It doesn’t get much more magical than ripping into 25-second-old mozzarella in a private glass-walled cabana, a soundtrack provided by a crackling vintage wood stove fire and views of verdant fields and our rolling mountains outside.
But as magical as that dining experience is—surely one of the most special in Boulder County—that’s only part of the reason chef/farmer Eric Skokan and his wife Jill started these farm dinners on Black Cat Farm, the 500-acre ingredient playground that fuels these unique meals, his Boulder restaurant (the Green Michelin Star awarded Bramble & Hare) and Boulderites’ own dinner tables via their Boulder Farmers’ Market stand.
The farm dinners encourage people to see the reality of where our food comes from, which, at least on Black Cat Farm, is pretty darn magical. It’s giving diners a front-row seat to watch the farm’s roaming sheep, heritage breed pigs, and the 250-plus varieties of produce they’re growing. “It’s exceedingly easy to connect the dots when you’re here in this place,” Skokan says. “I can point at a tree and say, ‘We harvested pears from that tree.’”
Long before it was a buzzword, sustainability was the ethos behind Skokan’s cooking. It’s why he raises those animals—naturally and kindly—and why he nourishes the soil via biodynamic farming. It’s why he forages for mushrooms, juniper, and wild plums, and it’s why that sourdough bread, made from grains grown right there in the fields and milled onsite (of course), tastes so good.
His interest began with personal preference, his natural gravitation toward the fresh fruits and veggies growing in his garden or sold at local farmers’ markets. Then he had kids, and sustainability became about more than just himself. “I take my responsibility as a dad really seriously,” he says. “Working hard to create the world I want my kids to inherit, I take that really seriously.”
Via his 30-year career working in restaurants, Skokan saw firsthand how wasteful the restaurant industry can be and how unhealthy its systems are for the planet.
“It’s really clear to me that we can operate restaurants in a much better way. We can produce food in a better way. Farming can be a vehicle to not trash the world but to heal the world. We’re looking to cook things [at Bramble & Hare and the farm dinners] that are not necessarily health food but food that fits a healthy lifestyle. And we do it in a way that heals the soil and takes care of our family and of our employees,” Skokan says.
This ethos was an easy sell in Boulder, where people care about where their food comes from and how to source it in an earth-friendly way. But over the past decade or so, Skokan says he’s seen more Americans—not just tree-hugging Boulderites—prioritizing good food systems and seeking out the magic of local, organic farms such as Black Cat.
“Hopefully, the consumers will keep us as restaurateurs and chefs focused on moving the food system into a better place,” he says. “Righting some of the wrongs.”
Bramble & Hare: 1964 13th St., Boulder, 303-444-9110; BrambleandHare.com
Black Cat Farm Dinners: 9889 N. 51st St., Longmont, 303-444-5500; BlackCatBoulder.com
“It’s exceedingly easy to connect the dots when you’re here in this place,” Skokan says. “I can point at a tree and say, ‘We harvested pears from that tree.’”