December 3, 2011
Last weekend I was transported to my ranch-life fantasy at the annual apple cider-making party at Rancho San Julian in the Santa Ynez Valley. It was a wonderful tableau of a life connected to the land, with a total mix of the community—from nuns to cowboys to a fab French woman in full finery—coming together to peel apples, send them through the mill, and press the cider. It was also a time of kids climbing in trees and sharing stories under the shade of old oak trees. What a perfect American-made moment: a celebration of extended family and the land that connects us all.
