• HOME
    • MY HERBAL ROOTS
    • HERBAL ROOTS
  • ME
    • ABOUT ME
    • CLASSES AND EVENTS
    • CALENDAR
    • SERVICES
    • MEDIA
    • CONNECT
  • SEASONS
    • ALL SEASONS
    • SPRING
    • SUMMER
    • FALL
    • WINTER
  • HERBS
    • ALL HERBS
    • ARUGULA
    • BASIL
    • BAY LEAF
    • CHERVIL
    • CHIVES
    • CHOCOLATE MINT
    • CILANTRO (CORRIANDER)
    • DILL
    • EDIBLE FLOWERS
    • EPAZOTE
    • GRAPEFRUIT MINT
    • HYSSOP
    • LAVENDER
    • LEMON BALM
    • LEMON GRASS
    • LEMON THYME
    • LEMON VERBENA
    • MARJORAM
    • OREGANO
    • ORANGE MINT
    • PARSLEY
    • PEPPERMINT
    • PINEAPPLE MINT
    • PINEAPPLE SAGE
    • PURSLANE
    • RED BASIL
    • ROSEMARY
    • SAGE
    • SAVORY
    • SORREL
    • SPEARMINT
    • SPECIALITY HERBS
    • TARRAGON
    • THAI BASIL
    • THYME
  • WANDERINGS
    • MAP
    • ASIA
    • AUSTRALIA
    • CANADA
    • CARRIBEAN
    • CENTRAL AMERICA
    • EUROPE
    • MEXICO
    • SOUTH AMERICA
    • USA
  • RECIPES
    • SEARCH
    • SEASONS
    • HERBS
    • PLACES
    • VIDEOS
    • BLOG POSTS
GET CONNECTED
  • HOME
    • MY HERBAL ROOTS
    • HERBAL ROOTS
  • ME
    • ABOUT ME
    • CLASSES AND EVENTS
    • CALENDAR
    • SERVICES
    • MEDIA
    • CONNECT
  • SEASONS
    • ALL SEASONS
    • SPRING
    • SUMMER
    • FALL
    • WINTER
  • HERBS
    • ALL HERBS
    • ARUGULA
    • BASIL
    • BAY LEAF
    • CHERVIL
    • CHIVES
    • CHOCOLATE MINT
    • CILANTRO (CORRIANDER)
    • DILL
    • EDIBLE FLOWERS
    • EPAZOTE
    • GRAPEFRUIT MINT
    • HYSSOP
    • LAVENDER
    • LEMON BALM
    • LEMON GRASS
    • LEMON THYME
    • LEMON VERBENA
    • MARJORAM
    • OREGANO
    • ORANGE MINT
    • PARSLEY
    • PEPPERMINT
    • PINEAPPLE MINT
    • PINEAPPLE SAGE
    • PURSLANE
    • RED BASIL
    • ROSEMARY
    • SAGE
    • SAVORY
    • SORREL
    • SPEARMINT
    • SPECIALITY HERBS
    • TARRAGON
    • THAI BASIL
    • THYME
  • WANDERINGS
    • MAP
    • ASIA
    • AUSTRALIA
    • CANADA
    • CARRIBEAN
    • CENTRAL AMERICA
    • EUROPE
    • MEXICO
    • SOUTH AMERICA
    • USA
  • RECIPES
    • SEARCH
    • SEASONS
    • HERBS
    • PLACES
    • VIDEOS
    • BLOG POSTS
Blog Posts Categories Herbs Places Seasons Spring USA

Herbal Farm-to-Table in Bolinas

May 9, 2019

Herbal Farm-to-Table in Bolinas

MAY 9TH 2019

Join the Bolinas Community Land Trust for a special evening at the Peace Barn in Bolinas on May 18, 2019.

This fundraising event will feature the musical talents of local musicians, LoWatters,  creative cocktails, appetizers and small bites catered by the William Tell House in Tomales.   An auction will give you a chance to bid on ‘Only in Bolinas’ special experiences.  These unique to Bolinas experiences include everything from a trip to the Cordell Banks with Biologist & Author, Peter Pyle to a quilt made just for you of your own design and inspiration by the Bolinas quilters.  It also includes a Bolinas organic farm to my table experience with muah!  An intimate set by renowned folk rock singer-songwriter, Andy Cabic of Vetiver will follow the auction.

BUY TICKETS TO THE FUNDRAISER

Here is a bit more on my experience up for auction-  An Herbal Farm to Table Adventure with Paradise Valley Farms.

The herbaceous adventure,  for a group of 12, will start with a tour and education session at one of Bolinas’ most beautiful local farms, Paradise Valley Farm. The adventure  with herbal libations and dinner at my beautiful Bolinas home and test kitchen of Herbal Roots, Crespo Organic Mangoes and Ger-Nis.

