This week at the farm: 30 July 08

Another week is here. I am proud to report that Lisa and I checked on our three bee hives today and they are all doing okay !! Our winter surviving hive (which we call SWOH), is doing quite well and the girls seem to like the new frames we just put in as they are making more honey. One of the other hives (Nuc) is doing okay and our swarm (the bees that adopted us in the spring) is a little slow but doing the best that they can. The best news is that they all have working bees and some honey.

As for chickens, the newest mother has taught her babies to roost and now they are on their own. They are pretty small to be roosting with all their big aunties, but they seem to be up to the task.
Meanwhile, we have LOTS of vegetables!!!!

First of the SWEET CORN, cucumbers, and lots of green beans including romano and round, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, EGGPLANT, and garlic. Onions, holy arugula (Lacy Arugula we’re calling it!), cabbage, tomatillos, chiles, gypsy sweet peppers, and many other varieties, maybe cilantro, and lots of basil varieties. Parsley, TOMATOES, STRAWBERRIES, carrots, beets, chard, green and spring onions, rhubarb–and as usual–I am sure I am forgetting something important.

A few eggs will be available as well as the jams and assorted dried and smoked as well as the newest batch of Sauerkraut.

We are planning on a Ratatouille Contest on Friday AUGUST 02. Anyone interested? Details are that it’s informal and please bring your Ratatouille around 4 in the afternoon on Friday.

Lee and or I will be at the Sonoma County Fair in the sustainability tent on Wednesday so stop on in if you’re at the fair.

That’s it for now. Hope to see you. Bring your walking shoes! It is beautiful in the field right now.
Thanks,
Evie Truxaw

TierraVegetables.com
Tierra Vegetables Farm Stand (directions)

Where is the WiFi?

Cafe Newsstand. Just found out today that this corner cafe has WiFi. Haven’t experienced it yet. But will try tomorrow. Also noticed last Friday that this corner cafe now has wine and beer in the evenings. They turn out the linen table cloths and turn on some charm and it turns out to be a nice spot to stop for a drink and watch people. (map)

Costeaux French Bakery. A Healdsburg tradition since 1923 for baked goods and breakfasts, now offers a fast WiFi connection. It’s good to keep up with the times. To quote one of their customers: “A very casual atmosphere but they serve high quality, tasty entrées.” I will attest to that. Last Sunday, I met with some friends for brunch and to plan a bathroom remodel. We had the Eggs Benedict served up with a side of WiFi. Couldn’t have been a better planning experience. (map)

Snowbunny. An interesting new addition to Healdsburg. The frozen yogurt is made with organic Strauss yogurt and organic Clover milk, and does not contain high fructose corn syrup. Also has an espresso bar that serves up Flying Goat coffee. A little sparse, but knowing there is a fast WiFi connection is important. One of the two window seats has a plug in. Can it get any better than that? (map)

Palette-Art Cafe. In addition to some great food, wine, and original art–if you turn up here anytime between 10AM an 3PM, you’re likely to arrive to a bevy of laptops. It’s quite a nice atmosphere, the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. And you can actually get quite a lot of work done–if you don’t start chatting to the others (which is always a nice change of pace). Additionally, there is a Mac at the counter if you don’t have your own. (map)

Wolf Coffee over at the north end of town. Haven’t experienced the WiFi, the coffee, nor the crepes yet. But I’m sure I will. I will be attending the local knitting circle who meets on Saturdays from 10AM to 1PM. I’ve always wanted to learn to knit and cellardiva and her mother-in-law have agreed to help me learn. (map)

Sonoma County Library. Like most public libraries, the Sonoma County Public Library offers computers (for a duration of an hour) and if you have your own laptop, as long as you need it. The Healdsburg Public Library has the additional benefit of housing the Sonoma County Wine Library with our very own wine librarian–Bo SImons. He’s wealth of knowledge about the area and about wineries. However, much to my chagrin, the library is NOT open on Sundays. (map)

Healdsburg Park Plaza. A few years ago, the City of Healdsburg set up a WiFi network to work primarily in the plaza itself. I was there myself on Friday evening. It was such a lovely night and I was able to catch up on some emails right in the middle of the plaza. The connection is a bit dodgy though and tends to fade in an out frequently. I found it good for text, (chat IMs and emails)–not for larger files or pictures or anything. But, it’s a bit of a novelty setting. (map)

What’s Happening Healdsburg: 28 July 2008

Tuesday, 29 July 08, 6:00 PM. Free. Tuesdays in the Plaza presents Stompy Jones, a jaunty blues sound of Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five. Shop the Farmer’s Market, Oakville Grocery, Divine Affair, or Palette-Art for your wine country picnic.

Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 7 PM. Free and open to the public. The Sonoma County Library Presents: Vilma Ginzberg, Healdsburg’s Literary Laureate, reading from her works. Healdsburg Regional Library. Forum Room, Piper and Center Streets.

