Suburban Homestead

How We Homeschool - Week 3

People are always asking me what our days look like. The truth is, they are always changing depending on the season, what courses are being offered in our network, how we're feeling, and which way the wind is blowing. I love hearing about all the different ways people learn, and how everyone finds their own way through their own education. Unfortunately, I can only seem to find this sort of information through live conversation, with friends and family. I've never really be able to find these stories, in their entirety, online. So while I kept a handwritten journal of our learning last year, I decided to put it online this year, in hopes that it might help others to understand what we do. We are just one family, and for now, at least for this week, this is what works for us. This is how we homeschool:

IN THE CAR THIS WEEK

I love audio books. I can NOT tell you how good audio books are for us. For all that time spent in the car each week, instead of the pop music, we go educational. 

Living Language - Spanish Started this as an in-car suppliment to our in-home classes (2xs/week). I secretly love it when we are all repeating words and phrases together in the car. Highlight - 5yo: "Oh, mom. Did you hear that one? I just did a really good 'Buenas noches'."

Leonardo da Vinci - Science of Giants . Another great one and only 2.5 hours. Lots of fun tidbits to keep kids engaged. (Note: You might want to listen to track 11 + 12 of disc one before sharing with your kids. Some heavier/sensitive content there.)

FINISHED UP

Shakespeare for Children: A Midsummer Night's Dream + The Taming of the Shrew, Jim Weiss. These short adaptations are a great starter for any age (40 and over included :). Easy enough to understand in today's modern world, they offer a nice foundation, with just enough original wording, to get everyone situated in the world of Shakespeare. A great primer. 

Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder. The one book we were forced to skip in the series due to it not being available when we traveled. I love researching/learning before a trip, but it's also nice to learn more after you return home. Just two different experiences. 

The Shakespeare Stealer, by Gary Blackwood. Picked this one up on the recommendation of the librarian when looking for Renassance relevant content in preparation for the fair. So far, so good. Kids are hooked, and I'm super happy to discover this is an actual series with two more books to go. 

Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson. This one was for me, and my prepping for the Renaissance refresher. But like so many adult books I read or listen to, I feel there is a lot of wonderful information that is perfect for curious young minds. Typically I listen to these while alone in the car to make sure the content is OK for young ears, and then I play it again while they are with me. They always tune in, and I just love that. I don't believe our culture gives kids enough credit for what they can take in. Here is another adult audio book we enjoyed together in the car.  

MONDAY

9:30 – 3:00 Homeschool in the Forest

Leader summaries:

5yos group: n/a

7yos group: "Hi there parents of the Lagunitas Fox Lizards,

Our crew picked a name for our clan last week. It took some great consideration, compromising and creativity, but we did it. Actually the process was quite admirable, I tried to stand back as much as possible and let the kids figure out the choosing of the name themselves. So there it is now "The Lagunitas Fox Lizards" a combination of the lake we hike around, an animal we love and an animal we see a lot on our adventures. We are witty, fast and in tune with our environment :)

Last week started in a fun, unusual way. The group was excitedly talking getting to know each other paying much more attention to each other than where they were going.  I decided to test their awareness a bit and quite obviously stepped to the side to stand behind a tree that was right in front of them.  They just kept walking, I wondered how long they would take to notice that their instructor was no longer in front.  Instructor always is front is a rule of ours.  After quite a long while they did realize and then started running.  I was of course following close behind.  Finally I started running to keep up with them and someone turned around to notice me. :) 

Well the theme of our day became lost-proofing. 

We went over some basic lost proofing techniques, and tried to find north from many different spots.  We defined what good landmarks would be and tried ot notice obvious things about where we were. We also looked for acorns and identified the different oak trees we were seeing. We also processed acorns. Of course we also made time for some games of cat and mouse and exploration. We will continue learning about hazards, mapping and start diving into identification of animal tracks and sign.  In Dane's absence, I may take the youngest group next week and have Daniel be with this group.  Daniel is a tracking expert so that might be fun.

