endings

 this last week has been full of fun, both as part of work and outside of it! being on support was a ton of fun, lots of teamwork and productivity in getting projects done, gave the garden lots of love this week.

support projects included raking out all the poop and straw from the barnyard, massive comfrey weeding, some lopping of branches, firewood collection, garden bed prep and lettuce planting, and a bit uppotting project to clean out the greenhouse -garden manager helped us with this and i learned so much about how to start plants from cuttings!

there have been more food adventures and ive been trying to take adventure of the kitchen and ingredients during this last week. on monday for our cook night i did a dosa experiment (good flavor, difficult structure to get large crepe shape so went for smaller) and we did a big salad with more herby croutons. i also have been continuing the veggie stirfry trend to use bok choy and miscellaneous greens. the humita project was our most involved endeavor of the week, it was a multi-day process ending in corn-y tamale fun! we didnt have enough husks so ended up doing some cabbage rolls, which were actually preferred at least for me, bc the cabbage adds a sweetness that is delicious! i also have done a lot of baking at various levels of chaos: successful vegan gluten free raspberry rosemary scones, chocolate curry cake (lots of eggs and gf so has souffle vibes), challah (great taste, but dense), beet strawberry cupcakes sin frosting, and apple oat flour muffins that were SUPER chaotic ie i just threw random stuff in the bowl. on the savory end, we harvested our gailan and made a delicious giant stir fry with that and bok choy, chinese eggplant, bell pepper, flavored with dark soy sauce and homemade chili oil, mmmm

so that the cooking food fun but omigoodness, the highlight of the week was getting to do the farmers market run on thursday with my cook partner! we are both big food enthusiasts and it was truly a shopping spree –we got quite a generous budget and then free rein to get whatever we wanted! we went for variety and got assorted heirloom tomatoes, lots of stone fruit, assorted apples, spicy peppers, new finds like apple pears, jujubes, damson plums, mango plums, lots of berries and figs....it was such a luxurious adventure and we have been enjoying the goods over the past few days! we did an apple taste test with cheese and figs and grape and wine as our last night with all the teachers -we all have a lot to say about texture, hydration, skin and mouthfeel, perfumy flavors, and the subtle tastes of onion from cutting on the shared board. today we did an tomato taste test and while we love the heirlooms, we also adore the tomatero organic early girls. wow, i love tomatoes so much!!!

our other last shenanigans for the week was to do group night milking, it was a team effort including running supplies up the hill from creamery to the barnyard and milking both at once and even some walkie talkie action. the sense of urgency was real and we timed ourselves, from start to finish of prep to clean up the process took us 11 min, 17.8 seconds (i think, got to check this for sure). it was v silly but v fun

ive also fit in 2 lovely hikes this week! a muir woods jaunt on tuesday featuring lots of fun lighting through the trees, and a foggy morning adventure out to tennessee valley and rodeo beach this morning.

the last bit of fun for this week has been crafting! i have been doing some egg blowing experiments to make wedding gifts, experimenting with natural dyes on yarn, and we attempted to weave a basket from willow and baling twine. all good things

my final day was well-spent. a last morning run, followed by quick packing and bye to my house, a garden harvest, and a final brunch with friends of sourdough waffles, salsa, and stone fruit taste testing!