Beeing There

Last week, I was focused on Bees and  Honey.  It was a glorious springlike week at UC-Davis, where I was attending an intensive mead-making and meadery course. (Mead is wine made with honey.)

Over the course of three days we tasted the sugar and acid components of honey separately and in the honey We tasted more than 30 kinds of honey (including specialty honeys like Cilantro, FoamFlower, and Thyme) and mead made from many of them. 
We learned about   mead contaminants and tasted them (not the most pleasant part) so we could recognize why a mead did not taste delicious, and figured out what happened in the process to make it that way. We tasted mead that ranged from exquisite to some that smelled so horrible I could barely make myself put it to my lips. We tasted the same recipe of mead made with different yeasts and fermented at different temperatures, with amazingly different results. (Sometimes my eyes glazed over from all the chemistry.) The chief apiarist from University of California extension updated us on current bee issues, which are myriad. We toured the meadmaking lab of  the Mondavi Wine research  building at UC-Davis (an amazing  LEED platinum building that is carbon neutral and uses captured rainwater ten times) and the warehouse of a honey broker. We heard case studies from a meadery start-up on the Olympic peninsula and a very successful meadery in New Hampshire. We had a mead judging session with the founder of  the Mazer Cup, an international mead competition. I met  some wonderful mead-loving folks whom I expect will be long-term friends and colleagues.

So why did I attend this mead course?  Rog has been making delicious meads and melomels (mead made with fruit) for a few years now, and I just started making it this winter.   It seems like mead would be the perfect complement to our wood-fired pizza and bread, especially since we raise a few honeybee hives.  After taking this course I am excited to pursue it, but knocked down to earth enough to realize that if we do undertake it, it will take at least a year  of  further research, experimentation and preparation. Stay tuned.

Although I did not bring my camera to the mead class, I took quite a few photos of the educational Honey Bee Garden on campus, sponsored by Haagen Dazs.  The garden has  several hives and wild bee habitats,  and is full of the plants bees prefer for nectar and pollen.

There are many fabulous mosaic sculptures that portray the life cycle and work of bees.

At the bottom of this cylindrical planter are relief images of bees transforming from egg to larva to young bee.

An adult bee feeding a newly hatched bee. The adult regurgitates food via its mandibles to the  outstretched tongue of the young bee. After a few days of being fed this way, the young bee will take its first flight - and poop its first poop, then begin its work as an adult member of the bee community.

The handmade tiles and mosaics in the bee park are exquisite!  When you first  walk into the park you are bowled over by the delicious fragrance of honey from the hives.

 Davis is the hometown of Mandy, one of our awesome WWOOFers from last summer. I was so  delighted that Mandy came home from attending college at Berkeley to adventure around Davis with me! We had breakfast at her favorite crepes restaurant and spent a fun day exploring the city by bicycle.

Thsi cow was my favorite ride, of course,  in the people-powered (by bicycle) carousel at a downtown park.

A draft-horse-drawn wagon on the bike path on campus. You can't get to class on most campuses this way!

 Prickly pear cactus at the arboretum.

Another beautiful mosaic featuring oak habitat on a restroom in the arboretum.

Our bike ride wound through an acacia grove blooming vivid yellow along the creek, studded with egrets and turtles.

Fun public art is everywhere-this sculpture is in front of Whole Foods.

What a great week in beautiful California, staying at a  lovely Air BnB,  biking to my classes every day on the  extensive Davis bike path system, learning so much about mead and honey, dining with fellow classmates every night.
I must admit, I felt a bit guilty being in 70-degree sunshine when it was below zero back home. Thank you Rog and Ruth, for taking such good care of the critters while I was gone.  It was wonderful, but I am happy to be home.

.

A Most Beautiful Wedding and Some Pretty Pigs

We arrived home late last night from a quick jaunt to Vancouver, Washington, where we had travelled for the wedding of our niece, Annie, to her true love, Sean.  It was a beautiful and fun event, and we were so happy to celebrate with Roger's family.  We wish Annie and Sean many decades of happy adventures together.