Connections for home:

* Find a leaf and acorn of as many different oak trees as you can

* Journal the most common oak trees of the area

* Try to find north and draw a compass rose in as many different places as possible"

 

10yos group: n/a

3:30 - 6:00 Library with former neighbor/daughter of dear friend - a Monday ritual. Pick her up after school and head to library for a weeks worth of fresh reading. We hang-out for about an hour and then head to an early dinner of burgers and fries. Imagine my excitement when I discovered the Spanish aisle and load-up on some old favorites!!!

BEDTIME READING:

10yo: Brian's Winter, by Gary Paulsen

Little kids: Fossil, by Bill Thomson. Love this illustrator's wordless books! We take turns narrating the story, page by page. I encourage them to replace simple words with ones more descriptive.

 

TUESDAY

Kiddos wake-up between 7 and 8. I set berries, yogurt and toast on the kitchen table decorated with juvinile magazines for browsing. We currently subscribe to Ladybugs, Appleseeds, Muse and Dig (as well as Smithsonian, National Geographic, Reptiles and All About History - these for the big kid). We love magazines!

until 8:30 breakfast and morning chores (grooming, clean room, make bed)

9:00 - 12:00 Big kids enrolled in locally taught homeschool courses Language Arts + Drawing Out Arithmetic ("Playing with the ancient tools of compass and straight edge, children will discover the skills and methods employed by the Ancient Greeks to uncover enduring mathematical truths"). Incredibly enthusiastic teacher, Daniel, helps reinforce the priciples of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by having each of the four students saw one 36" dowel down into 1/2 units. (He also teaches them how to find the center with out measuring :) Using these units (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128) he challenges them to a wide range of math problems. Daniel has put this class together based on some higher-level theories he learned as an adult. I ask him how to qualify it and he hesitates before saying, "You could call it bianary multiplication, but you wouldn't get the right info if you Google that term." He's developed this class all on his own with the goal of getting kids to touch math and to have a physical relationship with it. I've never seen anything like this and when you see it in action it is super cool!

At home during this time, Tiny Bun paints some water color thank you notes, and we watch a video in Spanish about counting 1 - 10. He gets it and can now count 1 - 10 in Spanish. :-)

12:00 - 2:00 Open studio art class for homeschoolers. Imagine a fully stocked open room and the freedom to create whatever you want. 10yo worked on props for his Halloween costume (a steam punk) and Beanie cast her hand in plaster, spun a clay bowl on the wheel, and began knitting a hat. 

Tiny Buns is under the weather and skips preK. Instead he plays with Fimo clay while we are home.

2:15 - 3:15 Music for the 10yo. He's super excited to get his aunt's middle school guitar re-strung and proudly brings it to his lesson. They work on basic guitar beats, and hit the drums for the final 15. While he's in music I'm outside with little kids. It's a mixture of squirrel family games and subtraction flash cards. Beans is good with subtraction, so we focus our energy in teaching the principles to Tiny Buns. He loves it and I can tell he's feeling proud.

3:45 Soccer drop-off, back home, quick walk with puppy, 5:15 Soccer pick-up

6:45 - 8:45 Daddy heads out with 10yo to see a concert of his music teachers students. This is good for the kid - to see the hard work paying off. 

Meanwhile. I'm at home with little kids and begin making Pomander balls as part of our Renaissance block. 

 

WEDNESDAY

We all wake between 7 and 8. Beanie reads to her Daddy. Over breakfast I read another chapter from Shakespeare activity book while kids continue working on their pomnaders. 10yo brushes up on multiplication (per his tutors request), and builds 3D triangle our of rolled paper scraps. 

Chores: brushing, cleaning, bed making.

10:00 - 11:00 Maestro Jason for family Spanish lesson. 30 minutes of crazy, then verb conjugation. Beanie prefers to draw pictures and label them than to just write out words. I love that she can do this freely. 10yo checks out mentally at ten to the hour. I have him go to his room and read. Hubs later mentions it's crazy to even try to teach kids this young to conjugate verbs in Spanish when they can't even always do it properly in English. This cracks me up. He makes a good point. 

 

Off to science and poetry classes at another family's house.

11:45 - 12:45 Beanie takes SCIENCE with 7yos (while 10yos BAKE SCONES with host mom). Report from instructor for this week: 

"This week, we raced cars down a ramp and measured the distance they traveled.  We raced three cars that weighed different amounts.  One car had 0 extra weights attached, one had 5 weights, and the last had 10 weights.   

