HOME: WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY MARIPOSA AGRI-NATURE TOUR APRIL 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010 at 12:54PM 
Oak Knoll Ranch in Mariposa, CA
We spent Saturday in the country. We already live in the country, but this was foothill country instead of the Sierra Nevada proper. The Yosemite gateway town of Mariposa hosts an annual agri-nature tour every April. The tour is an open house event for local farms, ranches and wineries to showcase their locations as well as their products. For $10 per person we visited two wineries, three ranches, and the Mariposa County Compost Facility. We learned about local lamb, local wine, and where all the garbage from Yosemite Valley goes after the dumpster.
But first we had tacos. Because no visit to Mariposa is complete without a visit to Sal's Taco Truck, Ted felt we needed a snack before the ag tour commenced. Parked regularly in Mariposa, this truck also makes regular every-other-Thursday runs to the community of El Portal. Al Pastor tacos are the taco of choice: pork marinated for days with ancho chiles and roasted rotisserie style with gas flame on a trompo, served with pico de gallo, cilantro and lime wedges on corn tortillas.
My first experience with a California taco truck, Sal's introduced me to the wonders of mobile food. No taco trucks where you live? I'm sorry. Check out the California Taco Truck Blog for the lowdown on trucks and Yum Tacos for the Worldwide Taco Truck Map. Satiated with snacks, we picked up our tickets for the tour and headed out Highway 49 to the Mt. Bullion Vineyard for a tasting, where we found these guys playing horseshoes:
The tasting room was crowded with ag tourists taking advantage of the free tastings included with the tour ticket. We managed a sip of Mt. Bullion Estate Zinfandel before moving on to Bear Valley and unsuccessfully locating the Heritage Lavender Farm. However, we did locate the Mariposa County Compost Facility Earth Day Open House, so we took the tour and learned more than we ever cared to know about where all the garbage from Yosemite National Park goes to be processed.
Bear Valley, Mariposa County, CA
Ted checking out the bio-filter at the compost facility
The solid waste from YNP took up one third of the Mariposa County landfill before the advent of the compost facility in 2005. Now most organic and biodegradable waste is composted at this facility to be used as dirt cover for the landfill. Before the facility, Mariposa County paid to have dirt trucked in from outside of the county (!). Other compost facilities exist in California, though this facility site was chosen because of proximity to Yosemite National Park. Apparently a similar facility is located outside of Yellowstone. The most significant information I garnered from this tour? In order to assist with the composting process, use only biodegradable garbage bags or don't use bags at all. The largest trash problem we have is the result of plastic film garbage bags. Though the contents of bags are sorted and organics are composted, the bags themselves go directly into the landfill. Make your tax dollars work more efficiently by addressing the bag problem.
After that sobering encounter with our trash, we inadvertently located the Yosemite Valley Alpaca Farm - and cute as they are (Ted says "not much room for brains in those tiny heads") - I took a pass and decided it was time for lunch at Oak Knoll Ranch.
Fundraiser lunches were served at two ranch locations on the tour and we chose Oak Knoll for Tri-Tip beef and Portobello mushroom sandwiches. Oak Knoll Ranch, with bed & breakfast lodging, is operated by Lisa Sinclair and home to Longhorn cattle and horses. We couldn't have chosen a more pastoral location for lunch in the country:
Grilled Tri Tip beef sandwich
Grilled Portobello mushroom sandwich
We chatted with Lisa during lunch and complimented her on the grilled selections. For $9.00 each, the sandwiches were served with green salad, chips and a choice of soda or bottled water. Ted's Tri-Tip (never heard of Tri-Tip? It's a California thing) was slathered with pico de gallo and grilled to perfection. My grilled Portobello was topped with sun-dried tomato spread and mayo. As we sat munching in the sun, we were soon joined by Lisa's lab, Hannah, who obviously concurred about the tastiness of the lunch service.
After lunch we needed other refreshment, so we traveled some miles down 49 South toward Silver Fox Vineyards. This tasting room was also quite crowded. We were served by vineyard owner Karen Silver and tasted three wines: Meritage, Sierra Cuvee and Cabernet Sauvignon. I chose to go home with a bottle of Meritage for $17.00.
The afternoon was wearing on and we had one more stop to make: Wire Ranch, home of St. Croix hair sheep. Marilyn Wire greeted us on arrival and proudly pointed out the sheep with new lambs. Cute as can be, but tasty too, the Wires indicated how to purchase whole lamb from the ranch and gave us a slow-cooked sample. The ranch was hosting other agricultural ventures, including Bill's Bees honey from SoCal. Not quite local, I chose Sage Wildflower Honey to compliment my beverage purchase and round out my day in the country.
Junket Ratings:
Sal's Taco Truck: Junk in the Trunk!
Mariposa Agri-Nature Trail "Weekend in the Country": Junk in the Trunk!
Oak Knoll Ranch Bed & Breakfast: Junk in the Trunk!
Mt. Bullion Vineyard: Junk-O-Rama
Silver Fox Vineyards: Junk in the Trunk!
CALIFORNIA, FOOD, FOOD TRUCKS, MARIPOSA, WILDFLOWERS, WINE in FOOD, HOME, TRAVEL
Reader Comments (3)
Nice haircut Ted!
Notable quotable: "Cute as can be, but tasty too." This caused me to cackle out loud.
Can't wait to read the next adventure!
I probably shouldn't read your blog when I'm hungry. The fare in my refrigerator looks so bland now!
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