Friday, 01 August 2008, 8:00PM – 10:30PM. Corked (the movie) screening at the Raven Theater. General Admission: $10, ages 21+ only. Screening will be followed by Q&A with filmmakers. Purchase tickets.

Julia’s Lemonade at the Farmer’s Market

Julia is selling lemonade at the Healdsburg Farmer’s Markets to save for college. I see her on Saturdays, but the last time I talked to her, she was also planning to be on the Plaza on Tuesdays.

I also happen to know that she’s looking for lemons. So, if you have a fat old lemon tree in your yard, and you simply have too many lemons, bring ‘em on down to Julia. I know she will appreciate them.

I believe that Julia (and her parents) squeeze the lemons by hand to make the lemonade. It is quite the process. I’ll have to find out how many lemons it takes for one huge jug of lemonade.

I took this picture as part of the Day-in-the-Life event.

Music: Steve Pile : Four Performances

Try to catch local musician Steve Pile at one of his performances this weekend.

Friday: 25 July 2008: 5:30PM-8:00PM
Michel Shlumberger Winery
4155 Wine Creek Rd. Healdsburg, CA
http://www.michelschlumberger.com
$10 includes glass of wine, bring a picnic, or buy some there.
Steve Pile with bassist Brian Rashap on upright.

Friday: 25 July 2008: 9PM-11PM
Palette Art Cafe
235 Healdsburg Ave

Saturday, 26 July 2008: 8PM-10PM
Ghost Readers in July….spooky stories read by local writers and actors and 2 or 3 spooky songs by Steve Pile and the Pile Drivers
www.glasercenter.com
547 Mendocino Ave, SR
$15 in advance.

Ravenous Restaurant - FULL BAND SHOW!!!
10:30PM-1AM
420 Center St, Healdsburg, CA

Vilma Ginzberg: 30 July 2008: Healdsburg Public Library

The Sonoma County Library Presents: Vilma Ginzberg
Healdsburg’s Literary Laureate, reading from her works
Healdsburg Regional Library
Forum Room, Piper and Center Streets
Wednesday Evening
July 30, 2008 - 7 PM
Free and Open to the Public

Pug’s Leap Farm

[This article is courtesy of Sasha at Cheese By Hand, a blog dedicated to discovering America one cheese at a time. Originally published 31 July 2008.]

Name: Pug’s Leap
Location: Healdsburg, CA
Owners: Pascal Destandau & Eric Smith
Animals: Milking 24 goats- mixed herd of Alpines, Saanens, and Toggenburgs
Cheeses/Products: Petit Marceau, Pave, Buche

Although the 24 milking goats can browse all the way down to Dry Creek Road, one might never noticed Pug’s Leap because it is nestled back on the hillside among trees and brush so common to the not-quite-coastal valleys of Northern California. Lucky for us- thank you Healdsburg Farmer’s Market- Pug’s Leap was presented to us in broad daylight. We introduced ourselves and thanks to the avid local food supporters of a blog called Fork and Bottle (www.forkandbottle.com) who wrote about us on their slow food convivium’s site, Eric and Pascal had actually heard of us and graciously invited us out to the farm that afternoon.

This invitation was more than gracious considering that Saturdays are their “day off”- meaning that they don’t actually make cheese because they are busy going to market. It doesn’t look like an average person’s day off given that they are still out of bed around 5-ish for the morning milking and then they use the usual cheesemaking time to prepare for market. We descended upon them during their afternoon break- post market and pre afternoon milking.

We started our tour in the “cheese-room-with-a-view” which looks out across Dry Creek Road to the vineyard on the other side. The cheese room is modest and immaculate with a vat/pasteurizer which is in use now and an additional, smaller vat that Pascal hopes to use for making aged, raw milk cheeses someday soon. There are two small aging rooms off the side wall- one used for the delicate drying stage needed for small, mold and ash ripened cheeses and the other with higher humidity and a slightly lower temperature. These rooms are Pascal’s domain- he has always been interested in and good at cooking so this seemed the most logical place for him. As we talked about everything ranging from selecting goat breeds to the grey area around words like artisan and farmstead, Pascal tilted racks of cheeses made the previous day and encouraged the whey and scraps down the drain in the table.

Next we walked out into the milking parlor which is, as Eric described it, “state of the art for the 1930’s”. More important than being fashionable, it is simple and it works for them although it is uphill (a dirt hill) from the area where the does are kept which means that milking can be time consuming… particularly when you have 30 straight days of rain like they did this past winter.

The bucks are kept at the top of the hill and the does are down closer to the road- removing off-season temptations. The goats are eating browse (read: anything that emerges from the ground), hay, and are supplemented with a bit of grain around milking time. Sounds simple and yet, as with so many things on small farms, there are built-in complexities because Pug’s Leap is a small farm without enormous hay storage capacity thus Eric has to drive hours to do a hay collection every other week.

