who's the bigger pig

Every once in a while I like to do a little Blog contest just for fun to draw out all the lurkers.. : )

This time the winner get's a bottle of the about to be released 2010 Willamette Valley Pinot as it features Don and Roger our current pigs.


Brian named these pigs after Don Draper and Roger Sterling .. so the question is who is the bigger pig... Don or Roger...


courtesy of AMC - Mad Men

My opinion of the TV version is that while Don Does seem to get more women in the sack Roger seems to be a bit more misogynistic about it.. all that being said your guess is to tell me the live weights of these pigs pictured below.. I slaughter on September 6th and will measure them for final weight then... hint I slaughter usually between 275# - to 300# but these boys are both bigger pigs than anticipated...

so type your weight guess in the comments section below one for don and one for roger... I'll announce the winner after the slaughter. Happy guessing...

yesterday evenings painting

This one is a little bigger at 11 x 14" ... I will never tire of this lower field - which is good since I live here : )

sneak peek

We are gearing up to bottle in a few short weeks I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at the new line up of label art I've been working on that you will be seeing on the 2010 wines. The wines are just gorgeous we are very excited to get them out to everyone!!! Also as you can see there are a lot more new vineyards in 2010 that you haven't seen before! ... We'll be doing the release in September (and some in April) and you'll get the full scoop then! ...

reducing my dependence on foreign oils ...

yesterday was 'gamblin day'... nope not on the 'rez' ; ) -- gamblin is a local portland company that makes beautiful hi quality oil paints a world that I still have a lot to learn about.. but I'm expanding my knowledge and going local thanks to my new friendship with robert gamblin and his crew - many of whom are painters as well as paint and color masters!! ... we had a paint out yesterday at the farm .. and it was dreamy!! Here's the photo version of the day! (thanks to Pete for many of the photos)


























8" x 11"


8" x 11"


6" x 7.5"


6" x 9"

ps - all these recent paintings are for sale send me an e-mail if you are interested.

Robert gave me this beautiful painting he did at the farm I was honored.



and to top it all off I finished up the day by doing some harrowing with the boys! what a day...

a painting from this morning

8" x 11"

The light is changing as summer marches on. Happily I carved out a bit of time early this morning to paint... We've been having more incredible summer weather and we are taking full advantage of it!!

more bull

Curly is clearly accepted into the herd.. let's just say the girls dig him! ; ) and poor Jessie just can stomach this nonsense...

the new bull!!

The pigs are growing and we have a new bull - His Name is Curley and despite is stature he's quite sweet!!!

this is a very nice post about the current pigs on my friend kathleen's blog!



Thanks Duane for loaning us yer truck!!

Nothing says summer like ice cream... and friends

Post IPNC we had the pleasure of our Atlanta friends Kristie and Charles... those southern folks know how to party... If you haven't made custard based hand cranked ice cream really it's totally worth the effort... had to share the photos from a lovely summer evening with friends..










me enjoying the drink and Levi the drips!!

winemaker dinner with the county fair pig...

We will be doing a winemaker dinner at the Original in Portland next Tuesday 7pm August 9th -

We will of course be pouring Big Table Farm wines with each course!

The Original invites you to climb the floating stairway up to there mezzanine, where they will prepare a meal revolving around two things - homegrown Pork and Pinot.

The Original visits the Washington County Fair, where they hand-choose and name the pig for Pig and Pinot II.

And this year’s menu features, for starters, deviled ham and spam served with sweet pickles and warm pretzels.

Then you graduate to a second course of kuala-prepared pork, ribs and ham hock succotash with baked pineapple, before moving on to a second second course of sweet ‘n’ sour pork loin, green bean casserole, mac ‘n’ cheese and applesauce, all of which is fried, even the apple sauce in—your guessed it—pork fat.

And what dinner four-course meal would be complete without a slice of bacon-latticed apple pie paired with a scoop of maple bacon ice cream?

The first course of Pig and Pinot II will be served at 7pm, Tuesday, August 9 - $65. Make your reservations by dialing 503.546.2666