Mokichi Okada Assn. Wellness Center in West L.A.

The Mokichi Okada Assn., also known as MOA, was established in 1980 to continue the work and founding principles of Mokichi Okada. In the 1930s, Okada developed a healthcare system based on new medicine with the intention of nourishing the body, mind and spirit by creating a healthy civilization in harmony with nature.

Through the fields of medicine, agriculture and the arts, MOA aims to prevent illness and promote wellness. The organization also includes the Okada Health and Wellness Program, structured to incorporate the practices of the three major enterprises of MOA -- the Okada Purifying Therapy, Nature Farming and Arts and Culture Therapy -- into everyday life. Activities such as the Japanese tea ceremony and flower arranging are believed to act as therapies fostering physical and spiritual health. 

The organization, which has centers scattered throughout Japan, has branched out to international locations in Hawaii and, more recently, California. In 1999, retired farmers Tadashi and Yoko Mori donated five acres in Fresno to MOA. The farm promotes Okada's philosophy to respect the soil and not resort to artificial chemicals such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, in order to produce natural, chemical-free foods rich in vital energy and flavor for the community. The now 10-acre farm and orchard, called the Oasis Garden, offers certification programs, seasonal classes and CSA produce boxes, also available at the center in West L.A.

The MOA Wellness Center in Mar Vista opened in March 2010. Walk in and you've entered a quiet haven, a definite gem in the midst of the bustling city. In addition to offering Angelenos produce from the farm in Fresno, the center holds workshops on home gardening and raw food. On any visit, the tea ceremony is a must.

4533 S. Centinela Ave., L.A., (310) 574-9900, moawellness.org.

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Photos: The Oasis Farm in Fresno. Credit: Moa-fresno.org

Joe Miller of Joe's teaches fifth-graders how to cook

While finishing her master gardener course, Venice resident Nora Dvosin spotted a 60-by-40-foot prospect plot for planting at a local elementary school and immediately started planning a co-gardening project. In partnership with landscape artist and master gardener Nancy Griffin, principal Betty Coleman and Westminster Avenue Elementary School students, Dvosin's project, called We Garden, has since expanded to more than a quarter-acre.

Students plant, tend to and harvest through the garden project and now, with the help of Joe Miller of Joe's Restaurant (which last month celebrated its 20th anniversary), students engage in a once-a-month cooking class in which they're introduced to ingredients and cooking techniques.

The next class is Friday at 11 a.m. In addition to Westminster Avenue Elementary's fifth-graders, Dvosin says the public is welcome too.

1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 392-3041.

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Upper photo: The We Garden plot. Credit: Andrea Torng

Lower photo: Joe Miller of Joe's Restaurant. Credit: Andrea Torng

Outstanding in the Field comes to town in November

Outstanding in the Field -- a mobile supper club, if you will -- is finishing up its 2011 farm-to-table tour with a two-day stop in Hollywood. The big red-and-white bus tours the nation from coast to coast once a year, setting up table at diverse locations like ranches, sea caves, mountaintops and even urban landscapes; in this case, community garden Wattles Farm (just a couple blocks off Hollywood Boulevard).

Wattles Farm master gardeners Toby Leaman, who is also president of the Wattles Farm board of directors, and Reed Poverny will host the events Nov. 2 and 3.

The event on Nov. 3, featuring chef Jamie Lauren of Vodvil LA, is sold out, but there's still availability for the dinner on Nov. 2; Outstanding will be announcing the guest chef for Wednesday's event shortly.

Tickets are $220 per person and include a reception with wine and passed appetizers, a tour of the farm and a dinner using local ingredients. Outstandinginthefield.com.

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Photo credit: Jeremy Fenske

Family supper benefit at Good Girl Dinette

On Oct. 3, Good Girl Dinette will host a family supper benefiting the Young Folks Urban Farmers' project at the Los Angeles Leadership Academy's urban farm.

The Young Folks Urban Farmers is a collective of young people looking to change the way urban L.A. eats. The group has partnered with the academy in Lincoln Heights to bring the community a 4-acre farm (currently growing tomatoes, beans, squash, cucumbers, strawberries, melons and peppers) where the collaborative effort of backyard farmers, students, staff, faculty and parents approach sustainability through urban food production.

The Oct. 3 dinner will help fund an Urban Farming elective course offered to high school students at  the academy this fall as well as an after-school program. The meal will be completely sourced from local farmers and prepared by Diep Tran, founder and chef of the American-Vietnamese diner, and team.

Tickets are $35 per person and may be purchased online through EventBrite or at Good Girl Dinette.

110 N. Ave. 56, L.A., (323) 257-8980, goodgirlfoods.com.
 
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Photo: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times

5 Food Events You Should Know About: Salute! beer festival; A.O.C wine tastings; Lambrusco Day at Cube; garden workshop; L.A. Street Food Fest

Salute! beer and food festival: Ojai Beverage Co. hosts the 2nd annual Salute! More than 100 beers from local and national craft breweries will be paired with food from regional restaurants, benefiting local community organizations including the American Cancer Society. Featured craft breweries include Lagunitas Brewing Co. from Petaluma and North Coast Brewing Co. from Fort Bragg. There's a VIP tasting on Friday  with a connoisseurs beer reception followed by a four-course dinner. An unlimited beer and food-tasting session takes place Saturday. Tickets start at $43.30 (including tax) and are available online at salutebeerfestival.com. 655 E. Ojai Ave., Ojai, (805) 646-1700.

