It’s only fitting that we salute Steve Jobs for his influence on our small VR Green Farms project . . . we took over 8,000 photos with our iPhone of various people, plants, and harvests since March 2009. Our videos, blogging, photos were all processed on our iMac. What began way back with his 2cii Mac in the late 80′s gave us the pioneering spirit to “message” our Italian farm idea. Thanks to all of you for reading and responding and standing in our rows of crops so that we could record your presence. As they say in Italy . . . “mille grazie! Eventually we’ll get all your photos up on our website but, in the meantime, thank you, Steve, for a job well done!

Another fun dining experience at VRGF. Great fresh farm food! Great real people!

It’s a long story how we came to grow and discover leek blossoms but, right now, we’re just sharing and enjoying them with our VRGF farm visitors and bringing them home for our own concoctions. The possibilities are truly endless.

Nothing more satisfying than seeing a plant produce two harvests at the same time. Zucchini plants produce all shapes and sizes of fruit but their male and female blossoms are a marvel in themselves. Sauteed, fried, or enjoyed raw in a salad, the blossom (flower) always steals the show. This harvest of 200 blooms went to Chefs Strong and Livingston at the Studio Restaurant at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, CA.

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Two new homemade gourmet treats just arrived from VRGF Chef Lora’s kitchen . . . Carmelized Sweet Onions and Lavender infused Peach Preserves. Both will premiere at this Saturday’s VRGF farmstand.

Grilled and stuffed zucchini. Simple . . . scoop slightly and drizzle olive oil and seasoned farm salt. Let rest for 10 minutes, then grill with herbs (thyme, oregano, etc.). Add filling (Red Pepper goat cheese?) and grill additional 10 minutes. Add basil garnish. Buon appetito!

Yikes! What do you do when you suddenly notice you forgot a fresh green side dish when the Italian Sage Honey-Mustard Chicken Thighs are almost ready to come off the grill? Quick answer: add fresh spinach to a cup of boiling water and cut up green onions, add fresh ginger, and a dash or two of rice vinegar. It balanced the chicken thighs perfectly and was extra great with an Italian Pinot Grigio.

When raw food chef, Janice Gronvold, offered to bring breakfast to the farm, the first thing you do is grab a shovel and work up an appetite. Then you sit in awe as layer after layer of our fresh strawberries and blueberries are folded into sheep’s milk yogurt and a chia seed paste and topped with pistachio nuts. You almost never want to dig into it because it just looks like the perfect morning starter . . . and it is! Thank you Janice for sharing this delicious creation. It’s now on our official VRGF menu.

We love Old World methods for creating anything so we headed out to our patch of forest and collected “retired” branches and build an authentic raised bed just for our Italian basil. When we rounded the ends, people started calling it a “basil boat” so why not? Now we can pinch our own fresh Italian basil on pizza night.

The beauty of our little escape here in San Clemente is the hundreds of angles and changing lighting situations and endless farm projects that transpose us to our roots and homeland in Italy.