Meet Chibby this is my new best friend.
I never would have met Chibs if I didn't let God take the reigns and lead me to the most amazing Internship.
At Johnson & Wales University the culinary students have to complete a 12 week internship. This is an opportunity for the students to gain some industry experience and get their foot in the door before graduating college.
When planing for my internship I hoped to go somewhere elaborate and well known. Such as Italy or The French Laundry but God had a different plan for me and I could not be happier. My internship started to be at Cholon (a very well known Asian bistro) in Denver. I couldn't help but feel this knot in my stomach telling me it wasn't right. The next thing I knew an opportunity presented itself for me to be able to change locations and I leaped for it. It felt like jumping off the cliffs of the Grand Canyon blind folded. All I could do was give it to God. I knew in my heart that if I handed it over to him, he would provide. And he did!
With the help of my coordinator I was placed with Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant in Boulder Colorado. This was one of the last places I would have ever thought of. It took me about 5 minutes to fall in love with the idea of working at Leaf. I was hooked by the reviews, the biographies of Chef Rachel Best (The Chef de Cuisine), the menu and the Owners. Lenny and Sara Martinelli own Leaf, as well as one of my families favorite breakfast joints, The Huckleberry. They also own the Boulder Tea House, Aji Latin American Restaurant, Zucca Italian Ristorante, and Naropa Cafe. On top of that they own The Three Leaf Farm, this farm provides fresh produce and farm fresh eggs to the restaurants. They are successfully achieving Farm to Table at its fullest. Every part of this place felt right. I was filled with joy and excitement to be apart of something so relevant to my industry. I know nothing about Vegan cooking and Gluten Free and even vegetarian Cuisine. Leaf is an amazing place for me to learn all of those very important cooking techniques. This opportunity became even more of a blessing once I found out I was going to be able to work on the Farm!! I quickly found the farms Facebook page and found out that they had...
BABY CHICKS
& BABY GOATS
(It has been on my bucket list
for years and years to milk a goat!)
You can imagine I was overjoyed! My entire life I have grown up a city girl and the closest thing I have gotten to farm animals is going to a petting zoo!
As a little girl I grew up eating strawberries from my Grandfathers garden and my whole life I have gardened with my Dad and Mom in our backyard. I remember running outside into Granddaddy's backyard in my little sundress. I can still smell the huge flower garden that my Grandmother was obsessed with. The sweet little strawberries from his patch were so juicy I could never contain the drips that made their way down onto my sundress. (I also remember seeing my first snake and screaming my head off scaring the living daylights out of my whole family...it was a Gardener Snake.) I have so many fond memories of gardens; the thought of working on the farm felt like home.
I had my first day on the farm yesterday and had one of the best days of my life! Chase is the main man running the farm and he is doing an incredible job. Right now they are building a barn to hold their horses. I loved being apart of building the barn by helping dig a massive trench for the electrical system.
They have a ton of chickens. I have never been in contact with a live chicken before so it was quite the experience touching one, alive, for the first time. It really has an effect on the way I think about cooking chicken. I appreciate it so much more! Chase let me help harvest the chicken eggs and that was one of the coolest things for me! There are no words to the joy it brought me. As you can see in the picture on the right they also have a Rooster. His name is Gnarly and he is awesome. It was such a treat hanging out with the chickens, feeding them dinner and putting them to bed.
I spent every spare second with the Goats. Ginger and Peppercorn are the white ones and they have grown up from the first picture. They are pygmy goats so they will never get bigger than this. On the left is Chibby again and she is pregnant. She is due sometime in February/ March so come this spring we will have some little baby goats toddling around!
ALSO MEANING I GET TO MILK A GOAT!!!
As an added bonus, while we were working away, Sara arrived at the farm with TWO MORE Goats!
Meet Sweet Pea & Sugar!
BOTH
are also
Pregnant!!
&
Due in February/March
There are going to be so many babies and so many goats to be milked! I hope I don't get kicked in the face!
Did I mention they also have 2 ponies and 3 horses?!?! Could this place get any better?? AND I haven't even gotten to the produce!!!
This is Chase & Finn Cricket and Merlin (Sara and Lenny's son) Jax & Blue
(Not pictured yet...3 year old horse - Tip)
I loved every part of my day on the Farm and am counting down the hours until I get to go back.
Chase taught me so much! Such as how to drive an ATV, how to tie up water lines in the garden and use a giant pickax. I learned how to plant micro-greens which was so cool! I can't wait to see them grow. I also learned how to feed goats and horses and chickens and how to put them all to bed. I have so much more to learn and many more pictures to take.
I am so thankful for this opportunity and all praise goes to the Big Guy!!
Until next time!!
- Aspiring Farmer Sarah Ruth :D
