Feast of the Fields

 We enjoyed a fantastic evening at Feast of the Fields, a farm to fork event held near our home.  We had heard about the program for a few years, but always had a work conflict.  This year, the schedules worked out perfectly and we were able to enjoy the evening.

The menu featured Kansas products - foods and wine - deliciously selected and prepared by a local chef.

We enjoyed a cocktail hour with appetizers and wine.  We then were seated at long tables to experience a four course meal. People came from everywhere.  We were seated by people we knew, someone from Indiana and couples from Kansas City.

 The chicken coop, lean-to and barn were all limestone. This building was the old chicken coop.  We loved the metal work on the barn door and the violas in the window.

 The large limestone barn was the site of the dinner and we waited to be seated just outside.  Before dinner, we enjoyed the beautiful weather - cool and low humidity - with Kansas wine, appetizers and music from a trio.

 The little touches all around the barn ranged from rustic to...

 

elegant.

 The sunset shining through the barn door was magical.

Overall, we had a great night with wonderful conversation and out of this world food.  I would highly recommend attending this annual event.

Farm visit thank you

One of our favorite things about owning alpacas is having the chance to share them with other people.

A friend asked if she could bring her son to our house to learn about alpacas.  He came home from school and announced that he would like to see an alpaca.  A friend at school had mentioned the animal and the young man was curious. 

Our friend probably never imagined that knowing someone with alpacas would be helpful.

We had a lot of fun showing off our small herd to the young man and one of his friends.  They had the chance to feed them and lead them around our yard.  We showed them the yarn, rugs and roving that we have made from the fiber. 

It was a great day made even better by this sweet thank you note that arrived a couple of days later.

I have a great deal of admiration for parents who encourage their children to show gratitude.  Writing a well-written thank you note is a very good habit.  We love this family!

Something waxed the rooster...

"Something waxed the rooster"...and other strange things said in my house.

We often laugh about some of our conversations, thinking that if someone were listening in, we would either be committed or arrested.   In our attempts to find humor, we sometimes have strange conversations or choose strange phrases, like referring to a dead rooster as getting "waxed."  On my commute to work that day, I kept thinking about how many professional women in our country had a conversation about a dead rooster before 7 a.m., let alone any time of the day.

Last Thursday morning, my husband finished morning chores and returned to the house.  He let me know that our one, lone, survivor rooster was dead by telling me that "something waxed the rooster."  This is the same rooster that escaped the gathering of the roosters for butchering last fall...the one that was last seen that morning running down the middle of our paved county road towards our neighbors.  This is the same rooster who returned to the yard and roamed around the pen until we took mercy on him and let him back in the pen.

At the time of his passing, we thought that he might have died of a heart attack after chasing our new chickens around the pen.  We had decided the night before to put the new chicks, now adequate size to hold their own in the coop with the other hens and this rooster.  We thought if we added them at dusk, the old chickens would be a little groggy and by morning, they would just think, "hey, have you been here this whole time?"  We would save the new hens some of the annoyance of the expected establishing of the pecking order.  Maybe the rooster went a little crazy with all of the new hens invading his space.

In actuality, we now think that the rooster died a hero's death trying to protect his flock.  We woke up Sunday morning to 60 percent of our chickens dead or missing.  Something got into the pen and took out nearly all of our new chicks and left the survivors a little rattled.  We found where the varmint (of some sorts) broke through the chicken wire.  The postmortem on the situation was that we lost the prettiest of the new birds and we spent Sunday morning cleaning up and fixing the fence.  We think that the wind from our little thunderstorm kept us from hearing anything.

My husband was pretty bummed that he had worked really hard to raise our little chicks and to see them through.  We also counted ourselves pretty lucky that we haven't had this problem before. Now, we are being extra cautious about keeping the hens locked up in the coop at night and I am sure my husband's repair job on the fence will hold.

The ups and downs of farming...

Napa Valley adventures: The Farmstead

 I am slowly catching up and remembering great details about our trip to California over spring break in March.  While I was running on the treadmill last night, I ran through our photos and decided to share more about one of our restaurant finds.

The Farmstead restaurant at Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena was easily one of the best meals of the trip.  The food was delicious and the atmosphere was casual and fun.

One of the first things we spotted when we pulled into the drive was this beautiful green Ford.  We felt at home already.

We also loved that there was so much to do at one stop - a great restaurant with delicious food, olive oil and wine tastings, and educational activities, a farmers market and more that were not happening that afternoon, but were part of the offerings.

 The beautiful white farmhouse had the olive oil and wine tasting room, along with a little retails space.

 I really loved the use of the galvanized water tanks for planters near the restaurant entrance.

 It was cool and rainy, so we couldn't dine in the outdoor area.  I loved the overhead lights and the great fireplace!  The bar stools are also some of my favorite style.

 The interior had some vintage farm equipment and those great teal green metal chairs.  I would take a whole set of those chairs in a heartbeat.  I also loved the cow head hung high on the wall.

