More than Honey and Sweet Sips Networking

Honey tasting.

Big thanks to everyone who came out for our Sweet Sips networking event in July at Local Habit. Mead tastings by Golden Coast Mead, honey tastings offered by Wild Willow Farms and local beekeepers from the San Diego Beekeepers Society and special honey-based dishes by Chef Jimmy. A sweet time, indeed.

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And thanks to all who joined us for the re-screening of the More than Honey documentary. This is an amazing, intriguing, beautiful and quirky film. Please see it if you haven't already.

For those of you interested in learning more about bees and what you can do locally, here are a few great local resources:

San Diego Beekeeping Society holds classes and meetups to encourage responsible beekeeping. Lots of expert members there. You can find a list of beekeepers on their website who perform live bee removals and other bee resources in the county.

Wild Willow Farm is a non-profit organization offering beekeeping classes (also farming classes). The instructor is very knowledgeable about bee issues locally and globally and can tell you about hosting a hive on your property.

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Girl Next Door Honey offers beekeeping classes and workshops, one-on-one consulting, a host-a-hive program and performs live bee removals.

If you need to remove bees from your property, please consider live removal by one of these folks or those listed on the Beekeeping Society website. Bees are important to our food supply and need a helping hand. Stay tuned for future bee-related events.

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Wild Willow 5K and Chili Brew Fest

Runners, beer drinkers, local food advocates and families traversed their way down to the southern most region of San Diego last weekend to participate in the first annual Wild Willow Farm 5k Race and Chili Brew Fest. With the harvest season well upon us, the event was a celebration of sorts, featuring a chili cook-off and homebrew competition, plus a 5K trail run/walk. Live music from the Big Decisions, self-guided farm tours and a variety of homebrews and chili concoctions made for an incredible day of fun, community building, and success.

Volunteers ushered runners across the finish line into the “beer garden” to enjoy fresh brews from local sponsors like Stone, Alesmith, and Coronado Brewing Company. The line up of judges for the homebrew competition included major San Diego brewers like Greg Koch from Stone Brewing, Peter Zien from Alesmith Brewing, and Laurie Delk from 100 Beers in 30 Days. At least 38 different brews were accounted for, but only one took grand prize- a robust, malty, Imperial Red Ale bursting with flavorful, bright hops. The donated beer was another welcome accompaniment to the 8 different chilies entered into the contest. The overall winner, named “Beegee’s Southwest Chili” won by just 1 point over other entries. Judges for the chili cook-off included Chef Nick Brune from Local Habit, Wild Willow board member Angie Vorhies, and local food and beer advocate Marty Frank.

Nearly 300 people attended the event, out of which 200 participated in the actual race. Tickets were sold for admission to the race and individual beer and chili tastings, and over $2,000 was raised to benefit operations and educational programs at Wild Willow Farm. They intend to purchase or retrofit a truck in order to deliver produce to their CSA customers and to the select restaurants that support the farm. With such a wide variety of programs offered onsite and in the local community, Wild Willow Farm is quickly becoming a central facility for the education of a new generation of farmers and the conservation of organic and sustainable food systems in San Diego.

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Wild Willow Farm Potluck features The Real Dirt on Farmer John

On the third Saturday of the month the farmers at Wild Willow Farm and Education Center in Imperial Beach fire up the pizza oven, clear off the long tables and benches, light up the twinkling Christmas lights in the barn, and harvest produce for that night's potluck. In addition to the proliferation of inspirational food (Lavender infused coconut cream pie? Dandelion and cashew pesto dip? Fava bean and garlic hummus?) and dance-provoking live music, a documentary well worth shushing the clattering of forks was shown during last Saturday's warm August night. The Real Dirt on Farmer John tells the epic story of Midwest farmer John Peterson. From his experimental commune days on the farm to the collapse of his family business and finally to the formation of a thriving CSA program we see how this extraordinary man has changed the face of farming through passion, self expression, and perseverance.

Click below to watch the trailer:

The Real Dirt on Farmer John