On the rough carpeted surface, the cars experienced the slowing force of friction.  The more massive cars were able to go farther because they have more mass.  More mass means an object has more inertia.  Inertia is a resistance to change so the more massive cars are more resistant to change.  Since they are already moving, the change would happen in trying to slow them down.  The more massive cars are harder to slow down because they are more resistant to change and are able to travel a farther.  

 

Our results varied on the smooth surface that had very low friction.  In this case, our lightest cars ended up going the farthest.  In the absence of friction or an opposing force, a moving object will keep moving forever.   Our heavier cars must have had some other force acting on them to keep them from going very far."

 

1:00 - 2:00 Beanie (and the 7yos) move over to poetry class with lovely language arts instructor. 

1:00-2:30 10yo+ SCIENCE class. Report from instructor for this week: 

"This week we began our review of the nervous system.  We made a clay model of the four lobes of the brain and the cerebellum.  We attached the functions of each lobe onto our model.  We also began constructing our model of the neuron."

 

While big kids in their classes, Tiny Buns and I hang out and make stuff with stickers. 

3:00 I drop 7yo at her grandma's house for home economics. Today they make a shrimp cocktail appetizer to bring for dinner, and begin cutting out fabric for a quilt. 10yo takes his fishing pole and walks to his other grandmas house (the gmas live about two blocks from each other) where he fishes on the creek for two hours.

 

THURSDAY

8:15 - 9:15 Math tutor for 10yo. A rough session and we realize we need to make some modifications to our math program, if you could even call it that yet. We are still finding our way here this year. Homeschooling all three kids is a whole differnt ball game and everything I figured out last year doesn't seem to apply anymore. 

9:30 – 3:00 Homeschool 4-wheel drive - the 10yo's second day a week in nature. Run by the same organization as Monday's class, this group happens have only boys enrolled at this time, which I love. It's great to see them just go off a wild adventure with a great male leader.

Little kids spend the morning playing Legos. I'm good with this and don't want to interupt until I have to.

10:25 - 11:05 PeeWee soccer. Beanie and I do some math on the side. Again, the math part didn't go so well. Starting to wonder if math ever goes well. 

Home for lunch then off to Prek for Tiny Buns, 1:00 - 4:00

1:15 - 2:15 French class for Beanie

3:00 pick-up, 3:15 soccer drop, 4:00 PreK pick-up, 4:15 soccer pick-up

4:30 - 10yo journals about day in nature. I have him write a page then I go over it with him and discuss ways to improve it, starting by replacing simple verbs for more descriptive ones. He then re-writes the entry with his new changes. A little teeth-pulling, but it gets done well.

 

FRIDAYS (ARE FOR FIELD TRIPS)

8:30 Grandpa picks up the 10yo for a day on Alcatraz and at Fisherman's Wharf. 

The little kids and I head into SF for some beach time. Sunshine, seashell counting games, simple math in the sand, the beautiful bay, fish tacos while catching the Giants game on a big screen, and organic, dipped soft serve are just some of the reasons why we homeschool! ;-)

 

EXTENDED LEARNING (aka THE WEEKEND)

SATURDAY soccer games then we drive to Santa Cruz. Dinner on the wharf with family, total surprise that tonight marks the 100 year celebration of the wharf. Fireworks at 9, boardwalk open until 10. Super fun night - cousins have a great time. SUNDAY at the Rennaisance Fair! So much research, preparation and anticipation has gone into the fair over the last month. Kids loved every minute of it. I'll post about the whole day at the fair next.

Farm to Table Photography Workshop

A year ago this week, I had an incredible weekend-long experience on the beautiful Whidbey Island in Washington state. It was a farm-to-table photography workshop (!!!) led by a lovely food photographer from Seattle, Clare Barboza. The fact that it's taken me twelve months to post about something so wonderful should give you a little insight into how I'm keeping up in my personal life these days.