Learn about fresh sustainable agriculture, farming, and fresh herbs, and how to incorporate more flavor with these magical plants. This adventure is a totally hands-on experience – just the way I like it. But for those of you who would rather watch with a cocktail in your hand, that’s no problem too. The amount of effort you exert is up to you.

We start with a farm tour by Sierra Dierks, a second-generation Paradise Valley resident and farmer where we will learn all about the history and current farming operations of one of California’s first organic farms. We will get a first-hand feel for growing in Bolinas and what items are mainstays.  We’ll see and touch a wide array of herbs and vegetables and pick some that guests can take home. The basics on organics, soil and composting will be covered.

Once the farm tour ends, we will jet over to my house where we will rest and relax a bit over seasonal herbal libations and nibbles. After, we will head into a quick culinary class focus on fresh herbs. You’ll not only learn how to make the cocktails and appetizers yourself, but you’ll get some basic herbal education on how to store and use fresh herbs.

We will then sit down to a (prepared for you) 3-course meal, and guests will get to make their own herbal desserts. Participants leave with all the recipes and some seasonal herb-salts handmade by Nissa using local herbs from her garden and Paradise Valley Farms.

Guests are allowed to bring wine to enjoy with their dinner. Otherwise, herbal iced tea will be served as well as a featured seasonal cocktail. Most food allergies can be accommodated if known in advance. Purchaser must inform me when booking the event of any dietary restrictions.

Date:

Dates to be determined between purchaser and Nissa (coordinated with the farm), any Saturday or Sunday between August 10th and October 20th.

Time:

Farm Tour 1-3pm
Dinner Event 4-7pm

Sample Menu:

Herbal Libations

Non-alcoholic
Herbal Lemonade
Jasmine Peach Iced Tea
Middle Eastern Style Mint Black Tea

With booze
Wild Plum, Rosemary Rose Spritzer
Blackberry Sage Tequila Cooler
Sorrel French 75
Bourbon Lavender Beet
Herbal Strawberry Sangria

Herbal Nibbles

Herbal Cheese Straws
Local Antipasti: Marinated with Herbs; Peppers, Onions, Olives, Feta
Mango & Herb Summer Rolls
Beet Deviled Eggs
Herbaceous Pork Meatballs
Seasonal Vegetable Platter with Herbal Rach Dip
Local Oysters with Herbal Mignonette

3 Courses

First Course
Watermelon, Feta, Mint Salad with Spicy Cilantro Lime Honey Dressing

Main Course
Pit Roasted Pineapple Sage Pork, or Cauliflower Steaks,
Herbal Jerk Rice,
Nectarine Tomato Salad,
Mint Sweet Roll

Dessert Course
Summer Fruit & Herbal Sugar Hand Pies with Lavender or Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

Paradise Valley Farms is a second-generation family run farm started by Dennis and Sandy Dierks. The farm has been C.C.O.F certified organic since 1978, which makes them true pioneers in the organic farming sector. Their choice to grow organic was simple from the onset, chemicals were not something they wanted around their children or community, including the environment in which they farm.

The farm is located in Bolinas, CA, just two miles from the ocean, bordering Point Reyes National Seashore. Over 20 varieties of cool weather herbs and vegetables are grown on six acres, with half an acre devoted to seasonal apples.

Regenerative, organic farming which sustains and creates healthy soils and nutritius food is the farm’s priority. Propagating and using beneficial indigenous microorganisms to sustain living soil and maintain the nutrient cycle is all in a day’s work. This farm makes their own compost and microbial brews from local plants, fish, and kelp extracts. The farm works sustainably and regeneratively utilizing all of the natural surroundings, with a mind toward the future for all of the neighboring communities.

In addition to farming fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruits, the farm has been working for many years with the National Park Service to restore the local Coho Salmon run on the stream that flows through the farm. Paradise Valley Farm is the first farm in California to be certified Salmon Safe.

Currently, Dennis and Sandy’s daughter, Sierra, and her husband, Blake, manage the farm with the desire to continue the family’s tradition. The tradition includes growing healthy food ethically and with a substantial emphasis on educational outreach. The family knows this will help sustain future generations, small farms, and farming. Find out more at www.PVPFarm.com

Nissa Pierson is a cooking teacher, recipe developer, and small business consultant specializing in organic, sustainable, and fairly traded produce. She has worked in the fresh herb industry on both the agricultural and culinary sectors for over 20 years. She is a noted herb expert and founder of Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center and Herbal Roots. Her years of herb knowledge and passion for fresh herbs makes her an excellent teacher and source of herb inspiration. She travels the globe in her agricultural work and spends a lot of time eating in the kitchens/homes of everyday people in places like Israel, Jordan, Mexico, Peru, Turkey, Tunisia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and more.

