NYC to Sebastopol: Former fashion designer styles new, delicious life on Sebastopol farm

Viviane Bauquet Farre’s dream to grow food year-round led her from the bustling streets of Manhattan to a long-abandoned property at the end of a bumpy, country lane in Sebastopol. She shares recipes from her farm.|

One does not look at Viviane Bauquet Farre and think ‘homesteader,’ but that’s exactly what this former New York City fashion designer has become.

Petite, with a chic bob hairstyle and dressed in a knit v-neck sweater and jeans, Farre exudes a simple elegance, much like the perfectly-put-together farm she has toiled over for the past five years.

Her dream to grow food year-round led her from the bustling streets of Manhattan to the end of a bumpy, country lane in Sebastopol and a long-abandoned property, complete with a collapsed well.

It was hardly a homesteader’s paradise, but Farre has turned the weed-covered property into what feels like a Garden of Eden that feeds her, her husband and a small host of others through her bespoke CSA subscription.

A CSA — community-supported agriculture or cropsharing — is a system in which a consumer subscribes to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms.

“The farm has been a fantastic teacher. It’s changed how I approach recipes, and how I live my life,” said Farre as she walked around her garden, which, at a quarter of an acre, takes up a fraction of the 8.5-acre parcel of land she calls Sky Farm.

The property is pristine and laid out carefully with cut flower and herb gardens, a small orchard with 80 fruit trees, plus several varieties of berries — including hard-to-find ollalieberries and honeyberries that look like oblong blueberries — to ensure she has fruit all year round.

Rows of leafy greens and vegetable crops are numbered and charted so she knows exactly what she will grow where, next. A greenhouse in the middle anchors it all.

On this particular spring morning, rose-like heads of radicchio, beds of leeks and spring onions, and fat stalks of asparagus, poking from the soil, were all ready to be harvested.

The asparagus had been an hors d’oeuvres along with artichokes for dinner the night before.

“When you see how much work and effort and care goes into that, you eat more mindfully. And I feel like when you start doing that, you start living your life more mindfully. It changes you over time,” Farre said, with a subtle French accent.

She does all the farming herself, turning the soil by hand. She makes her own compost, and everything is organic. She keeps pests at bay with netting to cover tender plants and flowers that attract beneficial insects. Solar energy powers her home and farm.

It’s all part of the circular economy she set out to create. She has no plans to expand her CSA, which she began in 2021 and feeds 14 families beside her own.

“The CSA is not there to make money, but is there to cover my bills,” she said. “It is creating a life that’s sustainable and that sustains us.”

No compromises

Although she spent more than 20 years in the fashion business, including running her own successful knitwear line (coincidentally, or maybe serendipitously, called Hothouse), all she really wanted to do was exactly what she’s doing now.

“One of the wonderful things about getting older is that I realize I don’t have to compromise. I can create the life that I want,” said Farre, who is 60.

Growing up in New Caledonia, a French Island in the South Pacific, a career in food was unfathomable, but she’s always loved cooking.

“When I was a child, the happiest moments of my childhood were running to my grandmother after school (and) seeing what she’s cooking and insisting on helping,” said Farre.

As a teen, she bought copies of French Elle magazine to make the recipes.

After college at Pepperdine University, she began gardening, even in the smallest of garden beds and plots, but the cold winters in the Northeastern U.S. meant she couldn’t do what she loved most for months at a time.

“I used to cry for a week when I had to close my garden,” she said. “It literally was like somebody was tearing my heart out for me to put it on pause until May, it was agony for me.”

As she transitioned from fashion (an industry she describes as cutthroat) to food, she launched a website, Food & Style where she shares recipes, created a YouTube channel for cooking videos, and wrote a cookbook with a focus on greens.

A homemade life

Her refrigerator and pantry are as organized and impressive as her garden.

The freezer is packed neatly with jars of pestos, pureed peppers, and homemade soups. The pantry contains jams, liqueurs and dried fruits, all made from items grown on her farm.

It’s also where she ages some of the 30-cheese varieties she makes herself — everything from Camembert to taleggio to her own cheese creations, including a washed-rind cheese made with Gravenstein apple cider.

Some of the milk for this project comes from her neighbor’s three dairy cows that she lets graze the rolling hills behind her home in exchange for a weekly gallon of milk.

She estimates her grocery bills run about $200 a month. About the only things she buys, she said are eggs, butter, milk, avocados and pantry staples like flour and sugar, plus the occasional luxury ingredient like specialty oils (she has her own farm-grown olive oil) and buffalo mozzarella during peak tomato season.

“The first caprese of the season always brings smiles. We haven’t had tomatoes in months,” Farre said. “Eating seasonally makes you excited about every meal you have.”

In addition to feeding her husband and herself, she enjoys hosting private dinners and creates elaborate restaurant-quality, vegetarian menus.

Farre spends one or two days a week testing recipes for these multi-course dinners, and explains how she layers flavors, like those in her beet-and-citrus salad that includes four kinds of beets, pickled fennel, elderberry compote and an anise vinaigrette.

“It’s not like SingleThread (Farm at Dry Creek in Healdsburg). It’s not about sauces. It’s not complex like that, but it’s (also) not like Alice Waters, (the owner of the first U.S. farm-to-table restaurant, Chez Panisse in Berkeley) which is fresh and simple. It’s kind of in between those two,” she said.