I attended the workshop with Granny A, and together we devoured every aspect of the experience. We arrived on a Thursday night to a lovely rental house at the end of long private road. All together, we were ten students, plus Clare, her husband and brother. Most of us had traveled from neighboring states, one woman had flown in from Taiwan, a professional wedding photographer had traveled down from Canada. We all shared rooms and meals, and took most of our down time together in the very open living and kitchen space. Everyone was great!

On our first day, we traveled to two different family-run farms where we were granted access to all areas and spent several hours walking around, honing our skills. At some point, in one of those fields, a light went off in my head (I light I'd been trying to throw for the better part of ten years) and I finally, (FINALLY!) I wrapped my head around *aperture* and *f-stop* and all that mind-blowingly complicated camera crap I've never seemed to grasp. (Thank you, Universe!!!) Later in the afternoon, back at the house, we set-up shop in a neighboring barn flooded with natural light. Individually, we plated packaged desserts and snacks on Clare's collection of dishes, incorporating a variety of textiles and textures for backdrops, and snapped away.

Our second day started out at the local farmer's market where we actually got to see and photograph the produce stands of the farms we'd visited the day before. Now I don't know about you, but that rates a *10* on my too-cool-for-school scale. We then returned to the house for a second session in food styling before our final presentation where we each shared and discussed our ten favorite shots from the weekend. It was nothing short of this suburban homesteader's dream weekend.

To learn more about Clare's workshops click here.

To see Clare's beautiful farm photography click here.

Dinner on the Beach, La Palapa

Breakfast at Norma's

Today I was the grateful wife of a man who had a (yawner of a) conference in Palm Springs. It was all very last minute, but I did take the opportunity to sleep in, relax and stroll mid-century furniture stores support him, rub his feet and keep him company at night.

We arrived late in the day yesterday and took breakfast this morning at Norma's, one of two restaurants at our hotel. I was in a retro-sort-of-heaven, mesmerized by lush gardens, pops of vibrant, warm colors and ridiculously good food. While we had to pass on the Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata, for obvious reasons ($1000), we did manage to leave fulfilled. He had the egg white omelet with vegetables, I had the potato pancakes with cranberry apple sauce. We shared a fruit plate and a large pot of coffee while exchanging ideas on how we could revamp our house to mimic a Palm Springs oasis.  :)

Exploring the Island of Hvar, Croatia

We did quite a few walking tours while on our trip this past week, and I’m not ashamed to admit it! We learned so much more than I could have hoped to download from a book, plus we always took a break with our guide for coffee, sat down and chatted about more personal things. It is in those moments when you truly get insights into the people and places you are visiting. Our best guide, Jana, was from the island of Hvar, and she walked us all through town, explaining the rich history of what is today a very popular destination spot.

Later in the day we met up with Jana a second time and she drove us around the island to see Hvar’s incredible countryside which today stands only as a reminder of the agrarian community that used to thrive here. For centuries, from the hilltops on down to the water, the farming of olive trees, fig trees, almond trees, grapes, lavender and seasonal gardens took place in this rocky but rich soil. Because the hills are slopped, previous generations terraced all this land for their growing needs and when you stand on a hillside today, and look all around you at this endless system of low rock walls, it’s just amazing to think back on what this island would have looked like through the centuries while in full production.

The most exciting thing for me (other than eating wild figs along the roadside!) was to learn that the generations of Hvar's famers never had a system of irrigation in place and that all the grapes, figs and olives only got water during the rainy months, and survived through the hot summers. So interesting!

The farmers of this land began leaving their family's businesses after returning home from the Second World War, opting for an *easier* life in town. Soon thereafter, the newly formed Yugoslavian government gave the island's people pine trees to plant along the hillsides. Eventually these pines took over and the stone barriers were hidden from view and all but forgotten. Then, twelve years ago, a great fire engulfed the countryside, burned down all the pines and left what we see today. Our tour guide said she was not even aware of this history on her island before it was revealed to her in the ashes. Today, bushes are making their way back and it’s believed that in another ten years or so and the agricultural ruins of Hvar will once again be buried from plain sight.

