Yoga And Wellness On The Ranch - A Lovely Time Had By All!

Yoga session at the end of the day with Patti Cocciolo of the Goodness blog

Wow! What a day we had on Sunday at the first ever Marin Agricultural Land Trust/Healing Farm joint retreat at Stemple Creek Ranch! I was so thrilled that the event sold out and we had forty people join us for a day of relaxing and learning about how our bodies connect to this incredible agricultural land.

Thank you to our participants for taking the time to spend a day at the ranch learning practical solutions for your every day health! Also to Loren and Lisa Pocia for hosting us on your gorgeous land. Overall, Loren's talk about the history of the ranch and carbon farming was a highlight for everyone. Thank you also to Stacy Lauer for the wonderful organic food, MALT for partnering with THF to put this incredible retreat on, Jennifer Cooper for your nutrition talk and movement class and Patti Cocciolo of The Goodness blog for ending our day with such a relaxing all-level yoga session and to our surprise guest, Jay Holecek  (dubbed "the chocolate cowboy") for our afternoon dark chocolate tasting.

I could go on and on in words, but since I'm also a photographer want to show you more in pictures:

Early morning at Stemple Creek

Check in and welcome.....

Loren teaching us about the soil

More with Loren....

Therapeutic movement with Jennifer Cooper....

Picnic on the hill!

After lunch loveliness....

Jennifer's nutrition talk....

During the afternoon break, therapeutic chef Jay Holcek dubbed "the chocolate cowboy" by me and my hubby joined us for a little dark chocolate tasting. Guests also enjoyed time to loll in the sunshine. I especially loved the ladies knitting and lying down on a hay bale while chatting. A perfect image from the day:

and to end the day, yoga in the barn (too warm on the deck!) with Patti Cocciolo...

Stemple Creek Grass-Fed Meats

Stemple Creek Grass Fed Skirt Steak Tacos With Chimichurri Sauce

Me at the Marin Agricultural Land Trust Table - Marin Civic Center Farmer's Market

As I look forward to The Healing Farm's partnership with Marin Agricultural Land Trust and the one-day "Wellness and Yoga on the Ranch Retreat" we will host at Stemple Creek Ranch, I've been wanting to try Stemple Creek grass-fed beef and lamb. I was so excited when I learned they had a table at the Marin Civic Center Farmer's Market this past Sunday where I was volunteering at Marin Agricultural Land Trust's table.

Not only did I have a great time informing people of the great work that MALT does to protect agricultural land in Marin from development, but I also had fun talking about how MALT-protected properties have been supplying the bay area with incredible food sources for so many years. Represented right there at the Farmer's market were various vendors that source their supplies from MALT protected farmers and ranchers including Cowgirl Creamery - already a local food source that I love.

I knew I needed to take a break from the MALT table to run over to the Stemple Creek folks and buy some meat! What a great opportunity! I found in their bins a few options that fit my budget and decided on skirt steak and a couple of lamb shoulder chops.

When my husband and I fire up the grill (charcoal) we try to cook a bunch of things at once since it's just the two of us and a LOT of hot coals. We went to work and I made a few organic hot dogs for a quickie lunches served with farmer's market sauerkraut, relish and no bun,  Indian style marinated lamb chops for the next day's meal and Chimichurri skirt steak tacos for a fun Mexican themed meal. Served with fresh summer corn and an incredibly simple arugula salad (all organic and most ingredients purchased at the farmer's market) gosh, the tacos were good, fresh and easy! Seasoned with just a little salt and pepper on the skirt steak for grilling, I couldn't help but snitch a couple of strips just off the grill before putting them on the tacos. Delicious!