Taking care of the critters . . .

The last three days we had the privilege of house-sitting for our country-living kids. Along with that came the responsibility of taking care of the dog, the cat, the three Alpine goats and 22 hens. We had a blast and got some work done in the barn too.

As soon as the family came back from their mini-vacation they headed straight to the barn to see the animals. The three goats, as soon as they hear you coming, start to run to the gate to greet you. Here they are saying "We missed you!" to Jen.
This is their newest addition, the prize-winner "Destiny!" A really sweet-mannered milking doe.

Ken and Jen admiring the flock, while KL is talking to Destiny, letting her know that she needs to be milked before dinner. I'm sure Destiny was anxious, since it had been three days since her last milking. They are weaning her now, because rumor has it that she is most likely pregnant and will be "dropping" her babies int he spring.

I haven't taken pictures of the "girls" since they were itty-bitty day-old chicks . . . quite a difference 4 1/2 months make since they were newborns !

This lovely lady, a Pearl-White Leghorn (pronounced leg-urn) is the proud hen who, so far, has layed the only eggs . . . nearly a dozen so far!

JD talking to one of his favorites —the Buttercup.

One of my favorites, this feathered friend is a Buff Orpington . . . they have the softest and fluffiest feathers.

Another one I can't remember the name of, but she has the prettiest blue-ish white spots on her blackish/mahogany feathers. (Jennifer just informed me she is a Speckled Sussex.)

A better picture of JD's favorite, a Buttercup (given that name because of the shape of her comb, shaped like a buttercup).

This one is a Black Australorp (thanks Jen).

They were all fascinated with my shoelaces. If I stood there long enough, they would have picked my entire shoe apart! The pretty black and white one is called Barred Rock.

Life is good!

Cascadia Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

We brought home (of course) the sourdough starter Ken developed from scratch while we were in Oregon this past summer. He's been feeding it occasionally and storing it in the fridge. He's shared some with Jen so she and the kids can make some bread in a homeschooling project. He got up early Sunday morning to make some cinnamon rolls. The pictures will set your mouth drooling!

Having been rolled out to a rectangle, the dough was spread with melted butter, sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon and rolled up tight. After being cut into one-inch circles and placed in the baking pan they were covered and left to rise an hour.

After they were baked for about a half hour Ken gave'em the ol' toothpick test for doneness.

Done!

After they cooled a bit, he drizzled the glaze on top to make them yummy and gooey.

They were delicious. After enjoying one we decided they had baked a bit too long, next time we'll cut the baking time. Tuesday morning he sliced them and made cinnamon roll french toast for breakfast. What a great idea, they lost their dryness and made another delicious breakfast.

Life is good!

Remember the Green Tomatoes?

After packing up in four cardboard boxes the gazillion green tomatoes from the dozen plants in the hoop house in Oregon, we headed south taking nearly a week to get home. We unpacked the trailer and about three days later I thought I'd better do something with those green tomatoes. So I opened up the boxes to estimate how many pounds I had to deal with . . . To my amazement this is what I discovered!

I never imagined they'd start to ripen in the dark! Was I ever excited to even think I'd be havin' some of our own home-grown tomatoes, red tomatoes. Each day I peek into the boxes and pick out the ripe ones. I currently have about fifteen red tomatoes in the fridge (plus we've probably eaten a dozen already . . . they're on the smallish side, but they're delicious).

The larger ones in the picture are about four inches in diameter!

Life is good!

A Day at the County Fair

Yesterday we were invited to come with Jen and the kids to the Fresno County Fair. It's been years since we've been to a fair and we were excited to go especially with the grandkids. Jen wanted the kids to know that there is more than animals to see at a fair, since that's all they were able to see when they went to the Madera County Fair in July. The kid's eyes were wide open taking in all the food vendors; if they had their way they'd have tried every food item available. And their curiosity was peeked in all the vendors had to offer. JD even asked the Vita-Mix pitch man what seasonings he was planning to add to the vegetable soup he was making in front of a small crowd. We visited exhibits in the the Home Arts Building, the Agricultural Building, the Commerce Building, and the poultry and animals! Whew!

We were picked up at 9:30 a.m. and got home at about 5 in the afternoon. We had a good day of walking, plus a whole lot of fun.

The kids picked out their favorite flavor of rock candy, and I picked out some licorice for Ken.

We thoroughly enjoyed watching a real horse race!

After carefully checking out the horses we each picked out our favorite to win . . . however there was no money coming out of our pockets for betting. When the race was over Ken and I would have won nearly $100 if we had bet!

