What took me to Ojai, Calif., was a search for beauty. This sophisticated enclave tucked between the mountains just inland from Santa Barbara is where the "pink moment" happens at sunset, and in the classic movie "Lost Horizon" the adventurers gazing out over Shangri-La were really soaking up a view of the Ojai Valley. The village is an artists' colony, so paintings and sculpture, jewelry and textiles are everywhere.

It sounded like a feast for the eyes — and it was. But I was surprised by another, more literal kind of feast, too. This non-cooking, eat-to-live anti-foodie discovered food.

My conversion began with a tour of the New Oak Ranch, where I met Karen and Bill Evenden. After retiring and sailing the Mediterranean, they settled here in view of Sulfur Mountain on an old walnut ranch that had been neglected for 15 years. Today, in addition to walnuts, they also grow the juicy, seedless "pixie" tangerines for which Ojai is famous and some olives, but I was there to see their field of 5,000 lavender plants.

"One day I looked out and said, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we looked out over a field of lavender?" Karen recalled.

Today, they do just that. As she passed around glasses of lavender lemonade and a plate of freshly baked lavender biscotti on their patio, Karen and her husband explained how they have turned their land into an industry that Bill compares to a small winery. In the summertime, when the lavender is in bloom, they open their fields for a "you-pick" operation, and they play a big role in Ojai's annual lavender festival. They also harvest and market culinary and aromatic buds that they sell in sachets, lotions and creams. Their operation is organic, and the cutting and pruning are lovingly done by hand. The Evendens say they see their role as temporary stewards of the land.

"But my true passion is food," said Karen, who is also a cookbook author.

A cooking class is the last thing I would typically choose to do on a holiday, but I was high on the scent of lavender, and Karen's enthusiasm for locally grown produce, organic food and simple recipes had piqued my curiosity. When I learned she was one of the teachers at the Lavender Inn Culinary School, I signed up.

Two hours later found me perched on a stool in the inn's sunny kitchen, outfitted in a crisp white apron and taking notes with a pen that wrote in lavender ink. The rest of my classmates busily sliced the baguettes on which we would slather tomato-lavender jam and chopped the fresh vegetables Karen had brought from her farm, but I hung back, not wanting to mess something up with my lack of ability. Eventually Karen recruited me to pour the Chilled Avocado Soup into mugs. Also on the lunch menu were Roast Chicken With Farro and Ojai Pixie Tangerine Salad along with Walnut Orange Olive Oil Cake. We ate this easy, healthy repast outside on the inn's generous porch.

My education continued at Ojai Olive Oil, where owners Ron and Alice Asquith cultivate 130-year-old Spanish olive trees with as much care as the Evendens do their lavender. After a walk through the grove, Ron demonstrated how their Italian-made equipment is used to transform the olives into nine varieties of oil, some of it flavored with home-grown rosemary, oranges and lemons. We wound up in the tasting room, where we dipped cubes of bread into saucers filled with oil and sampled balsamic vinegars flavored with blackberry, ginger and peach.

The restaurants in Ojai also adhere to the "fresh and local" mantra, but before dinner my friends and I made a wine-tasting detour. The Casa Barranca Winery, producers of the pinot noir made famous in the movie "Sideways," wisely located their tasting room in the downtown arcade close to restaurants and shops. For a fee of $10, visitors can taste several organic wines made with Earth-friendly methods that include solar power. The 2008 Viognier was my favorite.

From there it was off to Feast Bistro, where owner and chef Susan Coulter adjusts the menu daily, depending on what locally grown produce is in season. She pairs creations such as Herb-roasted Duck Breast Over Vegetable Fried Rice and Ravioli in a Fresh Spinach and Tomato Sauce with local wines and fair-trade coffees.

At nearby Azu, owner and executive chef Laurel Moore prepares nightly meals with a global flair. Moore was formerly a professional photographer, and her dramatic black-and-white pieces cover the walls of this elegant eatery. But she says the flavors she collected in her travels from places such as Morocco and Spain were as important as her pictures.

Offerings range from Lamb Kebabs and Grilled Caprese Artichoke to Seafood Bilbao and Portuguese Lemon and Chicken Soup. Here, too, the words "fresh," "local" and "organic" turn up repeatedly on the menu, with many of the ingredients grown in the restaurant's garden.

"I wanted to create a place where people could be comfortable and eat healthy food," Moore said.

Breakfast in Ojai can be as fresh and wholesome as it is good. At the family-owned Knead Bakery, ribbons of locally grown fruit replace sugar in scones, cinnamon rolls and breakfast cakes. Bobbi Corbin uses her background as an architect in designing confections for special occasions, and her pastries range from Cranberry Pecan Bars to an Almond Cream Tart With Seasonal Fruit. When she's not in the restaurant (rustically housed in an old gas station), she's selling fresh bread at the weekly farmers market.

At Boccali's, where I wrapped up my renaissance with an Italian lunch, I started with a glass of wine from the owner's vineyard and feasted on lasagna made from a recipe passed down through DeWayne Boccali's family for generations. The greens for my salad as well as the fruit in the restaurant's signature strawberry shortcake were fresh from the family's Upper Ojai farm. All of this was served at a sun-splashed picnic table in the restaurant's garden.

And, yes, in addition to all the eating I did, I also found the beauty for which I had come looking — in many forms. I found it in a scenic hike along Shelf Road, in the Mediterranean architecture that characterizes the village and at the Day Spa of Ojai, where soaking my feet in a basin of warm water and flowers was the prelude to a sensory delight. I found it especially among the artists who support one another's galleries and at Made in Ojai, a collective where local artists sell their work at reasonable prices.

As Alice Asquith put it: "In Ojai, the only thing better than the beauty is the spirit."

IF YOU GO

For general information: www.ojaivisitors.com, 888-OJAI NOW (652-4669)

The Lavender Inn Bed and Breakfast (which offers cooking classes): www.lavenderinn.com, 805-646-6635

New Oak Ranch: www.newoakranch.com, 805-640-1189

Ojai Olive Farm: www.ojaioliveoil.com, 805-646-5964

Casa Barranca Wine Tasting and Gallery: www.casabarranca.com, 805-646-7114

Feast Bistro: www.feastofojai.com, 805-640-9260

Azu Restaurant: www.azuojai.com, 805-640-7987

Knead Baking Co.: www.kneadbakingcompany.com, 310-770-3282

Boccali's Pizza and Pasta: www.boccalis.com, 805-646-6116

The Day Spa of Ojai: www.thedayspa,com, 805-640-1100

Made in Ojai: www.madeinojai.com, 805-646-2400

Glenda Winders is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.