I found it so fascinating to stand there and to look at this endless stretch of what was once bustling farmland. The youth of today in Croatia are not interested in the hard life of farming - and who can blame them - it’s been in the their blood for generations! Then you look at us – those that didn’t have to farm growing up – and suddenly the whole idea of being a farmer is romantic again! ;)

Dinner in Croatia

I wanted to share some images of a simple but incredibly delicious meal we shared together when we first arrived in Croatia. It was a tiny spot in Lovran, a small coastal town in Istria, called Wine Bar Loza. The area is known for its wines and truffles, however this night, we shared a plate of mixed cheeses and cured meats, a basket of *grandma's bread*, and a side of salted cod pate. To call any Croatian meal *locally harvested* or *sustainable* would be redundant, I gather. I get the feeling that it goes without saying - when you sit down at a restaurant in this part of the world, your food did not travel far to get to your table. I hope you can both see and taste this with these photos taken while dining beneath a walnut tree, listening to church bells chiming and savoring the local traditions.

Hunting for Truffles in Croatia

This is an incredibly special time for us as we take a week to celebrate ten years of marriage and three wonderful kids -- only, we didn't take the kids along on the celebration. ;)

Today, the two of us ventured down quiet, winding country roads, lined with massive family gardens of pumpkins, squash, corn and fruit trees, to partake in a bit of truffle gastronomy.  It all began at the Karlić family house, where the mother, Radmila, prepared us an incredible lunch of all things truffle.

There was salami with truffles, cheese with truffles, cream cheese on bread, olive oil and honey - all with truffles. And after the first course, we were treated to a look at all the truffles that would be added to our second course omlette!

After lunch, Radmila's son Evan walked us past a small vineyard, and down to the forest below where his grandfather began the family's tradition of truffle hunting in 1966. There were no promises that we'd find anything...

...and yet their sweet pooch found three! It was such a cool experience and one that I know we could only have had here.

Click here to learn more about the Karlić family business.

California Road Trip - Sunnylands in Palm Springs

The recently opened Sunnylands Retreat in Palm Springs was without a doubt, the highlight of my week.

I had been reading a lot about Walter and Leonore Annenberg's west coast retreat in the early months of this year.  There has been no shortage of press surrounding this incredible icon of mid-century design, its expansive grounds and art collection, or its historical significance. As soon as we decided to visit Palm Springs for spring break, I thought of Sunnylands (well actually no, I thought about Trina Turk's flagship store and then I thought about Sunnylands) and so I began making plans to book a tour. At 9am on March 15th, I sat at my laptop and continually pressed the refresh button on my browser until the April block of tickets opened up. I grabbed a midday slot ("Crap! That's high sun!), threw it in my basket, and in doing so, felt about 2 inches taller.

Celebrating *40* with 150 Bouquets of Flowers

I need to keep this one short. It's late. Thirty images taken at last week's Bouquet to Arts exhibit at the de Young should be sufficient, and although I'd love to share my thoughts and what I learned about it all, I'm pretty sure no one actually cares. So I'm going to pass, and take the sleep instead. But here are shots of my most favorite bouquets, taken while celebrating my girlfriend's 40th birthday with a day in the city.

Valentine's Cookies

Last night I hosted another one of Kate's cookie classes for all my girls who could not make the first class in December.  The theme was Valentine's, and the students were a great mixture of neighbors and friends.

Here are some pictures I took of Kate's art - cookies decorated the night before so that *students* could have a little inspiration. If it's not obvious from these shots, let me tell you: they were flawless! (I say *were* only because Kate and I ate them all while cleaning up the kitchen.)

Here Kate shows us the proper *technique*. Oh the jokes that followed... ;)

I'll leave you with this shot below - one Kate forwarded me from her phone, of some recent work she'd done. (OK fine, I grabbed her phone and forwarded it to myself.) Who knew I needed a pear-shaped cookie cutter? And a lemon one to go with it? Well now I know.  Thanks again, Kate! xoxo

If you live in the Bay Area, and would like to throw a cookie decorating party with Kate as your instructor, it's such a great way to get a group together, morning, afternoon or night. She charges $45/head and pretty much does it all! You leave with some great, new knowledge and a box of your cookie art. For more info, you can contact her at kateplaskon(at)gmail.com or at 415.225.7516

Italian Staycation - Day 2 - A Bike Ride

We had the rare opportunity to break away this afternoon and do a long bike ride through the Dry Creek Valley, just the two of us.  So I gathered together all my protective clothing, most importantly, my neon flowered flip-flops, and set out on a 20 mile *peddle* through the countryside.

