We are, of course, a Mexican restaurant---but we are also a California restaurant, always inspired by the seasons and the amazing bounty that grows in this beautiful state. Our chefs go to farmer’s markets all the time to get produce directly from the source. But because we’re stubborn and always trying to push the limits of our bandwidth to the breaking point, we decided to take the farm to table concept one step further. Shortly after opening in 2020, and by taking a leap of faith on a 1.5 acre hillside in Agoura Hills, we began an experiment to see what would happen if we tried to grow our own produce for the restaurant. Knowing very little about gardening, let alone farming, we threw caution to the wind and with the assistance of some more experienced farmers, began to work the land into something that resembled a plantable farm. In a matter of weeks, a dry hillside transformed into a garden.
We planted a variety of crops ranging from corn, chilis of all sorts, tomatoes, tomatillos, squash, eggplant, and more and to our amazement, everything grew. The hillside quickly came alive, not only with our new sprouting crops, but also with bees, butterflies, and birds and before we knew it, we were swimming in produce. It was amazing and overwhelming because as fast as our plants grew, the native plants grew faster, quickly overtaking the newly irrigated hillside in weeds. And of course, once the cayotes caught wind of what we had going, we had nightly visitors checking out our all you can eat coyote buffet. I found my bandwidth stretched with the restaurant, the farm and life in general. Some weeks I was able to give the farm what it needed and some weeks it went neglected. Farm support has come and gone since we started this project, and balancing the expense of paying people for their help on the farm and how that farm labor translated to our food cost in the restaurant became a bit of a challenge.
This summer crop, I planted mostly by myself. I’ve installed drip irrigation to reduce water consumption given our current drought and I managed to seed a fairly large area with corn, tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, peppers, and more. Is the Mirame farm still a baby as farms go? Yes, without a doubt. But even at its current state, we’re able to supply a large amount of produce for the restaurant with very minimal labor and not much cost.
In the future we hope to find a way to bridge the gap in food production and consumption and to utilize our food waste from the restaurant to fertilize what we grow. We hope to build the farm operation to a point that it can supply a large portion of the produce for the restaurant. This summer, there will be a few select dishes that feature ingredients we grew ourselves. So when you come in, make sure you give them a try and take a moment to appreciate the amazing produce that grows in this beautiful state.
Matt
