Christmas Letter, 2013

Oh the weather outside is frightful …  thank you for the thin layer of frost reminding us it is 22 degrees outside.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Y1 on the farm has been amazing, starting with the discovery of a pair of Great Horned Owls courting in the trees out front and wrapping up with 400 sheep showing up literally overnight to graze in the neighboring alfalfa fields. We bring a flashlight out for the last potty break of the night for the dogs and there are hundreds of pairs of eyes glowing back at us. The lambs skirt the fence and wander around our yard, playing King of the Hill on the pile of left over wood chips.  

We brined last winter’s olives for seven months, and it was fun marinating and sharing them. We fertilized and watered the trees like crazy and what a difference in the crop, which we harvested a couple of weeks ago and put into brine. We thought they were Kalamatas, but now we aren’t sure. They are double the size of last year.

Randy’s been busy in the workshop with raised garden planters and a perimeter fence to keep out the ground squirrels. He is enjoying the (new-to-us) tractor.  Veggies have done well here. That spindly tree in front turned out to be a Pomegranate, and the gnarly old one out back is a Mission Fig, and both produced well this season, so I’d have to pick the most useful new skill is learning to can jellies, jams, relishes, applesauce and pickles.

A dog wandered into our lives in the middle of the night last summer so now we have two rescue pups to spoil and indulge (and also train, starting in January).  Lily and Sam are both about two.  Lily is an English Staffie who the vet thinks was used as a breeder dog and dumped in the country.  What a love bug.  

We experimented with natural essential oils and came up with a helpful mosquito/gnat repellent for the community.  People seem to like it, and we just finished testing it in a lab affiliated with UC Davis.  That was a great, great experience.

We are both working full time still, but the farm calls to us more and more. You know me: I want chickens and a goat, and a couple of those lambs near the fence that are calling my name. Naaaaaaan.  

What we will remember most about 2013 is falling in love with country life; sharing it with those who came by; and laughing through the steep learning curve ... like the frozen pipes we woke up to a couple of mornings ago ...

We hope you found our FB page (Cityfolk Farmers) and the family blog (http://cityfolkfarmers.blogspot.com). FB helps us not feel so far away from those we love when we can share all the great things going on in your lives. 

Spending Thanksgiving with the boys in Tahoe for several days was just about the best gift ever, so yes, we opened our present early!   May 2014 be all about service to others, dessert first and making dreams come true.

Christmas, 2013               
Randy and Nanci & the Fassio Bros.

Just the Idea of It

They're baaaack! And they brought lambs!

The kickoff for winter comes in the form of a large herd of sheep that arrives overnight and grazes the field. There's rich and nutritious alfalfa, and the temporary electric fence just rolls out and clips to temporary posts.

The dogs discovered nearly right away the advantages of keeping clear of the fence. And at first, the sheep curiously watched the dogs as they ventured near, clearing a path for the Lab but mistaking Lily for a cow. 


Grown up mosquito repellent testing went on this year at UC Davis in an esteemed lab. We came away inspired and encouraged. On with the experimenting! And on with the planting of lavender, lemongrass and eucalyptus!

The kennel found its final resting place and the dogs can now be safely outside without us. Perimeter fencing is coming soon. Maybe even gutters for the house.

Lily still lights out after farm equipment and ATVs driven by farm workers wearing low brimmed hats.  She has her own History that she yearns to remember, but we'll still work on listening skills in January with an obedience class.

I suppose December with its dark, short days makes us more reflective.

Hard Working Hands

It was a very hot summer with a very large number of mosquitos! A year of unexpected loss and uncertainty. A year that in a lot of ways was a reality check. A year of breaking down barriers (thank you, Lily) and pulling closer the relationships we treasure. And for me, 2013 was about maneuvering the minefield of a changing work landscape and coming to terms with my age.

What I will remember most, though? The sheer joy of country life overtaking my spirit.
   


Clay Critters by Denise on FB

The rumbling sounds of the tractor and the high hum of the power tools; the dogs racing around the yard chasing squirrels and tennis balls, ears flapping in the breeze. They are such goofballs.




Clay Critters by Denise on FB



Pickled baby artis & cukes
 

I enjoy canning and cooking with the veggies and fruits we grow, and the pride in harvesting a more robust crop of olives after tending the trees.