Daddy didn't want me to get run over by a tractor and insisted I wear a helmet.  Fair enough, but I always insist on wearing a brimmed hat.  The outcome looked like this:

Not sexy.  And yet I swear it took everything out of the man not to dry hump my leg all day. ;-)

The temperature was an ideal 84 degrees and so we peddled and chatted, chatted and peddled until we reached Healdsburg in time for lunch.

We had hoped to try the new SpoonBar at the h2 Hotel, but were disappointed to learn it was closed for lunch on Tuesdays.  So we made reservations for dinner instead, and walked around oh-ing and aw-ing all the great landscape, architectural and interior details.

Just outside the restaurant's entrance was this incredible work of art paying homage to, what else, the spoon. The sound of water drizzling down a wall balancing hundreds of teetering spoons was just so sweet and calming.

Inside the lobby, I had a seat on a multi-patterned Missoni couch (when are they not?!), and looked beyond some highly lacquered coffee tables of reclaimed wood to a stunning piece of art by Stephen Galloway. It all tied in very well with my flip-flops, don't you think?

On the way home, I took this picture:

I just love the sight of an endless field of agriculture, interrupted only by a barn's corrugated metal roof.

Friday Night Food Truck Crush!

The food truck frenzy has made it's way to Marin!  We headed down to the ferry building tonight to see the line-up, eat dinner with friends, and dance with our kids.

As much as I love the idea of spending my Friday nights at a food truck party (and coming home to a clean kitchen!), I have to say, it was rough trying to hold my kids down long enough to get them to eat. Even then, it was nothing containing vegetables. Next time I will pack some carrots and fruit to bring along and supplement their take-away meals.

The kids loved everything - running around, running into friends and running back and forth between bites of their pizza politana (which was excellent).  My muffaletta vegetarian sandwich from Suzie Q's was mighty tasty too!

The big boys enjoyed pulled pork sandos.

I'm sad to say that there was one small disappointment at the Food Truck Crush - the cupcake truck.  Way. Too. Sugary.  I hate to complain about a small business, really I do, but I had two bites of a Samoa (coconut, caramel & chocolate) and saved the rest for the chickens.  Maybe I'll give them another shot down the road.

Wordless Wednesday

Marin Arts Open Studios 2011 - My Favorites!

For Mother's Day, I spent a couple hours with my *moms* and one of my sisters, walking the open studios of the ICB building in Sausalito. This was probably the fifth year I've toured the open studios and ICB is always my favorite spot because there are so many incredible artists all in one place. Not to mention, Heath Ceramics is just next door.

These were some of my favorite artists today:

Kim Ford Kitz standing in front of Chinatown.  I was so excited to discover Kim's work after seeing her fliers around the building featuring a beautiful abstract image in shades of greens and teals. When I finally made my way into studio No. 282, I was amazed to find a varying body of work. While I came for her abstract work, I ended up falling in love with this piece. (I've made arrangements to bring it home this week :)

A Night at Nick's Cove

After Thursday's tour of Straus Farm, we headed up the road a couple miles to one of our favorite spots, Nick's Cove.  It was our date night, and we weren't planning on going home 'til the sun came up.

Nick's is the best - a real West Marin landmark.  We've made it out here several times, once for a special farm-to-table community dinner and another time for our anniversary.

There is a neat little hut at the end of Nick's dock where you can go to order drinks and food.  We just stopped by for a visit.

While we booked a room off the water and across the street, we got lucky and were offered an upgrade to a cottage on the water.

Because we didn't have three kids or a dog to wake us up, we slept in until an unimaginable, 7:43.  This was the view outside the South facing window when we woke:

And this was the view outside the West window:

After eating a breakfast in bed of complimentary fruits, fresh baked pastries and hot coffee, we headed home to pack the family up for our Spring Break *staycation*. But more on that tomorrow.

(Udderly Fabulous) Tour of Straus Farm

Yesterday was the day I had been looking forward to for weeks - it was our day to tour of the Straus Family Farm in West Marin.  The farm is home to Albert Straus, son of original owners Bill and Ellen Straus, his family, as well as 300 gorgeous, healthy, happy cows.

