Food Is Medicine At Love Apple Farms

There's a “therapeutic chef” whose Santa Cruz roots are so deep that she knew Gayle and Joe Ortiz before they started , typed and helped with Morton Marcus's first three books, prepared a special salad for Kenny Loggins whenever he performed in the area, and once made the cover of Good Times.

Kathy Sullivan Cummins has pursued health through food since the days she had the Santa Cruz catering contract with Bill Graham Presents, the man who created modern rock and roll promoting.

Currently a Natural Chef Instructor at Bauman College on Portola Drive, she also develops recipes and meals-to-go at Her philosophy: “I cook whole things and I support local farmers. Our label at New Leaf is It's All Good. That's the kind of energy I support. Not just eliminating stress, but creating joy!”

Partnership in Foodie Heaven

Trim, copper-haired Kathy Cummins has been added to the prestigious roster of guest chefs at Love Apple Farms. Kathy gives health-enhancing cooking classes at the stupendous farm on Vine Hill Road. Students register for culinary adventures in the classroom overlooking the gardens, the forest and the distant bay.

Love Apple owner and farmer Cynthia Sandberg sat in on Kathy's recent “Beverages With Benefits” class. “My latest thing is Kathy’s beet and ginger kvass.” Sandberg is looking forward to the Dec. 11 “Alternative Proteins” class and the January 8 “Home Sprouting and Sprout Salads.”

“You'll learn how to sprout on your kitchen counter and then make kick-ass vinaigrettes, for which Kathy is famous,” said Sandberg. People register on-line for these and any of the ten or more classes taught each month at Love Apple Farms.

Whole Foods Now On Gourmet Menu

Gourmet classes at Love Apple Farms tickle one’s fancy with macarons, rillettes and terrines, cheese-making, and pie and tart crusts.

 “Cooking for health and healing is not what we've been known for, but it's right in line with what we hope to do,”  said partner Daniel Maxfield. He and Sandberg, and the apprentices and interns are devoted to ensuring that the new class series focuses on “the healing nature of whole, real foods.”

Love Apple Farms originally gained renown for growing 100 varieties of heirloom tomatoes each year. The exclusive kitchen garden for world-renowned Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos, Love Apple provides Chef Kinch’s venue with 300 different cultivars of fruit, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers year round.

Plants are cultivated in redwood boxes arranged along terraces, filled with soil and amendments according to Rudolph Steiner's methods of biodynamic cultivation. Love Apple also supplies the honey, eggs and goat milk used in Manresa’s menus, which change to accommodate fresh supplies originating 20 minutes from the restaurant.

This year Love Apple has added fruit trees, dairy goats, more chickens, aromatherapy, biodynamic gardening, artesanal fabrics (from your own flax, cotton and animal hair) and growing your own bread. Beekeeping, garden carpentry, soap making and gopher control are on-going offerings at the farm

Cuisine Doubles As Preventive Medicine

On December 4, Chef Kathy’s salad, soup, sushi and dessert were colorful and delicious, of course. Perhaps more importantly, the meal provided

• adrenal support
• nutrition to reduce colon cancer and tumor growth
• balance of both hypo- and hyper-thyroid conditions
• improved lung health
• iodine, calcium, chlorophyll, all 8 amino acids, excellent fiber antioxidants and 88+ trace minerals

The wonder food is sea vegetables.

Chef Kathy taught as she cooked. She assured us that we get the benefits by eating seaweed in small amounts on a regular basis. “Make it be a permanent part of your diet, but integrate it a bit at a time.” Sea vegetables are said to have the same composition as human blood and therefore help with anemia and other blood imbalances. Kathy encouraged us to go to www.ryandrum.com for in-depth information about seaweed as medicine.

Her miso vinaigrette was alive with pungent flavors. She poured a generous few cups on the salad of finely chopped cabbage, carrots, arame, onion, cilantro and sesame seeds and tossed it with her hands.

The “Ocean Vegetable Soup” featured tofu, miso, wakame, peas, onions, jalapeno and dulse flakes in a broth of pure nutrition: Astragalus, shiitake, ginger, garlic and kombu.

“Now that you know how to make miso soup, your refrigerator is a treasure chest. Any leftover vegetables, fish, chicken can go in the pot,” said the chef. “But don't ever boil miso; that destroys its therapeutic properties.”

Nori (flat, thin seaweed squares used for sushi) is called laver in Ireland and is added to flour to make bread.

“I'm Irish, and the first time I tasted seaweed I felt I'd come home,” said Kathy. She let us know the value and uses of all the sea vegetables, recommending Mendocino brand as the best packaged seaweed.

Kathy had clever uses for mortar and pestle when it came to making brown sushi rice. She put a sheet of Nori on the roller and added layers of daikon, cukes, avocado, julienned green onions, red bells, whispy broccoli sprouts and gomasio. Her handsome assistants, Farm apprentices Phillip Gatchell and Adam Center, tried their hands at making sushi, and the feast was served.

Frank Zak, owner of Vitamin Center in Los Gatos, attended to learn to make seaweed salad for his wife. Jamie Riggs-Nagy, an epidemiologist for the County, intends to start making sushi again. Teacher Sue Holland pointed out that fermentation helps break down soy products for digestibility, to which Kathy replied, “That’s right. Also, use tempeh instead of ground beef or sausage. Three ounces of tempeh is 19-20 grams of protein.”

The public can sign up for the December 11 “Alternative Proteins” class and the January 8 “Home Sprouting and Sprout Salads” on-line. The spirit Kathy brings to Love Apple Farms is captured in her self-evaluation: “I've had a really rich life. Really rich!” Come see her in action at Love Apple Farms.