220: The Farm Episode
We had such a GREAT time at our inaugural PodCastaway Retreat with these amazing humans! Saying goodbye was bittersweet, but this weekend was only the beginning of Team 10K helping these and other new podcasters amplify their voices in the world of podcasting!
FOCUSRITE, our Speaker Sponsor TO THE RESCUE! Thank you, Dan Hughley, Sr. Marketing Manager of Focusrite for not only giving an amazing session, but for providing these beautiful Scarlett 2i2 interfaces to our PodCastaway participants!
Now, THAT’s what we call a SWAG BAG! photo credit: Desiree Montes
THANK YOU, OSSA COLLECTIVE for being our coffee station sponsor! You provided us with our morning pick me up and calmed us down with some chamomile at the end of the night.
Thank you, Jon Barr, Sean Gerrity & John Gibson, Jr.!!
PodCastaway Retreat started out in 10K style with custom-made Journey Across the Board charcuterie cones and grazing boards.
Alison suffered through the pain of one of her fingernails being ripped off and she’ll be keeping it covered for months to come. She’s now obsessed with the cloth finger sleeves from CVS! Her entrepeneureal mind is already designing how to decorate and sell them!
Headed back up north soon, Lulu is doing her best to soak up as much of Florida’s beauty before she goes. And that’s pretty easy to do when you live so close to beautiful downtown Winter Garden, FL. She’s spent hours at Foxtail Coffee working on our retreat and enjoying the homespun flavor of Plant St.
Washing your hair with one hand is not always effective, so Alison has been enjoying that with this cooler weather, she’s able to wear beanies on her head to cover that her hair isn’t as clean as she’d like. But, she finds they make her forehead itch, so she longs for either a liner or another way to make the itching stop.
Lulu wishes for something most Americans do…an express lane at fast food joints for people who know exactly what they want & don’t have to look at the menu! The least they could do is post more signs with all the options while you wait, right?
Alison really did it up right with all the fabulous farms she visited on her 10K FARM day! Most people think of California of being just beaches and Hollywood, but in Philo, California they take their farming seriously! She stayed at Philo Apple Farm, an orchard that “is home to some 1,700 trees that produce some 40 varieties of apples and pears— The land also hosts three handsome guest cottages that are equipped with gas fireplaces, plush bedding and clawfoot tubs—all the trappings of a romantic weekend away.” And what could make a romantic getaway even more fun than by bringing your best friend and her future imaginary boyfriend!?
Although Alison struggled with what I like to call ‘10K Math’, she ended up making it all work out! They enjoyed the Stay & Cook Weekend option where they got 3 hands-on meals and a minimum two nights stay in the cottages or a room with a view. Then they helped to prepare (and enjoy) the Saturday Lunch and Dinner and Sunday Brunch starting with coffee and their own apple juice, of course!
Alison and Lulu had to look the part, so she splurged on some Saint Laurent matching fitted western shirts, Francoise jeans and 68 ankle booties so they could be farming twinkies! She then picked up some jams, jellies, chutneys, made from the best farm-fresh fruit picked at its peak to take home from the Self-Service Farm Stand.
Next came the Pennyroyal Farm Winery where “every vine is suckered by sheep.” Go to that chapter marker in the podcast and hear Lulu & Alison imagine and create what they think that really means. It’ll be worth your while! And there they all enjoyed the Taste of Place: Wine & Cheese Tasting which is a flight of the estate wines paired with a tasting of their seasonal, farmstead cheeses. Sign me up!
Some trips are just really worth a second, third or fourth visit. Now, we’re not talking about another trip to Disney, although nowadays it is super easy to drop 10K at Disney parks and resorts in one trip alone! Although it’s taboo to relive this trip in photos (it was the location of her sister’s 1st wedding), this beautiful farm in Italy left its image in her mind and heart.
This week, Lulu traveled back to Via Della Stella in Montepulciano, Italy. This is the region of Tuscany and in true Italian fashion, there was a plenty of wine, pasta and cheese to go around! It is “immersed in the green hills of Val di Chiana, a few kilometers from Montepulciano and Cortona. The brick house, built at the end of the 17th century, was constructed on the antique ruins of a brickyard and the traces of the centuries are still evident. The residence is composed of two main buildings that have been faithfully and beautifully restored to exhibit their original architectural features.”
Lulu has fond memories of Chiara, the property manager greeting them with an apricot tart and sitting at the table to chat with them, making them feel totally at home. No sooner had Lulu gobbled up the last of her tart than she was on her way to rent the first of her Italian trio of cars! She started in true posh Italian style with the Ferrari Portofino, moved to a cute vintage car from Vintage Tours and finished up with a traditional Vespa and loads of gear to match! She got a helmet, bandana, gloves, padlock, walkie talkie and more, plus she left budget for gas.
Now that she’s gotten her ‘vrooms’ in for the trip, she headed over to the Avignonesi Winery for wine tasting and a cooking class before enjoying lunch at Osteria del Borgo where the menu follows the Tuscan tradition, with handmade pasta and 'zero kilometer' quality ingredients. Lunch one in the books, she headed over to Caffe Poliziano for Lunch #2 and some of that scrumptiously decadent hot chocolate made of 100% Pernigotti cocoa and obtaining the right density and a unique taste on the palate. Duly inspired by the cocoa, she just HAD to get a Ugolini Delice Hot Chocolate Maker/Dispenser for herself. And what does that cocoa taste best in? Why, a Versace Home Jungle Animal Espresso cup and saucer set, don’t you know! And how else will you stir it? With your new Christofle Mood espresso spoon egg set, of course. I mean, please…we’re not pagans!
If you’re new to this blog or podcast, you should know that Lulu LOVES stargazing. And this spectacular farm she’s staying at has the dark night skies perfect for Astro night. And as it gets chillier outside as you gaze into the constellations, you need a luxurious blanket. So, she got the Patagonia macro puff quilt, some Arcteryx thermal underwear and a Ledlenser H19R Signature headlamp so she could make her way back to her room safely in the dark. And since she’d want her bestie to know she was thinking of her, she already bought them both Friendship lamps so they could let each other know when they were thinking of each other.
Alison’s a big fan of wearing winter clothing, so she’s happy the temps in FL have been lower and she can wear her beanies…that itch her head…but are super cute!
Lulu is grateful that her family has enough cars for everyone to use at the same time. It’s made life a lot easier during this pandemic and busy schedules.
CHECK OUT THE CHARITIES WE FOUND IN THE CITIES WE VISITED:
HEY, FRIEND! IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY, FOLLOW US!:
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. For a full understanding of how we use affiliate links on our site, please visit our Policy Disclosures page. Thank you!