Organic Poppies and Chickens

CA Poppy - A Delicacy Among Chickens

We lived and worked on a certified organic farm in No CA for a short period of time. The gardens were constantly being overgrown with CA Poppies as they are very invasive and reseed themselves very quickly. We were constantly hand-weeding wheelbarrows of the plants from the gardens. They had several dozen chickens on the farm that were the healthiest, happiest chickens I have ever seen. They laid eggs that were gathered and sold to a local coop and the best eggs we have ever tasted (we have since gone mostly-vegan). The coops they sold to would be thrilled every time there was a delivery from this farm. We watched the eggs from this farm literally sell out before we even left the coop after delivering them. Coop customers were on a notify list for when this farm made a delivery they were so in demand. 

One of the organic farm's secrets to their chickens being so healthy (and they were VERY healthy, happy, free-range chickens) was they were never fed grain. The farm had flats in the barn where they sprouted grains and would feed the sprouts to the chickens. It was their "feed," in Winter and for when the chickens weren't eating what was just growing around the farm. But the real delicacy for the chickens were the Poppy plants and flowers we would weed from the garden. When we would come through the fence from the gardens with a bucket or wheel barrel of Poppy plants, the chickens would come from nowhere and literally run after us until we dumped the pile for them to eat. They LOVED them - root, plant, flower and all. If you grow a couple of packs of Poppy seeds and let some of them go to seed, pretty soon you will get more Poppies than you know what to do with. Well... your chickens will know exactly what to do with them! The only trick is growing them where the plants can mature and some can keep going to seed without the chickens eating them up as they sprout and grow. They were irresistibly good to the chickens! 

PS - We grew them in our gardens at our home and they continued to grow throughout most of the year as long as they had some water. When they looked dead in the heat of the Summer they reseed and grew like weeds as soon as they got any kind of water. After the dead of Winter, they reseed themselves as soon as they good some warmth, sunshine, and water.  If you raise chickens and don't have Poppies growing wild you might be interested in knowing about this delicacy for your Chicky little friends!

Living Angels

There are living angels among us.  They do not show their wings and could not be picked out of a crowd.  But they are indeed living angels.

Living angels never hesitate to help others.  Living angels have unconditional love and compassion for others in this world.  Living angels are caring, thoughtful, kind beings.  Living angels do whatever they can for others without any expectations.

I never knew there were living angels in this world.  I knew this world could be cold and that people could be cruel and unkind.  

When our world fell apart, living angels began appearing from so many places with kindness, love, compassion, support, and help.  Maybe we needed to go through this very difficult time to learn about the living angels in this world.  They leave us feeling humbled, grateful, and so blessed in the middle of our turmoil.

There are those who are there to offer a hand in friendship and love.  They are a gift from God.  Thank you living angels for coming into our lives and touching our hearts.  

Paul

I have been an extremely lucky human being.  I have been married to the love of my life for more than thirty years.  Most people never have that once in their lifetimes.  I was lucky enough to have it twice.

My first love, the love of my life while we were together, my first husband, was Paul.  We met when I was fourteen and we married when I was eighteen.  For so many reasons, not the least of which my age, at twenty-one, I left a note for Paul, got on a plane, and moved to California, a place I had never known or been to.  I broke his heart and mine as well.  You see, we loved each other very much.  But sometimes, when you love someone, the best thing you can do for them is let them go.

Through the years after our divorce, Paul and I remained friends, even after broken hearts.  There were years when we would lose contact, but we always found our way back to support each other and wish each other well.  He did things for me and supported me in ways ex-husbands simply do not.  He has always had a special place in my heart and always will.

I found out today that Paul has died of leukemia.  I am devastated and numb.  I have always wished Paul a happy and long, healthy life.  I always took for granted that would be the case.

Tonight, I know Paul is at peace and without pain, watching down on his loved ones with his wonderful Mother and Father.  I am numb - it is so hard to imagine him gone from this world.  I know the tears will stop, but for now...  they flow.

............................................................................................................

8/14/2018

Through the years since his death, Paul has entered my thoughts from time to time and there have been the occasional little reminders of our years together.  One that often come to mind is the number 143 which was a code between us in our teenage years.  I was so young and not allowed to see Paul for so long.  So we had codes between us.  143 symbolized 1 - I; 4 - love; 3 - you.  We would leave our codes places for each other to find (I would find 143 on a dusty windshield in the school parking lot or scratched into a piece of cardboard in a book), or we would use it when writing notes to each other (without today's ways of communicating, we wrote notes and letters to each other).  If we were in mixed company, we would say, "1-4-3," or "sign" it to each other, it was our little inside secret because I was under-aged.  As endearing as it seems now, it was done out of what we thought was necessity because of the trouble Paul could have faced if we had been found out.  As soon as we could drop the pretense, we relished in using the words we couldn't to each other and ceased using "the code."  Today, whenever I see the number sequence 143, I think, "I love you," in a general way, but it often makes me smile to think of the secret language Paul and I once shared when we were so young.

