At the helm

Dear Friends of Meadow Lark Farm Dinners,

It's been a while since my last note—and our last farm dinner. It has been such a challenging year for so many, and I hope very much that you and yours made it through in good health and in strong spirits. I can’t tell you how much I've missed peering out from Bella's many windows and seeing you arrive for dinner out on the farm. Alas, after ten seasons, it is time for me to step aside and let someone else take the wheel. And this is why I write today....

I am overjoyed to introduce Lena Miller as the new owner, visionary—and bus driver—of Meadow Lark Farm Dinners!

Lena first came to Meadow Lark—and to Boulder—for our 2016 season, and then returned to co-direct our 2018 farm dinners. Since then, Lena has made the Front Range her home. Growing up in Berkeley, with its edible schoolyards, gourmet ghetto, and meyer lemons hanging heavily from neighborhood trees, Lena may have been destined to care deeply about food. But there must be something inborn, too, because Lena seems instinctively to pause for all things beautiful: the burnished braids of just-baked challah on her family’s table, the early morning dew on those lemon blossoms, or the scent of dried bay laurel leaves cracking underfoot during her Tilden Park trail runs. Whatever its origin, nature or nurture, her aesthetic sensibility ensures that anything that comes out of Lena’s kitchen is as wonderful to behold as it is to eat.

She has continued to foster her relationships with local farms and food artisans while working in less mobile establishments. Lena has been studying cheeses, churning sorrel ice cream, and arranging charcuterie boards into pieces of art. Lena is also a superb baker of kaleidoscopic fruit tarts and exquisitely scored loaves of bread. Her affinity for local grains has landed her in the middle of the 'grain revolution' that is quietly sweeping across Colorado. Well-versed in the difference between khorasan and triticale, or yecora rojo and rouge de bordeaux, Lena has been developing recipes for local bakeries, using their Colorado-grown and house-milled grains. And she has been part of many an epic Moxie pizza night.

I am so delighted to hand over the keys and watch Lena take Bella back out on the road and welcome you to her table. Keep an eye out for an email from Lena very shortly. And trust me—I am leaving you, and Meadow Lark, in the best of hands.

In gratitude and with affection,

Veronica