Tips for a trip to Napa Valley wine country

When the weather starts to warm up, but it’s not yet so humid that you feel like you’re walking around in the armpit of a hairy man in a Turkish bath, a weeklong jaunt through Napa Valley wine country is just the ticket. And, let’s face it, the chance to drink some wine, especially if it’s free, can’t hurt.

There are more than 300 wineries in Napa, so it’s a good idea to pick a few that really interest you for sampling. Then base the trip on hopping from one charming town to the next, starting with Napa and ending in Calistoga (with Yountville and St. Helena between). You can fly into San Francisco, rent an RV, towable or car there and drive up – it takes about an hour on either Interstate 80 or U.S. 101. There are several campgrounds and RV parks situated around the towns.

A few tips to make your visit more enjoyable:

Visit the vineyards before May, after November or midweek – The crowds pick up in the summer and steadily increase through the “crush,” or harvest, which is late August-October. Otherwise, be prepared to stand behind hordes of people in the tasting room saying things like, “It has a lot of ’67 Chevy exhaust with a hint of woodchuck fur, don’t you think?”

Find out which tasting rooms charge – The fees vary from $2-$25, and some wineries, bless their hearts, still don’t charge. Some places include a souvenir glass, and a few offer snacks. Most put the fee toward a bottle purchase. Check online for two-for-one tasting deals, which can save quite a bit.

Have some kind of strategy – The first time I visited years ago, I inadvertently learned something crucially different from each winery. From Mondavi, I became schooled in the fascinating multi-layered vastness of a gigantic commercial operation. At Beringer, I discovered the point of tasting in flights; at Grgich, I learned about the science of making wine, and at Rubicon, I learned something of the soul of the process. For subsequent visits, I researched the vineyards ahead so that I would always come away with a deeper understanding of wine-making.

Check out the farmers’ markets – It’s one of the best ways to eat on the road, and there’s one nearly every day of the week somewhere along the route. The Napa Downtown Farmers’ Market runs May-October on Tuesdays-Saturdays. On Wednesdays, it’s the Yountville market June-September, and Fridays it’s St. Helena’s turn May-October, as well as the Napa Chef’s Market May-August. The Calistoga Farmers’ Market is on Saturdays.

Stay sober enough to make good choices – If at the end of the day, you find that you have seven cases of white zinfandel, you have only yourself to blame. You’ll know who’s about to make that really bad purchase – it’s the guy who’s going on and on about the “great legsh” on some cabernet at the counter. Also keep in mind that the great deals at the wineries are the fabulous wines that are only available there – meaning, they’re usually produced in limited quantities and not distributed – and the bottles that are discounted big by the case.

And, finally, you’re going to need to stop driving for a period of time while you do this; that’s all there is to it. The local police force keeps a pretty close eye on things. Designate a driver or rent a taxi or limo service, get someone to watch the kids, and then go taste some wine!

Visit the Napa valley site for more information.

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.

Community Gardens, Food Co-ops, and Farmers Markets Provide an Oasis in ‘Food Deserts’

by Erica Hall, MA, Community Economic Development, Assistant Corporate Secretary/Senior Paralegal, NeighborWorks America

As part of her Let’s Move initiative to end childhood obesity, Michelle Obama said we must eliminate “food deserts” in this country. I couldn’t agree more.

Food deserts are low-income areas where full-service grocery stores are scarce and fast food chains are often plentiful. Access to healthy, affordable foods and beverages is limited, resulting in higher rates of obesity and diet-related diseases in residents.

As a community economic development (CED) practitioner, I am particularly passionate about the role community gardens, community supported agriculture, produce co-operatives, and farmers markets can play, not only in promoting a healthy lifestyle, and lifting community spirit and pride, but also creating opportunities for community economic development. Community food growing is also a source of satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement and allows for interaction with nature and the productive use of land.

I also understand that while supermarkets are anchors which bring economic development, supermarket development can take years. In the meantime, alternatives must be created to traditional supermarket development. I believe that if you can grow your own food while owning a stake in the business of food, it provides opportunities to promote entrepreneurship, ownership and microenterprise development.

In the NeighborWorks network, we see community gardens and farmers markets sprouting up all over the country. Take for example the Brooklyn Centre Community Orchard being planned in Cleveland, Ohio. This summer, residents hope to turn their Brooklyn Centre neighborhood, labeled a food desert, into a food oasis. A vacant expanse of land, which had fallen into disrepair and a magnet for crime and drugs, will be the site of the neighborhood’s first large-scale, resident-run community orchard.

Darren Hamm, sustainable housing specialist with Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland is leading this effort. Hamm, who is also president of the Brooklyn Centre Community Association, said that a course on neighborhood stabilization he took at the NeighborWorks Training Institute was his inspiration to develop the orchard.

In California, the NeighborWorks Homeownership Center of Sacramento was recently awarded a $20,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente to help create a farmer’s market in the Oak Park neighborhood they serve. The new Oak Park Farmer’s Market, which opened on May 15, improves access to affordable, high-quality fruits and vegetables in an area where just one supermarket exists. It is also a source of income for a diverse group of farmers, including smaller, local and immigrant farmers from the Sacramento area. The homeownership center worked in partnership with community residents, community garden advocates, backyard growers, and fresh produce sellers to launch the farmer’s market, and the group intends to make Oak Park the sustainable food center of the Sacramento Region.

Youth get excited about growing their own food too. In Worcester, Massachusetts, Oak Hill Community Development Corporation’s Charlie Buffone Community Garden is run entirely by neighborhood youth. The vegetable and fruit garden is cultivated with all organic materials and toxic chemicals are strictly prohibited. They give away the produce to neighborhood residents, including making fruit and vegetable baskets for senior citizen homes. Check out the website, which is also maintained entirely by the young volunteers. If you’re on Facebook, see photos of their garden.

I recently had the opportunity to complete my graduate work which involved obesity prevention among African Americans, while increasing access to fresh foods, green spaces and safe places for low income communities in Washington, D.C . I became involved in a novel approach to increase access to fresh produce and other healthy foods to two of the district’s poorest areas: Wards 7 and 8. Wards 7 and 8 (east of the Anacostia River) have the District's highest poverty and obesity rates and are home to large food deserts.

The project, called the DC Healthy Corner Store Program, sought to increase access to fresh produce and other healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods, and to increase small grocers’ capacity to sell healthy foods successfully. It is led by D.C. Hunger Solutions, with support and funding from the D.C. Department of Health, and in partnership with KAGRO (Korean American Grocers Association), community-based organizations, and small retailers in the city.

Please go to nw.org to learn more about this wonderful program, as well as the funding opportunities available for similar efforts through the Obama administration's $400 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative.

For more information about farmer’s markets, including funding, how to start one and where to locate them in your state, visit the USDA’s website.

More information about community gardens, including funding, locations, best practices and tips can be found at the American Community Garden Association’s website.