August 12, 2018 would have been Paul's and my 45th wedding anniversary if we had stayed together.  I happened to look down at my phone that day and saw the time displayed: 1:43.  I don't know why, but I took a screenshot of it, I suppose because it struck me to see 143 on what would have been our anniversary.  I didn't think much of it at the time, but later when I was looking back on the screenshot I noticed something else.  It showed our anniversary date, Aug 12, and the time, 1:43, and the day of the week, Sunday, the day of the week we got married.  Then I noticed the battery charge percentage was 61%.  Paul was 61 when he passed.   Coincidence?  Certainly.  But, it brought a smile.

Twins

Last Summer I posted on Facebook that I was going to become a Grandmother for the first time.  I never posted anything further.  I couldn't.

My daughter and son-in-law have been married for twelve years and were vacationing in Hawaii with our son-in-law's family at the time my daughter took the first pregnancy test.  After they got back home she had a blood test taken, was examination by her doctor to verify the pregnancy, and had her first ultrasound scheduled.  They had been trying to conceive for years.  

On September 14th, although too soon to tell gender, the two came home from the doctor's office ecstatic, with an ultrasound picture of the baby.  After scanning it for her, my daughter posted the picture and the wonderful news on her Facebook page to share with family and friends who hadn't yet heard.  We all found ourselves looking at baby things for the first time and couldn't resist a little stuffed animal or adorable bib.  We were all so excited! There were even names picked out.

A couple of weeks later, Mom and Dad-to-be went off to their second ultrasound where the doctor told them they would be able to see the baby's heartbeat for the first time.  They were so excited!  Instead, the doctor performed his examination and found no heartbeat, the baby had died.  Worse, she had to wait several days before they could schedule the procedure to remove the baby from her womb because she did not miscarry per se.

As you can well imagine, it was an extremely difficult time for our family, but certainly most difficult for my daughter and son-in-law.  They were heartbroken and devastated as we all were.

The holidays quietly passed with a hole in them.  Hope and joy were very hard to keep sight of.  Eventually, the household returned to a regular routine and the hopes and dreams for this precious life we would never know and the sadness of it began slowly to fade.

In early-January, our daughter called us into her room to show us a home pregnancy test result - Positive.  What a flood of emotions!  Joy, fear, anticipation, and shock flowed through all of us.  They scheduled the soonest appointment they could with her doctor in mid-January.

Then, a couple of weeks later, she and her husband came rushing out of their room one evening, throwing their coats on. She was bleeding and was sure she lost the baby.  They spent the night in the emergency room while the bleeding subsided and stopped, having tests run.  The conclusion was that the resident doctor did not have the equipment or expertise to definitively say the baby was gone and she needed to see her regular doctor.

The next day they visited their regular doctor.  Although it was too soon for an ultrasound and he could not pinpoint the exact cause of the bleeding the night before, he did confirm that our daughter was carrying three live fetuses.  He explained to them that it was very early and that they might not all survive.  Triplets!

On January 25th, she and her husband went to the doctor for her first ultrasound.  One of the babies did not make it but she is now carrying twins.  They got to see them on the ultrasound and got to see their heartbeats on the monitor screen.  The doctor assured them that the babies looked like they were developing normally and both had good heartbeats.

Four days later she began spotting and was taken to the emergency room again.  Because of her high-risk pregnancy, they performed an ultrasound to check the babies.  Both babies had stronger heartbeats than they did four days prior and by all indications are developing normally.  The doctor assured her that spotting can be normal when carrying multiple babies although they are not sure why.

The next ultrasound is scheduled for February 22nd.  As anxious as we all are to hear how the babies are developing, we are at the same time nervous and cautious in our anticipation.  My daughter has had terrible nightmares about seeing the doctor and hearing terrible news.  We all try to comfort and assure her as much as we can.

In the meantime, morning sickness is a regular routine and for now we are taking one craving at a time - rice with soy sauce and a yogurt chaser, chinese pot stickers and Fettucini Alfredo?  The other night our son-in-law, half asleep in the kitchen, was making an English muffin with raspberry jam for our little Mama.  

It is no doubt going to be a roller coaster ride until the twins' September 14th due date.  In the meantime, we are all doing everything we can to help ensure the stork delivers two beautifully healthy babies. We are cautiously optimistic but for now will take it one day at a time.  Life is so fragile... and so precious.

The Frank Family Vineyards

Flo DiBona

© December 10, 2011

Disneyland is the largest tourist attraction in California.  Napa Valley is the second.  On a typical weekend, the roads between Napa, Sonoma, St Helena, and Calistoga are gridlocked with traffic.  There are wine tour buses, limousines and trains that run non-stop across the valley.  We had the pleasure of visiting Napa on a week day recently.  It was a beautiful, mild day in Napa and traffic and crowds were at a dull roar.  The grapes were being harvested and we saw that many wineries were advertising grape-crushing events.

We are not regular wine drinkers and by no means claim any knowledge of the wine-making process, the wine-tasting process, or the proper appreciation for a fine wine.  However, we are students and we learn.  We have been to Napa several times previously.  We are fortunate to be a short drive away and enjoy driving through the vineyards, having a picnic lunch, lunch in one of the small towns, or enjoying a small snack with a tasting at one of the wineries.

