GATHER ROUND

Thanksgiving at friends

Gathering at the urban homestead: look at all that good food!

Lots of catching up to do!

Sing a long time!

Good food, fun, fellowship….

and music!

Ack, it’s December already!  It’s December… yeah, I already said that and saying it again and again won’t change that fact that it’s December!

We have had a busy couple days just like most folks across the country.  Time spent with friends, family, good food and even music.

On Thanksgiving we went over to a friends house for a potluck style dinner.  Of course, with our being vegetarian we brought along our very own bird – er, soy bird that is.  We also brought a couple bags of homegrown salad greens which were, and have always been, a huge hit at such dinners.

I topped the salad with homegrown pomegranates (very festive!) and homemade honey mustard dressing.  Jordanne brought a plate of homemade pecan bars made with some acorn flour – delicious!

Back to the pseudo “turkey”  In addition to traditional soy turkey we tried another non soy turkey (sorry can’t remember the brand) made will all vegetables and no soy.  We all thought the the all veg one tasted much better than the popular soy tofurkey.   So next year I think we’ll switch completely to all veg bird.

Friday, we did have a few produce orders to fill for local restaurant clientele and did a bit of good house cleaning before our annual Thanksgiving gathering party on Saturday evening. A local Freedom Gardener dropped by to barter acorn flour for homegrown/made canned goods.  Thanks for the trade!

Though I invited about 60 people to our little shindig a few were out of town, or had other plans but given that we still had about 30 people show.  And boy was the spread incredible!  There was local hand squeezed grapefruit juice, solar baked squash, homemade quiche, yummy yams, divine cheesecake and much much more!

Of course we supplied some of our own homegrown salad which didn’t even make it past the second round of plate filling and a couple cans of pickle beans which were gone in a flash.  We keep hearing time and time again, that our salad is amazing.  You can’t but help over hearing the plate chatter and what’s being said about the food.  Or how people couldn’t believe the beans weren’t cooked before pickling.  I had to keep explaining that they were raw beans and they basically “cooked” in the brine water.  And to think that we eat like this every day here on the urban homestead!  We are certainly blessed to be able enjoy incredibly healthy and tasty homegrown food on daily basis.

After everyone polished off a plate, two or three then it was time for some of us to warm up their singing voices and the musicians to entertain.  You never know who of our musician friends will show up and the ensemble that showed up Saturday evening really were incredible.  Everyone was having such a blast the party shut down just shy of midnight.

I can honestly say that it was one of the best ever impromptu jam sessions ever. Thanks to one of the musicians who brought along his mic, speakers and amplifier the urban homestead was rocking to the sounds of Beatles, Beach Boys, Eagles and Righteous Brothers.

The music was soooo good we are thinking about charging at the door at club PTF.  Just kidding!

Late Sunday afternoon we took the goats for a walk and to glean some more goat food.  The goats really love dried oak and sycamore leaves and there’s plenty of that in the Arroyo Seco just 5 mins from the urban homestead.    The air was still damp from the heavy rains and the leaves of some of the trees were turning a bright gold – just about as close we’ll come to fall here in So Cal.    Lots of folks and family’s were out strolling along the paths that flank the concrete flood channel.  I guess everyone was still working off their turkey dinners.  Sometimes on our weekly walk we don’t see a soul but on this walk we had to stop more than once because people wanted to pet the goats.   People are surprise that our goats are so friendly, they will stop and let people pet them – well, in fact they want to be petted and paid attention to.  If you don’t Blackberry would feel slighted if you don’t!

Hope everyone has similar good times?

Stay tuned for our weekly meal wrap up, goat eating tomatoes and don’t forget our raffle rundraiser!  Winners will get a chance to see the documentary HomeGrown with producer Robert Mcfalls and PTF this coming Saturday.  Hurry and place your bid or buy your raffle ticket!