She is an extremist in proving that the art of eating & cooking well is a relatively simple process and just takes enthusiasm and some tidbits of knowledge and of course good farmers. She started Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center, in Brooklyn, NY, back in 2010 where she taught educational and lecture-style hands-on cooking classes for adults & kids, promoting healthy eating, living, and cooking with ease & joy.  The center became a premier source of inspiration in the sustainable and local food world and has garnered success with special events, food collaborations, social outings, and local get-togethers nationwide. Since her relocation to Marin, she continues to teach from her home in Bolinas, celebrating food and community. She hosts seasonal super clubs and teaches the Bolinas After School Cooking Program. Besides being a passionate teacher of fresh herbs and organics, in her free time she enjoys good conversation & debates, yoga, the ocean, and her dog, Inca. This is all when she is not submersing herself in the food and culture of the world.

She writes seasonally for Edible Marin and writes weekly about fresh herbs on her blog www.MyHerbalRoots.com You can also find her www.UnderTheMangoTree.CrespoOrganic.com

Blog Posts Categories Herbs Places Seasons Spring USA

Herbal Farm-to-Table in Bolinas

May 9, 2019
May 9, 2019
Herbal Roots - Main Site
ABOUT ME
GET CONNECTED
RECENT POSTS
  • New Year’s Soul Fire Menu
    December 30, 2021

    From an early age, I desired to embrace life to the fullest regardless of the loneliness of such a path. I have spent most of my life traveling. That is when I am happiest and at my most humble and learning. Through my work in agriculture, famers have invited me into their homes and kitchens. Here I discovered the deep connecting power of food, culture, and community. Here I learned my love of cooking. I have witnessed how food ignites and excites and connects humans all over the world. I discovered the same in myself.

  • Soul Fire & Feeling Fully
    December 29, 2021

    2022 will be the year I focus on what and who sets my soul on fire. While I have almost always approached life this way, these days the older and wiser me has a much deeper connection to what that actually means. There has always only been one path to get here, to this position of soul fire clarity: by allowing myself to feel the fullness of things deeply, which is not often a comfortable task. My world, the world that I saw from an early age has always been a large one. My path has always been one that seeks, explores, travels and shares.

  • Making the Effort
    November 25, 2021

    Thanksgiving and the act of giving thanks, the acknowledgement that there is something to be grateful for is something I think we all need to do more often. On Thanksgiving many Americans put forth great effort to make elaborate or in the very least home cooked (from the heart) meals. This effort, that they put forth annually, gives me faith in people and in love because loving people is about showing up and putting in effort.

SEARCH BY SEASON




POPULAR TAGS
Blog Posts
USA
Spring
Rosemary
Winter
Edible Flowers
Fall
Parsley
Mint
Sage
Summer
Basil
Chives
Connect
Thyme
Tarragon
Uncategorized
Cilantro (Corriander)
Oregano
Lavender
Asia
Europe
Odds & Ends Using Up Herbs
Herbal Nibbles
Categories
Tips & Tricks
Bay Leaf
Arugula
Herbs
Places
Mexico
Dill
Lemon Thyme
Speciality Herbs
Marjoram
Herbal Crafts
Pineapple Sage
Cocktails, Mocktails, Bitters & Mixers
Sweet Things
Herbed Pastas, Grains and Legumes
Meat, Poultry and Fish
Salads, Dressings & Vinaigrettes
Savory
Seasons
Hyssop

FOLLOW HERBAL ROOTS ON INSTAGRAM

View
Open
My birthday will never end!! (As long as I have the herb salt!)

Nissa’s Italian Birthday Herb Salt

Making my favorite vegetable tonight - #artichokes - Italian style (kind of)

Braising them in lemon, #italian #vermouth and the herb salt - finishing them on the grill and serving them with a garlicky #mint #aioli - a steak with more birthday salt and fresh lemon zest grilled over fresh #rosemary in the hot coals
View
Open
That #rhubarb #strawberry #geranium maceration i made days back for the pie??! still haven't made the pie (🤷‍♀️) but have been drinking the nectar of the maceration in #mocktails & #cocktails 

This refreshing little number is with gin and sake and fizzy water and a little lime- delicious on this hot night.

I also put sake in my tomato butter sauce im making with tomatoes past their prime - we shall see,  ideas sometimes work well, mine usually do.
View
Open
Early summer (2022h #herbalsalts are coming soon, ideas are percolating
View
Open
Strawberry Rose  Geranium leaves. A little goes a long way. Adding it to a rhubarb maceration that will  be mixed with strawberries for a pie.
View
Open
Strawberry Pink Peppercorn Rhubarb Gin Cooler with Lemon Verbena
View
Open
Grapefruit Honey Red Chlii Glazed Grilled Scallop Salad 

Garden Greens and Herbs

Fennel Fronds, Mint, Chives, Parlay (scallops marinated with lavender and tarragon) 

Avocadoes and grapefruit segments 

Grapefruit Tarragon Floral Salt
View
Open
I made this for dinner tonight. One of my favorite light- comfort meals. Fresh tomato butter sauce  and minty beef dumplings with  tangy yogurt. Yum. Yum. Yum. 

