Toby kicks back
Boat trailer conversion
This week-end I converted an old boat trailer into a flat-bed trailer. I am pretty pleased with the way it came out. The trailer can be switched back to boat trailer mode in 20 minutes by lifting the deck off in two sections and remounting two longitudinal bars that cradle the boat hull.
Cocktails by the pond on a summer evening
Our custom for summer weekends is to finish the day sipping a cocktail on the bank of our pond. Yesterday we enjoyed a version of the classic Jockey Club Cocktail, which replaced the usual Amaretto with a homemade version, created by steeping vodka with cherry pits for two weeks. I recall this fondly as I sit, bleary-eyed over coffee, on a Monday morning, before departing for work.
Here is the recipe for the down on the farm version of the Jockey Club Cocktail.
Jockey Club Cocktail a la High & Dry Farm
- Two parts gin
- 2/3 parts lemon juice
- 2/3 parts cherry pit infusion
- 1/3 part triple sec
- dash angostura bitters
Shake with crushed ice, garnish with a twist of orange peel and a tart cherry, serve with ice.
Home-made Amaretto
This year we had a bumper crop of pie cherries. I saved the pits and covered them with vodka. Two weeks later, the vodka infusion was decanted and filtered. The result is amazing. The liquor has a strong Amaretto-like almond flavor with a touch of tartness and complex underlying cherry notes.
Cocktails by the pond on a summer evening
Our custom for summer weekends is to finish the day sipping a cocktail on the bank of our pond. Yesterday we enjoyed a version of the classic Jockey Club Cocktail, which replaced the usual Amaretto with a homemade version, created by steeping vodka with cherry pits for two weeks. I recall this fondly as I sit, bleary-eyed over coffee, on a Monday morning, before departing for work.
Here is the recipe for the down on the farm version of the Jockey Club Cocktail.
Jockey Club Cocktail a la High & Dry Farm
Print
Two parts gin
2/3 parts lemon juice
2/3 parts cherry pit infusion
1/3 part triple sec
dash angostura bitters
Shake with crushed ice, garnish with a twist of orange peel and a tart cherry, serve with ice.
No blight in sight
Last year on this date my tomato plants were already showing signs of late blight. So….this year I invested in a sprayer and an organic copper sulfate preparation to battle the blight fungus. But wouldn’t you know, here is today’s forecast of late blight danger in our area. Green = no danger. Yellow or Red would signal danger. Blight likes cool humid weather, but we have had hot dry weather.
This is summer!
Magically on the first day of summer, the first raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries in my garden all have ripened. I love this time of year!
Hay there
Most years we don’t have enough dry weather to make hay until July, by which time the grass is so mature and woody that the hay it makes isn’t palatable to horses. But this year early June has been dry, so we harvested this beautiful hay. Toby the cat approves.
Starts started
On February 26 I completed sowing 3″ pots with seeds for 126 varieties of tomatoes. Here they reside in the greenhouse on their cable-heated bed of gravel.
148 million bushels
State officials announced today that Washington State has produced 148 million bushels of apples. I think this number is wrong because I am pretty sure they did not count the 9 bushels produced by my apple trees.
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