RV Lake County Stories

While on our first RV trip we visited Clear Lake for a couple of nights and wrote about our adventures toward considering RV life. Then we drove around the lake a bit, and stayed at Ripe Choice Farm + Catering. Today, I finish up our first RV trip by writing about some of the day trips we made to other farms, leading up to our last night, staying at Six Sigma Ranch.

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Peace and Plenty Farm

Chef Tammy suggested we visit Peace + Plenty Farm, as they were just written up in the Martha Stewart Magazine, are organic growers of saffron (!), and had a farm stand nearby with saffron-infused products. All this and just down the road a bit from where we were? So of course I was interested.

Even non-organic saffron is one of the most expensive spices ($53 per gram) in the world (1). Evidently, just 3 years ago, Melinda Price and Simon Avery planted their first saffron crop and are now the largest organic saffron farmers in the US. Harvesting saffron Is very labor intensive, as they are plucked early mornings by hand. Then it’s dried for months before ready to sell. The Martha Stewart Magazine indicates Peace + Plenty Farm harvests 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of saffron per year from over 5,000 corms.

But, like I indicated above, they also are multi-taskers. They make other products from the saffron: from soap to honey to a lemonade infusion, as well as jars of the precious spice. These items, along with other farm products, like bags of various greens and teas are sold at their farm stand.

There was no one staffing their farm stand the day we visited, they instead relied on the “honor system” where you grab what you want or need, and put the money in a locked box (the little yellow box near a white cooler (shown below). I bought a small jar of their saffron and a saffron infused lemonade, and my spouse bought a saffron infused olive oil soap.

Wished we could have toured the place, but that is the way it is with actual working farms. The farmers were busy doing the work to grow the ingredients, to make the products we appreciate.

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Chacewater Winery + Olive Mill

During the RV travels in Lake County we visited Chacewater Winery and Olive Mill. Like many areas that rely on tourists for a significant portion of their economy, due to Covid-19, they have expanded to offer many other services as well.

• A winery with a tasting room and direct or mail order sales.
• They grow olive trees and produce olive oil you can also taste and buy.
• Participate with Harvest Hosts and Airbnb.

We went to the tasting room and were directed into their very large storage facility with many barrels of wine smack-dab in the middle of their olive oil orchard. Another couple was there, physically distant of course. They were tasting the wine and deciding on what to order to bring home.

We sat at the closest table, and chose to taste the olive oil. The salesperson delivered us a platter of bits of bread, and a long plank with 9 oils to taste. They were broken into three sets of olive oil types: 1) classic mild, 2) strong robust, and 3) infused oils and balsamic vinegar. The mild oils were consistently light, with a strong grass taste, as they should be for fresh olive oil.  The robust tasting oils definitely had a stronger flavor and aftertaste. While the infused oils were fruity and citrusy with those grassy undertones.

I was actually surprised with the infused oils. To my taste, the Meyer Lemon Olive Oil did not contain the citrusy brightness that the fruit contains, although there was a hint of the lemon in tasting. Whereas, the Blood Orange Olive Oil had a slight smell and great aftertaste of blood orange. The pourer indicated that the blood-orange was popular, and I have no doubt about that as I could taste it being drizzled over grilled or baked fish (salmon?), or mixed into a salad dressing.

But the final taste we took was by far the best, a Modena-imported balsamic vinegar. Although only 5 years old (traditional Balsamic is aged 12 – 25 years), this was such a sweet product, once tasted, the strong flavor encompassed my tongue and mouth fully. Really good balsamic vinegar should make you want to have a shot of it, to sip and savor all by itself, like a good cognac, port, or brandy.

We chose to purchase one of the robust oils, the organic Allegra Olive Oil. This oil would taste great drizzled on toasted Italian or French bread with fresh, thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes and a leaf or two of basil. The oil starts off soft, with a aroma of fresh cut grass, then the bitterness hits and it becomes pungent. Perfect when rounded out by the acid of tomatoes and sweetness of basil.

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Six Sigma Ranch

Six Sigma Ranch signified our last night in the RV. As with the farm we visited, we made arrangements to stay there through Harvest Hosts. Getting there was a relatively short drive on smooth asphalt, but the last 2 miles is done by driving onto the 4300 acre ranch, at 10 miles an hour. The ranch road is cut into the land, so those last miles were driven on bumpy gravel, kicking up lots of red dust, while keeping a lookout for any animals, domestic or wild, in the area.

We passed “bear crossing” and a “cougar crossing” signs as we drove by cattle. This land was a cattle ranch before it was bought in 2000 by its new owners,  Kaj and Else Ahlmann, who wanted to create a sustainable farm, while maintaining the natural beauty of the place.

We drove up to what looked like an official building and I hopped out to check in. While waiting for the staffperson to get off the phone with a customer, I looked around and checked out a fridge with drinks and finger food. I also snooped in a freezer packed with meat for sale. (The meat had great color, perfect fattiness, and it looked like they took care with its packaging.)

It was getting late In the afternoon, so after we checked in, we turned to setting up for the night. We sat a bit at the RV, and realized we wanted to go to the office again to order a wine tasting and their charcuterie board. So we returned to the office and ordered. We sat outdoors and they delivered the wine and a large wooden platter with a jar of mixed olives, a container of Marcona almonds, some crackers, a cut of cheese, and a couple of dry meat sausages. While eating, I read up on the ranch.

• They have 70 Angus cows and we saw a few on our way in and out of the ranch. These are big dark cows that looked very healthy as they roamed in the pasture.
• Grass-fed sheep were in several locations, but do not know how many they have. The animals were busy mowing the grasses and fertilizing the land.
• Although we did not see any, crossbred (wild boar and a heritage breed) pastured pigs also live in the woodland, do doubt eating many of the acorns I noticed on the ground.
• We heard turkeys, but did not see them.
• Wild animals are not only the bears and cougars noted on the signs, but also include deer, bobcats, coyotes, lizards, various birds, and more.

Once the new owners bought the land, they planted an organic vineyard, and they decided to pasture raise the animals and use organic feed. Six Sigma does sell their meat to consumers, and this meat seems to be in demand, given its apparent quality. The output however, is low since they only keep small herds, which they believe the land can sustain. Also meat availability is seasonal, and they sell in bulk sizes, so checkout their website if you want to order.

Deep Breathing Fresh Air

Just going out, and taking small careful steps into the public sphere, felt so good. The RV trip was fun itself, but also it was probably one of the more safer ways to travel during this time, when COVID mutations are in headlines.

So we mainly met and talked with people outside on farms or ranches or in RV parks. Everyone we ran into was staying physical distant when feasible, wore masks, bowed instead of shaking hands, and there were containers of hand sanitizers at every entrance. Everyone trying hard to be good community members and to keep their businesses running.

Honestly, it felt very good emotionally to be able to leave our home, and actually do something together, something that was fun, interesting, and required learning new things and meeting new people. As muted as those interactions might have been, with masks and distance, our time in the RV helped us build memories together, and created stories we can share again.

But also, I now want to revisit Lake County because there was a lot of other places to visit and enjoy. As for the RV? We loved it and can imagine ourselves traveling in one to amazing new places. Wonder if the dogs would like it as much as we did?

—Patty

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