Summary: Chef and caterer Tammy Lipps and her husband, Mark, moved to a 6-acre Lakeport farm in 2020, bringing The Ripe Choice catering business north from southern California. The property now supports orchard dinners, catering, cooking classes, farm stays and produce grown with help from Mendocino College students. Lipps draws on more than two decades of professional culinary experience while using seasonal ingredients grown on the farm and sourced locally. An Aug. 21 plant-based dinner in the orchard will offer guests a look at the couple’s evolving farm-centered approach to food and hospitality.
“I realized that cooking is my 'new' passion nearly 20 years ago, which led to the creation of The Ripe Choice.” — Tammy Lipps
LAKEPORT, Calif. — I’ve had the good fortune to dine on executive chef-owner Tammy Lipps’ Blue Zones-based meals both at her farm and at various catered events. The visually appealing in-season foods at Ripe Choice Farm and Catering include emerald-green kale pesto farro salad, shrimp-stuffed avocado with fresh mango and crispy Parmesan chicken breast. The seasonal foods both accompany local wines, too. She combines time-tested favorites along with new flavor profiles, which she can do because of her loads of experience and a love of her craft.
“It’s a fluke that Mark and I are here, living in beautiful Lake County,” Lipps said. “We received an email out of the blue for this beautiful 6-acre farm when we were living in southern California. We drove up here, then decided right away to buy it.”
That was in March of 2020, not the perfect time to begin a new life at the beginning of a pandemic. However, business has grown over the past six years, and they like living here and creating food. On Aug. 21 they will host a Plant Based Dinner in the Orchard, where they will show diners just exactly what they can do.
As diners approach the barn for the meal, the colors and scents of seasonal fruit trees guide their senses. If it isn’t too hot, they might get a glimpse of the couple’s friendly pig pets, Rose and Bud, grazing on the fallen fruit. Along with farm dinners, Ripe Choice offers a whole menu of food-related events, such as gourmet meals delivered within Lake County, catering for all occasions — grand openings, wine-tasting dinners, weddings, special celebrations, cooking classes and personal chef services. Lipps will collaborate using both guests’ personal taste and her thoughtful experience to make events unique and memorable.
Along with outdoor dinners under the stars and meals made with fresh, locally sourced ingredients in their barn with its commercial kitchen, Ripe Choice offers a farm stay in a loft studio. Despite being in a 100-year-old bar, the studio has been fitted with modern amenities — open studio plan, king bed and stunning country views. Guests can request a seasonal farm-to-fork breakfast or a boxed lunch to take on out on the lake, to nearby Clear Lake State Park, or into Lakeport or Kelseyville.
A professionally trained chef, Lipps worked for more than 20 years in southern California, where she owned a catering business in Manhattan Beach. Before that, she was a professional singer/dancer/voice-over artist, and the couple raised three boys, now grown. While she was a private chef three blocks from the beach, catering and running a storefront kitchen with three chefs working under her and a staff of 20, husband Mark worked in the television industry as vice president for network distribution for Fox affiliates across the country.
The two enjoy the busy but much-slower pace in Lake County and run the farm together. She owns the business, and he does the publicity and marketing for their operation. The rich soils near storied Clear Lake provide them with many of their fresh foods. They grow more than 116 apple, pear, peach and plum trees. A half-acre vineyard supplies fruit for chardonnay, zinfandel and sauvignon blanc. The Lake County Symphony Wine Club cares for the vines to produce fine wines as a fundraiser for their cause — giving concerts at the Soper Reese Theatre, a community theater venue in Lakeport.
An assortment of organic vegetables grown on the farm such as lettuce, kale and basil have been tended by Mendocino College Lake Center students during the past few semesters in order for them to gain some real-life learning experience in small-farm operations.
“I realized that cooking is my ‘new’ passion nearly 20 years ago which led to the creation of The Ripe Choice,” Lipps said. “My husband and I have always loved entertaining, and I have cooked my whole life, never thinking of it as a career. It was a light-bulb moment for me when I realized that I already love doing this anyway. This is my direction.”
Lipps’ dedication to food, health and enjoyment in the community is a flavorful and festive way to enjoy friends and family.
Ripe Choice Farm and Catering is located at 2550 Soda Bay Road in Lakeport, 310-962-4597 or visit their website or Instagram. Tickets for the Aug. 21 dinner can be purchased here. Farm stays can be booked through Airbnb or Vrbo. Look at their photo gallery here.
—
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., retired educator, is a potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora and Fauna Tour of a California State Park,” “People of the Water” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She loves hiking, travel, photography and creating her single panel cartoon, “Rupert.”
—
The views, opinions and data presented in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or perspective of Lake County Features or its editorial team. Any content provided by our authors is their own and is not intended to malign any group, organization, company or individual.
Our illustrations are produced through a multistep process of generative tools, digital sketching and photo editing, often starting from our own images or sketches.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.