April 17th, 2009
Hyssop. Useful as a medicinal tea
The guidebook Eccentric California brings you the Horned Toad Derby, the World Famous Asphalt Museum, World Pillow Fighting Championships… and Outstanding in the Field. There’s no joke, though. Nine years down the road, Outstanding in the Field has a sell-out calendar of dinners as fleeting artistic experiences. Celebrated chefs cook local food, but at the farm, or on the beach. The farmers join you at dinner. All the charm of picnicking, but no need for you to fill any thermoses. Linens, fine wines, posies on the tables, and stars in the sky. Katy Oursler was for several years mistress of these ceremonies, welcoming lucky guests to these intensely memorable meals. She is now their private events director.
Luckily, Katy has joined us at Harley Farms, to bring an exceptional twist to our already extraordinary parties. Katy’s the oldest of five children who grew up with a huge garden, so she can tell lovage from hyssop at a hundred paces, and knows no greater pleasure than sharing local food with friends. She’s all elegance, with not a hint of garden under her fingernails, and you’ll meet her at our Spring Dinner in May.
Lovage. Delightful as a soup
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April 1st, 2009
We had an astonishing morning with the second grade from Woodside Elementary. It was bright and a little cold, the babies were sunbathing against the barn, the mothers were out on the pasture, and the tour went as usual, until we came to the loafing barn.
Woodside Elementary at Harley Farms
An idyllic April morning
The most complete nest we’ve found on the farm
Goats generally tear their nests apart after giving birth, both to eat and to cover their newborns, but a first-time mother had been disturbed before she could destroy her nest. This is the first time we’ve ever seen such a relatively intact nest in the barn, and it was a lucky coincidence that we had the second-graders on the farm this very morning. There was a clutch of eggs, some with their prototype horns visible (these are the males). We were able to take small groups of children up close, although vibrations could disturb the hatching eggs. We’ll keep an eye on them throughout the day, because the errant mother is unlikely to return now that we’ve discovered her nest. Hopefully, some of the eggs will hatch in the warmth of the afternoon sun. One of the children thought he saw some movement, so fingers crossed for baby goats today!!
You can see the tiny horns on the egg to the right
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March 31st, 2009
Farm life: mud, afterbirth, curds and whey … and beautiful girls. San Francisco photographer Michele Clement took a series of “naturalistic” fashion portraits on the farm a few days ago. The models were ivory and diaphanous like slivers of parmigiano on the most expensive of salads. They clutched bunches of daffodils and gazed naturalistically across the farm. Ryan and Luis took several “short-cuts” outside to gaze back.
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March 25th, 2009
We are immensely touched by the response to our call for a shepherd. Engineers, teachers, a professional cyclist, several chefs, many musicians, and, most enchantingly, a poet were among those of you who were interested in weeding goats. Many of you declared your love of animals, others pointed out that their experience herding children would certainly help with goats. Chefs were intrigued by the position, but only goats will be doing the eating. There would be time to compose, but your music might have to play second fiddle to wandering weed-eaters..
The Harley Herd shepherd will run the weeding flock as a separate business within our dairy business, generating their own income. We will trial the weedbusting this year, and add retiring milking goats next year.
Thank you to everybody who was interested. We’re sorry not to interview all the exceptional people who applied, but welcome you to the farm soon.
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February 25th, 2009
We’ve written about our dream of a Harley Herd of weedbusting goats. Your weeds are their lunch. Goats prefer blackberry bushes, Canada thistle, poison oak and even poison hemlock to their usual pasture grasses, making them a natural part of land management. Now we’re looking for the extraordinarily patient individual who’ll manage the Harley Herd.
You’ll have a basic understanding of the botany of both weeds and desirable plants, so that you’ll know when to introduce the herd. You’ll have empathy with the goat hierachies: control the boss goat and thus the herd. Work with the herd dog. You’ll decide how many goats to introduce, and how you’ll keep them on the property. Optimal land management involves seasonal or annual control: you’ll seek public and private land contracts, keep detailed records of projects, and make pricing decisions. And you’ll have the patience of a shepherd!
You’ll work with Harley Farms, county Sustainable Business of the Year. We seek integrity and commitment to community, and we look forward to hearing from you!
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February 12th, 2009
It’s been a productive morning. Fourteen babies arrived last night, bringing our total up to 29 - one mother had quadruplets! Also, I made a chocolate birthday cake from scratch for our lovely, youthful office manager Sharina.
Surprise!
I could probably be a professional baker, don’t you think?
Only thirty-three…
We bred the goats early, so the babies have started arriving. The newborn families are separated from the lively week-old babies, and just-about-to-give-birth mothers. We’ll have a very noisy barnful of pregnant and nursing goats over this rainy weekend!