A Zamora Dragonfly

I don't mind so much the dust and being knee-deep in leaves on the gravel drive, or the work ahead to whip this place into shape. It doesn't bother me to catch a field mouse in a Tupperware cup and gently put it outside.

Those are my moments: weddings, and celebrations big and small, and laughing happy tears with the re-telling of old stories. Living it up right here, right now.

And now, something else on the horizon: considering retirement, so sweet and so near.





A Day at the Lab

It has been an astonishing couple of weeks, novice-speaking. We have been optimistically working our way into the mosquito repellent idea and have been curious to test it out by an impartial source.

In stepped Scott Loye Biological Labs out of UC Davis, specifically Scott who has been tutoring us along about the steps and opportunities should the formula be a viable one. After several conversations since July, we got word last week that he had room in his testing lab for a quick, preliminary test with lab mosquitos, and he asked if we wanted to participate. Heck, yeah.

It's a little unassuming place, the lab. We wove through the vegetation and gardens, rain water collection tanks, and stout chicken coup with bunnies and a variety of chickens to a building in the back. Inside were loads of lab stuff and humidifiers and room heaters to make a happy, typical swampy Southern summer day for the mosquitos.

Scott explained the mosquitos they used are the most aggressive variety, to create the most challenging test possible for the repellent. These are the yellow fever mosquitos found in the tropics - the Aeder Aegypti variety.

Next, we sprayed and rubbed in our two formulas, carefully documenting everything in the black leather journal - time, temperature, amount of repellent used, which arm we were selecting to try for which formula. Scott, his assistant Trevor, Randy and I all put Formula B on our left arms, and on the right arm ...

• Scott was control (no repellent)
• Trevor and I had Formula A (the original formula from June, stored for 4 months to learn about shelf life)
• Randy had Formula C ( the original formula that had been exposed to direct summer sun for 4 months). 

The Styrofoam and iced container of mosquitos that arrived from Pennsylvania was separated somehow into 3 batches, and put in screened cages with a sock on one side for easy arm entry. They were awake! and hungry! We each took turns putting an arm in the cage for a minute or so and everyone counted how many mosquitos landed, grabbed hold and began to drill. I documented everything carefully in the journal.

We tried a couple of times at 15 minute intervals, checking whether the formula improved over time. We counted bugs and 30 minutes after counted bug bites. Interestingly! Mosquitos that don't carry virus have a bit of a sting when you are bitten but the bites don't swell and disappear almost right away, at least for us.

How did the formula do?  It failed!  Last summer, cousin Ric took some of this to the Everglades with his science class and essentially had the same result - against probably a similar variety of mosquito. These swampy hungry mosquitos are pretty stout. 

Scott said his lab has tested all the Deet products, Skin So Soft, and many others on the market, and they often fail this test. He explained a lot of products still provide some marketable relief for most environments.

Any touch of disappointment we felt was replaced by the incredible conversation that followed. We all talked for a couple of hours about the EPA, drug interactions, chemical formulas vs natural essential oils, and the kinds of things to research as the formula moves forward. Things to be wary of. Things to explore. Scientific journals that should be studied. Pharmacology vs Toxicology.

We got around to the topic of Malaria in third world countries and the genuine health crisis going on there. Scott brought out an unmarked vial of repellent that was tested in his lab. He rubbed some into his Control arm and put it in the mosquito tank and we watched in excitement as the mosquitos completely left him alone. He explained the product was being developed specifically for widespread distributed in countries that desperately need it. The ingredients are safe, so no fear of trading short term health gains for long term losses. 

It felt like we in the presence of a spark of inspiration that will produce a miracle for hundreds of thousands of people on the other side of the world. Who wouldn't be inspired and invigorated by that? We came away totally inspired to never stop learning and experimenting.

What an awesome, awesome day.

The Green Death

Exploring from-scratch recipes has been an adventure.

The newest idea involved making authentic chile verde without benefit of Mexican friends to guide me. Love Food Network, right? It empowers us to try anything and everything. So I hunted around and compared 2 or 3 recipes, and came up with a plan.

