February the Last

Way back on the 18th, Amira turned 9. She reminded me that after this year, all the kids would have double digit ages. Awareness of this thrust me into a feeling of having a triple digit age. But, then, lets not get competitive!


Here's Ruby, Eily & Ella on skates!


Rex made & decorated the cake. What a cool brother!


Here's the ensemble with Madelyn, Valerie & Rex.


Last week Valerie's class took a field trip to the Gray Lodge Bird Sanctuary. It was scenic & educational. Here's Valerie and her friends embarking on one of the paths.


Precisely on day 21, one of Larry's 7 eggs hatched. Sadly, the other 6 didn't hatch. A couple of them were rotten. One stopped developing at a certain point. And it looks like a couple of others were likely not fertile.

We probably should have put less eggs under Larry. She's a small hen and likely couldn't keep them warm enough. Ah, live and learn.



Rex loves to wrap Mr. Whiskers up like a burrito del gato.


Yes, I am totally bragging! These lovely specimens were started by seed last summer and survived some ferocious frosts! The cabbage above was served with a pork shoulder roast (from Book Family Farm) and some sweet potatoes.


Above is the tightest head of romanesco I have ever grown. And below are pix of cauliflower and cilantro. I never had success growing food at the last house. So, I'm just giddy with excitement when I can pick something out of the yard for dinner.






In the following photos we move off Rancho Wilhelm and over to Chaffin Family Farm. Amira's 3rd grade is going on a three day/two night field trip next month where they will camp in a century old olive grove, collect eggs, milk cows and have a lesson in permaculture. How cool is that?


Above is pictured the olive grove. Below are the 300 chickens that followed us until they came upon a fence.





Okay, part of the farm tour was taking the private road up to Table Mountain to see where the kids are going to have a campfire one night. Well, there are cows all over the top of this mountain. Above you can see one jogging alongside the car in front of us. The former city slicker inside couldn't help but audibly snigger at the sight.



Last but not least I leave you with a photo of a Stormy Morning cocktail I found on Pinterest. It contains Creme de Violette, St. Germain (my fave), champagne & lime. Just love the color. I'm going to have to try this one of these days.