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Fruit and Spice and everything nice

Posted in agritourism, location, photo, restaurant, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2012| 2 Comments »

Mango Cafe at the Fruit and Spice Park

Recently, farmer Margie Pikarsky and her husband Nick, daughter Rachel and my friend John DeFaro joined me for lunch at the Mango Cafe, located at the Fruit and Spice Park. The Cafe is by the park’s main entrance, inside a rustic wooden house. We were there for the fruit sampler, made fresh daily from whatever fruits are ripe that day in the park. Talk about extreme locavore! But the sampler was sold out so we had to console ourselves with other fresh, local delicacies like Florida lobster roll, shrimp tacos, and mango-passionfruit shakes.

John DeFaro and Margie Pikarsky dig in to lunch. On the wall behind is a picture of the Redland District Band of 1913, and a Redland District tour guide from the 1930s.

The wooden house is not as old as it looks. It’s a reproduction. The original was built in 1902 by pioneer settler John Bauer, and got destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The replica was rebuilt with FEMA funds and completed in 2002. Inside the house (where the original living and dining rooms would have been), framed old photos and maps lined the walls. Over by the front door was a map with charred edges. It’s the original planting guide that had been saved from a fire. By our table was a series of pictures of the first land survey for the park in 1944, the year the park opened. Sixty eight years ago the land was almost completely barren, except for a scattering of royal palms and Australian pines. Big difference between then and now!

Now the 37 acre county park is lush with over 500 varieties of fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs and nuts, some you may have heard of, and many you might not have. Tram tours will take you around, and the guide will fill you in about the plants and the history of the park. Where else in Miami would you find 150 varieties of mangos, 75 varieties of bananas, crimson gak fruit, sensitive cacao growing sheltered in a heated greenhouse, or annatto to stain your fingertips bright orange?

Park manager Chris Rollins

Fruit and Spice Park is also the site for many events and festivals throughout the year. Coming up this month is the Redland Heritage Festival, which will feature historical exhibits, local arts and crafts, and an Everglades reptile show. At one Heritage Festival a few years ago, I remember admiring a collection of vintage tractors, and at another sampling a variety of mangoes. Coming up later in the year, the park will also host the Asian Culture festival, the Redland International Orchid Show, and summer’s Mango Mania.

If you haven’t been to the park, go! It’s nothing you’ve seen before. If you haven’t gone in a while, go again. They’ve added an herb garden and a large pond edged with many varieties of bamboo. The place changes as different plants bloom and bear at different times of the year. Word to the curious — please don’t pick fruits off trees, but you may taste what has fallen to the ground. Most plants or fruits are safe to nibble, unless a sign warns otherwise.

37th Annual Redland Heritage Festival
January 21 and 22, 2012 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission $8 (children 11 and under are free)

Fruit and Spice Park
24801 SW 187 Ave. Homestead FL
305-247-5727

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Wild dogs kill again

Posted in animals, farm, photo, tagged , , , on January 2, 2012| 5 Comments »

Durian the cat liked to follow me around on the farm and tell me things. I will miss our conversations.

Durian the cat is dead. He was killed in his sleep the other night by a wild dog that crawled under the car where the cat was sleeping. The dog went for the cat’s throat, slashing its jugular, and the cat didn’t have a chance. It was dragged by the dog to the other side of the carport and left to die.

Durian was one of the many cats that lived at Farmer Margie’s farm. She and her husband Nick have taken to sleeping lightly, with one ear open for any sign of approaching wild dogs. Even in his sleep, Nick heard barking and went out into the dark night at 1:30 am to drive them away.

Outside, he heard a cat scream, searched, and found the lifeless body of Durian. It was a thrill kill. Those wild dogs had blood lust and killed just for the sake of killing. They might have come to kill chickens, and found the cat instead. They ran away when Nick came on the scene.

Those wild dogs were once somebody’s pets. Small, cute, pampered. Or maybe yappy, nippy and unmanageable. In any case, their owners decided they had enough. Why dump dogs out in the countryside instead of take them to the shelter where they can be adopted? Some people foolishly think that domesticated animals can “fend for themselves” if left to run loose.

And they are partly right. Wild dogs do learn to fend for themselves. Their instincts kick in and they kill. Rats, possums, chickens –and cats. Sometimes to survive, and sometimes just for the thrill — the sheer wild crazy excitement of tearing a victim animal apart.

The killings at Bee Heaven Farm started a few years ago, and increased in the past several months. In an earlier attack back in October, wild dogs tried to get at chickens that live inside a mobile coop called a chicken tractor, but the dogs didn’t succeed. Farmer Margie lost dozens of chickens in similar previous incidents this year and last, and as a result egg production is way down. Animal deaths on the farm are not only heartbreaking but also have an economic impact.

But dog dumpers don’t think about the effect their heartless act of shoving an animal out of a car will have on others. Margie is not the only one to suffer losses this year. Her farm manager Sadie wept when wild dogs killed her pregnant pig, right in broad daylight. She tried to run them off but it was too late. In fall, Hani Khouri the cheesemaker had dogs attack several pregnant goats. The does survived the attacks, but later gave birth to stillborn kids. Hani was upset and heartbroken for days. I’m sure there are plenty other attacks that happened in Redland this year that I haven’t heard about.

