Our Friend Laura (who has been 'workin' the boys with me for a while now) came out Saturday to help around the farm she helped spread compost in the garden and was generally a good sport as we hooked up the tiller, moved plants etc etc... but even more exciting and to our absolute delight she surprised us with an amazing gift! she made us this!!!
yup she MADE it hand made just for us complete with little viewing windows in the back and he he even our logo !! Laura is a beekeeper and woodworker she has built many bee hives and even helped us to find the best spot for it on our place and 'install' it!! so incredibly sweet she baited it for us so if we are lucky a swarm will move in and if not we will keep our eyes and ears out for a swarm!! so exciting to think we may have bees this season!!! THANK YOU LAURA!!!
Chris and Amy of Square Peg Farm - I love these guys - went over to their farm yesterday and took these photos... they have some of the best pork and veggies around - if you can't get my pork buy it from Chris!!! and Amy's veggies are the best you'll find!
I went to visit my friends Chris and Amy - at there farm (I'll post those photos next) and saw this on the way there!! it's the 'crimson' and they call it that for a reason...I may have to go back over with brushes!!
well she's healthy nursing and doing great! - BUT ... She did give us a bit of a fright... we got home from pouring wine all day today and she and momma where outside the fence but luckily near by the pasture... so we put her back and kept and eye out - doing a little training to the hot fence... we thought we'd made progress so we put here in the cow shed in a nice bed of straw and watched her for a bit and then figured she was down for the evening (its about 9pm at this point and I've still got work to do and have been at a wine event all day... so went up to my desk and Brian went out to check about 15 min later ... he came back in and said the baby was missing!! and we hear coyotes!! NOT good so we went out with flash lights tromping all over nothing... abotu 15 min in of tromping all over hell and gone hearts racing we decided to let momma out to see if perhaps she could help find baby... momma called a bunch and then jsut stood near by the pasture not really making any noise - we keep searching ... then I look over at momma and think humm why is she so stock still I go over and sure enough 12 feet from the fence hidden in the tall grass right where we had walked several times with our lights right under mommas nose was the little trouble maker!! -- whew!! so we put them back in the shed and put a gate to lock them in for overnight... we'll let her out in the morning when we can keep a close eye and do a bit more training on the fence.... sleep well little heifer...
Come out and taste the newly released Big Table Farm Syrah and so many other great wines at The Sixth Annual Portland Indie Wine Festival is a delicious experience that pairs wine lovers with the Northwest’s top 40 artisinal wineries in the heart of Portland.
This year’s Grand Tasting will showcase 40 jury-selected, Oregon craft wineries and 15 of Portland’s creative culinary talents in an intimate farmer’s market-style setting. General Admission tickets are $75/person and include one tasting glass, festival passport and access to pours from all wineries and food from all featured restaurants.
The Portland Indie Wine Festival is your only chance to meet these off the map wineries all at once.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Grand Tasting Event 2:00 - 6:00 PM Bison Building 419 NE 10th Avenue Portland, OR 97232
Thank you for your continued interest and enjoyment of our Big Table Farm wines. Thanks to you, the ’06 Syrah and ’07 Rosé sold out quickly. The ‘08 Pinots are also sold out except for the last few cases that will be available at our Memorial Day weekend event.
We are very excited to announce the release of our 2007 Syrah from the White Hawk Vineyard . This wine, like the ’06 is made with some whole cluster, all natural fermentations and aged sur lie. As usual, Brian uses a very hands off winemaking style that really let’s the vineyard speak through the wine. The 2007 vintage in California has already garnered huge accolades and this vineyard has proven to be no different. When the grapes came into the winery they had a notably beautiful aroma even as just fruit. This wine enjoyed a little longer élevage to really give the tannins a chance to soften and the structure of the wine to fill out. We expect this wine to age gracefully for years to come.
In addition to the Syrah we are also releasing our Pinot Noir Rosé. The ‘09 Rosé fruit was sourced from the Cattrall Vineyard, farmed by good friends and very respected organic growers in our region. This is the oldest certified organic vineyard in Oregon, we are excited about the red wine we made from this site as well. Like the ’07 Rosé, the ‘09 Rosé is barrel fermented to dryness, completed malolatic and aged sur lie until the day before it was bottled. If you liked the last Laughing pig we think you’ll love this one even more!
The labels on the Syrah, like our pinots, were made by hand using a letterpress and thick printmaking paper, hand cut and glued on each bottle. While very labor-intensive, this makes for an elegant package that not only befits its contents but also produces less waste than traditional label printing. This year’s Syrah features one of our pigs in another form as one of Brian’s farm cured hams. As many of you know our label designs reflect the food we enjoy here on the farm and the animals that make it possible. With baby cows this spring who knows what the fall labels will hold.
You can click here for the order form. We will be shipping the wine in May. We also invite you to come out to the farm to pick up your wine and feed an apple to a pig!
Once again, thank you for your interest in our wines – you are welcome visit the farm to taste by appointment, or just visit our web site and blog to keep in touch with the goings on at the farm and with the wines.We’re even on Facebook.
I'm to delirious, happy and tired to write much but an amazing weekend --- And as always deeply grateful to Duane, Sara, Julia and so many others who where part of this weekend with me and the boys!! (the photos are by Julia and Joseph)
Lisa who I deeply admire!
Duane with his team! to whom I'm forever grateful!
the beautiful double tree Duane made for me!!!
Julia taking the boys with the clod buster
Day 2 when we worked down the plowed ground
getting a little sage advise
miss sara who did some beautiful plowing!! and in a dress... what a woman!
thank you hummer as always a rock star!!
and after plowing we kicked around and had some fun with the boys!!