A fragrant orange grove, a couple of charming farmers, and a friendly flock of egg-laying fowl. All that plus a meal from guest chefs Albert DeSue and Mike Camacho of Mockingbird to the field kitchen. Mockingbird is known for its progressive and eclectic tasting menus featuring hyperlocal ingredients and inventive takes on Florida cuisine. Think crab salad, Gulf coast oysters, and a smattering of Florida-grown fruits and vegetables — from star fruit to okra to avocados to amaranth. This is bound to be a fun one.
Taxonomy: 2022 Winter Tour
Holman’s Harvest
Lush beds of organically grown vegetables, tropical fruit trees heavy with ripe winter fruit, a flock of free-running pastured hens. That’s about as good as it gets. Holman’s Harvest is an inspiring place to spend an afternoon, especially when feasting on a meal sourced with ingredients growing right behind your seat. After a stroll around the farm, we’ll take a seat at the long table set somewhere between their thriving garden beds (or perhaps in the coconut grove?) for a meal showcasing the best of what the farm has to offer from guest chef Niven Patel. Patel was inducted into Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs Class of 2020 for his passion for locally sourced ingredients which serves as the cornerstone of his cooking philosophy at Orno, his latest venture in Miami.
Arca Tierra
When we first visited Mexico City in January 2020, we were captivated by the chinampas of Xochimilco. The floating gardens of Xochimilco date back to the Aztecs, who created a system of agriculture with crops grown on small islands built-up on interwoven reeds in the shallow freshwater lake beds of the Valley of Mexico. Host farmer Lucio Usobiaga founded Arca Tierra to conserve this ancient farming system. The maze of canals surrounding the floating farms are plied by colorful gondola-like boats festooned with garlands of flowers — quite the jovial setting for a long table meal.
Sweetwater Organic Community Farm
Sweetwater Organic Community Farm is a six-acre parcel of overflowing goodness in the suburbs of Tampa. Here, along Sweetwater Creek, farmer Chris Kenrick and his crew grow organic vegetables and herbs, sharing the harvest with hundreds of Tampa Bay residents through the area’s oldest-running CSA program and farmers’ market. Farmer Chris, who also founded the St. Pete EcoVillage, is a true champion of local foodsheds and sustainable agriculture and believes in building community from the ground up. We’ll toast a glass to that community when we sit down for dinner from award-winning chef Ferrell Alvarez of Rooster & The Till. The Tampa Bay Times named Rooster & The Till the best restaurant in Tampa for two years in a row — and Ferrell has a James Beard nomination under his belt. He’ll cook up quite the feast among Sweetwater’s flourishing fields.