On nights she’s not entertaining, her meals are typically fresh and simple, often out of necessity, with the garden dictating what’s for dinner.

“I have very long, busy days and it could be 6:30 and I haven’t even thought about what I’m making for dinner,” she said. “I walk around and I pick a few things and within an hour dinner is served. With the food I have available I can make a simple dinner very quickly.”

Every Sunday, she said, is beans and greens day.

Even the dried beans, a variety called Tongues of Fire, come from her garden. Once they’re dry, she said she and her husband will spend a few hours shelling beans and watching movies together.

With a nod to Earth Day on April 22, she said, growing her own food and eating seasonally has connected her deeply to the life cycle of the planet.

“It expands my consciousness,” she said, acknowledging it may sound a little ‘woo-woo.’ “But it’s not at all coming from that ‘woo-woo’ place.”

Farre has fashioned a beautiful – even enviable — life at Sky Farm. And while not many would have the ambition she does to make it happen, she encourages anyone, even those with limited space to try growing their own garden, especially with things like lettuce and greens.

“The joy of planting your own vegetables and harvesting them and eating them is amazing and it changes the way you think about life in a profound way.”

Bruschetta with Fresh Goat Cheese & Shaved Asparagus

Makes 4 bruschetta

Viviane Bauquet Farre sometimes doesn’t even bother to cook the stalks of fat, fresh asparagus she cuts from her garden so she can enjoy its sweet flavor which pairs wonderfully here with goat cheese. Serve one as an appetizer or two plus a salad for a light lunch or dinner.

4 1/2-inch thick slices ciabatta or other light, crusty country bread – toasted or grilled

5 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Fine sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

8 large asparagus – tough ends snapped off and shaved lengthwise with a vegetable peeler

2 tablespoons minced chives

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Place the toasted or grilled bread slices on a cutting board. Top the slices with the crumbled goat cheese. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Gather several asparagus slices and stack them together. Then bend them in the shape of a “U” and place them on top of a bruschetta. Sprinkle with the chives and drizzle with the olive oil. Repeat with the other slices. Place the bruschetta on a serving tray and serve immediately.

Wilted Spinach and Chickpeas with Grilled Lemons

Makes 4 servings

Beans and greens are a Sunday tradition for Bauquet Farre all year round. Although she often uses Tongue of Fire beans which she grows, chickpeas or any other white bean are good options. She uses whatever greens are available and abundant, including collard greens, kale, and spinach, which she grows year-round.

For the grilled lemons

2 lemons – cut in half crosswise

1 teaspoon olive oil

For the chickpeas

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes

2 large garlic cloves – skinned and very thinly sliced

3 cups cooked chickpeas

1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid from the chickpeas (or spring water)

Fine sea salt to taste

8 ounces spinach leaves

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Pre-heat grill or griddle to high heat. Brush the cut-side of the lemons with the olive oil. Grill the cut-side until grill marks appear. Set aside.

Heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat. Add the oil, chili pepper flakes and garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds until the garlic softens but doesn’t brown. Add the chickpeas and reserved cooking liquid. Continue to sauté for 1 minute until warmed through. Add the salt and half the spinach. As soon as the spinach starts to wilt, add the remaining spinach, tossing constantly until the spinach just starts to wilt, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and transfer to a serving bowl. Drizzle with a little olive oil, garnish with the grilled lemon slices. Squeeze the lemon over the dish at the table.

Fingerling Potatoes with Persillade

Makes 4 servings

Bauquet Farre keeps a jar of clarified butter, which is butter with the milk solids removed, in a jar in the refrigerator. Clarified butter has a higher smoke point than regular butter, which means you can cook with it at higher temperatures. It’s also a good option for those with dairy intolerances. Bauquet says this potato side dish will be “the most delicious you’ve ever had.”

For the clarified butter

1 stick ounces unsalted butter (4 ounces)

For the persillade

3 large garlic cloves – peeled

1 ounce Italian parsley leaves (about 4 large sprigs, coarse stems removed)

For the potatoes

1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes – left whole and unpeeled

4-5 tablespoons clarified butter

Fine sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

To make the clarified butter: Heat the butter in a small, heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cook very gently undisturbed for 15 to 20 minutes. The butter will separate into 3 layers: a foamy layer on top, a clear liquid in the middle, and small crumb-like deposits at the bottom of the pan. When the deposits are golden, the clarified butter is done. Carefully pour the butter through a sieve lined with butter muslin or a coffee filter. Transfer to a Mason jar. The clarified butter can be refrigerated for up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature before using.

To make the persillade: Coarsely chop the garlic and move to the side of the cutting board. Coarsely chop the parsley. Add the garlic to the chopped parsley and finely chop the two ingredients together. Place the persillade in a small bowl and set aside.

Place the potatoes in a medium, heavy bottom pot and fill with enough water to cover the potatoes by 2 inches. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and fast-simmer uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Drain and let cool for a few minutes. If the potatoes are small, leave them whole. If they are larger than 3 inches, cut them in half lengthwise.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the clarified butter to generously cover the pan. As soon as the butter is melted, add the potatoes. Toss well and sauté undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes until golden. Toss the potatoes and continue sautéing for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, until golden on all sides, tossing occasionally. Add the salt, pepper and persillade. Toss well and sauté for 30 seconds only. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Graue at 707-521-5262 or jennifer.graue@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JenInOz.