Chopbiscuit on the road: Walking the ranch with Bill & Nicolette Niman

Two weeks ago while in San Francisco expanding my Culinary knowledge along with my waistline I reached out to Bill & Nicolette Niman to see if they had some time for a visit. I have never really had the chance to visit the famous ranch that Bill started over forty years ago so I was really hoping they were up for a visit as well as a tour of the ranch. They were home and told me to come on up, so I grabbed my BFF's (best foodie friend's) Shauna from Sacramento & Chef Eric from NY and off to Bolina's we went.

I've driven Hwy 1 along the California coast many times over the years but never and I mean never with the excitement that I had last Thursday on our way to the farm. I've only met Bill & Nicolette a couple of times, we have some mutual friends and Nicolette & I keep in touch through Facebook so I was so honored that they would take the time for a visit. I'm getting ahead of myself so let me start with the The Niman's:

I could write countless words describing what they have both done for sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry and for the environment. Also, the countless folks like me that they inspire before they even met each other and then 20 more pages on what they have done since they met, wed and had one of the most bright & beautiful little guys I have ever met.

 I would like to tell you what they mean to me.  To me, they are to sustainable agriculture and good living what the Beatles were to music ~they have changed everything. Ok, now don't roll your eyes or stop reading just yet, but they have both in their own ways done more to restore animal husbandry and the restoration of our environment than pretty much anyone you will meet in your life time and have a huge following everywhere they speak and each time they write. They continue sharing, writing & speaking all over the country and beyond. Bill was telling me that he just spent almost two weeks in the UK speaking about his passions and spreading the word. Nicolette in just the last two weeks has attended the 2011 Food Camp @ the prestigious MIT in Cambridge, MA., spoke at Chef Michael 's restaurant Lumiere, (I was able to attend this event) gave a speech at Slow food, Napa Valley's - A Tail of 2 Pigs at the incredible campus of the CIA Greystone, and last but not least, a visit from chopbiscuit. Wow, I'm tired from just typing what they have done lately

As I said before I was really excited for the afternoon but knowing Northern Cali has had a very wet spring with almost 20 inches of rain in a couple of weeks, so I was worried that we would not be able to walk the ranch or even be able to see the operation. So knowing this I was doing my good weather dance and man did it work because not only was it great weather Nicolette commented that it was the best spring day so far this year. I could not agree more, because living in Northern NY we are weeks away  from these kinds of days.
When we finally arrived, Bill greeted us at the door with their Great Dane the wonderful Clair De Lune and followed by Nicolette and Miles with big smiles.

After catching up for a few minutes Miles was ready to lead the charge up the first hill but quickly fell behind because there was so much other cool stuff to check out. We headed to the breeding pens for Heritage Turkeys. As we arrived at the pens, Bill opened the door walked in and Clair was right behind him. My first reaction was to step in front of her and stop Clair from getting to the turkeys but I was about a second too late she bolted in. I was shocked that not only was she excited to be near the turkeys, but the turkeys didn't mind her being in their home. The Toms and Hens just walked all around us and at one point the large Tom was fanning his large tail feathers directly into Clair De Lune's face, it was quite funny. Seeing each breeding pen after breeding pen, (three in total) we saw the same thing: the turkeys were not aggressive or even concerned one bit.

Next we begin walking the ranch and I had to drop back and take a few minutes take it all in. It was almost overwhelming from the beauty and to actually walking the ranch that I have read and heard so much about. It was such a great day and you could smell the ocean and the breeze was great. We walked and talked for hours, watched Miles play in puddles and looked out over the cliffs into the Pacfic Ocean that the ranch drops into. At one point I asked Bill how in the world he ever leaves to go on speaking engagements and such and he looked me and said that if it was for needing "milk money" he would ever leave.

As we approached the first heard of cattle Nicolette & I were hopeful that the now famous female cow "Girlfriend" was in this bunch. At first it didn't look hopeful but in the distance on a hill top Nicolette yelled, "there's Girlfriend" and with that yell we all headed towards her. Now this might not be exciting to some but I can tell you that for me I was really excited because I have read about her in Nicolette's book ~Righteous Porkchop and have seen pictures on line but now was my chance to meet her.