Beautifully situated on rolling hills that kiss down on Tomales Bay, you'd never know you were passing this beloved family farm as there are absolutely no markings to indicate such, only a simple number on a sign.

Straus cows are happy cows.  Nobody needed to tell us that, it was just clear as day, right there in front of us. They graze in the pasture all day long, eating grass and socializing.

They do get some supplemental feed, which they love, but not enough to cause health issues that you hear of with factory farms.  These cows never receive antibiotics, pesticides in their feed or growth hormones.  The grain was stored undercover in a sort of open-air barn (I'm sure it has a name), divided into three different areas.  We were told it took a long while for them to source 100% organic, non-GMO feed for their girls, but they are very proud of the fact that they did and that their heifers receive the best money can buy.

Some really interesting, dust covered cobwebs on wood posts dividing the feed storage areas.

Harley, the farm manager, jumped in and out of our tour, sharing his incredible knowledge of all things dairy farm.  These are his boots:

Everyone's favorite part of the tour - baby heifers.  Man were these little girls sweet!  Immediately, their unique personalities were revealed to us.  Some ran, hopped and kicked around the pen, some rested peacefully in the hay, while others came straight up to us at the fence trading licks for pats.  About six months ago, Harley started naming all the newborns with the intention of every Straus cow having a name someday. I just love that!

This is Monique:

This little girls just tore at my heartstrings when she approached my open hand and started sucking on my index finger.

The only disappointing part of the tour was learning that all calves are separated from their moms at birth. (Industry standard, sniffle, sniffle)  Everything else about these cows lives is amazing - truly it is.  But in order to run a dairy, cows can only be used for one thing and that's milk production.  So the baby boys are sold and the baby girls are raised on the farm, in a barnyard setting. There is a machine (The Urban U40!) that provides them milk on demand and we got to see it up close and personal.  When a calf enters one of it's two stalls, it scans her tag and provides her access to her daily quotient of cows milk, on demand. Here are some images of it:

Towards the end of the two-hour tour, it was time for the ladies second milking.  They were all sauntering down the hill towards the milk parlor.  I just love this picture; can you see what's going on here?

All these ladies, with their utters down to THE GROUND were just standing next to this truck, watching the mechanic work.

When I looked at this lady and jokingly remarked, "Ouch - I remember those days!", the farm manager asked, "Oh, you worked on a dairy farm?!"  Er, uh - sorta...I've had three kids - does that count?!? ;)

They have a lot of advanced technology on the farm (remember the Urban U40?) but some things are still old school.

The Milk Parlor.  All the ladies line-up and take turns, fourteen at a time.

What would a tour of the Straus Family Farm be without some organic ice cream? Cheers!

To learn more about Straus Creamery or to take a tour of their farm, visit their FAQ page.

Glass Milk Bottles + Dairy Tour

I am super excited to announce I have just graduated the big kids to nonfat milk!  The best part being, we now buy all our dairy in glass containers!!  See, despite my efforts to go all glass in the past, I just couldn't get the speaking children to warm up to Straus' low-fat milk with all it's little bits of floating fat at the top. No matter how much I shook that bottle, I was never able to get the cream at top to fully blend with the 1/2 gallon of non-fat milk below.  The baby was another story.  We started him early so he didn't know any different.

But after last weeks tour of the dump and learning that glass is the best solution, that No. 1 plastic can only be recycled one more time and that cartons can only go into landfill, I was inspired to make a change. I remembered our pediatrician encouraging us to move from 1% to non-fat, and so I (enthusiastically) took the plunge.

End of story.  Turn the page.

In other Straus news...

I just got an email from Marin Organic announcing the unique opportunity to take a tour of Straus Creamery in Marshall, CA, next Thursday!  How convenient that that just *happens* to be our date night.  Baby and I are going to raise the roof!  Nothing more romantic than engorged utters and warm milk with cream on top! (Hi, Honey!)

So I've made us a reservation and afterward we'll take it one step further with a sleepover at Nick's Cove, just down the road.

I'll be sure to post (the G-rated) pictures when the time comes!