august got too busy

I am bummed to see that I managed only one post in August. We got totally caught up in starting our new business...pursuing our dream of opening a microbrewery! Huge, huge undertaking - exciting and scary but it is all worth it given that my Hubby and I are partnering in everything. It is taking up a lot of energy and time and money and we are trusting that the Lord will continue to guide us with wisdom, faith and courage. We have the support of family and friends and it is an amazing blessing. I'm sure there will be more posts on this adventure but for now I will keep it real.


This is the bowl of table grapes we harvested earlier in August. They were good but could be better and bigger. Our focus has been on our wine grapes but these table grapes are more mature and make a beautiful wrap for our arbor. Somehow I would need to add caretaking for the table grapes to my list of gardening priorities.

my new local hangout

I can't really call this my hangout yet because I've managed to make it there only three times so far.  But I'd love to make this my hangout.  I've always enjoyed going to a coffee shop to do my Bible study and journaling.  Harkens back to my college student days I think.  But I get so busy on my Fridays off and I forget to go.  The last time I was there I had to take this picture because of the yahtzee game...Hubby and I play that when we're just chilling and need to give our brains a rest.  That's our default game when the weather is cool enough to hang out on our patio.  Anyway, this local coffee shop is very simple but serves great coffee.  And the people are great!  I wish them the very best.  In the world full of Starbucks (of which I have to admit I am a fan) I do still cheer for the mom and  pop coffee shops.

homemade pizza

The picture doesn't do it justice but I made homemade pizza for dinner last night: crust from scratch, the Italian sausage and pancetta we made a few weeks ago and leftover pasta sauce from last night using our homegrown tomatoes. Next time it'll really be bonafide homemade when I make the mozarella myself. Hard to do that on a weeknight. This pizza was so loaded we had to eat it with a fork and knife. Beautifully paired with my Hubby's blue-ribbon award winning Scottish ale at the state fair.

super cute project

I still need to post about a beautiful vacation that Hubby and I took earlier this month where I got the idea for this project. We did a winery tour and saw bird houses with corks for roofing and siding! How cute is that! Went to Joann's yesterday for Cars fabric to make birthday gifts for my nephew's 3rd birthday and they had $2.00 bird houses for sale. Sweet! We're in the middle of a heat wave this weekend so I had some rare downtime to just chill. I hope to finish at least one this weekend. Cutting the corks takes a lot longer than I anticipated. But this is a good use for the pile of wine corks I've been collecting. I've already made a trivet which ended up being too fancy so it's hanging in the kitchen.

the garden flourishes...selectively

The celebrity tomatoes are prolific this year: firm, sweet fruit. I made myself a pancetta, spinach and tomato sandwich the other day. Bacon cannot hold a candle next to pancetta. But the latter would be too savory for pancakes so the bacon lives:-) We are also enjoying some table grapes. Although the grapes are small we are thankful to even taste them before the birds finished them off. We put netting over the wine grapes so those should make it to full maturity.We're waiting for more tomatillos to come in, a few zukes and a few other tomatoes. The chickens have increased their egg-laying so our little pseudo farm life is truly idyllic!

an impressive dinner!

I am way behind on my blogging...lots of photos waiting for narratives. I thought I should follow up with whatever became of those hanging pancettas.

Hubby treated me to a wonderful dinner of homemade linguini with the homemade pancetta. It was divine! That was the first time I ever had homemade pasta and I was simply blessed watching my Hubby make it. Needless to say we used our own eggs to make the pasta. And we were so proud of our pancetta. It was as good as we had hoped and all the waiting while it cured was worth it. He also made some stuffed portabella to go with it. It was truly a gourmet meal. He outdid himself. He ended up cooking most of that week - he was so inspired by his own efforts and creation!

fantastic pancetta!

Hubby and I had a treat for breakfast this morning: our very own pancetta! The picture shows the pancetta drying in our wine fridge:-) My idea I am proud to say. We needed a controlled environment and protection from flies. We had to empty a couple of shelves to hang these cured pork bellies. We can't wait to make pasta and pizza using pancetta - they are just packed with flavor and these have more meat than fat. Woo hoo! Success!