Luxe Learning in Shangri-La

Ojai Valley Inn adds grand new venue, exciting classes

Take a stroll through the Ojai Valley Inn, past the Spa and toward the lush golf greens, and you may be surprised to discover two new impressive, thoroughly modern, stylish and quite huge barn-style structures. One, with a state-of-the-art exhibition kitchen, is the venue for the recently launched culinary destination where hotel guests and day trippers learn from experts how to butcher, bake a pizza, make macaroons, taste new wine releases or even, as I did, harvest honey.

Many of The Farmhouse visiting instructors are nationally and internationally recognized, including LA chef/restaurateur Nancy Silverton of Mozza, Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini and author/ critic Ruth Reichl. But the Inn has also wisely enlisted local talent, including not only on-site chefs and barristas at Ojai Valley Inn (Executive Chef Truman Jones; Beverage Director Melissa Lamb; Executive Pastry Chef Joel Gonzalez; Olivella Chef de Cuisine Andrew Foskey; Chef de Cuisine Jayson Holzworth and Banquet Chef Greg Smith) but folks like Ojai Olive Oil miller Philip Asquith; tomato guru Scott Daigre, winemaker Adam Tolmach and beekeeper Glenn Perry.

Time is Honey

I partook in a casual, informative and tasty Sunday-afternoon honey harvesting class with the knowledgeable, passionate and super sweet (must be all that honey he eats!) Glenn Perry—who has 25 years of beekeeping under his pith helmet.

Fourteen of us were welcomed with a soundtrack of buzzing bees broadcast on the sound system to get us in the mood. Waist-high wooden tables were set with small bowls of items to be paired with honey (a smoky gouda, tangy blue cheese and bright red raspberries); two plates; and small wooden spoons for comparing an array of honeys that ranged from citrus, pine and avocado to coastal wildflower and peppertree. (That last honey is one of Glenn’s favorites and my least fave!)

We began by sampling a small smidgen of “bee bread,” something none of us had heard of, let alone tasted. Glenn carefully removed the tiny bits of the fermented bee pollen—said in folk medicine to be a curative for indigestion, among other ailments—stored in the waxy cells for each of us to sample. Then we compared sage and eucalyptus honey on slices of Bosque pear, as well as on the cheeses and berries. The highlight was extracting honey trapped within its waxy honeycomb with a simple press, a difficult and time-consuming task for which we enlisted the strong-armed class members, until one gal actually stood on the press!

“It takes a lifetime for a honey bee to collect one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey,” Glenn, who has tasted honey around the globe, told us. “That’s why I always lick out the honey jar!”

Our class was bittersweet: We were sadly reminded that bees are in serious trouble with approximately 45% of hives being lost every year and that bees/hives tend to do better in cities like LA than in rural areas, due to less toxic sprays being used and the variety and consistency of flowers available.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Another Ojai treasure, Scott Daigre, is rocking The Farmhouse gardens. Daigre—an Upper Ojai Valley resident and founder of Tomatomania, a roving heirloom tomato seed and plant sale in SoCal—is clearly excited about his role in the Inn’s new endeavor. Daigre is curating, planting, overseeing, growing and harvesting edibles in the dozen 16- by 14-foot raised garden beds he designed. It’s been a long time coming, as he’s been in talks with management for three years; the planned fall opening was delayed until just this past February 25.

Daigre’s official title is culinary gardener at The Farmhouse. His colorful demo garden palette includes the usual seasonal suspects (he was planting “stems, roots and leaves”—leeks, onions, garlic, lettuce, kale, spinach and carrots—the rainy late-January day when we first spoke) but some surprises as well.

“Yes, we have tomatoes, eggplant and corn, but we put some weird stuffin: unique vegetables like ramps or hard-to-find stuff, including weird tomatoes … blue tomatoes, which are a new trend,” Daigre said. Antho tomatoes, as they are more commonly called, take their name from anthocyanin, a blue, violet or red flavonoid pigment found in plants, including blueberries. (I can’t wait to see a blue tomato!)

“And edible flowers … well, just because!” he added enthusiastically.

“We are highlighting what is so easy to grow here,” Scott noted of the garden beds’ organically grown (but not Certified Organic) produce.

Although it’s not a production garden (at least for now), Daigre hopes that eventually he can grow lots of veggies for the Inn’s restaurants. For the time being, his endeavor provides ingredients for cooking demonstrations at The Farmhouse.

“As we look into the crystal ball, I think we will see products made from ingredients grown on site,” imagines the garden designer. “The Farm will be great for community relations, as well as educational to the Inn’s sophisticated clientele.”

Daigre will also bring his Tomatomania events to the Inn this August, including tastings, exhibitions, cooking demos and lunch.

Oil in a Day’s Work

Ojai Olive Oil’s Philip Asquith will also share his knowledge in upcoming classes.

“I’ll be leading all of them for the time being, though it’s possible one of our other arborists and millers will help out in the future, as things develop. In the beginning we’re keeping it fairly simple, doing things similar to the tour and tasting experience we give at the olive barn at our farm, just with more depth and information.” he says.

“We’ll be doing more tasting of other oils, and teaching people how to identify not just the good flavors, but also what to avoid. Ultimately, we’ve talked about creating experiences where people can blend their own oils, and perhaps even flavor them with various herbs.”

Asquith continues, “There is also the potential to tie in with various cooking classes and chef-related activities. I’m excited to be a part of it all, as the Ojai Valley Inn is a great group to work with, and their new Farmhouse is a spectacular building.”

Perhaps, I fantasized to Scott Daigre, it would be nice if a farm stand grew out of this project and every Farmhouse guest was sent home with ingredients for, say, ratatouille (tomatoes, zucchini, sweet peppers, eggplant and onions) and a recipe from the chef so when they got home from their vacation they could bring a little bit of Ojai home with them?

In fact, my fantasy came partially true, as I took home a tiny jar halffilled with honey from the harvesting class, which took several strong classmates to extract and a few dozen bees a lifetime to create.