Everything about Pug’s Leap is in response to Eric and Pascal’s mounting discomfort with the state of affairs in farming and food production today; the ultimate example of consumers taking matters into their own hands. They are an interesting breed of new farmers- both stepped into this project with years of professional experience (Eric as an architect and Pascal as an environmental engineer) and little dairying experience. As we walked uphill to the area where the bucks are kept, Eric and Pascal agreed that although this is more tiring than any work they have done before, it is labor that produces tangible and very real results- life and death included- something they can’t imagine giving up.

George Hoyer: Healdsburg Park Plaza : Saturday Morning

George Hoyer met Jean in the Healdsburg Park Plaza on Saturday morning. She gave him my card and told him about the “A Day in the Life” event.

When he got home, he submitted his photos. I asked him about why he was taking photos that morning and he said:

I have taken photos as an amateur for many years, but have been away from it for a while. I just purchased a digital camera and I have been wanting to try it out. So when A Day In The Life presented itself, I thought I would take advantage of it.

Karen Holmes: Shots of my trellised pumpkin plant

I met Karen last Tuesday evening as I was handing out cards and promoting this Day in the Life event. She’d recognized me from hanging out at the the wine library.

Karen sent in this submission on Saturday evening:

Hi, Jennifer. I introduced myself to you at the Plaza on Tuesday, having seen you at the Wine Library…

Here’s my submission: Shots of my trellised pumpkin plant.

I’d noticed a pumpkin plant trained to climb up a pole in someone’s yard on First and Matheson Streets last summer. I’d never seen that done before. The beginning of June my wisteria, that had so beautifully covered my trellis, succumbed to Crown Gall Disease. It seemed so bare there after it was removed. Then I remembered the pumpkin plant on First Street from last year, and so planted my own at the base of the support for the former wisteria trellis. The pumpkin plant is growing about 2″ a day and seems to love to climb up. Today my husband made a little sling to support the biggest pumpkin. We’ll see how that works.

Thanks!
Where: Garden on Almond Way
When: Around 1:00 p.m. on Saturday the 19th
How: Canon PowerShot A620 digital camera

See more shots of the trellised pumpkin in the flickr photo stream (we’re still working on sorting and uploading the pictures).
Learn more about the wine library

What a Day!

Wow. What a day. I only have a few moments, but to summarize so far:

Up at 5AM.

One audio recording of the birds in my neighborhood.

2.5 hours helping start the Healsburg Century Bike Tour.

• Five brown thermos containers of coffee
• Two trays of cinnamon bread
• Too many Odwalla juices to count
• 1500 or so bikers (will have to get the exact number from Briana over at the Chamber)

Back home to regroup and refresh a bit.

Update the A Day in the Life column on this website. Shana IMs me to say she’s started a twitter stream: #hburgmag.

Out to meet Julie at Cousteax (missed her but met her later at the Farmer’s Market).

Quick stop at Fideaux to make sure the girls there take a picture (I took one–just to be sure).

Farmer’s Market (lots of people there today, including Shana and another Healdsburg local: oenophilus).

Met Laurel Cook and some other Literary Guild members who were serendipitously releasing a BOOK entitled: A Day in the Life of Healdsburg.

It was the 30th anniversary of the Farmer’s Market this week. Think I’ll be getting some more interesting photos from Mike Haran later.

Up and down the street to a few shops (will have to wait until I sort out my pictures).

Through the Plaza.

Over to Oakville Grocery, Rosenblum, and Selby tasting room.

Back through square to meet Shana for lunch.

Lunch at Willi’s Seafood. Bartender was Carl. Have to write up his drinks for the Two-Drink Minimum column. Oysters (delectable).

Back through to ParkPoint Health Club to ask about their memberships for out-of-town visitors. Have a summary I can post later.

I’m exhausted.

Head home for a snooze.

Head out to run an errand, but was just too exhausted to stay out.

Back home. Check email (four unexpected submissions for event — Thank You!!! I’m expecting more though. I know they’ll come in as the week progresses).

Check the twitter stream (two new friends on Twitter–(hi Rob and macgenie). Special shout out to Shana Ray for starting that off this morning–an unexpected social media contribution.

Call my new friend Randy over at Mateo Granados Catering to make sure he sends in his perspective. He sends it from his iPhone (will link later when I’ve got the pictures sorted).

Check the Flickr group. One new member: local photographer Craig Clemment-hope to that you’re going to submit a photo or two Craig. I’d be honored.

Quote of the day from Shana, “It made me happy!” for almost every picture she took and posted to twitpic.

It’s 11:33 right now. I have to get up early again tomorrow.

Thanks for everything everybody who participated. I look forward to your submissions.

Stay tuned!!

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