No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. ~ Hal Borland

Oddly, this winter seems as if it may last forever.  It started raining last September, and as the ranch prepares for the seventh annual Stuart & Jason Birthday Festival (and a mighty big one for Stuart, at that), the reports have just come in, chance of rain all days.  It isn't as if we aren't appreciative of the gift from Mother Nature, but with over 26" in the ground for the season, we're ready for a little sun and warmth.

All things growing are also ready for springtime, as well.  Bud burst has actually occurred on the table grapes (no frosts, please), we anticipate bud burst on the Zin and Petite Sirah around the time of the birthday festival, the Cabernet usually is a bit later, the olive trees have sprung forth and are preparing the 2011 crop, and the fig, apple, and the cherry trees have buds.  Of course, the truest sign that spring has arrived is when Pete's cattle returns to the ranch, and that has not yet happened.

It hardly seems like it's been seven years since we received a phone call on Stuart's birthday that a healthy grandson named Jason had arrived on his birthday (and within a half hour of his birth time, no less), but the celebration has become a tradition, as has the rally-car cake, the big, noisy welcome dinner, the men wanting to watch March Madness (except Stuart), most others wanting to venture hither and yon to enjoy Zinfandel Festival, capped off with a birthday dinner in town.  No doubt the elder birthday celebrant will have some sage words to pass along to the young birthday celebrant prior to embarking upon this next year of their lives.

The gifts are wrapped, the cake ordered, the meals planned, grocery lists made, the packing will begin on Wednesday, and we not only look forward to celebrating with the family, but sneaking off with friends afterwards to continue the celebration, after which time, all eyes will then turn to bud break and the 2011 growing season. 

Until then, may the luck of the Irish be with you, and Happy Birthday to Stuart and Jason!

Slainte!

The Ranch Manager

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Central Coast Olive Oil Competition Results and Update

Image
We got word late last week that we received four awards from the Central Coast Olive Oil Competition.  We were awarded a Silver Medal for our Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a Silver Medal for our Lemon-Infused Olive Oil, a Bronze Medal for our Orange-Infused Olive Oil, and a Bronze Medal for our Smoked Olive Oil. We are attempting, ourselves, to make sense out of the inconsistencies between the different judging panels.  The O/C member of our team reviews results with the plan of doing things better each year, and scrutinizes every fact provided but just cannot reconcile the results.  Some might suggest we ought to just celebrate the 12 awards we've received this year, with an additional two Best of Class Awards, but yet, we are left SOH (shaking our heads), as they say.  There are producers who submitted and did not win awards, so we are thrilled that, on the whole, all of our oils are award-winning. So, what mountain is left to scale this year?  One of the...
Read more

Butter to Olive Oil Conversion Chart for Recipes

You might be thinking, I'd like to use olive oil instead of butter more, but how would I possibly go about converting my recipes?  Voila! You're welcome! Butter to Olive Oil Conversion Chart for Recipes Butter EVOO 1 tsp. ¾ tsp. 2 tsp. 1 ½ tsp. 1 Tbsp. 2 ¼ tsp. ¼ cup 3 Tbsp. 1/3 cup ¼ cup ½ cup ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. 2/3 cup ½ cup ¾ cup ½ cup + 1Tbsp. 1 cup ¾ cup
Read more

"The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart." Robert Green Ingersoll

Image
Last week, it seemed that we could barely contain all the happy, good news coming in to the Rancho, but Mother Nature has never been a lady who likes to take the back seat, so we were given a rather cruel reminder yesterday who is really in charge, and it is not the one writing this blog. With all olive trees in full blossom, warnings as to a storm began to trickle in at the beginning of the week.  We took notice, since April has not smiled down kindly upon us in the past.  All weather casts said there would be rain, but in the Bay area, they said wouldn't get this far south.  The predicted winds were checked, all below advisory level. Shouldn't worry, right? Needless to say, the weather people were again wrong again as winds over 50 mph ripped through the olive trees in full blossom and then rain pummeled our hill, just in case there were any blossoms left.  We could only stand and watch.  It was April of 2014 all over again.   There isn't anything...
Read more