Brew Tripping

We took a fun trip to visit several nearby breweries last weekend. Yes, Rick actually got me to go somewhere. Here we are arriving at our first stop: Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma. You can see the big vats in the background.

We sat on the patio. They also have a big grassy area that started to fill up with folks.

Of course we did a lot of tasting.

We're having fun now!

They even serve floats! This was cappuccino stout with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

The inside was a lot crazier.

These were the offerings.

After we'd drunk our way through that menu (and had lunch) we went across the street to Petaluma Hills Brewery.

This place was much smaller with a totally different vibe.

We tasted our way through all these beers also.

Loved this sign

Clearly we hadn't had enough beer yet, so we found this bar and grill, Beyond the Glory.

Where we had dinner and yet more beer...

By that time, we headed back to the hotel... where we suddenly realized, we had no beer! So Rick and I walked back to Lagunitas and bought a growler of IPA to take back to the room.

So we had a nightcap there.

On Sunday, we drove up the road to Santa Rosa to Russian River Brewing Company.

We got there early so we could get good seats.

The inside layout reminded me a little of the Banshee.

We drank our way through this whole menu also. Well, the left side. The right side, the "tions" are all Belgians or sours, so we skipped those.

The swag wall...

We had to have one shot of me, just so I could prove I was there.

Next stop that day was Third Avenue Aleworks, just a few blocks away. Did I mention we walked from our hotel? It was the better part of valor!

Glen got a flight, but by then I was having a bit of palate fatigue, so I just had a 19th Anniversary IPA (at 8.2, one is enough!)

There were actually two parades through the walkway while we were there. Once again, it was nice to sit on the patio and enjoy the perfect Spring weather.

One interesting sight on our walk from the hotel was Luther Burbank's home. He had a really really neat greenhouse.

After Third Street, we went back to the hotel. Rick and Glen got us growlers from Russian River and we had a picnic by the pool. We're actually drinking the rest of the Lagunitas growler here, so we could take the Russian River ones home.

By the end of two days, we were a bit worn out! That was a lot of beer tasting. Fortunately the drive home was uneventful.

The Ides of March

It's mid March, and it seems like mid May. It's been warm and sunny, although last weekend was cloudy with a bit of rain. It also sprinkled for a minute last Wednesday. It didn't actually rain on my birthday, but rained on both sides of it. The ceanothus is in bloom, the hyacinths are finished, and the irises are starting.

A few days ago, the trees were covered in blooms. Now the plums are leafing out like crazy.

The peach tree still blooming a bit but showing lots of leaves.

And the cherry is in full bloom now.

My starts are amazing! They got so big so fast!

The peppers need planting soon.

We went downtown with Karen and Glen last Wed. but I forgot to take pix for my bar project! I guess we just have to go again. I did like this pic of the plaza, with the moon over the Senator tower in the background.

I did remember to get a pic when we ran into Avory downtown and he made us drink with him in Bella's (#9).

Laura came down and we cut up old Levi's to make work aprons.

And yeah, somebody might have had a birthday. We didn't do much because the beer trip was the party, but we did have a few folks stop by the farm.

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What We're Eating and Drinking
With more eggs than I know what to do with, I've been trying different recipes. This souffle was to use up the leftover egg whites after I made mayo. I'm going to make whole-egg mayo in the future, but the souffle was fun. And the mayo was heavenly! It's nothing like that nasty white storebought stuff.

Buddy got a bottle of Single Hop Harvest Idaho 7. Tasty stuff!

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Spring-Winter

It technically isn't Spring yet, but it's been awfully nice down at the farm. We usually get a nice few weeks in February, but this year it was sunny and warm the whole month. The hyacinths are blooming, and the daffodils are now finished. The irises and forsythia are starting and the ceanothus is in full bloom.

The plum trees are blooming like crazy. They are nicely pruned and they seem to like their new size and shape. Here the blossoms are just starting out.

And by the end of the month, you can't even see us through the explosion of blooms. The peach has especially lovely blossoms.

Boston, we feel your pain... er actually, we don't! Boston is having record snowfall and we're enjoying the sunshine. We still need to carry our coats and hats, but in the middle of the day, it's quite pleasant.

All the starts are doing great, and I've been planting more seeds (because clearly I don't have enough...). On 2-14 I seeded lettuces where the tomatoes had been (all the tomatoes are transplanted by now). I planted Bibb, Buttercrunch, Continuity, and Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed, but none of the Buttercrunch came up. Then on 2-15 I planted Padron and Shishito peppers in flat G. I planted basil also: Ararat, Cardinal, Corsican, Persian, Profumo, and Thai, along with a bunch of Genovese.

We finished the tub enclosure, so I can have a nicely upgraded swimming hole. Here Rick links up the pvp framework. He hooked the pieces together and I painted them. Then we attached them to stakes and then wrapped the reed fencing around and secured it with zip ties.

With just one run of fencing, it was still a little see-through, but when we added the second layer, it got pretty opaque.

We also relocated the pen door so we could have better year-round access. We've made one panel. We plan to replace the whole run with panels so that it will be sturdier and easy to reconfigure.

There isn't a whole lot going on in the garden right now, so we occasionally let the chickens out for a little while. They love getting to roam around and peck up all the bugs.

Like this guy! This is a sphinx moth, the adult form of the tomato hornworm. She could have caused a lot of havoc if she got her eggs laid, but in this case, she became chicken feed!

Speaking of scary looking bugs... oh wait, it's Jae!

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What We're Eating and Drinking
Not much is ripe in the garden now, but we do have some lovely radishes. This is a Candle of Fire.

We're drinking Hop Hunter, and loving it. Rick calls it "his preciousssssss."

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There was a stunning moonscape on 2-20. I came out of the taproom and actually gasped. The newish Moon, Venus, and Jupiter were all lined up.

One more shot of the orchard in bloom...