It’s so nice having young people around! After a long day getting the Monkey Ranch ready for the big party, the kids all gather around and make their own music, watching the sun go down, and just enjoying the country air.
The silly ducks are a never-ending source of amusement around here. The six ducks do everything as a group, waddling around like a tiny squadron of foolish, quacking soldiers.
“Being on the tightrope is living, everything else is waiting.” — Karl Wallenda
Kathy is a talented sculptor, artist, and landscape designer. For my birthday present, she made a chicken-and-egg ceramic mosaic. We hope soon to have a pottery kiln set up so Kathy can work more of her artistic magic here.
Kathy watering the plants in the hanger on the side of the chicken coop.
The chickens have been bravely roaming all over the farm. They are getting their darker adult coloring and look handsome in the yellow light of sunset.
Aaron is all business as he takes the lamb apart.
“When you see a pack of Harris Ranch Beef proudly stickered: “Grain Fed,” don’t forget that cows don’t eat and cannot digest grain.” — Alan Cooper
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Undeterred by Aaron’s assessment of the flavor, Kyle tries a bite of the cooked gopher. Moments later he also pronounced it “The worst thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Aaron holds up the barbecued gopher for our examination. For those of you who try to garden or farm in Marin and Sonoma Counties, you know all about the scourge that is the common gopher. This photo should cheer you up. See those teeth? See those creepy eyes? See those scrabbly little legs? COOKED TO A CRISP! BOOYAH!
A short time later, Aaron, still with a very skeptical look on his face, showed me the skinned, trussed, and barbecued gopher. I asked him what it tasted like, and he said, “Awful.”
Yesterday, Monkey caught a great big gopher and killed it. Kyle snatched it away from Monkey and gave it to Aaron. Aaron is a professional butcher and salumiere, so he is curious about meat in all forms. Although he is looking very skeptical in this photo, he was saying words to the effect that, “I’ve always wondered what gopher tastes like…”
Scott turned an old pallet into a hanging planter and then fastened it to the side of the chicken coop. Sue painted it and the coop blue, then planted flowers in it.
“One of the ranch hands just addressed me as “Tractor Boy.” He’s not wrong.” — Alan Cooper