Outstanding in the Field 2013

If I had to pick one moment (of which there are many) when you can't help but absorb why this event is deservedly named "Outstanding," I would say it's when you get your first glimpse of the table from a distance.

It becomes something so much more than a vast line of tables filled with laughing, deliciously contented people — it becomes a moment of community — and for me, it's what makes tending this land so rewarding.

Since you hear from me every week in Farm News, I thought you might like to hear from the community, the many folks who made this event a success.  Here's a little of what other people said about the event.


SAM WRIGHT — FARM FRESH TO YOU FARM EVENTS MANAGER
Although our farm had been chosen for an Outstanding in the Field event last year, this was my first experience.

I knew what the basic plan for the day was, but sitting in the accommodating shade of an old oak tree before everyone arrived, I found it was a little hard to wrap my head around the sheer force that would make this all happen.

Even now, after the event, I can still say that I am impressed — no, change that to blown away — by the magnitude of everything; from set up...

...to cooking...

...to speeches...

 ...to good old-fashioned revelry.

I heard that last year Jim Denevan, founder and organizer of Outstanding in the Field, walked through our orchards to find just the right row for our dinner spot, settling between two different varieties of figs, Mission and Capay Candystripe. This year, he again spent time connecting with the farm, being chill and finding the perfect location. (If you look closely at the photo below, you'll find him sitting at the far end of the table under the shade of the oak tree.)

Once Jim gave the final word, I can't express how quickly the tables came out and chairs were unfolded to follow the curve of our land — impressively close to the edge of our upper bank.

CATHIE ANDERSON — GUEST & COLUMNIST FOR THE SACRAMENTO BEE

The tables, skirted in white linen, snake along the curves of a grassy hillock at Capay Organic.

Thankfully, they are shaded from the sun by oak trees and hold enough chairs to seat all 176 of us. Every nearby plant — heirloom tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, lavender — are bursting with come-hither colors.

And, at last, we feast on one fresh, playful course after another from Chef Oliver Ridgeway of The Grange.

Outstanding in the Field? One visit reveals just how much that title fits this land so lovingly tended by the Barnes-Barsotti family.

OLIVER RIDGEWAY — EXECUTIVE CHEF, GRANGE
This is what we do every night at the restaurant — we cook with fresh, local ingredients and celebrate the farm-to-table concept by supporting local farms — but to come out to the farm is real treat.

One of the funny moments was watching the extern Chris that we brought with us, hand pulling mozzarella at the reception. (The cheese was really hot to handle but he kept smiling!)

 The super moon was awesome.

We served ice cream in a field!  

Everyone could see us cooking live and we had a lot of interaction with the guests as we cooked.

MARI WELLS COYLE — WINEMAKER, DAVID GIRARD VINEYARDS

Outstanding in the field was a perfect setting for our wines to be paired with delicious food, gorgeous agriscape and great people.

Solarization and Summer Sights

Our summer crops are growing by leaps and bounds. As fast as we can get water onto them, they are sucking it up, growing and putting us in a situation to water them yet again!

Tomatoes are as tall as I am, their dark green vines speckled with yellow flowers midway up through the top. Below the midpoint, the yellow flowers have set into small, green tomatoes that are getting larger by the day.

The summer squash field was erroneously planted by the creek, which has led it to be the deer’s main dinner course. I learned a long time ago not to plant watermelons and strawberries in that field because the deer love them. I just learned that deer love zucchini too!

They walk down the field at night, taking one bite from a perfect little zucchini then, take a bit out of the next perfect little squash. How I wish we could make an agreement with the deer: I like feeding you, but please finish one squash completely before starting on the next!


On the other side of the farm we are preparing for our fall plantings of carrots and beets. These crops are slow to germinate, and it is very important that we plant them into fields that don’t have weeds. We organically control weed seeds for this crop by solarizing beds.

The solarization process starts with preparing the beds, putting the sprinklers on them for eighteen hours, ensuring all of the soil is wet and then putting a thin layer of clear plastic over the bed.

As our beautifully hot summers arrive, the energy from the sun is captured in the beds and the top couple of inches of soil heat up to over 140 degrees, which is too hot to keep seeds viable.

The little weed seeds die before they ever get a chance to germinate. When planting time comes we pull the plastic off, plant our crops, and they grow with no weed competition. The fields that are being solarized are very warm right now. 

I went out and checked one evening with the kids and could feel the hot beds beneath the plastic, but as you can see, they were not too warm, just right in fact for a little evening dancing, twirling and crawling.