Double Trouble

What a fun week it's been!  My Friend Peter came to visit the farm and we did Lots of Fun Shit.  

We hiked to Bagby hot springs in the dark of night, soaked in the hot earth-water and camped next to a waterfall.  We rented a tandem bike and rode along Cannon Beach (we're pretty sure this would be an excellent form of transportation for the two of us, especially if Petey continues to do all the work and we're not biking on sand).  

We also had a hilarious and enjoyable time chatting it up with a local logger named Rockie and playing pool at the Grand Lodge in FG.  Petey played banjo on the front porch while I sipped coffee on one of last week's cold, cold mornings (it got down to 47) and we made my first and second ever from-scratch pies.  The second one was a quiche with Chanterelle mushrooms.  Obviously we don't eat very well on this farm...

Pete was a huge help on the farm.  He learned how to do a ton of harvesting and he was able to reach all the wild plums we average-sized folk could not.  Yesterday he and I helped muck the barn over at the neighbors' Christmas-tree and goat farm.  Afterwards we enjoyed PBR out of crystal glasses on the back porch overlooking the trees and sprawling pastures.  It was a very full week indeed.

Somewhere between last week and this one it became September and I am running headlong into the new month with guns blazing.  It's going to be a busy one, I can already tell.  There are goats to milk, vegetables to harvest, weed-barrier to schlep and then of course there's all the food preparation for winter.  Tomorrow I will be pressing all of our ugly, reject apples into delicious cider!  I cannot wait.  Just now I climbed up into our apple trees and with the grace of a freakin' swan I picked pounds and pounds of apples, my feet perched precariously on two large branches.

Thursday night I hope to make some cheese right after milking, Anne and I have been talking about Mozzarella.  I will be taking classes on poultry processing (a.k.a. harvesting, a.a.k.a. killing) and on-farm veterinary care this weekend at OSU small-farm school.  The small farmer networks around this area are pretty incredible and I plan on taking advantage of as much of it as I can!