Ah, the start of a great veg season!

The CSA from Mary Anne's Freehome Gardens has started and we are so excited. No more bagged salads! No more shriveled Kroger lettuce leaves! You really don't appreciate the veg from Mary Anne until you go an entire winter season without them.



So, this feels right.

The first week brings swiss chard, green Royal Oak lettuce, Yugoslavian Red Butterhead lettuce, spinach, Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, amaranth, Red Russian & Lacinata kale, mustard greens, Hakurei turnips, baby carrots, baby garlic.

Meals seem so much more complete now.

Ribs at Spiced Right

These were amazing bones! Smoky, tender, chewy, and tasty! Someone definitely knows what they're doing.

Spiced right

Oh this is good

Santa Lucia Highlands: Scheid

We continue our journey south and figure to start at the southern-most winery: Scheid.

These folks had the best tasting room, and winery set up, we came across during our trip. Even a walk through their demonstration vines. These little buds are the superstars of harvest come September and October.
Scheid outsources 95% of their grape, but 5% is retained that they bottle under their own label. The chunks of granite in their soils are massive, which could be why I found these wines to be stellar. Especially their chard and sauvignon blanc.

Unfortunately, they do not sell in Georgia. In fact, they do not even sell outside of Monterey County, but I will have my ways to get more bottles into my cellar.

Santa Lucia Highlands: Pessagno

So, this is the place.

The grapes out of this region, well I consider the best. Gravel. Granite. A mineral fleck to each glass. Cool weather and crisp morning breezes from the pacific settle in between these two hills of the Salinas valley and create something magical.

In the valley, grows the spinach, the strawberries, the romaine, the lettuces we bring on our tables everyday. This is the salad bowl of America, quite literally. The soils are rich. Fragrant. And its on these hills that surround the vast miles of tender greens, its these hills that grow some of (what I consider) the best grapes in the world.


Most of the wineries are private. Or boutique. So, touring them, or even finding a tasting room, is a challenge. We concentrate our efforts on the ones that are open for visitors rather than stalk the production houses of the wineries that don't allow gauking tourists.


We first stop at Pessagno and fell in love with their port. Well, honestly, their Four Brothers Pinot was wonderful too, but that port, ohmygosh. 2002 Hames Valley Vineyard. An intimate winery. And they have a great two bedroom cute cottage in back that you can rent out (maybe next trip!) and be as close to the vines as one could get.

Santa Cruz wineries: Testarossa & Bonny Doon

We left San Fran for California wine country. Specifically, the area I love to call my favorite: Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County. As we meander our way down to that area (with a rad convertible) we stop in a couple of wineries.

First off is Testarossa, which was an impressive stone fortress, almost like a hilltop monestary.


We sampled a couple of great reds, and then we were off through the forest of California redwoods to... Bonny Doon.



The wine at Bonny Doon? Eh. But the scenery is worth the trip. These trees are truly remarkable.

And our southerly journey continues to Santa Lucia AVA south of Salinas.