Normally I chunk and dredge the pork in seasoned flour and sauté it in onions, bell peppers and other seasonings, and then smother it in canned sauce and it's done. Our version of chile verde is good - but friends have a salt free diet, and I was cooking for them, so we moved into uncharted territory.

The Hubs is daring and brave with pressure cookers, so he did the first step - and expertly added just the right amount of water and seasonings and the 7 lb pork butt turned out perfectly. I think there was about 5 lbs of meat after cooking, which we cooled overnight and reserved the liquid to de-fat and reuse. When you refrigerate the broth, it just skims easily off the top.

Each recipe had its own ideas on how to use peppers, and not working with them often, I kind of interchanged types which is an entirely different story for another time but kind of pertains to the story. I wore gloves, removed the membrane and seeds from 1 Anaheim, 1 Poblano, and 1 big Jalapeno and Cuisinart-ed them until chunky and tossed them in a big pot with 1 1/2 cups fresh tomatillos and 2 large green bells, done the same way. We added that to 3 big white onions and 3 cloves of chopped garlic that had been sautéed in olive oil and let it simmer a while.

{Next time I'll bake all the peppers or broil them until they brown a little, to deepen the flavor and tone down the heat.}

After 5 or 6 minutes, 7 cups of pork butt stock was added and spices too -- bay leaf, coriander, pepper, cumin, a small handful of cilantro and oregano. Cover and simmer for an hour or so. You can add them up or down to taste. I'm not a fan of coriander, but it was good for this.

The house smelled really good and I of course had to test it to see how things were going. Whoa. It was FIRE HOT, so hot in fact I couldn't even imagine serving it. So here was 10 qts of green pepper broth and no real idea on how to fix it.

Like any normal person, I started to freak out. I threatened to throw it out but the Hubs talked me off the ledge. And anyway, it was for friends, and there wasn't time to start over. But obviously I couldn't serve anybody something that would light their butt on fire.

So

• I added a little more pork butt juice. It just made more of the problem.
• I hunted for internet recipe fix ideas. That was surprisingly unhelpful.
• I tossed in a mild can of tomatillo sauce. Also unhelpful.
• I added some smushed up pork to help absorb the heat. Maybe that helped a little bit. I wanted it to work.

The last resort before fishing out the pork and throwing the sauce away involved making up a flour roux with butter and cooking it down for 5 minutes before adding it. Hallelujah! Things were definitely moving in the right direction! So I did it again, and let it sit a while, and it really was helping.

Now the consistency was perfect but it was still too hot. And then I skimmed the top of the soup. It turns out, all those little undissolved bits of jalapeno were floating there, and once they were out, the problem was solved.

Now all the cooked cubed pork was added, and after heating through the depth of the sauce was great but I can't believe I'm saying that it seemed a little bland. It cooled in the fridge, and a decision was made to let everyone season it individually.

Our salt-free friends could do their thing, and we found adding 5 tablespoons of hot Tomatillo sauce to the 7 quarts we had put the heat level just about perfect. Served over brown rice. Delicious.

The only problem now is everyone loved it and there's no recipe to share. We'll come up with an actual recipe eventually.  I love happy endings.

Farm to Fork

We made tapenade last night before dinner, after a few hours of pitting our marinated olives by hand.

Recently, we enjoyed a toasted bagel with cream cheese and red pepper jelly, which was canned from the jalapeno peppers in the garden. 

The figs from our tree were jammed and dehydrated for the winter.

We have enjoyed all summer a fresh chop salad of zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow bells, onion, avocado and Japanese eggplant (mostly) from the garden.

Pomegranates are in varying stages of ripeness, and we've got buckets and buckets of them to make into jams and juices and store for later.

Two strangers stopped by to visit the house today. Mary Beth was a girl when her grandparents lived here, and she lived in the house next door. She remembers the fig, the olives, and the pomegranate trees. That would conservatively estimate their age at 50+ years, and they are still vigorous producers once they got onto regular routines of fertilizer, water, and love. Unbelievable.

Our guests remembered the land towards the street had a vineyard and a big kitchen garden. The back of the house had a big old screened porch off what used to be a 2br/1ba house with an unfinished attic. The memories just tumbled out of their animated, smiling faces.

