When Sally Schmitt sold her ground-breaking, farm-to-table restaurant The French Laundry to Thomas Keller in 1994, she and her husband Don left Yountville and Napa County for an apple farm in Mendocino County.
Sally passed away in 2022, one of those people that used up every bit of energy, intelligence, enthusiasm, curiosity and inspiration that filled her body and soul for 90 years. Her restaurant The French Laundry has found world renown and 3 Michelin stars under its second owner Thomas Keller. The Apple Farm, on the other hand, that Sally helped her daughter operate in Philo, California, flies blissfully under the radar, a peaceful refuge for lovers of heirloom apples and rural simplicity.
Recently, friends and family stayed there over Memorial Day Weekend in the cottages available to rent surrounded by 80 varieties of apple trees, chickens and goats. I begged for some photos to share so we could have a look.
I’m daydreaming about a visit to coincide with the apple harvest.
