The Daily Harvest

Back in May 2025, Peter and I visited his friend’s farm up in Lodi, CA to play with baby goats. It was such a fun experience for the both of us despite Peter having been to the farm on previous occasions. We had planned another trip to the farm for the end of October 2025, but this time with a few edits. We each took time away from work to make this 4 day weekend happen, and it was definitely worth it.

The trip up to Lodi this time would be with Peter’s sister and one of his friends. The four of us would share an AirBnB instead of staying on the farm premises as we did the first time around. Peter was already up in Northern California for work, so it was convenient for him to drive over to the Sacramento airport and pick up the 3 of us. His sister and I flew in together, met up with his friend at the airport, and all boarded his car to start our Friday. His sister actually stayed over Thursday night as our apartment is closer to the airport, and this allowed for some valuable pre-trip bonding time!

The first thing we did upon meeting up in Sacramento was find coffee. We visited a local joint to pick up much needed caffeine before heading over toward Lodi. The drive from Sacramento to Lodi was a quick one with everyone familiarizing themselves with each other. We had sandwiches for lunch at a cute farm-to-table restaurant & winery. Friday, much to our dismay, was already looking gloomy, so we made preparations for indoors activities. We headed to a local gem, Target, to pick up snacks, drinks, and board games. Peter’s sister even engaged us making TikToks while at Target. We recreated a trending video format where individuals sought out foods of a particular category, re-convened, and ranked options to actually purchase.

We returned from Target to our AirBnB to wait until Peter’s farmer friend finished work so we could meet up for dinner. We played a few rounds of our new table-top game, Chit Chat, while getting uncomfortably full on snacks (Hot Fries was the party favorite). As dinnertime approached, we wrapped things up at the AirBnB and headed out to Lodi’s best restaurant, Guantonio’s which is known for their pizzas and Italian inspired cuisine. Peter and I had been here the last time we visited Lodi, and the food was similarly good this time around. They always have a seasonal salad consisting of herbs and fruit; currently, it appears to be a basil and persimmon duo. Reminder to self: buffalo milk ice cream is deliciously thicc, but skip the caramel drizzle next time!

To wrap up Friday evening, we all headed back to the AirBnB to hang out before retiring to bed. Several of Peter’s friends were in need of help to escape the gloom of eternal singledom. Peter’s sister, famed match-maker responsible for my own successful relationship, helped curate their dating profiles. We ended up group-swiping for Peter’s friends and teaching them the ropes of online dating. Since departing Lodi, the efforts remain alive with a daily group check-in on the latest boy-harvests from Hinge.

Saturday started with a glorious breakfast spread at a local bakery before embarking on a walk around Lodi Lake. Unfortunately, it started raining halfway through our walk, so we scurried back to our AirBnB to prepare to host lunch for all of Peter’s friends.

It was a crowd of approximately 10 people for whom we ordered Thai food. It was a cozy time to just hang out as a big group enjoying comfort food. As the weather let up a little, we headed over to the farm for the main event: goats!

Some friends had young children who were very excited to feed the animals. Peter and I were far too squeamish to handle live mealworms to feed the chickens. But, we were more than happy to feed pellets to the friendly goats. Peter’s sister embraced her inner farmer and engaged in many tasks beyond simply feeding livestock. Once everybody had their fill of farmly duties, it was time to wash up for dinner.

We planned for dinner at a newly opened restaurant, but they cited us a 1 hour 45 minute wait for a table of 8. They unfortunately did not take reservations when we looked into the restaurant. Much to our chagrin, we agreed to wait it out at an English bar. We quickly passed the time as Peter and one of his friends became the center of a roasting session. When the wait time was finally up, we head back to the restaurant to claim our table. The restaurant could not uphold their promise, so we ended up waiting an additional 15 minutes. Even then, they could not fulfill our table request, at which we point we decided to quit and go to In-N-Out. If there is one thing Peter and I have learned recently, it is to not give in to sunk-costs. In-N-Out hit a craving I didn’t even know I had that evening.

Though Saturday evening was stretched long due to the fruitless waiting, we ended up having a good time and promptly went to bed to prepare for our Sunday. Sunday would be dedicated to exploring parts of Sacramento as we needed to drop off a friend at the airport. We headed to Sacramento from Lodi at the crack of dawn. Shortly after dropping off our friend, we made our next stop at a cute coffee shop located in a refurbished school building.

Perhaps the highlight of the Sacramento trip was visiting a local farmer’s market. The produce and flowers were absolutely stunning—and at great prices to boot. Not stunning enough for us to consider living in Sacramento though. Peter’s friend even considered buying several banana trees for her farm. Because we skipped breakfast, we were all getting hangry so we picked up a scrumptious loaf of garlic sourdough bread. This was going to hold us over until we made it to lunch.

Lunch in Sacramento was at a traditional dim sum restaurant. We were all excited to see that the restaurant only had a 3-star rating, a true designator of quality food counterbalanced by rude waitstaff. Perhaps not to our surprise, the food was just mid. It was just Sacramento after all, and it scratched a hankering that we all had. Following lunch, we picked up another round of coffee before heading back to Lodi. Peter’s farmer friend also happens to work in real estate and had a house showing to attend.

This meant Peter, his sister, and I had Sunday afternoon all to ourselves before dinner. I poured myself a glass of wine and turned on the television to couch-rot to my new favorite show: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Once dinnertime arrived, we headed out to a sushi restaurant where I unknowingly treated myself to a decadent chirashi bowl. Peter, per usual, helped neutralize the damage by getting a basic teriyaki bento (teriyaki chicken is a staple meal of his after all). At dinner’s conclusion, we rounded out our last evening in Lodi with some more Hinge swiping for Peter’s friend along with homemade goat-milk ice cream.

One of the things I hate most about staying in AirBnB’s is that we are responsible for the cleaning. What am I actually paying for under the cleaning fee then? Annoyance aside, we were able to tidy up our AirBnB and head out on our journey back south. Our drive home was fueled mostly by stale leftover sourdough bread, bananas, and candy. We ended up stopping by a Taco Bell where we picked up quesadillas, tacos, and prayers for a smooth drive home—we were all constipated and adding Taco Bell to the mix seemed like a recipe for explosive disaster.

The drive was very productive. Similar to our last drive down from Lodi, we were able to plan out the entirety of our next month. We were also able to brainstorm for future articles as well as make holiday plans. After hours of hard work as a passenger princess, I dozed off for a few minutes. Long before I knew it, we made it back to LA where we dropped off Peter’s sister. We took this opportunity to refill on caffeine before making the final drive back down to OC. My parents were waiting for us with homemade pho to welcome us back in town. With full bellies, we ended the day rejuvenated and ready to return to the grind the following morning.