Some of the land out back was fenced off for burros. Yup: the kids rode burros.  She remembered hearing the rumblings of the farm equipment down the road and how the kids would dash out front to wave at the farmers.  Her parents put in the pool the year she went off to college, and there was a bite of nostalgia when she realized it has been here 50 years...

I've never thought much of buying whatever I want and eating it year round. This beautiful old gal has stood 112 years, and continues to teach the truth of how to live here. It is hard, continual work to tend to the bounty, from planning to planting, through tending and harvest. And then it begins again with canning and preserving once the fruit is cut from the vine.

All of this was on our minds as we munched on our first-ever homemade tapenade. The olives had to journey 10 months to our table. We touched it every step of the way: from harvesting them off the trees last November, tending the brine for seven months, and from there into a savory variety of marinades for three months more, and to the table.

House of ours: we are listening.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

A tried and true favorite.

The kids will never know this soup is made with heart-healthy asparagus. You can make it with asparagus that is past its prime and wilting a bit. Or from leftovers that need to be used up. It's a great base for other winter veggie soups, as well.

In a big soup pot

Take:
2 lbs fresh asparagus, with the hardest part of the stalk trimmed away, rough chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, minced and sautéed in 3 T. butter with the asparagus, 5-6 minutes.

Add:
6 cups chicken stock (organic or home made) heated to the edge of a boil. Let cool 5 min before transferring small batches to blender to puree until smooth. Scoop out any pieces as you transfer it back to pot. Maintain heat on low/med so it stays hot.

Separately:Melt 3 T. butter, add 2 heaping tablespoons of flour and seasonings to taste, and cook over low/med heat 5 minutes until it thickens and flour cooks. (This step can be repeated if the soup needs additional thickening after everything is combined.)

Combine: SLOWLY add roux to stock, whisking all the while, keeping over low/med heat, and add in the sour cream and half and half.  Thoroughly heat through (on med heat), checking consistency.  Add seasonings to taste (pepper, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of hot paprika for us). 

We like it best served in mugs alongside grilled cheese sandwiches. Great made ahead. Great stored in the fridge up to 5 days. (Creamed soups don't freeze well)

A You and Me Place

Here's to endless possibilities in a place we can run and shout out loud. A place where makeup is optional and the TV's rarely on.

A place where hammering sounds come from the garage and the whirr of the Cuisinart in the kitchen and the clank of canning jars.

Here's to room to breathe and grow and change, to try things we've wondered about and never done.

A place to believe again that we can do anything we dream up. A why not do it place.

Here's to aging and practicing our denial with 4 hard of hearing ears and the constant chatter call from various parts of the house ...
                   what?            what?            what?

A long drive at sunset place.
A let's try it place.
An always you and me place.

Red Pepper Jelly

Long past promised recipes to share. And all that I've learned about canning - !

Red Jalapeno Pepper Jelly (substitutions are in parentheses)
Source: Foodie Bride

1 orange bell (or red or yellow), seeds and stems removed
1 lb red jalapenos, seeds set aside, stems removed (or green, or some green and some red)
1 1/2 c. cider vinegar
1 pinch salt
6 c sugar
3 oz liquid pectin (powder pectin equivalent: 4 teaspoons=1oz)
1 Tablespoon butter
Dry red pepper flakes to taste

Food process peppers for 10-15 seconds. Transfer to LG pot (you will need it) and bring to a boil, then simmer 15-20 min.

Put through fine mesh sieve to separate pulp and you need to have 1 cup of liquid. Simmer longer if necessary.

Return liquid to pot, add back in some or all of the seeds and pulp for spicier jelly (I added back in about 70% and tasted as I went), add salt and sugar and stir constantly until dissolved.

Bring to a rolling boil -- one that cannot be stirred down -- boil 1 minute longer and add the butter and pectin, stir well.  Let boil 3 min as complete recipe.

Jars need to be hot and sterile and ready to go. Ladle hot liquid leaving 1/4" for expansion. Put in a water bath for 10 minutes with lids and rings put on snugly but not too tight. Remove carefully from water and cool completely on a counter top rack. Tighten ring down.