The drive into Napa is picture perfect with the rolling hills of vineyards surrounding you as far as the eye can see.  Every once in a while there is a break in the grapevines where a driveway leads to a majestic winery.  There people can sample and buy the wines produced.  On previous Napa trips, we have sampled wine at Chateau Montelena, featured in the motion picture Bottle Shock,  in Calistoga, CA, and Domaine Carneros in Napa, CA.  The vineyards, grounds, and wine-tasting experience at both were impeccable.  We almost felt out of place, these wineries are so majestic, but the staffs at both treated us warmly and made us feel comfortable.  They answered basic questions they likely hear thousands of times and provided rich backgrounds about the wines and the vineyards.

Larkmead Lane

On this beautiful Fall day we decided to visit the Frank Family Vineyards in Calistoga, CA, a charming town about twenty miles from Napa.  The ride up to the vineyard is spectacular with views of passing vineyards and large oaks dappling the road in shade along the way.  Larkmead Lane is a country road cutting through acres of vineyards with a panoramic view of the hills and mountains behind it.

When you arrive at the Frank Family Vineyards, there is a stone building on the roadside.  This is the site of the historic Larkmead Winery, established in 1884.

The name was changed when the Frank family purchased the winery in 1992.  There is a 2010 and 2011 San Francisco Chronicle Best of the Best List banner at the winery entrance.  

Historic Larkmead Winery

As you turn into the parking lot, there is a large red building next to the stone one and an entry arch for guests to pass through.  The vineyards surround the winery but there are signs posted regarding unauthorized access.

The courtyard is planted with flowers and there is a small fountain in it.  On the left is the big red building and to the right is what looks like a yellow farmhouse.  The yellow building contains the wine-tasting rooms.  

Upon entry, a person greets you at the cash register (the cash register at the door is a source of many online review complaints) and explains the tasting packages.  The Frank Family Vineyards currently offers four types of wine: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon.  There are usually two tiers of tasting available and this was no exception.  A $20 Classic tasting included four samples, one of each of their standard table wines.  A premium tasting was available for $30 where samples of reserve stock were offered.

Winery Entrance

Tasting Room

The first thing that struck us when we entered the tasting building was how loud and noisy it was.  We weren’t part of a weekend crowd and although there were several people there at the time, the rooms seemed to amplify and echo people’s voices.  There was nothing to absorb any sound and it left the rooms feeling uninviting.  The experience is clearly about the wine and not the ambiance as some would argue it should be.

We selected the standard tasting.  After paying, we were given a receipt and directed to another room where a bar was set up against one wall.  We joined a party of four already being served.  The bartender was engaged with the other party and shared with them that the owner was a pleasure to work for, spared no expense, and when something was needed, never hesitated to authorize it.

Frank Family Vineyard wines are not sold in retail outlets.  They are only available at the winery, through The Frank Family Vineyards exclusive clubs, and in select restaurants.  The first wine sample was a 2009 Carneros Napa Valley Chardonnay.  This had a lovely bouquet and was a very nice offering.  What came next was quite unexpected.  The bartender brought over a 2009 Carneros Napa Valley Pinot Noir next… and poured into the same glass the Chardonnay had been in.  After that, he proceeded to pour the Napa Valley Zinfandel and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in the same glass as well.  We are mere amateurs in the world of wine tasting, but it seems one would not want to contaminate the flavor of one wine with another wine.  We checked the other party’s glasses to be sure it was not just an oversight with us but he was pouring in one glass each for them as well.

The Pinot Noir was very nice and was followed by a 2009 Napa Valley Zinfandel, again, in the same glass as the previous two tastings.  We did not care for the Zinfandel and when the bartender asked what we thought, he agreed with us.  He told us that it was going to be really good in about another year.  We wondered then why it was being served.

The bartender engaged in small talk, telling us it was his Friday and how busy he had been the previous weekend.  He shared with us that on the weekends, the winery averages 600 to 700 visitors a day.  We were glad to only hear about those kinds of crowds.

The last taste in the package was a nice 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  However, at this point, we weren’t sure how much the taste was contaminated by the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel.  The bartender then offered a taste of the Rutherford Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, this time in a separate glass.  This sample was noticeably better than the previous samples and was true to its description.

As we were leaving we asked where the restrooms were and were directed to the big red building we saw on the way in.  The restrooms were clean, well-maintained, energy-efficient, industrial-sized facilities ready to accommodate those hundreds of visitors.  The adjacent parking lot also had ample parking for cars and the caravans of tour buses that routinely visit.

We were very interested in seeing the Frank Family Vineyards because of owner Rich Frank’s involvement in Prospect Park, the company who acquired the licensing rights to daytime serials All My Children and One Life to Live.  We were curious to see Mr Frank’s vision of Napa Valley, especially with his background at Disney.  Online reviews of the vineyard were mixed and it seemed people either loved it or hated it.  Although our visit had its hiccups, it was a charming country winery.  While not majestic like some of the other Napa wineries, The Frank Family Vineyards has a country feel and surrounding idyllic vineyards and countryside that is worth the trip.