Jackie's Blog

Our 14th wedding anniversary :) So instead of heading south to Ashland (an ironic name now!) we went east towards Crater Lake national park and hoped the smoke would not effect the views too much. A beautiful drive up there soon started to 'fog' over and the smell of burning grew stronger. The crater itself is quite spectacular and despite the smoke was quite amazing. It apparently is even bluer than Lake Tahoe under normal conditions. April 2015 Sorry, I had no idea I never finished this day - shame! From what I recall we ended up just staying in a small hotel and drove home the next day?

After a very active day yesterday we had a slower start and headed off to do our first wine tasting of this trip in Oregon. We started in st innocent winery about an hour north of Corvallis. This is apparently the area where pinot noir was first grown in the Willamette valley. The winery was very pretty. We were tasting 2011 and 2010 vintages which were wet and cool years here so not the rich fruit forward pinots  that I prefer but Dick was happy. We just went to one other winery- Cristom, and decided that even sharing a tasting that was enough that early in the day. We then came across the Willamette cheese company and so stopped in for a cheese tasting which was very nice after the wine. Ironically we ended up buying Oregon Gouda ! On our way back south I checked email only to discover that our planned visit to the Ashland Shakespeare festival to see A Midsummer's Night Dream for our anniversary treat (August 1st) was in jeopardy due to forest fires in southern Oregon that we k...

Last night we decided we really like Corvallis, and maybe we should stay an extra day. So we decided to have a no car day. We rented some good road bikes and had a really nice 27 mile ride around the countryside around Corvallis. The area was so English- right down to the blackberry laden hedgerows that we almost felt homesick. Both of us started to think about whether this area has seasons and whether it might be a good retirement spot....no sales tax here and house prices are more like Georgia and Corvallis is a great college town. After our ride we had a great lunch and beer (great micro breweries here- another good reason to love it here). We intended to do some wine tasting later but discovered that although there are wine shops, no one actually offers wine tasting in town :-(  So we went back to the hotel and soaked in the hotel hot tub and relaxed until dinner. Dinner was in a great wine bar which offered flights of fabulous Oregon wine and some really good tapas. Tonight...

Another early start and breakfast at a bagel place to plan where we go next.  Originally we were going to head to Portland but today we changed our mind and decided to go inland to do some wine and beer tasting. There's a surprise! However first we intended to start our day with a hike instead of ending it with a hike like previous days.  A couple we met recommended a dunes/ forest/ beach hike a few miles north of where we stayed last night. Unfortunately we parked a bit too far north.  That was the beginning of another adventure... The walk started off in the forest- a little sandy underfoot but very pretty. We then walked a couple of miles along a deserted beach, and because we'd ended up walking further from where we parked, we decided to do an alternate dune route back. Er.  Mistake. Up and down undulating dunes is not fast and not easy. After almost three hours, we finally made it back- starving! Next stop lunch! Quick fish and chips in Newport and then a vis...

A good nights sleep had us already on the road by 8:30 AM.  Morning mist was heavy so Mustang top was still up.  Passed a heard of elk at Elk Crossing and had to go back and take photos. Had to stop for coffee at a Starbucks because no where else was open and was finally able to put the roof down. Finally crossed the Oregon border which we discovered was about 500 miles from Morgan hill. California IS a very long state! We stopped at the OR border visitors center and picked up maps etc. Next stop was at the Natural bridges viewpoint.  Fairly steep downhill with amazing views.  After, we discovered we had walked across one of the arches and didn't even know it! The roads have been pretty quiet and Dick keeps talking about how much he loves his mustang.  There are lots of passing places  when the road goes down to two lanes, so it is easy and not frustrating driving :) We stopped for lunch at Port Orford  in a tiny shack called  Griffs on the D...

Drove just over 200 miles yesterde and still only made it as far as Humboldt redwoods state park from Napa. California is a very long state! Mind you we'd both only had six hours sleep due to Dick's flight from st. Louis bring almost two hours late, and we arrived in Napa at 1:30 AM!  Leaving Calistoga we'd got stuck due to a bike race but the once we got on 101, it was lovely.  The roads were quiet and easy. We didn't even stop for lunch,  Drove through the 'Avenue of Giants' once we got to the forest and picked up a map.   Nice amble through the woods to stretch our legs before a well deserved beer in a tiny logging town called Scotia.