To check seal: When the jar completely cools, push down slightly in the center of the cap. A well sealed jar will not pop back or have any give. Jars without a good seal should always be refrigerated.

(I double the recipe; it makes 14 or so jars) 

Kitchen Time with my Jalapenos

The smells of garden filled the air this weekend.

The last 10 figs came off the tree and we enjoyed a fig and almond breakfast cake this morning, Labor Day, as we rested up from a very long week.

Zucchinis have been in abundance, and we've got 4 loaves of Zbread - two regular batches with a hint of cinnamon, and two special batches of double chocolate zucchini that was a family recipe from a friend. Both are delicious, but the DblChoc warmed up a little with a scoop of ice cream is heaven on earth.

On Sunday I bubbled up a batch of creamy broccoli cheddar soup, which we dipped with large chunks of sourdough for dinner, and I had a reprise for today's lunch. It's Panera's recipe. Mine cut way back on the half and half and the cheese, and I doubled up on the carrots, and it was perfect.

The chile plant went crazy and there were 15 good sized ones, so those went into another batch of red pepper jelly. I substituted green for red, added in some red pepper flakes for zing, yellow and red bell peppers as a base, and put up 13 jars this afternoon. We'll do a grand opening on tomorrow's bagel with cream cheese.

The store-bought jalapenos intended for the jelly will be pickled and canned for next year. I planned on making spring rolls and made up some Thai chile dipping sauce that's waiting in the fridge for later in the week.

Kitchen time lets me unwind but I am an every-surface-and-utensil kind of cook. It hasn't been a successful day until every surface is cluttered and the sink is full of dishes. August had too much rental house stuff going on, and I had kind of built up a lot of ideas that all had to be made this weekend. I got through about half of what I had planned. The main thing is the rental stuff is done, and things can get back to something closer to normal.

I am always ready for September, but this year I am especially grateful to flip the page. August is the longest month of the year, maybe because by this point I'm good and ready for Fall.

The garden gave up six artichokes today, 2 lemon cukes, another big dog Armenian cuke, and a squash. Tomatoes are f-i-n-a-l-l-y  yielding 6 or 8 a day. Super disappointed in the Better Boys ... all plant and no fruit ... but the Romas and the Beefsteaks are more than making up for it.

Thinking forward to canning salsa, diced tomatoes with onion and peppers, and spaghetti sauce with mushrooms and garlic ... and our winter garden, which is just around the corner. Bring on the crisper evenings and shorter days, the sights and smells of fall, reacquainting yourself with your winter wardrobe, and knowing pumpkins will bring family.  And maybe, please, a brief respite from mosquitos.

Allergic to Friends

I miss blogging almost as much as not knowing I have become allergic to one of my favorite things in the whole world.

My eyes have been on fire lately. They itch and burn, swell and look bloodshot and glazy. Sometimes they feel so dry they are scratchy and my vision blurrs.  I thought for a while that it was the many hours I am on the computer, or perhaps my poor sleeping habits as a result of stress and age.

I went to the doc a long time ago and he ran all the panel of tests. Everything came back fine and so I headed to an optometrist for glasses, thinking my eyes were strained from several years of neglect. He thought the new glasses would do the trick and recommended rehydrating eye drops sold over the counter.

What I had noticed but had not paid particular attention to was the fact they got better through the mid part of the week and got worse on the weekend.  On Tuesday, my eyes hurt so bad I couldn't take it anymore and went to see a new optometrist who nailed it down with some simple questions.

When did I first notice it? A couple of years ago, subtle at first, getting worse over time.
What was going on at that time? We were living in the city, swimming, working, playing, normal life stuff. What else?  We got a puppy ...

Oh no. My heart dropped. Quickly I suggested it might be due to the shift to the country with lots of outside work in the grit and dust, a whole new ecology of eye irritants. Maybe it hasn't been a problem that long. Maybe it's from all these forest fires, or a food allergy.

But I knew she was right. She explained the time spent around the dogs (weekends, vacations) was triggering my reaction, so it would make sense Mondays & Tuesdays were worst after a long weekend with them. 

 

I don't just spend time with dogs, I'm on the floor with them and let them crawl all over me. I cuddle them while watching a movie, and play chase with them in the yard. They travel with us whenever we can.

