busy summer = no blogging

Sorry I've been pretty M.I.A in the blogging department of late - Our days have been filled with wine tastings, baby cows, moving pasture, wine dinners, dinners with friends, hosting wine people, working in the garden, did I mention wine tastings oh and all the regular farm chores - oh and somewhere in the there I do my graphic design work and paintings... all good of course I'm sure you are all sitting there going blah blah blah - clare stop whining .. so I'll stop and just share some photos of the month of june around here......  oh wait, one more little bitch though --- sometime in the next week is going to be time to pick up hay!  (that's the thing with hay ma nature is in charge and you just never know when it's coming) I'm kind of dreading it to be honest it's a LOT of work and my week next week is already full I'm not sure where there is going to be time for picking up hay ... but there is about to be about 20 tons to pick up out of the fields ....when the sun shines you make hay and when the hay is ready you pick it up! - so this weekend I'll work on moving the boys out of the barn and getting that ready...more on that as it unfolds... and now on to the farm photos : )

 

Bella and Daisy 

 

enjoying the farm with good friends!

  

 

Karl the latest addition to BTF!! 

 "does my dad actually know what he's doing?!"

Grandma Josephine looking on at her daughter Bella's little girl -her grand daughter Daisy : )

FARM DINNER!!! not to be missed!

Big Table Farm is teaming up with our good friends Chris DiMinno and Outstanding in the field ! We will be hosted by Stargazer Farm this year!!!

You may remember Chris (of Clyde Common) he's been out to the farm to cook for some memorable meals as well as done an epic Outstanding int he Field dinner with us three years ago!! We also Flew to NYC with him to pour our wines for his James Beard Dinner!! Chris is a fablous chef and a great friend! 

We will be pouring a beautiful line up of our wines and will even be pouring a very special pre-release wine that won't be available till spetember!

We are super excited -- This time it's not at our farm but a farm out in Sandy called Stargazer Farm!

 don't miss out!! Saturday July 7, 2012 - TIME: 4 PM you can go here for tickets!!

TWO! wonderful videos

thank you Rebecca of food farmer earth for telling this story!

an evening with the cows

BTW this little guy does not have a name yet...

La trip... another weekend of high heels to boots!!

We just got home from a great trip down to LA It was a full few days but met some great folks saw family and friends and shared some amazing winemaker dinners!!

The first stop Thursday evening was at The Cheese Cave  it's run by some good friends who are doing a great job and have access to some of the most amazing cheese they are so knowledgeable if you are ever in that neck of the woods don't miss out on stopping by to pick up some really beautiful artisan cheese and a bottle of wine! We did a very intimate cheese wine pairing gathering with them in the shop which was just lovely!

 

  

 

Friday we toured around LA seeing some of our accounts and got to take in the sights a bit note the tiny Hollywood sign in the background just to the left of Brian's palm tree antenna : )  

Then came back to my cousins house who hosted us and got gussied up to go to the Valley Hunt Club of Pasadena where we attended a winemaker dinner featuring our wines benefiting the foothill family service. It was a lovely dinner and chef Michael  did a great job! and I got to rock my mommas pearls which always makes me feel VERY fancy! : ) also note my VERY pale Oregon farmer legs that only see jeans... yikes... I'm not the panty hose kind of girl but perhaps that's something I may have to consider...

 

 

The table was beautiful right down to little name tags made of our wine label art! : ) nice touch ...

Saturday we got to enjoy some family time  this is the birthday boy jack who celebrated his 2nd birthday  : ) and then that evening went to yet another lovely winemaker dinner hosted by Julie of Julienne (a San Marino establishment) - This was a special dinner and we were truly honored to be hosted! Thanks Julie!!

Sunday Brian came back to the farm and I stayed on one more day to meet with a wine label client just outside Santa Barbara - I got a text from him that morning letting me know he'd left his car for me at the valet park at LAX so I dropped Brian of and happily got into this little baby and headed up the coast to the ranch.

 

The ranch was amazing! and as you can see this client and I had nothing in common - this is Blair and the lovely Holly who can ride really well AND cook a beautiful meal - my kind of woman!

Of course I had to tour ALL of this beautiful property to get a feel for the place so I can do my best work for them  : ) This very fancy cutting horse of theirs took excellent care of me I will say we did significantly more 'running' than I EVER do on my boys!

I touched down in PDX to a txt from Brian saying the first calf was just born so I came home to our first 2012 calf a bull calf from the lovely Josephine - he's VERY healthy I think our biggest calf! Thanks Julia, Michael and Sarah for being 'on duty'