Harley Farm Goats

On Saturday we toured the Harley Goat Farm in Pescadero. They have about 270 goats right now. The farm specializes in making chevre, soft goat cheese. The two-hour tour introduced us to the goats. We had a chance to milk a goat and help make the cheese. The tour ended with a fine cheese tasting experience in the decorated barn.

Most of the goats are pregnant and will have their kids in late January or early February, but there were a few young kids scampering about. One chewed on my purse strap for a little while.

Big Connie in the Winter Garden

Above is a photo of Big Connie, on a chilly but sunny December morning in the garden.

Asilomar

As previously mentioned, we spent a couple of nights in Asilomar, the refuge by the sea. Here is a great photo taken by Jonathan:



and another at sunset:

Phil's Fish Market, Moss Landing

On a recent two-night trip to Asilomar, we stopped at Moss Landing on the way home, and sampled the clam chowder at Phil's Fish Market. Wonderful place.

Beautiful Pathways

We had a nice trip to the Filoli estate in Woodside. I forgot to take any photos of the beautiful house, but I found myself intrigued by the pathways and garden entrances. There are 16 acres at Filoli, an estate developed from 1912-1915. Today there are over 1500 fruit trees, and we saw many apple and pear trees laden with fruit. The day before we went it rained most of the day, but the day of the trip was sunny and dry.

Figs, figs, figs

We are using figs over the past few weeks, as they are coming in thick and fast from our two fig trees. We have a Blackjack Fig (a Mission type) and a Brown Turkey Fig tree.

The other night we prepared salmon, grilled over a bed of potatoes and thyme. This was served with a fig salsa: chopped figs and onions. It was quite yummy and there were enough leftovers for a generous lunch the next day.



We are very busy inside the house with a remodeling project. We are finally remodeling our master bathroom. Previously the shower was an avocado green fiberglass insert and the room was quite dark. We are replacing the dated shower with a larger tiled shower and have added more light, painted the walls, and are adding a new tile floor. Soon we will pick out a granite top for the vanity and attach a large mirror to the wall.

Spinach, Red Onion, Fig, Apple, Pork, Heirloom Tomato, Cucumber, and Goat Cheese Salad

Last night we enjoyed the above-pictured salad. The weather is getting hotter, so this cold salad was refreshing. We used some leftover pork loin and added a fig balsamic vinagrette dressing. Very yummy, but a little messy looking.

Here is another photo after adding the dressing:

Pole Beans

We are growing some very nice pole beans on our makeshift teepee, formed from old birch tree branches and other assorted tree branches and poles. There are two kinds growing together here, a French filet type and a yellow pole bean.

French Prune Plums

We have two French prune plum trees that are extremely productive. These prune plums are quite a delicacy in Europe, known as "sugarplums." We have been busy preparing the plums for drying in our dehydrators (halving them and removing the pits), and also making plum tarts, plum pie, plum jam, plum sorbet, and plum cake. We've also been giving away bags of these wonderful plums.

Above is an excellent photo (by plum-pitter extraordinaire, Jonathan) that depicts the stages of the plum-pitting process. We will certainly have enough dried plums for the winter!

Sunflower Watching Sunflower Motif

I woke up this morning and saw a new sunflower bloom in our vegetable garden. Above is a photo of what I saw: a sunflower seemed to be watching a terra cotta sunflower.

Below is a closer image of the two interacting:

Thistle bloom

A beautiful artichoke blossom!

Sunflowers

This summer the sunflowers are blooming awfully early! They are so cheery out in the vegetable garden. Today I planted some pole beans around some younger sunflowers.

Those chicks have grown...

Above is a photo of Lacey and her three chicks. You recall that they were hatched 5/10th, 11th and 12th. Lacey, the mom, is a lace-winged Wyandotte. The three fertile eggs were not hers but are bantam cochins. Here are the chicks with their "mom" around the asparagus bed.

A beautiful cheese

Here's a photo of some beautiful Irish Cheddar Cheese with Porter. Cheese and crackers on our deck with wine.

New chicks!

We met a new friend who has roosters. We were given a few eggs that were fertile and stuck them under our broody hen, a Lace-winged Wyandotte. Because we stuck the eggs under on different days, the three that hatched emerged on 5/10, 5/11, and 5/12. They are bantams--cochins--and here they are with their substitute mom.

Here is a photo:

April Blooms

Some Columbine in the front garden.



A purple iris, above.

And here is a view of some Spanish Lavender:

The New Asparagus Bed

This is a photo of our new asparagus bed with "Big Connie" looking for worms. We harvested asparagus for about two weeks this first year and now we will let the asparagus grow to be ferns so the roots can develop more fully. Next year we will be able to harvest for six weeks.

Rhubarb

Our rhubarb is growing nicely and just yesterday I noticed it was flowering. This variety of rhubarb is Victoria. The flower stalks look very interesting. For harvesting more rhubarb, it would be best to cut off any flower stalks. But since this is my first experience growing rhubarb that has flowered, I'm going to let it flower for awhile so I can see how it looks!

Twelfth Night

Tonight is Twelfth Night, tomorrow is Epiphany....the Christmas season is coming to a close.
This is the best photo I have of the gingerbread house we made. Yummy!