We talked general interventions, like washing with soap and water after playing with them, changing the pillow cases every night, and training Sam to sleep on the floor. She thought oral allergy medications could dry the eyes, and the general over the counter products weren't good, so gave a couple of samples to start on Tuesday night.

Almost right away, things improved. The orangy redness started to clear up, the puffiness started to recede, the sandpaper scratchiness and glazy film began to disappear. Like magic! I am so encouraged. I take Pataday drops for daytime and at night a product called Systane. 

Thank God that with a few modifications and the right meds, a compromise can be reached. Our sweet dog people are here to stay.

Fig Season

The girls had a guest over, a beagle named Angler, and the families set up a little play area for them. We had some of the fencing and they brought some, and it was such a hit it was decided to leave it up permanently. Now current and future guests can safely romp away from the road in a 10x20 under the pines and watch the farmers do their thing.

We've had a few concerning exchanges with our dogs and the road. I witnessed for the first time on Saturday how Lil lights out after a quad tooling down the road in a dead-on run.  No whistling, calling, yelling even slowed her down. (I did get to meet the neighbor we've been meaning to meet, but still ....) 

Angler taking a Siesta

That squelches the invisible fence idea after seeing her run. She would just muscle through a few seconds of jolt from the collar and keep going. So, short of leashing them both 24/7 and having a play pen, which we thought of more as a diversion than a mainstay, it looks like a fence is needed. Sam kept far from the road before having a chum to play and run with and chase. Not anymore.

Big fig news: the boys had fun up in the trees filling a 3 gallon bucket with Mission figs, everything they could reach with their ladder. Sunday night I dried some and canned some and froze some. I took some to work on Monday and gave some to friends. And there's a ton more on the counter.

It was the first time we got enough figs after the birds took their share (thanks to the shiny mylar tags we hung up in June). I made fig syrup which can be used for basting hams and drizzling over ice cream and goat cheese appetizers and probably a million other things. I'm going to use the rest for fig newton cookie filling for the Hubs.

Fig Syrup: 4 cups figs, 2 cups sugar, a pinch of salt, a whole lemon including zest, and 1/4 c brandy, cooked down.  You add the first 4 ingredients (wash the figs, trim the ends, but otherwise toss them in whole) and cook over low to medium heat, it needs to be higher and then turn it down to bubble away for an hour or so, food process the big chunks that are left so it is mostly smooth, add the brandy and cook until it is thick and bubbly and the alcohol burns off, probably another 10 min or so. Process and store in the pantry, if it lasts that long. My yield was 6 8-oz jars.


We clean the veggies and fruit we grow before storing or eating it.  Even though we're organic, we are flanked by farms that need to occasionally spray their crops, and the mosquito abatement folks are spraying for West Nile Virus. We use 1 cup of vinegar in a sink full of water, toss in the veggies, turn them a couple of times, soak for 10 minutes, and lay out on the counter on towels to dry. You can mix fruits and veggies. No scrubbing needed. You'll be amazed what is left in the sink. There is no vinegary residue, and it makes a pretty picture. :)

Thistle a Happy Tune

The garden's doing pretty well.

That big cucumber in the foreground, that's an Armenia cucumber and is very prolific. It has variegated skin that is tender and doesn't need to be peeled. It looks beautiful sliced in salads or tossed in rice vinegar with a little sugar and cayenne pepper.

The yellow round fruit is a lemon cucumber and is so delicious we slice and eat them as a snack. We get about one a week from the vine.

Acorn squash have been growing nicely, and we harvested three this morning.  There are a couple of zucchini that are growing so fast, we'll be stuffing them before long. We've had at least a dozen in the last couple of weeks.

The second round of figs have ripened nicely on the tree and the fruit is meatier and sweeter later in the season. We've also been watering it a lot during the fruiting season. We've cut a deal with the birds: they get the top ones, - we get the others. There is a very happy squirrel hanging out in the tree that we haven't negotiated terms with ...

 We have a honeydew that is about 5" in diameter and we are waiting for it to ripen. We enjoyed the first five Japanese eggplants and there are 10 more flowers and 1 new fruit. The three artichoke plants are thriving. The largest plant is thistling / flowering / fruiting (whatever) in the first year - and one is ready to harvest tomorrow!

