Heirloom tomato festival is this weekend
– The annual Windrose Farm Heirloom Tomato Festival will return this Sunday, Sept. 20 at Windrose Farm. A Festival Supper will be hosted on Saturday.
This year the festival will be benefiting a new scholarship focused on agriculture and education, the California Women for Agriculture or CWA SLO County Windrose Farm Scholarship. All proceeds from the festival will go to funding this new scholarship. SLO County CWA members will be joining Windrose Farm at the Festival to help host this family fun & educational event.
“Windrose Farm believes in sustainability – of farms, ranches and communities. Sustainability rests on the strength of the next generation. So to us, sponsoring a scholarship through CWA SLO County is a perfect match to our beliefs & philosophy. Nothing is more important than supporting our youth as they work to achieve their goals in agriculture,” said Barbara Spencer of Windrose Farm.
The weekend’s festivities begin with Saturday’s festival supper, which they are calling Tomato. Then on Sunday, the festival will offer tasting of over 40 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, as well as local purveyor favorites using Windrose Farm tomatoes and other in-season produce.
Saturday’s Festival Supper features local Chef Jensen Lorenzen, formerly of the Cass House Restaurant, Chef’s Daniel Mattern & Roxana Jullapat from LA’s Cook’s County together at Windrose Farm. The evening starts off with a farm tour, to then be followed by a multi-course meal showcasing Windrose Farm’s heirloom tomatoes and seasonal produce. Stepladder Ranch heritage free-range avocado-fed pork and other local flavors will be paired with wines and live music. Tickets are $95 and sold out last year.
Apple orchard camping is available. More details are available at farmsteaded.com/products/camping-at-windrose-farm.
On Sunday, the festival will be offering traditional Heirloom Tomato Tasting of over 40 varieties, and local chefs and purveyors will be preparing bites of their favorite recipes using Windrose Farm tomatoes and produce. The Farm Stand will be open. Tickets to the festival are still available for $35.
This event is put on by Farmstead Ed, which works to, “Bring folks together with locally grown via Ag Ed experiences, events and gatherings.” For tickets or more information, go to www.FARMsteadED.com or by call (805) 226-2081.
Windrose Farm is a small family farm located east of Paso Robles, near Creston, in San Luis Obispo County. Owners Bill & Barbara Spencer have been farming organic since 1990 and currently follow biodynamic farming practices. In addition to tomatoes and potatoes, Windrose grows onions, garlic, green and dry beans, peppers, eggplant, winter squash, carrots, turnips, beets, cucumbers, melons and many varieties of greens. They also have apples and stone fruit. Their little valley is a unique micro-climate that is good for the diverse crops of lilacs, apples, super-sweet onions and melons.
