Oooooh! Goats! Cheese! Wine!

Bravo, Lilli! Wine is indeed the perfect accompaniment!

I like goat cheese too! Goat cheese and figs with a nice chilled glass of Pinot Grigio, or Sauvignon Blanc. Or a very thin crust pizza (with no sauce) with goat cheese, caramelized onions and artichoke hearts. When it comes out of the oven, drizzle it with some aged balsamic vinegar and fresh arugula and chopped figs.

I'm hungry now...

will have to try that, but leave out the arugula. Fresh figs are almost impossible to get here. I don't think I've ever eaten a fresh one. Like the dried ones though.

Fresh figs! Love them!

Rob ~ You sound like quite the gourmet chef!

Jan, I was in Anderson Valley a few weeks ago, but didn't realize that was your neighborhood. Passed through on my way from Cloverdale to Mendocino and stopped to buy some wine at Navarro Vineyards, since I like their Chardonnay. Lovely area!

Andrea, if you come through in the spring, like April, hopefully I'll have lots of iris in bloom! I like the Navarro Chardonnay too!

Jan, Deal!

tveguy3 said:Liz, I have started to just plant a doz or so of the seeds, not 50 or 60 of each like I did at first. I'll see what I get and can always plant more of them or make more of that cross if I get good results. Or in some cases pass the extra seeds onto someone else who wants them. Of course you're much younger then I am and have more energy. I've also limited some of my crosses to attaining goals that I'm trying to achieve rather then just crossing pretty ones to see what I get. I got really behind in culling due to the hail storm this year that nearly wiped out the bloom on my seedling beds. I wasn't able to do any culling at all of my last two years of seedlings. That makes for lots of beds to keep weeding.

That sounds like a good idea. I'll plant a handful of each and if I like the results I can go from there.

janwax said:Another goat cheese lover here! (In another life I raised Nubian goats). Sounds like you have an interesting plan, Liz!
Hubs and I had a B&B for 4 and a half years. It was a lot of work, but yes, fun, at times.We also
were producing pottery at the same time. It was making, making, making, all the time...beds, laundry, breakfast (freshly
baked croissants every morning!)and conversation! - After breakfast the guests would want to see what we had in the pottery studio gallery, so we had to find time to make pots! This was more than 30 years ago, so we had the energy to do it. When one of the guests wanted to buy the place, we were ready to get back to just making ceramics, and were able to buy the acreage we're on now - just 6 miles from our old B & B ! It was a good experience - one that coincided with our beautiful valley's "discovery" by the wineries, that resulted in increased tourism.
If you have lots of energy, a B & B can be a good adventure.

I appreciate you sharing about your B & B experience Jan! I may message you at a later time to pick your brain more. I do realize how much work it will be and I have considered just focusing on the cheese stuff when I'm older. Right now I like keeping busy so I'm up for the challenge. There will be 2 families involved so that helps. Hopefully some of you will make it up to VT in the Spring to enjoy the irises and maybe take some home to lessen my burden of how much work it will be to maintain those gardens

UndertheSun said:I like goat cheese too! Goat cheese and figs with a nice chilled glass of Pinot Grigio, or Sauvignon Blanc. Or a very thin crust pizza (with no sauce) with goat cheese, caramelized onions and artichoke hearts. When it comes out of the oven, drizzle it with some aged balsamic vinegar and fresh arugula and chopped figs.

I'm hungry now...

Delicious! I'm hungry too.

You have lots of really great sounding plans. You go girl!

Anyone who wants fresh figs - I have tons of them right now. The crop was really large this year. And the fig tree/bushes (mine are more tall bush like than big trees) take zero care. Easiest fruit in the world. Give them sun, leave them alone, and get two crops a year.

Sad but funny story, my mom told me this story. My grandfather loved figs and planted a fig tree in his yard and babied it for many years. Never got a fig off the tree! The year after he passed away the tree was loaded with figs! So maybe he babied it TO much. I think my grandfather died in the 1950's, so I have no idea what type of fig tree it was.

Leslie, your neighborhood thief will no doubt take some figs. If you lived closer I'd come and get some, I've never had a fresh one.

Oh the fig thieves still are taking some! I notice when ones I plan to pick after another day in the sun are missing by the time I go to pick them.

They are very sweet this year. And you would find them quite different than the died figs Tom. Especially since you don't notice the seeds at all in the fresh ones. Maybe next year I can send you a box of them in a cooler pack.

"They are very sweet this year. And you would find them quite different than the died figs Tom. Especially since you don't notice the seeds at all in the fresh ones. Maybe next year I can send you a box of them in a cooler pack." (partial quote).

haha leslie, i laughed out loud with this little freudian slip. my fingers do that all the time.

I lost my old good fig tree to the drought. It was loaded every year with large figs. A baby from that tree has sprouted up in another part of the garden and is growing well, but it only produces (smaller than) ping pong ball sized figs. I managed to get a handful of them this year, the critters got all of the rest. I think I have a photo of the dead tree somewhere in my files.

Another baby tree sprouted up a few years ago, but I dug it up and gave it to my neighbor. That tree is now huge and full of figs, but he has it planted in his septic leech fields....ewwww. He has offered some fruit...thanks, but no thanks.

I have another baby fig tree in a pot that is going to be planted at either my nephews, or my sisters house.

Ping Pong Ball size is a pretty big fig. The brown turkey figs that grow here rarely get much larger. The largest are off the old growth (start forming over winter) and the birds usually steal them all. The new growth figs are smaller and more plentiful.

And I've finally finished this thread. Whew! Awesome season and thread! Can't wait to see what your future holds. Keep up the great work, Liz