famer girl

So what was I doing on a tractor? The woman who owns the company that I work for, MenuNetwork.com, had me come up to a business meeting in Eugene. They actually live about an hour from Eugene in the middle of nothingness right next to National Park land and they are on a farm.

It is a working farm. The have cows, pigs, two dogs, two cats, four horses, bunnies, and a garden (in the summer). The vegetables we are eating now are canned and pickled. It is amazing living with people who really live off the land. The make their own wine, plum liquor, EVERYTHING. Water is from right on their property.

If the world were to go to pieces, they would be self sufficient (they have lumber for building anything, and their entire house is heated by a wood burning furnace). They have old tractors, they dig their own trenches, mend fences, and it is just nuts. The amazing thing is, is that to run a real farm, it takes all day, and a big family. Dawn until dusk, literally.

I was entertaining the idea of having a place with animals, but you have to feed them, clean up their poop (the horse’s create about 500 lbs a day), and you can’t go on vacation. Maybe not my style.

Tomorrow I am going riding up in the hills with Kathleen, my boss. Will post more pictures then!

The end is almost more painful then him blowing saying their names

A tropical Saturday

Luis and I got up and went to the farmers market this morning. One of the lovely things about Hawaii is that once you get to the farmers markets, you have a great abundance of tropical fruit. Here are some of the ones we bought:




This is called Egg Fruit, or canistel. They gave it to us for free, and told us that in two days, it will be ripe enough. The flesh inside is sweet, but has the consistency of a hard boiled egg. It is from Central America, so maybe Carlos knows it by another name.



This purple one is fun, but expensive, even here! The Mangosteen is eaten like an orange, that hard purple rind is cut off and the white part is eaten in sections.



This one should be a familiar tropical fruit. Maracuja, or parcha (in Puerto Rico), has go to be my favorite. I am making cookies tonight during the UH game, and the cookies are going to have a yummy passion fruit (or likiloi) jelly on top.

I love lychee, but unfortunately, in Hawaii, they just appear in the summer. Lucky for me, its slightly bigger cousin is a fall fruit! Rambuton looks scary, but the inside is just like lychee, except I think the seed is bigger, so not so much flesh.

Later, we had brunch at this amazing cafe in Holualoa, which is the main coffee growing area in Kona. I had seared ahi with poached eggs, and Luis had moonfish, or opah. In case you have never tried it, it is a white flaky fish, similar to John Dory (delicious and abundant off the pier in our little town in NZ). Here is photo in case you wanted to see one alive.



Then after running to some friends at a kids fest in Keahou, we hit the puppy swap meet and saw some puppies for sale. We aren't looking for one, but felt like looking at something cute. We fell in love with three English Spaniels. Their noses are a little longer than American Spaniels.

I had always heard they were stupid, but when I checked Wikipedia's list, they weren't the dumbest. Here is a list, and the link, if you were wondering about the methodology.

Top 10 Smartest Dogs

1. Border Collie
2. Shetland Sheepdog
3. German Shepherd
4. Golden Retriever
5. Doberman Pinscher
6. Poodle
7. Labrador Retriever
8. Papillon
9. Rottweiler
10. Australian Cattle Dog
    Welsh Corgi (Pembroke) (Yea Ellie!!)
    

Dumbest 10 Dogs

70. Shih Tzu
71. Basset Hound
72. Mastiff
    Beagle
73. Pekingese
74. Bloodhound
75. Borzoi
76. Chow Chow
77. Bulldog
78. Basenji
79. Afghan Hound