Born last night
Tours begin in February, so do come and admire the babies soon.
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February 6th, 2009
We’re a month back from Yorkshire, and I’d like to report that British men are looking
good! They were wrapped in chic cardigans and scarfs, shoes
polished and witty charm on full blast. Of course, my husband has nothing to
fear. He keeps a closet of clothes at my parents’ house: wet weather things
and tennis whites acquired fifteen years ago at Pescadero’s thrift shop. A
fine establishment, and naturally my husband looks very fine, as you’ll notice
from the photo.
You can’t have everything - slick cardigans, witty charm, ready cash… - but
I have got the most wonderful cook. Our New Year’s Eve feast was pheasant and
goose, prepared by my husband with assistant son and nephew. We ordered the
birds from the extremely well-supported local farm shops in Yorkshire. Most
people shop locally in the country; each small town might have three or four
butchers, each with their own specialty sausages, for example.
I love the festivities and routines of Christmas in Yorkshire. It’s both a
fizzingly exciting whirl of cooking and singing and cold weather and everybody
off work, and a recharging, peaceful reassurance of the pleasures of
childhood. On New Year’s Eve, we had cocktails and canapes at my parents’,
moved on to neighbors, and ended up at Tony’s house, dinner having
being cooked in three ovens in three different houses. There were millions of
candles, Andrew and Griff brought Andrew’s famous amaretto trifle,
and we ended up with two hours of fireworks in the freezing night.
Tony was away, with family in the Lake District, so he couldn’t see the party
devastation of his house. The very last wine glass was put away as he returned
the next day.. Here’s to 2009!
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January 21st, 2009
Salud has worked for Harley Farms for 13 years, and knows instinctively by
smell, or feel, or taste, if something’s not quite as it should be. You cannot
buy this kind of expertise, and she is the lynch pin of the dairy. She is as
immaculate in appearance as in habit, and I know I have often let her down
with my sloppier tidying!
Salud, Norma, Rebecca, Luis and I took a two-day Spanish-language course in
the science of cheesemaking, organized by the local cheese guild at
the College of Marin. There were maybe 25 people from local dairies, all of
whom knew their recipes back to front, but perhaps not the whys and wherefores
of those recipes.
We looked at the differences between cow and goat milk through microscopes
(size of fat globules), we heard about how temperature affects the culture, we
saw bacteria and measured pH. Everybody brought their cheeses on the first
day, and by the way Salud and the others rushed to see them, I realized we
should constantly be bringing cheeses to our dairy to taste and talk about.
Mexico has a strong cottage industry of fresh cheese (queso fresco), but there
are so many different cheeses here in the Bay Area.
These two days with our staff made me vow to get a microscope and pH testing
kit for our dairy, to incorporate into our routine and tours. It gave Salud
and the others contacts at other dairies, with all the same day-to-day issues.
And it reminded me how thankful I am for the consistency with which we run the
dairy and control the ultimate flavor and quality of our cheese. I must just
try and live up to my staff!
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December 16th, 2008
It has been another magnificent year for the farm. I can’t thank my amazing staff and friends enough, and wish them all a toasty holiday season. We’re leaving tomorrow for an icy Yorkshire Christmas, and I can’t wait! Happy New Year!
Farm manager Ryan, a man who can look cool anywhere, and especially on a barn roof. Congratulations to him and his fiancee; sorry ladies. Thanks to Poppy de Garmo for the photo!
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November 5th, 2008
There are always highs and lows on the farm. For all the death of beloved pets, slow cash flow, or broken milking machines, there’s the dawn over the pastures, the magnificent staff, and the awards. The awards, though, are not the greatest thrill. We are humbly thrilled to win awards for the cheese, but cheese is just part of what we do, and building the farm itself makes me happiest of all.
We have used state grants to help with fencing, seeding, creek bank renovation, parking lot work, and manure hauling, but this summer began our biggest grant-aided project: water tanks. It doesn’t sound momentous, but this is a huge step forward for the quality and sustainability of our water.
In the past, we used the well for our house, the dairy, the farm labor housing unit, the goats (we had 350 animals at one point), and a small parched garden! Now, the tanks will collect rain water from all the roofs on the farm, for the goats and part of the garden. We can recycle the well water going through the dairy. And next year we will dig an irrigation well for the pastures, with state of the art efficient sprinkler heads.
After last weekend’s rain, we have 10,000 gallons of water in the tanks!
Thank you to Tim Frahm of the San Mateo County Farm Bureau,
who encouraged us to apply for this grant!
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