Durian relaxing at home with his loved ones. Photo by Rachel Pikarsky.

It’s only a matter of time before a dog will lose its fear and attack a human. Farmer Tim Rowan had dogs menace him on his farm, more than once. Now he carries a gun whenever he steps out of his house to work in his field. Even I had a run in with two large dogs that wandered onto Bee Heaven Farm at dusk a couple years ago. I heard a deep throaty growl, turned and saw the dogs. I yelled and managed to run them off, but my heart was racing with fear, and I had dreams about the encounter for nights afterwards.

Next time a wild dog attacks — and there will be a next time and a next time — I hope and pray the victims are not animals I know. Durian was a sweet, much-loved pet, and was my animal friend, too. My heart grieves for his senseless death.

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Party at the farm

Posted in agritourism, comic, events, farm, food, photo, tagged , on December 29, 2011| 1 Comment »

First, the Miami Herald mentioned the 7th Annual Farm Day at Bee Heaven Farm in its Thursday food section, right at the top of page 2. Then Short Order posted the news. (And it was also posted on this blog.) “Oh no,” Farmer Margie worried out loud. “How many people are coming? A thousand?” She didn’t know what to expect. A couple years ago, over 300 people showed up for Farm Day, and her five acre farm felt crowded.

But the feared stampedes didn’t come, and if you stayed away for that reason, you missed out on some laid-back country fun. About 250 people came to hang out, eat, listen to live music, go on a hay ride, build a scarecrow, and shop at the farm market set up inside the barn. There you could find all kinds of fresh produce, honey, salt, and rice — all local and most organic (honey and salt can’t be certified organic). Outside, people browsed through a heirloom tomato plants. It was a gorgeous day — sunny but not too hot, and with enough breeze so it didn’t feel too humid.

Families brought kids of all ages. There were lots of stroller size babies. Plenty of young engineers rigged up scarecrows out of PVC pipe sections, old clothes and hay.

The biggest thrill was the hay ride. Kids and their parents perched on bales of hay loaded on a trailer hitched to the green John Deere tractor. Every 20 minutes, Farmer Margie took them for a tour. They rode at a leisurely two miles an hour as they circled the farm. Margie pointed out flats of tomato seedlings, compost piles, bee hives, avocado groves and different things growing in various vegetable beds. As soon as one ride was over, another group of kids and parents climbed aboard, staked out their seats, and waited patiently for the next ride. Margie and her tractor went around and around the farm a bunch of times that day.

Dim Ssam a GoGo, one of the nationally renowned food trucks from Sakaya Kitchen, was set up near the barn. (It was recently featured on Anthony Bourdain’s new show, The Layover.) The menu featured dragon tongue heirloom beans prepared by chef Mac in the special SK way with lots of chopped ginger and a hit of soy sauce. They went very nicely with my favorite, roasted brussels sprouts. (Never liked brussels sprouts before, but now this is the only way I’ll eat them, with soy and ginger, so good!).

People ate sitting on bales of hay at tables set up in front of the barn. Nearby was a tent and platform set up for local folk musicians Jennings & Keller, formerly of Homestead’s now departed Main Street Cafe. They performed at last year’s Farm Day also.

The Real Sorbet food cart was popular too. Owners Nick and Tessa Mencia were offering tastes and scooping up cupfuls of their handmade frozen fruit treats. The featured flavor was Black Sapote, made from fruit grown not too far away from where the cart was standing. Their concoction included chopped hazelnuts, almond milk, cocoa and a hit of espresso. It made for an interesting, mocha-ish flavor, but the dark earthy flavor of black sapote could have been stronger. Tessa said their specialty is vegan, non-dairy sorbet made with local fruit in season (some flavors may contain nuts or alcohol).

At the end of the party, Farmer Margie raffled off a rare, discontinued Smith & Hawken BioStack Composter. She fished it out of her secret stash in the barn somewhere. They haven’t been seen in stores in years, and are a coveted prize. Anyone who donated $5 got a chance at winning it. Miracle of miracles, the lucky winner was Roly Masferrer. And Bill Dickhaus won the produce box stuffed full of fresh veggies. Congratulations Roly and Bill! If you bought a ticket and didn’t win this year, come back next year and try again, while there’s still composters left.

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Holiday greetings

Posted in photo, tagged on December 25, 2011|

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Schnozzle eggplants

Posted in photo, vegetables, tagged , on December 10, 2011| 1 Comment »


Most Italian eggplants come in the same old boring oval shapes. But every once in a while you’ll meet a schnozzle eggplant — one with a nose. Here’s a whole family of schnozzles that sneaked aboard the truck from Worden Farm. (What do they feed their veggies over there anyway??) Looks like quite the party with conversations going on. Except for the poor guy over on the right with a turned up nose. Nobody’s talking to him… so lonely… Why do eggplants grow noses? Why not! Look for these characters at the Pinecrest Gardens Farmers Market this Sunday, and strike up a conversation with them!

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