Fair Game Beverage Grand Opening

This cabin was our home away from home last weekend.  We were in Asheville, while I was taking an aromatherapy class.  The cabin was sweet, and nicer than I expected.  Though our pups were in great hands at home with a pet sitter, these cabins are dog friendly.  One of the cabins here was used in the shooting of the movie Thunder Road in the early 50's.

We ate very well while in Asheville. When we arrived, we had lunch here on the patio.  Our dinners were at Vinnie's and The Glass Onion.  Vinnie's was a high energy and noisy spot, not usually what I want when I'm eating out, but the food was very good, and I enjoyed the evening despite the din.  Enjoying an excellent bottle of wine didn't hurt.  The Glass Onion was all around amazing.  Go there if you have the chance.  Lovely atmosphere, wonderful food, fantastic staff.

The night before last, Fair Game Beverage Company held the grand opening of their new distillery.  They had a circus theme for the event. There were jugglers, women on stilts, and lots of fun costumes.  That's Chris above, the manager and distiller.

Here's a peek of the bar Joseph made for their tasting room. It's 8 ft. long, and I couldn't manage a photo of the entire bar using the phone.  There is also an 8 ft. shelf on the wall behind, which echoes the rebar design on the bar.  You can see the vintage typewriter sitting on it.  They really liked the look of a table he had made using a live edge slab of local red oak, so these pieces were made using the last he had of this oak. Opening night was great fun.

My soap shelf is almost bare, so soapmaking is high on my to-do list.  Cedar-Lemongrass was the first one made on Friday.  Either Lavender or Wake Up will be next.  Last week, we began harvesting cucumbers. I shared the majority of those picked, but if they keep up at the same pace, I will begin my canning season this week, getting some of them pickled for later use.  Some of the tomatoes are huge!  We keep waiting for that first blush of color, which will let us know tomato sandwiches and caprese salad won't be far behind.  Have a great week, friends!

Tastes of Almost Summer

Some of the things that had fallen by the wayside are finally getting attention this week.   The chicken coop was shoveled out, a bit of weeding and pruning was done, and my bathroom got its spring cleaning.  It was a good feeling to get these things done, and felt like some progress had been made.

Garlic has grown here as many years as I've lived here, but somehow I've never done anything with the scapes before.  That changed this weekend.  First, I made a garlic scape dressing, which we enjoyed on a salad with fresh picked lettuce from the garden.  Then I pickled 4 pints.  They are refrigerator-type pickles, and need to be left alone for a minimum of 6 weeks.  If we're fond of them, I may can some next year.

I do love a good fruit salad.  This one had mango, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry.  Only the raspberries were picked here.  For some reason, none of the strawberries bore fruit this year, and the blueberries have not yet ripened.  It shouldn't be too much longer, though.  We got much needed rain last night, and were happy to see the cucumbers and tomatoes had grown.  Good thing, as I'm hoping to be canning up lots of both this summer.

Wild and Alive

I'm excited about an upcoming trip to Asheville.  I'll be taking a class that will meet a portion of the CEU's I need to renew my massage license this fall.  It's a lovely town that I always enjoy going to.  Joseph and I were sure our eucalyptus was a goner, but in the last week or two, it has sent out new growth on the lower 2 feet of the trunk.  That makes me happy!

Jennifer recently posted a link for Dandelion muffins, and I was intrigued.  Over the weekend, I made my own version of dandelion blueberry muffins.  I only added the petals from 8 dandelions, as I was a little afraid they would give the muffins a bitter taste.  You really couldn't tell they were there, so I may get braver next time.  They're full of lots of good things.  Here is the recipe she linked to.

We got a dump truck load of compost last week, and Joseph has been working hard getting it on the garden plants.  The garden above is a new one.  It's a bit farther from the house, so it's being used for things that won't need regular harvesting.  Later this fall, we hope to plant our first rice on the lower end of it.

The wild roses and scullcap have begun blooming.  We rejoiced over finding quite a few tomatoes on our plants last night, some of them of good size already.  I can almost taste that first tomato sandwich!