Girlfriend was saved from "going to town" by Nic's lawyering skills. You see, if cows cannot produce calves then they are not much use on a ranch and Girlfriend was not pulling her weight on the ranch so to speak. So after pleading her clemency case she was spared that year and was spared the next year only because she became the perfect babysitter to other calves in the herd. Finally, Girlfriend was with calf and Nic's lawyer skills were not need this season. For the next several years she produced several healthy calves and Bill agreed to allow Girlfriend to live out her days on the ranch. It is quite a story and for a ranch to have a happy ending like this it just puts a big smile on my face. So that's why I was so excited to finally meet her.

We continue to walk and talk, changing from walking with Miles to watching the Niman's walk their incredible piece of heaven on earth. I hope to return one day and even get my hands dirty.. Oh, and one last thing, I don't think I will ever get all of the mud out of my shoes and man does that make me happy, cause every time I look down at my shoes I can be right back on the ranch.

What does "eating local" really mean?

I am a gastronome. No, not the glutton with no sense of restraint, whose enjoyment of food is greater the more plentiful and forbidden it is. No, not the fool who is given to the pleasures of the table and indifferent to how the food got there. I like to know the history of a food and of the place that it comes from: I like to imagine the hands of the people who grew it, transported it, processed it, and cooked it before it was served to me. I do not want the food I consume to deprive others in the world of food. I like traditional farmers, the relationship they have with the earth, and the way they appreciate what is good. The good belongs to everyone: pleasure belongs to everyone, for it is in human nature.”

Carl Petrini – Food Enthusiast

Contentment and food. How many of us enjoy a cooked dinner at home with unabashed bliss? Do we enjoy the food because it facilitates family discussions and remembering? Does the food at the dinner table bring you back to a joyous time during your formative years? For whatever reason, the joy of food has been persistently enjoyed with happiness for millions of fortunate families over the course of mankind. The quandary over the past 50 years is that we’ve enjoyed the giving’s of provisions so much, that we have become lethargic on how the food has arrived at your dinner table. How did that plump turkey disembark on your table for thanksgiving? Was he eradicated on someone’s farm during bow season, or was he raised in a processing mill in Kansas in which he –or- she never saw the light of day until he was inhumanely slaughtered by a minimum wage employee working the morning shift - listening to Eminem on is iPod. If it was the later, your turkey may have been slaughtered, drugged, processed, packed, frozen, shipped and bought for you to enjoy the holidays with your family. Does that affirm “good times” to you? See where I’m getting at here – all around you, people are starting to grasp what eating locally purchased products and sustainable farming can do for your health, habitat and community.


The term “local” has been getting hurled around more than a midget little person at a Howard Stern book signing. If I truly want to eat local, what does it mean? Does it mean, eat at my local Chipotle. Does it denote that I buy cheese from a regional supplier 200 miles away in Vermont. Does my favorite, independently owned local restaurant even “buy local”? So many oxymoron's in the term “local”, wouldn’t you concur?

Let’s try to ultimately define, disect and analyze what eating local means – so that the majority of Americans can interpret for themselves and their families. Again, we are trying to sway your habits away from centralized food production that are friendly retailers are united with, to a local sustainable food economy that benefits you with health, wellness and community.

Let’s quickly chat about what local means in terms of eating.

So, when did this local food movement in the U.S begin to take shape. Was there an overseeing noble, that cast his or her brilliant analogy of this appalling food agribusiness in our society and said “Enough is Enough”? Did the movement actually come to fruition in America, or did it start overseas? It’s truly thorny to pinpoint when this cause came to light, but we know of many regions, organizational groups and wonderful personalities that eventually came to being from it. I personally have been in the food business since the age of 16 - over 20 years, and just recently woke up to this enlightenment.

There’s often discussion on how the local food or “slow food” movement began. Most people who are well-informed will denote this honor to Carlo Petrino. Petrini, an Italian, strived to preserve ethnic and regional cuisine after foreseeing the international expansion of the fast food industry into his native land. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, slow food styling’s strive to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristics of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement. The movement has since expanded globally to over 100,000 members in 132 countries. Its goals of sustainable foods and promotion of local small businesses are paralleled by a political agenda directed against globalization of agricultural products. Wiki; slow food movement

The objectives, as stated on the organization’s website, promotes an ideology of linking the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment. Well, that sounds pretty appeasing, I believe most people could buy into that right?

'nuff said