It was a whirlwind trip so we did not have time for touristy explorations, but we realized we were very close to the farm of a former colleague of Rog's and could stop for a few minutes on our way to the airport yesterday morning.  April used to work as an engineer in Rochester, but returned to farm near Vancouver, where she grew up.  April and her husband Brad have April Joy Farm, a picturesque, 28-acre farm where they raise a spectrum of organic vegetables and heritage pork. They operate a veggie CSA,  sell produce to restaurants and markets, and sell their farm-processed pork directly to customers.

We accompanied April to feed her Tamworth pigs, a pretty red breed with big ears. Ginger and MaryAnn are the two newly-acquired young sows.

Rosie is the queen of the farm. She is due to have piglets next week. I wish I could have seen the newborn piglets, but probably a good thing  they hadn't arrived yet or I would have been so tempted to  sneak one home on the plane!

April acquired Rosie when she was only 30  pounds--she is about 700 pounds now.  She is a beauty.

April built this enviable chicken tractor on an old  trailer her brother had. In the background you can see some of the table grapes, planted the first year she bought the farm. There is also a small orchard and a large, new high tunnel greenhouse on the farm.

 

What fun to see an old friend and kindred spirit and her amazing enterprise! We hated to leave this idyllic farm (not to mention the beautiful green, spring morning) so soon, but we had to get home to our own sweet little farm - and a foot of fresh snow.

Pearl of the Lake

Time for a little- off-farm adventure!  Last night we had a dinner cruise on Lake Pepin with the fine folks from Rog's work. The boat was The Pearl of the Lake, a river boat that is authentically powered by by the paddle wheels.

Boarding the boat.

While we  loaded, the First Mate cast for fish --a perk of the  job. He told me last week he caught an enormous northern pike.

We take off, cruising around the lake.

I took a turn at the  helm (is that the right word?)  I am a pretty good pilot, if I do say so myself.

Andy  and his dad Bob on the deck. Andy also piloted the riverboat.

From the top deck looking down.

We had a leisurely dinner and arrived  back at the dock at dusk.  What a pretty  evening on the water.

But the temperature was dropping fast, forecast to get as low as 29 degrees overnight.  While we were out boating Cadence had covered the tender veggies in the garden.   Our huge wall of morning glories is covered in buds but has yet to bloom. I didn't want them to freeze  before our big event next weekend, so Rog and I wrapped them in tablecloths, blankets and fabric. I hauled in all the  pots of annuals and tropicals - about 15 big patio plants. Rog covered  my new plantings in the new perennial garden and closed up the greenhouse.

It did frost hard,  so I am glad we went to all that effort to protect things.  After the Cow Puja and Farm Fair  next weekend we will give in to autumn.

Vacation!

Over Easter, we took our first trip together since moving to the farm. We went to Oregon to visit Rog's mom, Ruth.  After spending a few days in Eugene, we all drove to Yachats and rented a little cottage with a fantastic view of the waves and tides.  We got there just in time for  a beautiful sunset over the Pacific.

Early morning tide-pooling.

Starfish scattered about.

Some tidepools are exuberant gardens of starfish and sea urchins.

The wind  made veils of  mist spray from the waves.

Couldn't get enough of watching  the waves.

Lunch at Cafe Mundo in Newport.

Fuzzy bike parked in Cafe Mundo courtyard.

The Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport has rooms decorated to represent  famous authors.

The John Steinbeck Room. (The  reading lights are the headlights of the truck.)

Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

Rocks at Yaquina Head.

Common Murres on island at Yaquina Head.

I love how the Murres come in for a landing.

Low tide from our cottage.

Tide rising at evening.

Sunsets so beautiful, if they were a painting they would be "bad art."

I am so grateful we got to visit the Oregon coast with my wonderful mom-in-law!

I missed my farm critters, but made friends with some seagulls,