Courtney Doyle Trip to Sonoma County

Courtney came out for a great weekend...sushi, Restaurant Eloise, wine tasting, dinner at the house, sorting the first Sauv Blanc grapes of harvest...and many good laughs :) When are you coming back?!?

Bit graphic...but part of the process.

Here are some shots of Donna being processed. We have the hams packed in salt for prosciutto and also, curing one of her loins. We bbqed one of her shoulders and ribs; and froze the other shoulder for sausage soon. Head cheese and pate grandmere utilized organ and head meat. Awesome experience!

Giants Game

We went to our first Giants game this past Tuesday after spending the day in the city! AT&T Park is amazing, you look right over the water and there isn't a bad seat in the stadium...we should know, we had the worst seats there and stilll had a great time! Well, until the score was 1-12 (versus the Dodgers) and we decided to start the 75 minute drive home and the Dodger fans started chanting "BEAT THE TRAFFIC!" to all the Giants fans leaving.

Oregon Redband Trout

Here she is... what a day on the Deschutes! This was from my recent trip up there. On a barbless nymph :)

Piggy Updates

Everyone is doing well on the farm...eating Gravensein apples, blackberries, watermelons... Yeah, they're spoiled. We are mentally preparing ourselves to be giving thanks for the little black and white girl on the 22nd of August. This will be my first time going thru this...but I have done my best to give her a great life! I'll keep you posted...

Sid and the Piggies

Jerry, Bobbi, and Donna were intrigued by my sis' colorful outfit!! :)

I know Sid... I am a total slacker!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the drought in blog posts ;) July was a busy month. Here are some shots from my recent trip to Bend, Oregon. The pic of me and the miniature bass is from Davis Lake... Don't worry- pics of large fish from the Deschutes still to come! The other two were taken at Hosmer Lake. Great trip- got to see some friends and catch fish!

Fourth of July Celebration!

West County style...crab, corn, cherries, and cocktails! We went on a beautiful drive to the beach with the dogs and let Liam and Bella play in the ocean. Then, we came home and had an awesome dinner!

Some shots from 6.26 at Lancaster Estate

Cucumber soup with prawns and gremolata; Oyster mushroom custard with fresh english peas served in eggshells; Chocolate pot de creme with raspberries, whipped cream, and edible flowers.

And I thought blowing bubbles in milk was fun...

Since temps inched up into the 80's in Sebastopol, I figured it was time to give the piggies a little 'pool' to play in. Jerry and Bobby were immediately drawn to it and got right in! They are having so much fun playing in the mud!

Good Eats!

We had a great dinner tonight- mesquite-grilled pork loin. Orzo with porcinis, veggies from our garden- arugula, spinach, chard, zucchini, fresh peas, and grated asiago cheese. With full bellies, we then frolicked in the garden and wrestled some wiggly piggies, while Liam and Bella fought over a stick. Typical night in West County.

Heeeerrrrrreeee's Jeeerrrryyy!!!!!!!!!

We found a plum tree behind their pen today, so they got big handfuls of fruit tonight :)

Beginning to really love CA...

Here are some ingredients from last nights dinner. Porcini mushrooms from Mt. Shasta. Chard, spinach, squash, zucchini, broccoli, and arugula from our garden. Also picked some fresh tarragon, thyme, and parsley. We made a chicken linguine pasta with all these herbs and veggies and a light cream sauce. Sooo good!

Korean Style

Last night, Emery, Jenni, and I made lettuce wraps. We stuffed our homegrown red romaine lettuce with barbecued tri-tip, grilled green onions, organic brown rice, and sauce made with hoisin, soy, chilis, garlic, and sesame oil. De-lish!

Jenni helping in the garden

We planted beet seeds, spearmint, lemon verbena, and tarragon.

Look at the legs and bellies on these guys...

Here I am with Jerry and Bobby. Just hanging out on the farm.

June 6th Barbecue

Here are some pics from our successful barbecue yesterday. We ate 50 raw x-small oysters and barbecued 50 medium oysters, they had a little of Justin's homemade sauce and of course a little MGD for extra jus; pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw. Tons of sausages. And an awesome "Skor Bar Cake" from our friend Jenni, who is living with us in West County. Late night bonfire in the driveway was a good way to relax at the end of it all.

It may be a little overcast, but it's time for a barbecue!

15 pounds homemade bodwurst sausage...not much. One slow-roasted pork shoulder...maybe 10 bucks. 100 local oysters...too much. Invite to a Bodell family barbecue...priceless.

Chickens!

Here are two of our hens enjoying the overcast day in Sebastopol. They should start producing eggs in a couple months. They enjoy spending all day foraging for bugs and then returning home to get some shut-eye.

The garden is thriving!

Here are a few of our many summer squash and some greens which have been producing quite a bit.

Tim's Debut...

Bobby loves chewing on my jeans. She also likes bugging Jerry.

Update from the farm

Here are some fresh greens from our garden that are going into stirfry tonight...chard, arugula, spinach and a couple of strawberries for a starter!

We have the best pigs ever. Jerry and Bobby are adjusting well to their new home! They are eating from their feeder and the chickens like to just wait for them to spill food out onto the ground. Here are some pictures from tonight...

I call this one poaching chickens, not poached chicken.

For those of you who cannot tell, Bobby is the female on the left and Jerry is the male on the right...you can tell because of all his black spots.

Free range chickens, just sitting in the late evening sun.

Our first broccoli raab! It's going to be delicious.

We welcome visitors and are excited to mom to come home from Korea for the summer! We are going to have a kick off to summer bbq this weekend if anyone wants to come by and meet the animals!

Jerry and Bobby are home...

We brought Jerry and Bobby home today. They are adorable and we have fully embraced the fact I (Emery) am going to be madly in love with them. Al, the pig lady, had a little heart to heart with me today and said I am totally supposed to love them. I was afraid to get too attached, afraid that I wouldn't want to see them on my plate someday. Al explained that that is why they were born. She was very encouraging and even had me pick them out of the pigpen. Eeek, kind of scary in there.

We are very tired but I just wanted to post a couple pictures on here. You can tell by the size of Liam and Bella that they are still very small, maybe 25 pounds.

Tell you more later...