After visiting the Agriculture Building, and even learning about bee keeping (hmmm . . . maybe Simply Country Farm will be beekeepers too?), we went down to see the poultry and other farm animals. We were hoping to see goats, but there were none. So we settled on sheep, cows, and pigs. My favorite was the huge pen full of mama sheep and brand new adorable baby lambs. I think I heard one of the boys say "Mom, I want a lamb!"

There were at least fifty babies running all over the pen searching for their own mom. One of the mothers spent a good five minutes nudging all the baby lambs except her own away from her so that her babies could nurse in private. We all got a good laugh over that!

Next were the pigs . . . several varieties, however I found this one to be unique. And she was very camera shy!

Where's the beef? Jen and the kids had a good chat with the teenage girl who raised this 1301 pound steer. They found out what it costs to raise such an animal, and what it usually sells for at auction at the fair. She was hoping, of course, to make money but felt she would probably just break even. She invited all of us to come on into the stall and pet her steer. She was a sweet girl and I hope she made a profit!

I caught this shot of KL with the sweet cow . . . I mean steer . . . behind her. I heard KL say to Jen . . . "Mom, I...want... to... raise... a...steer!"

I walked past this cow and said "Hello!" and she had a few words for me. . .

I think she said "Life has been pretty good!"

Fun on the Farm

After returning from a great summer in Oregon, we couldn't wait to go up to the Simply Country Farm. Several changes have happened over the summer. The baby chicks are now full grown hens, however an egg hasn't yet been seen. But something else has happened . . . when we left for Oregon there were two baby goats, Joey and Cover Girl. Now there is a beautiful milking doe named Destiny (who happens to be Joey's sister), residing at the Simply Country Farm, and we arrived just in time to watch and participate in her milking. Actually Destiny only gets milked every other day now because she is in the process of being weaned. In a month or so she will be mated and will be able to produce more milk in the spring. I think I'll let the pictures tell the story from here.

When Destiny realizes it's time to milk, by the sound of KL scooping out a good portion of sweet grain, something she only gets when she's being milked, she hops up onto the milking platform because she knows she gets a treat to munch on during the entire process.

KL really has taken on the responsibility to learn everything she can about her goats. And they love her! Here she is making sure Destiny is in position and latching the latch so that she doesn't move.

Destiny looks pretty content and ready to be milked. Check out her full udder. By the way, she won first prize at the county fair in the udder devision!

After washing her hands thoroughly Jen carefully sanitizes Destiny's udder before milking begins.

Then KL takes a sample of the milk and strains it to make sure the milk is free of any irregularities.

See? Clean as a whistle! Destiny's ready to be milked and her milk is perfect.

Jen and KL milked her together so the process time could be cut in half.

They are a great team!

I've never milked an animal before in my life, so I just had to try it. I was amazed at how warm her udder and the milk was. Her udder felt warm and soft. And after a quick lesson from Jen I was able to do just fine.

You can see the two streams of milk squirting into the stainless steel bucket.
A total of three quarts was stored in the freezer to chill, and we took one home with us after tasting it and finding it delicious! And it was so good in our cappuccinos this morning ...

. . . it froths beautifully!

Life is good!

Happy Times in Healdsburg

Every time we stop by to see our sister and brother-in-law we have a great time. And this time was no exception. The four of us are quite compatible and truly enjoy each other's company. We arrived at their home in Healdsburg late in the day on Thursday and we had nothing but fun the whole time we were there. Jackie and I love to spend time in the kitchen cooking together. After spending semi-serious time planning and shopping for and cooking the next meal, there was lots of time left catching up on each other's lives and sharing much love and laughter. We were only there for two full days but you can see by the photos that we had just lots of plain ol' fun!

THURSDAY . . . Jackie roasted a delicious organic chicken for dinner, and served it with roasted zucchini from the garden, red potatoes, and a nice garden salad. And, of course, good wine.

FRIDAY MORNING . . . Up bright and early we enjoyed our morning cappucino and a nice breakfast before starting our day at the vineyard. Of course grape harvesting is finished but we look forward to all the other things growing at "the farm." We were really looking forward to harvesting walnuts. Last year we did this and having the wonderful fresh walnuts throughout the year was fabulous, so we wanted to indulge ourselves again. A storm was predicted to come in (the same storm we had experienced a couple days ago while in Trinidad) so we didn't have any time to waste.

Standing at the barn, looking down toward the creek, you can spot (with the help of the white hand pointing at it) the huge walnut tree. Jackie and I and the dogs headed out on foot, while Ken caught up with us in the ATV. He had been helping Rick with chores earlier.