Near the front of house area, the open kitchen sits as a backdrop.  It was a very, very cool place.  And, the food...wonderful!  There point of view is a true farm to table experience.  They also don't have a large corkage fee, instead charging a very modest $2 per bottle which they donate to a local non-profit.  We noticed that the corkage fee when we were visiting went to the local FFA chapter.

Spring time fun: alpaca shearing

 Ahh, spring is here!  We all seem just a little more thankful for the warmer temperatures after the snowfall last week.  Snow in late-April is a bit of a trial for people desperate for warm temperatures and time outside.  It also adds a layer of complications to shearing alpacas.

Last Tuesday, we were scheduled to join our friends on their farm for shearing day.  This is always a much anticipated day and involves a lot of logistics to trailer our animals back and forth.  I had to work and we made arrangements for my mom and dad to help my husband.  They are experienced alpaca shearing day helpers and really generous with their time.

At 5 a.m., we started prepping.  I needed to be in the shower by 6 a.m., so we got an extra early start.  We haltered all of the animals and put them in the trailer in the middle of a wintery mix of precipitation.  We were hoping that the snow would pass us by and if not, the trailer would keep everyone dry.  Worse case scenario?  We would get everyone sheared and put all of their fiber out to dry on tarps in our garage. 

I left for work and called my husband to say that the roads were wet and starting to get slushy.  By the time he left, the roads were really slick.  He saw several car accidents and decided that he needed to turn around. We ended up postponing shearing until the next day.

What to do with the alpacas?  If we took them back to the barn, they were going to need to somehow dry out.  I was too cold to use the fan that we use during the summer to keep them cool.  My husband sent me a text to say that he had a plan!  He built a makeshift pen in our garage and put them up there for the night.  They ended up drying out and staying out of trouble.

The next morning, we loaded everyone up again.  The day was cold in the morning, but the sunshine warmed us up.  I am still a wimp; I wore three layers of pants and three layers on top, including my huge winter chore jacket.

Once we got there, everything fell into place.

 Four farms came together for this shearing day.  Read about last year's shearing for more about the process.

This year we had three guys on the shearing crew from New Zealand.  They work very quickly and do a great job.  It is an added bonus to get to hear their accents.

Cookbooks...I can't resist

 So, I broke a promise to myself.  I vowed to buy no more cookbooks, ever!  I have stacks and stacks - some I purchased myself and others gifted to me.

I love to read cookbooks and think about making great recipes.  The reality is that if there are more than 10 ingredients, I lose interest.  Most cookbooks are beautiful to look at (and I do adore beautiful food photography), but not practical.  I make one or two recipes and the books just sit.

Plus, with the online resources and Pinterest, one can find a recipe for anything at anytime and no need to think through which book had the recipe, wrestle with the index, and search through different books until you find the recipe you need.  This all sounds practical and prudent, too practical and prudent.  There is something about holding the book in your hand and dreaming about beautiful, tasty dishes you might make.  I am especially fond of walking on the treadmill and reading cookbooks.  This practice always seems funny to me.

Well, in the span of two weeks, I bought two cookbooks.  The first is a fundraiser for a student group I advise.  My mom has always told me that the cookbooks that are a collection of favorite recipes from a women's group at church or in this case a group of college women, are the best.  Real people offering their favorite recipes (and sometimes family secret recipes), and the results are usually really good food!

I like the quotes on the section title pages and the cookbook title itself is very sweet - From Field to Fork.

If you are interested in a cookbook, let me know.  There are a few left and the money goes to a great cause - supporting collegiate aged women interested in agriculture.  Their professional development and philanthropic activities get a boost from your monetary support.

Happy cooking!

Dirt, Denim & Diamonds - Day two

Saturday was the second day of the very successful Dirt, Denim & Diamonds conference.

There were so many things that I loved about this conference.  At the top of the list was the location.  Living Water Ranch is located northwest of Manhattan, KS and is nestled in the Flint Hills.  It is a gorgeous site with beautiful vistas in every direction.

The drive to Living Water Ranch is one of my top five in Kansas.  It is amazing that you are close to town and yet, you feel like you are really getting away. 

 If anyone ever tells you that Kansas is flat, you only have to take them on this drive.  Love these rolling hills.

When you turn south to travel to Living Water Ranch, you cross a cattle guard. If you are new to this, you might think that it is for drainage or some other purpose.  It actually keeps cattle (or other livestock) in a fenced area - in this case, the pasture.  There is a fence around the pasture, but to allow cars and other vehicles to come and go without opening and closing a gate, the cattle guard can stand in the place of a gate. The animals are not able to walk over it, yet people and cars can move across it easily.

I always feel this great sense of "getting away" when I drive across the cattle guard.

It also puts me on alert in the event a cow or calf are hanging out on the road.

I loved the views of the grasslands and the lake beyond.

 The cows along the drive and in the pasture just completed the whole setting.

Once at the conference, I found myself surrounded by awesome women across many generations, representing may different connections to agriculture, and from locations all around the region.

The sessions were educational and interesting.  The conversations between sessions and over meals were very, very special.

I spent some time today sorting through my stack of business cards and session handouts.  I have plans to reach out to several of the women who attended.

Congratulations to my friend for an excellent conference full of sisterhood, learning, and fun!