Category Archives: random thoughts

Relax. I don’t even have goats! Sometimes an urban farmer has to escape to the country for a real feast. UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism class ’07 (I was class speaker) gathered for one last hurrah. Josh Chin (fella with the goat-eating grin) and Josh Slobig, master chefs, organized the event at a vineyard in Napa. Great wine–Parallel winemakers--great salads, great guests, and best of all, great goat. It was spit roasted after some kind of herb infusion. These guys sliced it up, served on a bed of red onions and herbs. Delicious. Maybe I should get a few kids…

Andy’s here! Andy’s here!
William’s good friend from Florida is here visiting. We’re trying to woo him to move to the Bay Area. Last night we ate a salad and fava beans and afterward he said it was the best meal ever. Freshness does count, doesn’t it? I feel like the food from the garden has more nutrients, we don’t have to eat as much to feel full. It makes me so happy to feed the people (and animals) I love food from the garden. In return, Andy fixed my bike’s broken brake cable. What a lovely symbiotic relationship!

Simon’s a dad. He doesn’t seem to care much. But the black-faced bandit is a proud little mama. If I get too close, she makes a grunting noise and tries to scratch me. It was risky just getting this shot!
In early May, I noticed that she started building a nest with the soft fur from her belly (this is called kindling). Then the other day I went out to the rabbit area and saw the fuzzy stuff was moving! They look like, well, rats. Kind of hairless. I hear rabbits are born with their eyes open. Mama doesn’t spend much time in the crate nursing the babies–I guess this is a survival technique.

Back in the fall, William and I took a trip up to OAEC, which is a demonstration garden, arts center and intentional community. They have a great plant sale in the fall and spring (the spring one is this weekend–May 5) featuring lots of region-specific varietals of vegetables. Like a crazy beautiful variegated collard, which has gone to seed and I’m going to save for planting at the end of summer. I also got some cauliflower starts, but the funny thing is, they never formed heads. Instead we got these enormous leaves, which are delicious when cooked as collards–with garlic, onions, and a smoked turkey wing. Here’s William in our kitchen demonstrating the size of the leaves.

Hello May! I said Rabbit Rabbit this morning while feeding the bunnies. My mom always told us it brought good luck. But then I spilled a bunch of vegetable oil in the backyard (my landlord is going to kill me), my right bike brake snapped in two (glad I have two brakes), and my clog strap broke. It’s a theme, let’s hope the rabbit forces gather for good.
Are they preggers? I don’t know…

Oh man, these pigs are a pain in the butt. Both cute and annoying. For instance, they are smart and can open the door to the chicken house, once inside they mess up the nesting boxes, eat the eggs, and spill the water containers. But then they’ll get really sleepy, wander over to a shady spot in their pen and take long, deep naps together. And they wag their tails when they get an especially toothsome treat like stale bread soaked in the dregs of vegetable oil from the deep-fat fryer. We had a party last night celebrating our friend Nick Wright, who was up for a visit to the Bay Area from his home in Mexico City. There were plenty of pig viewings, and his friend Dave took this awesome photo. Thanks Dave!