Springtime Pick-n-Mix: Flowers and Vegetables

It's time to celebrate warm weather, flowers in bloom and veggies in season… all wrapped up into festive décor for friends & family to enjoy. Adding seasonal vegetables into a flower arrangement, to bring in a fresh element of color, texture and shape, is often the recipe needed to transform a design from beautiful to eye-catching and unique. Today, we’re celebrating the season with heirloom carrots and fresh asparagus.

A gathering without flowers is just a meeting, so don’t be without the seasons cream of the crop. This design is packed with gorgeous leucospermum Brandi dela Cruz and Erubscense, colorful heirloom carrots and lush foliage.

This stunning arrangement could not be easier to make! Place the asparagus stems around the outside of the vase and secure them in place with a piece of twine! When you add an array of colorful protea, pincushions, leucadendron and some fabulous ranunculus to the mix... you have the perfect spring ensemble!

Heirloom Apple Galette

Do you love apple pie? We can never get enough of them! A savory apple pie is prefect any time of the year, right? If you agree, I’m certain you're going to love this walnut and apple Galette in the Wine Institute’s latest book, Wine Country Table! The walnut filling, that’s similar to a frangipane, makes this galette stand out from the crowd and adding the sparkling sugar on the rim creates a gleam.

The Wine Country Table is a book we’re thrilled to be featured in, bursting with wine, food and our flowers too! This book conveys a fresh and beautifully photographed celebration of California, its natural beauty, its unrivaled bounty, and its determination to remain just as productive for generations to come. It’s all about sustainable farming, taking readers on a visual tour of 23 stunning farms and wineries throughout the state, introducing them to some of the vintners, winemakers, and farmers (like Mel) whose harvests are profiled.

Written by award-winning author Janet Fletcher with photographs by Robert Holmes and Sara Remington, the book highlights California's key wine regions, its eminent fruit, vegetable and flower crops, with suggestions on how to select and use them. It also includes fifty rustic-elegant recipes covering all bases, from breakfast to dessert and pairs them with the perfect California wines.

Heirloom Apple Galette - this recipe is fabulous and perfect for any occasion! Print Recipe

Event: The Wine Country Table Launch

This week we ventured to Sacramento to help celebrate the launch of the Wine Institute’s new book, The Wine Country Table – a book we’re so excited to be featured in. Bursting with wine, food and our flowers, this tome conveys a fresh, meditative, and beautifully-photographed celebration of California, its natural beauty, its unrivaled bounty, and its determination to remain just as productive for generations to come. It’s all about sustainable farming, taking readers on a visual tour of 23 stunning farms and wineries throughout the state, introducing them to some of the vintners, winemakers, and farmers (like Mel) whose harvests are profiled.

Pictured above: Diana Roy, Francesca Marchini, Janet Fletcher,
John Taylor, Nick Matteis & Vincent Ricchiuti

Grape Harvest

Olive Harvest

Protea Harvest

Written by award-winning author Janet Fletcher with photographs by Robert Holmes and Sara Remington, the book highlights California's key wine regions, its eminent fruit, vegetable and flower crops, with suggestions on how to select and use them. It also includes fifty rustic-elegant recipes covering all bases, from breakfast to dessert and pairs them with the perfect California wines.

Roast Chicken with Lemons, Paprika & Olives - this recipe is fabulous and a perfect Spring weeknight meal!

Heirloom Apple Galette with Honey Ice Cream

And, there’s no doubt in our minds… Great food, wine and flowers make for the perfect pairing.

Click here to order your copy – Cheers!

Farm Life Inspiration: Visiting Pauline

Imagine a life where days are spent tending to the land on which you live. The food you eat is the food you grew. You get your hands dirty – and it’s always with a smile. Adorable dogs, cats, and cows grace you with their presence every day. Beauty is all around, and you never cease to notice it.

I first met Pauline Nogueira during the summer of 2012. An aspiring student of agriculture from the Campus de Pouille in Angers, France, she came to Resendiz Brothers to fulfill an internship requirement. Pauline spent three months here on the farm learning about protea farming –propagating, planting, harvesting, packing and bouquet making. It was a very memorable summer for me, as I not only had an extra helping hand, I made a wonderful new friend!

Pauline has long since return to France, she finished her studies at the university and returned to her village in Pamiers. Her passion for agriculture and farming has now become a way of life, her livelihood! I had the pleasure to meet up with Pauline again this summer and experience the beauty she sees every day on her farm in Southern France.

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden." - Thomas Jefferson

I am very proud of Pauline and the wonderful farmer she has become. I am proud of how she takes care of the land and the environment. And I know there are families who appreciate and enjoy the food she grows, for them every day is a farm to fork experience.

Thank you so much, Pauline! Merci beaucoup! I loved my visit to Pamiers and your amazing farm!