We tossed a sprouted onion in the soil and its growing great guns, next to the Mexican hot pepper plant with more peppers coming out. We've got 3 new 3x6 planters ready to set for the winter planting, to let these play out as far into the fall as they can go.

Thanks to this beautiful growing soil and weather, what seemed like tons of room at the time we set the garden boundary now seems a little cramped.

The only thing we are waiting on are tomatoes. They are huge and loaded with fruit, but they were planted late and so the fruit is still green. I'll be reading up on canning because, even though we have 4 different varieties (heirloom, a cherry, a plum and a better boy) we bet they're going to ripen all at the same time.

The biggest surprises are the overachieving Armenian cukes and the first year artichokes doing so well.  But honestly, it's all a surprise and a delight. My happy place, to be sure.

Becoming Bonafide

News continues to come in about the insect repellent.  We were encouraged by local interest, and are sending sample bottles to outlying areas of Yolo County.  A few people are asking for more bottles for their friends and family to try.

Another article was published yesterday in a Vacaville newspaper and the Hubs responded by contacting UC Davis to speak to the Head Fred entomologist. He was referred to a testing group and had a lengthy conversation with them.  UC Davis was very supportive of the process, had a lot of great tips about testing and shelf life assessments, and offered some assistance.

Their recommendation? Patent it and get it out there.

After that heart-to-heart, it was decided to speed up our (my) slow-and-steady approach.  So today marks the true shift to full steam ahead, coming up with a final Final FINAL revision to the formula and applying for a patent. What a step.

Speaking of steps, our Fictitious Business License completed its newspaper notifications and we are all systems go. The website software company was found, we have a domain name, and now all that's left is about 1,000 hours of scaling Mount Everest to learn about what it takes to do what we dream of doing.

Thanks to all who supported the process, as guinea pigs or cheerleaders. We couldn't have done it without you.

July 3rd -- July 3rd

One year ago, at 5 minutes to 5, we were handed the keys to the place just as the Title Company locked up for the holiday weekend.

We knew nothing about living out here or what to expect, but septic, well and propane were easy to learn. We didn't have a garage, or a garden,  bulb beds, a dog run, workshop, a graveled drive or patio.  Those are in, along with a lawn, and we slowly discovered the purposeful trees already here ~ figs and olives and almonds and pomegranates - and we are harvesting them.

We built on the working yield idea and now there are Citrus and Blueberries, Nectarines, Grapes, Plums, Apricots, and a summer garden. Old Abe the beloved garden tractor sits waiting for the weekends.

Inside, we are squared away. The lights and fans are up, decorations in place, and the pantry is full. There are a few boxes still in closets and we need shelving but the furnishings fit the house like a glove. Not bad for a Memorial weekend impulse buy.

One year. .. Already? ... Only?

It feels like a lifetime ago we were handed the keys to what would be an inspirational journey.  And now, there's the promise of bringing a wholesome product to market.

Dogs at our feet, crops all around, farmers waving as they go by on their tractor, days of purpose and thankfulness: what more could we ask?

Dragonfly Days

This little guy, and thousands like him, have been hanging around the homestead.  They come for the millions of mosquito larvae which have hatched in the fields. Welcome, warrior bugs!

It is quite a spectacle, as they fill the air an hour before dusk. The other day, one gently climbed onto my hand and allowed me to carry it out into the sun to try and get its picture.

Dragonflies expend a lot of energy when they hunt, and they have to cool down, like this fellow on the edge of the garden fence.  I took this with a regular digital camera. Doesn't it look like he's mugging for me?

Later on, another came and landed ever so gently on my fingertip as I sat quietly in the shade watching the show.

I didn't know Dragonflies like to play. Awesome day.

Lili Von Shtupp

The other night I was awakened by Sammy growling and looking anxiously outside. I peered into the darkness and saw nothing, and walked the house to be sure, and headed down the hall to the laundry room.

I had just awoken and when I found the back door ajar, my heart skipped a beat, but I peered out into the darkness.   Standing before me was a glowing iridescent white pit bull, staring right into my face. I did what any self respecting person would do at 3 in the morning with an open door and a ghost dog. I slammed it! Hard!

