Full Belly Files | Tasting Summer at Wanderment Farms

Libby Holland at Wanderment Farms | Credit: Jenny Sims, JReels

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When Libby Holland first arrived to cater a dinner at Wanderment Farms in the mountains above Carpinteria, she was in such awe at the property’s beauty that it took her 20 minutes to make it down the driveway. The flowers were popping, the wind was rustling the olive trees, and the air was ripe with aromas of wild chaparral and planted herbs.

Libby Holland at Wanderment Farms | Credit: Jenny Sims, JReels

“It was just a real embodying experience — I’m listening, I’m seeing, I’m smelling,” recalled the chef and artist, who was raised in Toronto and worked from London to Greece before settling down with her family in Goleta during the pandemic. “There’s something about Wanderment Farms that really just brings me into the present moment, and that is so rare, especially as we are living our lives online and with the rushing in of AI. There’s a lot of stress and unrest no matter what side you’re on, so these moments of grounding feel rare and extra special.”

She quickly befriended Wanderment’s owner, Margo Redfern, who I first wrote about in 2024, and then featured again in this story about agave growers as well as to promote a farm tour last year. And I can certainly confirm that the sensation of pulling into Wanderment, where the views span from Rincon to Santa Barbara, is only rivaled by walking through its regeneratively farmed rows of countless colorful crops.

The women hit it off, and decided to create a unique chef-artist residency for Holland.

She now visits the farm weekly to observe the seasons, continues to work on paintings in her studio down at SBCAST in downtown Santa Barbara, and serves as executive chef for the various private dinners and special events that Wanderment hosts throughout the year.

“It’s like a farm omakase,” said Holland of the menus she creates. “People are adventurous. They come wanting to eat what I’ve created and what Margo has grown. It’s very exciting.”

The next one of those will be the first in a new series of seasonal farm-to-table dinners called “The Longest Light: Summer Solstice Table.”

Unlike many of the private dinners, this one on June 27 is open to the public, and you can buy a $195 ticket here. The evening will include a farm tour, followed by cocktails and passed apps, and then a sit-down, family-style meal of multiple courses, all paired with wine from the farm’s estate vineyard.

“I’m not a farmer, so I go there and ask questions, and Margo is not a chef and not an artist, so it’s become a really nice collaborative relationship,” said Holland, who worked in advertising before a four-month paid leave lured her into kitchens from the mountains of Quebec to an island near Athens. “For example, she doesn’t like cabbage, but cabbage is the bomb. It’s so delicious and versatile, and it lasts for so long. So I am working away at her to start growing cabbage.”

She’s learning a lot from the experience, especially on how to be flexible. “You have an idea of what you want to do, and then the weather and the land delivers, and you have to pivot,” said Holland. “The whole thing about this experience is truly letting the land lead the way and following suit.”

The farm taught her to slow down during the winter months. “There are times when very little is in bloom, and that can be a guide for us human beings as well,” explained Holland. “There are times when we need to just lay low and rest.”

Mostly, she’s realizing that a one-year residency is probably not enough time to do the property and the project justice. “What you’re looking for are patterns, and you don’t see them in one year,” she said. “A year of reflection and observation isn’t really enough time. This is starting to look more long-term.”

The June 27 dinner will showcase the summer bounty of the farm with a vegetable-forward menu crafted into Mediterranean-style dishes, as Holland tends to lean into her Greek roots.

She grew up watching her immigrant grandparents run a Greek restaurant in Toronto, enjoying how they interacted with customers every day. “There was a real community connection there,” she said.

Holland sees her own work at Wanderment Farms as fostering similar relationships between curious people, regeneratively farmed produce, and this magical place. In addition to this new dinner series, which will continue in the fall, Holland is excited to finish about a dozen paintings based on her time there and then invite the community back up to see them later this year.

The residency represents an ideal classroom for this unique combo of chef and artist. “When I take a step back,” said Holland, “this is the literal dream.”

“The Longest Light: Summer Solstice Table” at Wanderment Farms is on June 27. See more details and buy tickets here. See libbyhollandart.com and wandermentfarms.com.

Outpouring for Antonio Gardella

Antonio Gardella with Hericium mushroom | Credit: Courtesy

In the five years that I’ve been writing this newsletter, last week’s remembrance of wine legend Antonio Gardella may have triggered the most direct responses ever to my inbox. So many readers wrote to share their own memories of this larger-than-life gourmand — who died on June 3 after an extended time being ill — that I’m confident he won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Dr. Blake Brown wrote his own remembrance as well, which he posted to the Wine Berserkers site. Read that here.