I have poor light at night in my MO kitchen so posting a photo from my old good light kitchen in Bolinas. 

Google my herbal@roots Turkish manti for the recipe (and surely a story)
View
Open
Parsley is in season. Parsley is fun. Be creative with it. 

Carrot Cake ink in bio. / also Nissa’s Fresh Mint Harissa is in the same post.
View
Open
Spicy 🌶 Grilled Shrimp Thai Fried (Egg) Rice and Yuzu & MO Red Bud Pickled Cucumbers 

Fresh Herbs used: Vietnamese Coriander, Cilantro, Thai Basil, Lemon Basil, Chives, VietnameseMint
View
Open
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Turkestan Oregano
View
Open
Turkestan Oregano
View
Open
So, this seasons garden (im closer  to my little MO herb farm and culinary fairyland) has a lot of unusual stuff. I’m not quite ready to give the tour, but I will soon. 

For now I embark a few recipes using some of the new plants- tiny snippets. It’s been hot so things are growing well. 

I have quite a few interesting varietals of oregano this year. I like Greek oregano but that’s not the kind that is sold in grocery stores much anymore because it doesn’t travel and hold up well. So of course most the big herb producers are using hi-bred varietals that can last and are also way too potent and camphor-y for me. It makes me think I don’t like oregano - these new varietals will prove otherwise. 

This  discovery-  these weird little oregano varietals (I have about 8) is exciting. 

Tonight I’m making a simple tomato salad and using my Turkestan Oregano. 

It’s a super pretty green with  dark purple under leaf. It’s native to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. 

It’s flavor is more mild. It’s peppery and has a softer pungency than Greek or Italian oreganos. 

Apparently (I cannot wait!) it has beautiful deep pink and purple flowers that are much bigger than all the other oreganos. 

 I’m like puppy I’m so excited.
LATEST TWEETS
Twitter
@MyHerbalRoots
Follow Us
Read all about Nissa's Middle Eastern herbal wanderings, in her new blog post My Herbaceous Istanbul!… https://t.co/5WdPk1H1U9
Over a year ago
- @MyHerbalRoots
Find out whose behind My Herbal Roots? https://t.co/HayqctqYld
Over a year ago
- @MyHerbalRoots
There are some great recipes in this one plus the basic facts on salt and pepper. https://t.co/x0n4VlrJ9P
Over a year ago
- @MyHerbalRoots
LATEST POSTS
  • December 30, 2021
    New Year’s Soul Fire Menu
  • December 29, 2021
    Soul Fire & Feeling Fully
  • November 25, 2021
    Making the Effort
View
Open
North African Mexican Fusion 😂😂🤷‍♀️

Breakfast taco with cumin dusted grilled pork, eggs, yogurt potatoes and green harissa. It’s so good. 

You may not know this about me but I am infatuated with making weird tacos - im really good at it too. I don’t care much about tradition, it’s not my style. The world, food and people aren’t as traditional as people think  anyhow.
View
Open
Green (Garden) Harissa (Spicy 🔥)

Toasted cumin, corriander, black pepper, caraway, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and herbs (cilantro, parsley, Moroccan mint, Syrian oregano, chives and carrot tops) #recipe for @myherbalroots
View
Open
This pink Lambrusco is amazing!

Fresh garden herbs and greens will turn into a Green Harissa - that will be drizzled over a lemon, cumin and mint dusted and grilled bone in pork chop / the harissa will also get mixed into yogurt and tossed together with steamed baby potatoes- a deliciously simple  trick/recipe I leaned in Tunisia
View
Open
I woke up this morning and spent two hours watering my garden by hand. 

But now we (me and Sapa)sit and do mango work watching the storm - thunder, lightening, wind, rain - it’s so serious and aggressive. It’s a super serious storm and Im  feeling awe This is a great storm house - inca is currently in his upstairs thunder room shaking
  • HOME
  • ABOUT ME
  • GET IN TOUCH
@2019 Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center

HERBAL ROOTS

ABOUT

TEAM

MEDIA

CONNECT

MY HERBAL ROOTS

NISSA

EVENTS

CLASSES

SERVICES

VIDEOS

SHOP

RECIPES

HERBS

SEASONS

WANDERINGS

..

HOT OFF THE PRESS

THE HERB BLURBS

Herbal Farm-to-Table in Bolinas | My Herbal Roots