It took a while to calm myself down. What just happened here? I checked the house again, but I couldn't shake the open door and seeing the dog. Did we water out back and forget to close it tight? Did I imagine that white glowing dog in the moonlight? I looked through the peep hole but couldn't see a dog. No way was I opening the door again.

I'm not sure how I talked myself back to sleep, but around 3:30 I drifted off. The Hubs had slept through the whole thing, so imagine his surprise when he rose for work at 4:30 and took the dog out for a pee and met up with a (real live) pit bull.  I was awakened in all that excitement, and we checked her out. She was a sweet little dog other than the breed; a recent momma, by the looks of it, no collar or ID, just hanging out hoping for a little help. Sam sure liked her.

It took a day or so before we chanced letting her in - but we did feed and water her, and kindly gave her somewhere to lay in the shade. We put up signs for her owners knowing her pups must be missing her. We asked around, called the Humane Society to register a found dog, but nobody's called or come by. But by day two it had become clear that our dear Lili Von Shtupp might have been dumped out here on purpose.

What a
terrible thing
to do.

She is a very even tempered and kind dog, accustomed to people and being inside, friendly and good mannered. She and Sam get along wonderfully, and she would be an ideal companion if it weren't for her breed.

There's a twang of guilt as I write this, knowing how selfish it sounds not to want a perfectly good dog because she happened to be born a Pit.  But we have learned since getting Sam that owning a dog is all about fit, if you want it to be part of the family. We love that we can take Sammy everywhere with us - we travel with her, take her to Home Depot and into the shops in Carmel. But sadly, we wouldn't be able to do that with sweet Lili. People are afraid of Pits and they are not welcome in hotels and businesses. Heck, they are not even welcome on public sidewalks or at dog parks.

Lili is a Staffordshire Terrier. Her early ancestors came from England, where until the first part of the 19th century, their bred Bulldogs looked more like Pits than they do today. A Pit Bull is a Bulldog and Terrier mix, that made its way into America around 1870. Pits weren't originally bred for fighting, as the modern myth suggests. Their use in dog fighting is a vicious abuse of a loyal breed by traffickers capitalizing on illegal gambling at the dog's expense.

After much talk, we decided that Lili needs a forever home with loving people who will treasure her. She may not have had a very good life up to this point, but you'd never know it by her kind and gentle nature. We think she may have been forced to have many litters before being discarded when they were done with her. For that reason alone we want to help her find a brighter future.

Please, if you are interested in offering a permanent home, email us here or on FB.

Feedback

We have been hard at work on the repellent formulas.  Now that the black gnats are gone, we are concentrating on a combined formula that will work on a broader variety of flying bugs.

Feedback has been positive for the most part. It smells nice. It goes on well and dries quickly. It works consistently around the house, doing yardwork, at afternoon BBQs and on little hiking and biking excursions. Results are from (so far) Beebe, AK; Coal City, IL; Auburn and other towns in CA; Berthoud, CO; and a couple of places in TX.  Nice first term report card.

Also, the improvement feedback has been great.

One wrote that the product still separates when sitting, and we are working on that.

Another mentioned a lot of the first formula product was necessary, and we agree. The newer formula has a broader spectrum of essential oils and in a stronger solution.

Yet another found the scent overpowering. Naturally repelling plants have a strong (and often unpleasant) odor, and it is challenge to balance them with more pleasant natural scents. This feedback was especially interesting because he suffers from many different allergies and still willingly tried it.

A young man found the first formula not very effective when he was fishing on the lake. We are sending his mom the latest batch to test and compare.

The Illinois Science teacher's students on a field trip to the Everglades (FL) are trying it now. The first group reported back that the formula worked moderately well on land but when they hit the swamp, it gave little or no relief. There are three student groups willing to try and let us know how it works for them.

Back @ home, the swell of dragonflies has begun and that marks the beginning of Dragonfly Season. It is a short and intense two weeks as the mosquito larvae hatch in the first big wave. Dragonflies fill the air just before dusk, thousands of them darting in all directions as the last rays of light catch and reflect their iridescent colors. 

We are more ready for it this year, with bug juice and a camera. What a show.