In one of my more craziest moments I decided that I'd order a wormery or vermicomposter to compost our kitchen waste. This is how it gets put together! Step 1 Clip all the parts together and line the collection tray with newspaper. Step 2 Mix up the coir brick (basically tried coconut husks and soil) with water to hydrate it and add in paper scraps, so it is nice and moist. Add food scraps in one corner for food for the worms. Step 3 Cover with damp shredded paper- very useful when you had a bag of pre-shredded office paper! The worms were delivered next day all snug in their own compost in a cotton bag , padded well with shredded paper. The only thing they needed upon arrival was a little water spayed on them. The box. The worms mixed in their compost. Added to the wormery. It's ready!

I realized I haven't explained the logistics of the whole garden. The garden is completely fenced by a 6 ft high chain link fence. We have mains water and several places where we can attach the hoses. The hoses and other shared gardening equipment are stored in a shed on site. Here are three of our beds together- all planted. Close up of the raised bed after 10 days- one end... and the other.. So, in case you are in interested, we have planted cabbages (red and white), broccoli (seeds and plants), brussell sprouts plants, onions (sweet, and red- both plants and seeds), lots of different lettuces (also plants and seeds), herbs (sage, parsley, basil), radishes, carrots, spinach and kale (all seeds), leeks (plants) and cauliflower (plants). Not sure how it will all go but this is an experiment!

The bed was full so it was time to start planting. I laid all the plants I had out in the place I thought I'd plant them and then put them in the ground, leaving space in between to plant some seeds too. Ironically I forgot to take a photo that day- this one is three days later and the radish seeds were already up! Here's a few more lots that are now planted. Note the cover crop in the bottom of the picture. That will add lots of nutrients into the soil over the winter and then will be turned back into the soil. There are still some empty beds, but one family has theirs as a science project! The beds are 100,200, 250 and 300 square feet, and everyone just chose the size they wanted. As of today there are 30 beds occupied, and probably room for another 20 depending on the size chosen. Cindy, a new garden friend, chose a 200 sq ft bed and cleverly split it into four sections using paving stones. She's also planted some flowers so it looks great already!

Four weeks ago, I decided to sign up for a plot at our new community garden in Morgan Hill. This is a new project which involved using a city owned piece of property to build raised beds to grow our own flowers and vegetables. With the wonderful help of lots of community donations, we first had to build the frames from the donated wood. This is the pile after we all raided it! Then fill it with donated vermiculite soil and compost. The mix was very light and very dry. . As we only had enough soil to fill the bed half way, I also went to a local horse farm and got some partly composted horse manure. We mixed it up really well and left it for a full week. Then I added some other soil and was ready to start planting. I'd already bought some baby plants and some seeds but we also had some other plants donated too.

I had planned it.. a train trip down the coast as a surprise for Dick's 40th birthday. Then he started talking about how much he'd like a new mountain bike. So I gave him the choice- a trip or a mountain bike. Guess which he chose? :-) It meant that I inherited his older bike. Part of the new mountain bike deal was a weekend to go and play on the bikes, and Dick decided that a big bike ride on the Marin county headlands (just north of San Francisco) was just the ticket. We left the house by 8 AM- aiming to get through the San Francisco nice and early. So the bikes were loaded on the car... I never get tired of going across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a stunningly beautiful day and after going to the visitors center to get yet more maps, we head off at about 11 am. The trails were much steeper than we had released, but the views were stunning. We cycled 8 miles to the Pelican Inn at Muir Beach and had lunch. Then a long 10 miles ride home.. we finally made it back to the car...

Saturday was exhausting but a lot of fun! However it was really cold.. Dick and I went for another careful walk, booked dinner for us all and then headed back to the house to meet the others for some snow mobiling! It was hard work but the scenery was amazing. I never thought I would go both down and up steep hills so fast!! I had lots of layers on! We went home after two hours and sat in the hot tub! But we were not done for exercise that day as we'd signed up to do a local bonfire progressive dinner. It involved cross country skiing from a trail head to four different tents and bonfires to eat and drink. We started at 6:30 Pm, so it got cold and dark pretty quickly We were very grateful for the bonfires at the end!

Friday we woke up to falling snow! It was beautiful.. I went out early and walked the streets with my camera - carefully! It was so quiet... There were lots of bicycles left out in the snow, and I took loads of photos of them. People ride bicycles in all types of weather in Crested Butte. Later in the day the girls went out for some retail therapy.. Then we all sat down and watched 'Vertigo'- which was a project for Sean's homework! Friday night we all took the bus up to the resort and went to a tapas restaurant called djangos. It was a lot of fun, and then after we sang all the way home on the bus!