Summer: Day #20

Summer: Day #19

Summer: Day #18

Summer: Day #17

Summer: Day #16

Summer: Day #15

Summer: Day #14

Summer: Day #13

Summer: Day #12

Summer: Day #11

Summer: Day #10

Summer (Solstice): Day #9

Summer: Day #8

Summer: Day #7

Summer: Day #6

Summer: Day #5

Summer: Day #4

Summer: Day #3

Summer: Day #2

Summer: Day #1

I'm going to try blogging a little differently this Summer. We are looking at Summer as "An Adventure Every Day" and in the spirit of that statement, we will document a few photos from every day of our Summer and try to put a short post. The above photo is the sweet peas in the garden at Wildflour Bakery in Freestone, California.

We attended the Occidental Farmer's Market.

Ate freshly made pizza. Purchased fresh eggs and veggies. Ran into friends we hadn't seen in months.

The cabbage(s) in the Wildflour garden were unbelievable!!! I guess I'd never seen cabbage grow. They are almost the size of G's head.

This peacock was slowly crossing the street in Freestone. Reminding us to take it slow this Summer and enjoy every little thing. We plan to.

Sunset Magazine Kind of Weekend

I had the lovely privilege of attending the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend event at their headquarters in Menlo Park last weekend.   I am on a reader panel for the magazine and they gave me two free tickets for the event.  I invited my good friend and we made the 92 mile trek south to Menlo Park on Saturday morning.

We were greeted with lovely Sunset shopping bags, logo wine glasses, seed packet samples and an itinerary of things going on throughout the event.  We visited their Secondhand Sunset booth, where they sold props, books, furniture & home accessories that had been used in Sunset photo shoots.  I snagged a pair of Quicksilver shorts for G and a gardening book on Northern California Annuals for a grand total of $5.  Iron Horse Vineyards was there and we repeatedly went back for their Wedding Cuvee Sparkling Wineand it was so refreshing on such a nice, sunny, warm day.  

I loved the signage above the succulent vendor's booth.  So many beautiful plants and great ideas for planting a low maintenance and virtually water-free garden.  Most vendors and purveyors at the Celebration Weekend have been featured in the magazine at some point and it really was like having the magazine come to life.

I came home energized and walked my garden and enjoyed the little bit of progress that I've been making on our little farm.  I haven't killed the zinnias yet.  I pruned all of the dead flowers, in hopes that it will help generate new growth and they seem to be doing pretty well.  I read that they are hardy and like a dry, hot environment.  Perfect for where they are situated in the garden.

 

I also cut our two artichokes before they started to bloom.  I usually forget about them and they go to seed, but I wanted to make sure I at least tried them this year.  I steamed them and they didn't take long at all to prepare.  They did taste a little different than artichokes I've purchased from the grocery store.  They had a slight citrus taste to them and weren't very meat-y, but still pretty good.

I've been waiting all winter for the Occidental Farmer's Market to open and Friday night was the opening night.  I rushed over in between errands and quickly perused the bounty.  I discovered that I have a sweet neighbor that sells cage-free eggs, goat milk, vegetables & grass-fed beef.  Her name is Anna Erickson and she is Hands Full Farm.  I purchased eggs from her, paid for same, photographed the above box and then forgot to take my eggs!  I got home, emailed Anna and she made a home delivery the very next day.  What customer service, eh?

Look at the gorgeous onions.  I go through about 3 - 4 onions a week and I had to buy some from this guy.  Tom Noble is Armstrong Valley Farm.  He mentioned that he was featured in the Press Democrat earlier in the week and that his Walla Walla onions were sweet and the torpedo onions were spicy.  I grabbed a bunch.

One of my last stops was to do a honey tasting with Bloomfield Bees.  It was so interesting to taste multiple types of  honey side-by-side.  Kind of like wine tasting (but not).  You definitely could taste the nuances of orange blossom, blackberry or clover.  I picked up a few jars and happily floated back to my car.   I just love farmer's market.

Here's the part where I brag about where we live.  Buckle up.

I live in an amazing place and I am reminded of it every time I go to a local farmer's market, pick up my mail at the post office, spot my son's photo in the local paper, have coffee with my neighbor, dig in the dirt with my family, read a book written by a local author that I actually know, pick up a magazine that features people that live in my own backyard, listen to musicians who sing about farm life and bump into farmers (who are also poets) at the mobile library and dine at a restaurant overlooking the Russian River as it flows into the Pacific Ocean.  It is community that fills me up and reminds me why we sold our house, quit our jobs and made the move north to Sonoma County.  I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Marine Mammals & Tide Pools

We spent a lovely Sunday morning last weekend at the soon-to-be-opened Marine Mammal Center out on the Marin Headlands.  Our good friend (who works as a volunteer there) invited us as her guests and it was so wonderful to see the new facility and learn more about their rescue & rehabilitation operation.  Grady was promptly tattooed upon entry and collected his requisite brochures, postcards and sea turtle socks from the gift shop.  He hung on every word and thoroughly enjoyed the tour.  The center has over 800 volunteers and couldn't operate without them.  Grady spent a lot of time at the Marine Mammal Center booth at our Fisherman's Festival in April and hopes to volunteer for the Center one day.  He can also do a mean seal impression.  Just ask him.

I volunteered to go on a field trip to Dillon Beach for low tide with G's kindergarten class last week.  We went when it was a negative 1.4 foot tide and saw a lot of amazing creatures in the surrounding tide pools.  A crab danced across the sand and hid under a rock after his show.

Plump, beautiful, purple sea stars (not starfish, people).

Hundreds of lady bugs on washed up seaweed covered the beach.  

I just love the blue of the closed sea anemones.  

 

Here is the same anemone fully opened under water.  There is a glare on the picture, but it was gorgeous to see in person.  The kids squealed with delight.

The few hours spent on the beach were magical with the kids.  They were so excited, surprised and inquisitive.  This helped to complete their ocean series segment for the month of May.  His teacher did a great job exposing them to all things sea-related and they also made mini-aquariums.  The field trip was icing on the cake.

I always enjoy a trip to the beach at low tide.  It transports you and there is something about being at the edge of the Continent that makes you stop, slow down and examine life's littlest treasures and figure out your place in the world.  When life gets hectic - a trip to the beach always puts things in perspective for me.