The Aunt Farm

There are lots of guides out there to visiting Napa with a baby. But I don’t want to know where the petting zoos are, or which hotels are close to the Walmart. For me, what I want to know when I’m travelling with a baby is what decent restaurants will serve me breakfast at 6:30 in the morning? And which hotels let kids under 12 into their pools?

So here’s what I learned. I’m sure there’ s LOTS more, but we were only there for 2 days.

1. Our hotel, The River Terrace Inn, didn’t charge us for a pack ‘n play. They were fine with babies in the pool (though they do black out certain weekends a year so it is worth checking). The restaurant had highchairs, and it was really good. And we could hear the baby monitor from the riverside patio and the pool.

2. There are bike rental places that rent baby trailers.

3. A picnic at a winery is a great way to go. This way we could see a winery in the precious awake hours while taking care of lunch at the same time. This list will tell you which wineries have picnic licenses. Apparently, there’s a county regulation that prohibits picnics with outside food without a license. NB: Reynolds Family Winery is on the list but they do NOT allow picnics. We had a delightful picnic at Clos du Val – AJ bought a bottle of wine and we enjoyed it in the shade of the umbrella at our picnic table.

4. The Rubicon Estate Coppola winery has a beautiful fountain. And in the little restaurant tasting room, there’s a sign letting you know that kids are welcome to borrow the beautiful model wooden sailboats and bamboo poles, and go to town in the fountain. It was a scene straight out of a Coppola movie, and baby was totally smitten. Plus, they sell $1 cups of delicious granita made from lemons from their on-site lemon grove.

5. The St. Helena Olive Oil Co. is located right across the street from Rubicon. They have a huge tasting room, with oils, vinegars, mustards, and pasta sauces, and they’re all fantastic. This way the kids get to experience a tasting as well.

6. Breakfast, the best meal of the day!  The Model Bakery is open from 7:00am 7 days a week. They have the World’s Best English Muffins (no, it’s kind of true. Featured on the Food Network. Really really good), as well as other baked goods and breakfast sandwiches. They’re right next to the Oxbow Market, which technically doesn’t open until 9:00 but some of the vendors open on their own before that.

7. Alston Dog Park was a fun place to run around and look at dogs, and it has great views of the vineyards.

In an attempt to save Detroit from decay, the city’s mayor proposes to shrink the city, moving residents on the outskirts into the centre of the city and transforming some of the outer areas into agricultural land.

Detroit is 80% food desert (meaning that residents have to travel at least twice as far to buy healthy food than they do to buy junk food).  More info in this interesting article by Mark Dowie, including:

“There is such a dire shortage of protein in the city that Glemie Dean Beasley, a seventy-year-old retired truck driver, is able to augment his Social Security by selling raccoon carcasses (twelve dollars a piece, serves a family of four) from animals he has treed and shot at undisclosed hunting grounds around the city. Pelts are ten dollars each.”

Very excited to read about Marquiss wheat, a variety developed near Vancouver and making a comeback.

Also just joined a waiting list for Urban Grains, a grain CSA linking Vancouver buyers with local growers.

Listen to an interview with Galiano Food Program coordinator Martine Paulin here (yes, it’s in French. 🙂

I had BIG plans for my garden this year…I’ve been eyeing the plot for the last 2 summers, waiting for the day when I’d be around enough to really dive in.  So far, so good, I’m happy to say… From seed, I planted carrots, basil, beets, squash, and melons. All but the basil seems to be on the way. From starts, I planted zucchini, beets, brussels sprouts, chard, spinach, strawberries, mint, corn, basil, cilantro, parsley, broccoli, lettuce, a cherry tree with 4 varieties of cherries, and 18 tomato plants.  We still have 3 grape vines and a couple of kiwis to stick in the ground.

I’ve been trying my hand at lasagna gardening and so far, I’m liking the approach.  

Now if I can just keep down the slugs and buttercups and horsetails and keep the sheep out of the garden, all will be well.

I’ll post a photo soon.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the juxtaposition of my baby tomatoes and their container:

As if, given enough time and entropy, even high-fructose corn syrup could be recycled into something worthwhile.

Interesting article about a cheese subscription program. This is apparently  “the first time this financial model has been applied to a food processor.”  I like the idea, although I would be a bit hesitant to limit all my cheese consumption to just one producer. We have so many exciting producers to choose from, that even if my favorite dairy did something like this, I’d be hesitant to sign on. Perhaps there’s a model where multiple dairies get together?  Or, even better might be to group a dairy, vineyard, chocolatier, baker, and meat producer, so that you got less product from each producer, but enough overall?  It would be a question of whether you could get enough of a subscription base to make it worth everyone’s while. 

Thanks for the lead, Attaboy!

AJ and I have been shopping for sheep.  We were originally planning go get minisheep (yes, you read that properly…) because, well, because that’s how the conversation that started

“Let’s get a cow!”

“We don’t have enough land for a cow.”

ended.  Apparently, we also don’t have enough room for a donkey, or a llama, or an alpaca, or any of the other full-sized ruminants that I suggested.

But last week we got the seal of approval from our local shepherd, who assured that us that we can likely keep a pair of full-grown ewes and 1 lamb in the summer without supplementing with hay (and I learned to call my ‘lawn’, ‘pasture’).  So, we started hunting for sheep…and we found them!

Here are some photos of Dunedin’s new lambs, 2 of which will come to the Aunt Farm in 12 weeks.

If you have a few minutes, this University of Missouri Grad student could use your help. Visit the online survey about the role that food preservation (canning, freezing, pickling, etc.) plays in your life

 The survey takes less than 15 minutes, depending upon the length of your responses. Your identity will not be revealed in transcripts, written documents, or verbal presentations of the data. could use your help.

Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oLDvHaZ7H3K5AQVeSRZkKg_3d_3d

Just got some great books:

Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea

This one is a pretty quick read for guru Alice, but pretty damn inspiring.  

All Flesh Is Grass: Pleasures & Promises Of Pasture Farming

Some pretty convincing arguments here for pasture over grain for animal feed, and even meat over grain for people feed .  Bring on the sheep!