Harley Farms Tour

Stacey and I have been going to Harley Farms for a little over a year now after being introduced to it by Brad and Jamee. We've always just explored the grounds on our own, pet some goats over the fence, and inevitably walked away with a more than advisable amount of cheese. Well Stacey had the brilliant idea of signing us up for one of their 2 hour tours for my birthday!

On the tour you get to learn about the history of the farm and its operation, plus you get to see some areas that you can't go to on your own. It's a pretty small operation, so it mainly means getting to walk out into the fields with the goats, walk through the barn, and through the milking area.

Since the baby goats are bottle fed from day 1, they are SUPER into people. Aggressively affectionate.

Happy Goat

Our tour guide, Pat, in the milking room

Pat making cheese patties

Draining whey

Aggressively friendly goats

Guard lama, Ruby

The farm

Hidden Villa's CSA

We can't say enough good things about Hidden Villa. Last weekend Matt and I went for a quick hike behind their farm, picking a trail that climbed a ridge to a beautiful view of the peninsula. On Monday, we went to a tomato tasting and got to try endless varieties of heirlooms and then vote on which varieties they should grow next season. This week, we got another super fabulous basket of fruits and veggies from the Hidden Villa CSA: tomatoes, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, eggplants, grapes, collards, parsley, and apples. Last week it was kale, dandelion greens, green apples, tomatoes, red onion, zucchini, carrots, corn, grapes, and basil. I was able to snap a few pictures before it all disappeared:

Russian River camping weekend

For labor day weekend, we packed up the car with our camping gear and headed north to Russian River. We pitched our tent at a private campground, called Schoolhouse Park, which boasted over 30 acres of land for exploring and swimming in the River. Unfortunately, our camp site was a little closer to River Road than we would have liked, but the scenery down by the river and in Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve nearby was beautiful. Here are some photo highlights:

Schoolhouse Park modeled itself on a national park, right down to the signage

Matt skipping stones along Russian River

Sunset over the Pacific, just north of Jenner, CA

A short hike in Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve

Making dinner under a giant redwood tree

Blackberries

Wild fennel groves lines the path to the river

Purple thistle 

Morning dew

Sunday morning fog on Russian River 

The first of many canoes down the river for the day

Mom's Banana Bread

Last weekend, I whipped up my mom's banana bread recipe.  It's sweet and chewy and banana-y, and served best when it's fresh from the oven with a little bit of butter.

Mom's Banana Bread

1/3 c butter, plus some extra for the pan

1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 c white flour

1/4 c wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c walnuts

1 frozen banana (the blacker the better)

3 very ripe un-frozen bananas (still yellow but with lots of brown spots)

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease loaf pan with a little bit of extra butter.  Combine butter, sugar, eggs in one bowl, then flour baking soda, and salt in another.  Add dry ingredients into wet, mixing well.  Thaw the frozen banana with skin on (I find the freezing process really brings out and concentrates the banana juices), cut the end off, and squeeze thawed banana mush into the batter, juices and all. This is by far the least appetizing part of the process, it gets a lot better from here on out. Mash two of the ripe bananas into the batter as well, don't worry if they don't break up entirely -- banana chunks are what you're going for here.  Stir in the walnuts.  Use the third ripe banana for decorative slices on the top of the loaf.  Bake for 45 -55 min, or until wooden skewer into the center comes out clean.

Eat warm, with butter, and a tall glass of milk.

Pickled Peppers

Matt has been experimenting with pickling things lately, mostly peppers from our garden.  Here's a sneak peak: 

 

This week in CSA news...

Hidden Villa's CSA is getting ridiculously good.  This week we had eggplants, tomatoes, anaheim peppers, red onions, carrots, lettuce, beans, collards, the biggest summer squash I've ever seen, and a gigantic bundle of basil that made my drive back from the farm smell like heaven. Whew!

   

 

Ridiculous!  Anybody have any good recipes for summer squash?  I'm all ears.

Reunions

Last week, two of my bestest best friends from college came out to visit me, and we packed our 7 days together with the most fun we could think of.  First it was a trip to Berkeley to visit the botanical garden there, then over to Santa Cruz for some strawberry picking and boutique ice cream.  Then we meandered up Highway 1, through little tiny beachy towns, and camped in Van Damm State Park for a few days of beach combing. Then we came back for a trip over to Pescadero for goat cheese, artichoke bread, and a hike through one of our favorite Redwood forests.  I didn't want to say goodbye by the end of it.  Here are some highlights:

For even more photos, go here.