Let me try to make you all jealous of me. Our vegetables and some fruits have been finally coming in. We are eating so much stuff such as: fresh pulled from the earth carrots, fresh picked green beans, shucked fava beans, hand picked tomatoes, freshly made organic pesto, summer zucchini, currents, little tiny red raspberries, and freshly harvested fingerling and purple potatoes. We are currently waiting on squash, cantaloupes and watermelons to grown and get ripe. It won’t be too long. Our main crop of peaches and apples are on their way, just a few more weeks on the peaches and maybe another month or so on the apples. It is getting exciting. I am finally to reap the benefits from all that hard work earlier in the spring/summer.

We have been staying busy since I last wrote, not a big surprise. We are still pruning the grapes in both vineyards, pinot gris and noir. I think that job is never ending. It just won’t go away.

Right now our main thing is thinning the peaches. You through each peach tree, there are 1000, by hand and pick off peaches. This gives other peaches room to grow and ripen in time for harvest. A peach tree has so many peaches, so someone has to go through and take off half the fruit. We do the same thing with apples, but the apples are not in bad shape. Our peaches right now are not growing in size or changing color, so we are thinning once again, hoping this will help. I’ve been told that once the peaches take off in size, they will get bigger in two weeks, growing from a small fist to a softball shape. I can’t wait to witness the changing!

Besides work, there have been guests come and go. Anno, Wink’s daughter, left us at the end of July to go back to Argentina. She is missed. I was so happy I was able to meet one of my best friend’s friends from college.

My parents came out, my mom and Mac. They were here in the end of July for a few days. It was great for them to come out and see what I do everyday, where I live and what I grow. I think they were impressed! We cooked meals and just had fun. They went around to the small towns and looked around. I live in a really cool place.

When they left, another couple came, friends of the farm. They provided Wink and Max with some pinot noir. They were driving to Denver and decided to make stop here, to finally meet Wink and Max and have a look at their grapes. They were a very knowledgeable couple. It was fun to meet more farmers and have a night of talking under the stars.

Our lasts guests were Jacob’s family (a boy from Colorado College who is living on the farm and going to classes in Paonia). It was his uncle and his two nephews. It was crazy busy with lots of people and lots of noise. They were here for a few days.

There was about a week of non stop cooking. But I loved every minute of it. We used our produce and other farmers and made wonderful meals every night. I am trying to come up with different recipes for potatoes, since we have so many…so any ideas, shoot them this way.
We are about to have another week filled with people staying on the farm. So I think my days will be mostly spent in the kitchen working then on the farm itself. But this why I am here. I have a great menu planned for everyone. It is going to be crazy week. Next week I am going to go help with a chef’s demonstration – four chefs, one from here who I have worked with before and three chefs from Denver’s Johnston and Wales. I can’t wait! Hopefully I will make some contacts!

I have decided to stay on the farm until September 16th. I leave for home for good on the 17th. I am going to my sister’s wedding at the end of September in Georgia and then home for a bit. In mind October I am leaving for France for two weeks and then Germany for a week. In France I am attending a two week intensive program at Le Cordon Bleu and at the University of Reims. The program is divided up into three sections – all about food, wine, technology, science, economics and legal matters. It is going to be great. I will hopefully be receiving a diploma from the university. I have to pass a test and I will have 6 months to write a thesis, at least 30 pages long. Again, I am open to suggestions. I am thinking my thesis will be on the evolution of southern food. The programs name is Hautes Etudes du Gout. When I graduate I will have the diploma Diplôme Universitaire du Goût, de la Gastronomie et des Arts de la Table). Pretty cool huh?!!!

After France I am going to Germany for a week to stay with a cousin. I have never been and I wanted to see her when I was Paris last time, but it never worked out. This time it is. I’ll be hanging out with her at her house in St. Leon and then to Berlin for a few days to do the tourist thing and see her perform!

I’ll be home for the holidays and then off the Africa again to work in the children’s village with my aunt. I can’t wait to see the children and see how much they have changed. I think every year should start off that way.

As for now, I still love Colorado and the farm. It will be so sad to leave in a 6 weeks, but I know I have so much still to do. Until I leave, I am living it up and trying to learn as much as possible. Stay tuned for more adventures from around the world…