Destination wine: Every Monday night, A.O.C. hosts "Flights & Bites" offering wine tastings accompanied by small plates from different regions around the world. Two flights of wine are paired with cuisine from the region. Upcoming wine capital destinations include Santa Ynez's Dragonette Cellars on Monday and Languedoc-Roussillon on June 27. 8022 W. Third St., L.A., 323-653-6359, aocwinebar.com.

Perfect pair: Cube Café celebrates a wine favored among its staff and patrons by participating in International Lambrusco Day. On June 21, the restaurant will be offering special discounts on the Medici Ermete Lambrusco "Concerto" and the Rinaldini Lambrusco "Vecchio Moro" throughout the day, whether by the glass, half-bottle or bottle, along with recommended food pairings such as pizza Napoletana and spicy fried chicken. 615 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 939-1148 x1, eatatcube.com.  

Urban farmer: Located in Mar Vista, Ocean View Farms boasts more than 500 garden plots and flower gardens. On June 26 at 10 a.m. the six-acre West L.A. community garden is offering a free workshop, "From the Ground Up: Seed Starting and Garden Planning," courtesy of master gardener Christy Wilhelmi. 3300 S. Centinela Ave., Los Angeles, (310) 915-1123, oceanviewfarms.net.

Street food at the Rose Bowl: On July 16, the Pasadena Rose Bowl will be taken over by the L.A. Street Food Fest to host the 2 nd annual Summer Tasting Event. More than 80 vendors, including  gourmet food trucks and celebrity chefs, will bring street food to the historic site. Tickets are $25 to $150. Brookside Park, 360 N. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena, lastreetfoodfest.com.

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Photo: Salute! Credit: Salutebeerfestival.com

Canning It: Working under pressure

When most people think of canning, they think of boiling water canning; taking food that has been placed in jars and boiling it for a recommended amount of time to make it last.

When you make fruit jam or pickles that way, you have something to eat and perhaps some handsome gifts to give away. But there are limitations to what can be boiling water processed and you can’t really feed your family on jelly and pickles. This is where pressure canning comes in.

Pressure canners (which are different than pressure cookers) are huge industrial-looking pots that have clamps and gauges, weights and valves and 12-page instruction manuals that are downright intimidating.  But don’t let that stop you. It’s simpler thank you think. All you have to do is follow the directions.

Food altar: Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative plans public communal table

Bringing together art, food and community, the Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative will be organizing a public communal table, laid out in Sicilian tradition (known as a "St. Joseph's table") on March 18-20.  

There will be about 800 servings of pasta e fagioli, or Italian bean soup, for parishioners to eat. The event also includes lectures, visits to community gardens and exhibitions at the Watts Towers Arts Center. Money raised will be distributed to Watts residents through local food pantries, the Watts Senior Citizens Center and the arts center.

The communal table will feature a variety of ritual breads, plants and fruits. The organizers need as much help as they can get -- donations and volunteers alike. For more information, see the Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative website.

For monetary donations, make checks payable to "St. Alban's -- Discretionary Fund" and send by March 17 to St. Joseph in Watts, c/o St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 580 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024. For nonperishable food donations: drop off at the above address or at Mudtown Farms, c/o Watts Labor Community Action Committee, 10950 South Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90059. (Please state when dropping food off that it is a donation for the “Communal Tables in Watts” food drive.)

-- Emma Wartzman 

Photo: A St. Joseph's table. Credit: Times archives

Urban CSA project ending in September

The urban community supported agriculture program we wrote about earlier this year is not continuing after this season, its first.

"We have found that we are unable to produce enough food to justify the cost of the program for participants, and unable to operate the program in a way that is financially sustainable," Heartbeet Gardeners wrote in an e-mail to its subscribers.

The project ends Sept. 18. The three women who run Heartbeet, a garden consulting business, had hoped to produce food at a few homes. People would then buy shares in the project and get weekly produce baskets.

Heartbeet has another idea to get people digging in the dirt: A series of workshops are planned in which participants will work at one house and take what they learn home to plant their own food gardens. Topics will include seed propagation, planting, maintenance, pest control and harvesting, said Sara Carnochan of Heartbeet.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Joy Conrad-Mogin, 4, helps plant squash in a garden in the front yard of her parents' Larchmont Village home. Theirs was one of the houses used in the project. Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times
 

 

Memories of Copia, and a lesson well learned

Our recent story about Napa at a crossroads -- and the efforts to revive Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts -- brought back some fond memories for one reader. Mel Raab and his wife, Jan, visited Copia a few years ago on their first visit to Napa, and their garden has never looked the same. Here, he recalls that magical night when he became a mulberry farmer -- and his hopes for Copia's revival:

Copia's gardeners were startled by the dark red dripping down my arm, but all I wanted was more information on the tree I had just been standing under.

Here's how the night started:

As we pulled up into Copia's lot, we eyed grapes on haphazard vines clawing their way up the surrounding fence. If this is what passed for weeds in Napa, we couldn't imagine what Copia's gardens would hold. We noticed the manicured gardens fronting the two tracts near Copia's main building. The weather was inviting and the gardens vivid, so before going deeper indoors to Copia's formal exhibits, we stepped among the careful plantings.

San Francisco government takes on food

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has issued a directive that he hopes will change the way residents of his city eat. It takes on community gardens, food in institutions such as jails and hospitals, and locally grown food. The San Francisco Chronicle has more.

-- Mary MacVean

(Photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)