Here is Jackie, far left bottom corner of picture, gathering the nuts. The nuts fall from the tree when they are ready to be gathered.

The husks need to dry up a bit for the nuts to fall to the ground.

Hard work picking them up one by one, but so worth the effort.

The tree is about 60 feet in diameter . . . so it seemed everywhere we looked there were nuts to be harvested. And it's like you don't want a one to go to waste.

This is what Ken and I are bringing home with us . . . of course we'll share some with Jen . . . we'll have to have a nut-cracking party!

Last time we were here was in the spring so we looked forward to see what was ripening in the fall. There is so much being grown here, even though the main crop is varietal grapes. Here are pomegranates ready to pick.

Isn't this a beauty!

The persimmons were not quite ready. Last year we were here a few weeks later in the month and we were able to bring some home.

I discovered this pecan tree . . . hmmm, I wonder when they'll be ready!

The largest grapefruit tree I've ever seen, it's taller than the house!

And even olives! Some day I'm gonna look into brining olives.

We were pretty pooped after gathering nuts all morning so we decided to go out for lunch. Jackie and Rick took us to a new gourmet pizza place which had recently opened up in Geyserville. Needless to say we had a great time and enjoyed a couple of delectable pizzas!

FRIDAY AFTERNOON . . . Jackie's counter top was full of bright red tomatoes when we arrived yesterday. She said she had been drying them all summer because they—unlike Ken and I—had so darn many ripe red tomatoes—unbelievable! So today she taught me how to do this. We oven-dried them at 250° for three-four hours. And they turned out absolutely devine . . . not dry like leather, but soft and sweet and delicious.

This is just a tenth of what was displayed in her kitchen.

They are seasoned with a little salt and pepper before placing in the oven. Here's the first batch just out of the oven ready to cool and store. She served them with a walnut half on top as an appetizer.

FRIDAY NIGHT . . . Jackie wanted to try a new recipe . . . Sausage and Mushroom Risotto. After lunch we dropped the guys off and went to the grocery store to pick up what we needed. We made it with chicken sausage so we could keep it healthier and this is how it was put together, using a pressure cooker. Getting the ingredients ready takes longer than cooking it! Served with a nice salad and some great wine, enjoyed every morsel.

I started by sautéing the onions, sausage (taken out of the casing), and mushrooms in a quarter cup of olive oil.

Then the arborio rice is added and stirred to coat it with the oil.

Then a little wine and chicken broth is added and stirred a bit. The cover of the pressure cooker is locked on and brought up to heat and cooked for four minutes!

After the pressure cooker has been cooled off and the lid released we added chopped spinach, chopped oven-dried tomatoes, and dry jack cheese.

Voila! Delicioso!

SATURDAY MORNING . . . up bright and early, Jackie greeted us with a nice cup of cappucino. We planned on going over to the vineyard once again, this time to see the new trailer which was delivered to house Rick's right-hand man who had been living in their camper. The trailer will give him more room and be a better place to live now that the rainy season is upon us. Ken was able to give them a few tips on living in a trailer! Then Jackie and I helped the guys uncover the tomato garden . . . three rows of tomatoes . . . most of them red and ready to pick . . . they had covered them up when they knew the storm was coming yesterday. And it's a good thing they did, because the storm dropped a few inches of rain which would have done the tomatoes in at this stage of the season. Now they'll have many more to enjoy. They even sent some home with us!

SATURDAY AFTERNOON . . . Hmmmm . . . it's lunch time and we packed chicken with tarragon sandwiches for a picnic at Dry Creek Winery. We had heard on the radio this morning that Dry Creek Winery had just won the White Wine Sweepstakes prize for their Fumé Blanc at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, so we just had to try some with our lunch.

A cool but sunny afternoon, we enjoyed our picnic under the winery's umbrella.

Jackie and Ken toasting the winners, Dry Creek Winery, Healdsburg, CA. They sell some of their grapes to Dry Creek . . . some of their merlot.

Here's Rick and I showing you our sandwiches and the bag given to Jackie when we went in to buy a case of the winning wine.

And this pretty little chicken running around the grounds made me ready to hurry home to the chickens waiting for us in Coarsegold.

SATURDAY EVENING . . . One more dinner to prepare before our stay comes to an end. This time Rick chose Pork Tenderloin which he barbecued while all Jackie and I had to do was bake some zucchini and a nice fat sweet potato, make a salad, and oh . . . I almost forgot . . . we baked a pumpkin pie for dessert. Then we enjoyed a quiet evening watching a movie with Tom Cruise and Paul Newman "The Color of Money" in honor of Paul Newman who died recently.

Life is good . . . especially spending time with family!