E-I-O
Written By Simon Firth
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An annual farm vacation gets this family back to the garden.
My wife and I used to be foodies. We'd make ravioli and spanakopita from scratch. On vacation, we'd seek out the best local fare, eating Cuban in Miami, picking crab in Baltimore. We fell in love over and celebrated our anniversaries with good — no, great — food.
Of course, children changed that. But if they took fancy restaurants off the menu for awhile, we figured we'd still have our kitchen, where we'd prepare tasty meals from homegrown organic ingredients, assisted by our little gourmets-in-training. I pictured the tiny hands tilling the soil and carefully planting seedlings, all of us bringing in the joyous harvest.
The sad reality is that Ada, 5, and Michael, 2, are often getting hustled out of the way so I can defrost some fish sticks. (But they're organically breaded, sustainably caught, and mercury-free!) One day, I hope, we'll all be picking and pickling heirloom cucumbers in our backyard. Until then we have Emandal. Emandal Farm is where we spend the last long weekend of summer, in what's become a family tradition. On the Eel River in Mendocino County, California, Emandal is part resort, part camp, and all kid heaven, with dirt, campfires, animals wild and domestic, and berries ripe for the picking, on a thousand traffic-free acres. It's also a way to show small fish-stick eaters where the food on our table actually comes from (and no, it's not from the fish-stick farm).
While no one's required to help out at Emandal, children are welcome to join in. That's really the essence of the place. Kids can help pick the 20 types of tomato or the five varieties of beet, the chard, kale, melons, cucumbers, rhubarb, and every shape and size of squash. Last year Ada spent two earnest hours — an eon, in preschooler time — gathering red and gold raspberries. This year she was not only unfazed by the concept of a purple string bean, she was better than I was at finding the best ones.
Next page: Recipes from Emandal Farm
Also: Tips for planning your own farm adventure
Indeed, Emandal is the place to ambush picky palates. When kids see food growing and help pick it, they may even be happy to try steamed kale with sesame oil, or lentil and sunflower seed salad. (Hey, it worked for us.) Family favorites this year were the fresh heirloom tomato soup with cream cheese, the basil aioli that went along with the roasted baby squash and carrot salad, the oven-baked French toast, and the strawberry-rhubarb crisp.
At Emandal kids also help collect the eggs, make cookies, and milk and feed the animals. Oh, yes, the animals: The place has cows, sheep, chickens, goats, horses, barn cats, and even an ostrich called Huey — who became Michael's main obsession last year.
We heard she liked apples, so we scrounged one in the orchard to throw to the bird, who promptly swallowed it whole. Seeing the fruit bulge down Huey's thin neck, as improbable as a pig swallowed by a snake, left Michael wide-eyed. I was sure he was about to burst into tears, until he turned to me and shouted, "Do that AGAIN!" So we did. We had no idea poor Huey's cumulative apple consumption would make her quite sick — fortunately, a farm guest who followed us was a vet. (This year we were relieved when Michael fixated on the big yellow backhoe instead.)
Some of the animals at Emandal are pets; others are destined for the table. The delicious pork in the breakfast sausages, quiche, and chile verde this summer came from last year's farm pig. The connection between real animals and the meat we eat is another food lesson I'd like my children to understand. But faced with the cute piglets snuffling around our feet, my wife and I bailed, leaving that particular teachable moment for another trip.
In the rare moments at Emandal when we're not picking or eating, we take advantage of the hiking trails or the near-perfect swimming hole on the river. Most nights there's a campfire to sing around, and near the cabins there's a rustic stage for impromptu shows. Ada and Michael were thrilled this year to find tree frogs in the toilets (hilarious), toads by the campfire (creepy), and a huge crayfish in the river (inspiration for an hours-long hunt). We heard coyotes howl and even saw a bear lumbering over the hills across the river.
We came back from the farm filthy and tired, as usual. But we were inspired again too. I'm determined to plant more beyond the sad patch of herbs outside our kitchen door. Jennifer's head is full of new menus. Ada wants to grow corn. We're even talking about getting chickens. But for now, at least, we'll hold off on the ostrich.
Next page: Tips for planning your own farm adventure.
Pick Your OwnMost parts of the country have at least a few farms that are family-friendly and welcome overnight guests.
At Agritourismworld.com, you can find:
For a lower-commitment adventure, I recommend a good farmers' market, where you can meet the farmers (and often their kids), get your hands on some fruit and veg you've never tried, and taste-test your bounty at home.
For places close by, try Local Harvest, a searchable national online directory of farmers' markets, food co-ops, family farms that are open to the public, and other sources of sustainably grown organic food.
