Sage Mountain Farm is proud to be one of the host farmers for Outstanding in the Field's "2010 North American Tour".

Outstanding in the Field.

The North American Tour is sponsored by Outstanding in the Field. Their mission is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it.

Background photo by Jane Bills. of let there be bite (lettherebebite.com).Beauty and a beast.

Katy Oursler, who now directs Outstanding in the Field private events joined the farm dinner team in 2003 after experiencing an event under the ripe apples at Bill Denevan’s farm in the Santa Cruz mountains. Katy and Jim hatched ambitious plans to take the farm dinner idea from coast to coast. A beautiful but cantankerous red and white bus was found on the SellaBus.com website and an optimistic crew of Katy, Jim, Natalie Mock and Caleb Coe hit the road. Numerous adventures and misadventures later the crew arrived safely at Sage Mountain Farm.

A Restaurant without walls.

Photo by Jane Bills.Outstanding in the Field is a roving culinary adventure. Since 1999, they have set the "long table" at farms or gardens, on mountain tops or in sea caves, on islands or at ranches.

Ingredients for the meal are almost all local (sometimes sourced within inches of your seat at the table) and are usually prepared by a celebrated chef of the region.

After a tour of the farm, they all settle in: farmers, producers, culinary artisans, and diners sharing the long table.

It takes a lot of ingredients to make a farm dinner. (Some of the more important ingredients are people.)  Farmers work hard throughout the growing season, reap the harvest and take it to market for all of us to enjoy.

Food artisans and chefs transform the harvest with creativity, respect for ingredients, attention to craft and a desire to give nourishment.

These are the people that make it all possible. These are the wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to work that benefits us all.  They grow, nurture, create, ferment, chop, boil, bake and plant their way into our lives. The purpose of Outstanding in the Field events is to recognize these contributions to the table.

Top Chef.

The guest chef for this special event was Ilan Hall. At age 24, on the series still most-watched episode, Ilan Hall won Bravo TV’s reality competition, Top Chef.

Ilan Hall, who just opened his new restaurant, "The Gorbals", takes dineLA for a spin in the kitchen as he cooks up one of his Scottish favorites, a "Welsh Rarebit with Fried Egg" in the above HD video.

Ilan made the mistake of bringing vegetables from LA, and Sage Mountain Farm co-owner, Phil Noble, made it clear that he had a wide variety of fresh organic vegetables grown on his farm to choose from.

Photo of Ilan Hall (right) and his bartender by Jane Bills.Chef Hall's eclectic cuisine is inspired by a Scottish Father and Jewish Mother, as evidenced by the matzah balls wrapped in bacon and potato latkes that served as starters for the meal.

Photo of Roasted Whole Chicken with Arugula and Yellow Beans, by Jane Bills.Sage Mountain Farm vegetables where used in the main courses (and the desert) which included:

• Roasted whole chicken with arugula herb salad and yellow beans.
• Pork spare ribs with bell pepper glaze, corn, fennel, and kale.
• Bone-in pork shoulder with carrot, bacon, and mushrooms.
• Pound cake with strawberries.

If you missed this special event, you can read an excellent article by Jane Bills, titled, "A Top Chef, A Farm Dinner, and a Reluctant Fire".

". . . (two bacons and two porks—I guess this is modern Jewish cuisine?). Not that I’m complaining. I’m trying to figure out how to make bacon healthy so I can eat it every day." ~ Jane Billis

Her article is creative and humerous (she describes the event as "fun and adventurous"). If you take the time to read it you may just feel like you had been there. Just visiting her site, "let there be bite", is a real "treat". I highly recommend it.

Photo of a farm dinner by moonlight is by Jane Bills.

:: Source: [Outstanding in the Field, Santa Cruz, CA USA]