Last Summer's Day At Kiler Canyon Farm

As with my previous visit to Kiler Canyon Farm last month which I covered HERE, I threw the adventure together kind of at the last minute last night by way of once again yelling over the fence into the backyard of the Chase Home next door and asking my lovely neighbors there (children or friends of children of the Chase Clan) if they thought I'd be welcome out at the farm the following Wednesday morning (Wednesday mornings are when the weekly harvest occurs). After receiving an encouraging exhortation from Claire and Noah, I headed out there this morning.

Once again today, the final day of summer, high clouds from the remnants of Hurricane Paine were drifting over the area from the east giving us what traditionally was and is called a "buttermilk" or "mackeral" sky, in today's case caused by altocumulus clouds.

I have come to love these people as an extension of my own ad-hoc, motley crew, adopted family which God has given me in light of my having hardly any remaining biological family of my own. It was nice to catch up with the fam and recharge the batteries before going back into the fray at Cal Poly for one more year starting this Friday. Following doing minimal work on the harvest itself as I was rather late showing up in the 8 a.m. hour, I helped as I could and broke bread with them.

Not wanting to arrive empty-handed and be a mooch, I stopped by a Mexican store (La Reyna) in Paso Robles on the way and picked up two pounds of fresh, local chorizo as a sort of breakfast potluck contribution. The Chases sent me home with a half-bushel basket of veggies. I reciprocated by picking up Quill's turquoise-colored stone order once I got back into town and Dan's ruby request for his child. Thanks, fam, for the food and veggies and fellowship!

The lower Chase House with the upper one being on a nearby ridge.

Hurricane Paine moisture streaming over the area this morning before the weather shift to autumn this evening.

Food and flowers are what this farm feeds.

The Barn exterior

The Barn interior showing filled and stacked and ready to go half-bushel baskets.

North view of the lower Chase House

South view of the lower Chase House.

"Scarlet Pimpernel" tomatoes as taxonomically designated by Dan this very morning for the first time.

Breakfast of champions

Communal-style dining that recalls to my mind eating at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, CA.

Right after breakfast word quickly ran through the farm of a rattlesnake in the garden that might have bitten a Chase cat. As it turns out, a Chase cat bit a gopher snake doing its darnedest to sound and look like a rattler.

I watched this cow get milked (and sampled said milk) at the potluck here in May, 2015.

Here Pig, Pig, Pig!!!

I LOVE this pizza/bread oven!

After hearing a tree cracking in the copse of oaks to the west of the lower Chase House, I headed off into said copse in hopes of watching something interesting. Instead, I found some interesting mechanical artifacts I was previously unaware were parked on this property.

This week's harvest being loaded up for delivery in Atascadero and Paso Robles, CA.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

My Kiler Canyon Farm Fam Reunion

I have so missed my Kiler Canyon Farm family or as we hep cats call it: "fam." My Kiler Canyon Farm "fam" have become dear friends and adopted extended family members. This year it has not worked out at my end to subscribe to the Kiler Canyon Farm's amazing offering of healthy organic veggies. Each week this summer vacation I've forgotten to make arrangements to go out there for a visit. Finally, last night I remembered at the last minute to make such arrangements. This morning I headed out there for the last time this year as school starts next week for me. What follows is a brief photo essay of my reunion sans Quill who wasn't there this time.

Lower and main section of the Kiler Canyon Farm complex, the most coolest farm I've ever visited.

Organic, free-range, cruelty-free, non-GMO, fair-trade, grass-fed farming at its best.

Packing shed view east featuring Kaleen, new nice dude intern whose name I cannot recall, Chaponica, and Dan the Man.

Packing shed view west featuring Dan the Man avoiding me like the plague, Chaponica, that new dude intern again, and Kaleen hiding from view as she channels the spirit of Ernie Perlich at all costs avoiding being photographed.

Little House in the Canyon.

Everyone but a skeptical Dan the Man seemed in awe of the intern's elevated hand.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Kiler Canyon Farm Potluck 2015

This evening following a hectic day working at the rock show at the fairgrounds I joined my Kiler Canyon Farm family for their annual potluck. This was my first time participating and it was a welcome break from school, rock show responsibilities, and personal life tribulations of late... just what the doctor ordered! A fellow member of the Santa Lucia Rockhounds who are hosting the rock show is Ernie Perlich, father of Kaleen the Kilerian. What follows is my photo record of the event with the images presented in the order they were taken.

The perfect country kitchen scene... lots of food, wood, and people apparent!

I like photographer face-offs! Darwin Denny is at left.

Rachel Denny and her dad. Rachel is a member of the Santa Lucia Rockhounds and a friend of Kiler Canyon Farm.

Everybody seemed to know everybody.

Mr. Peacock would not be upstaged by the potluck.

It was a kid-friendly event, too!

Delta-wing wind chime!

The potluck's most peculiar person!

The bread baked in this oven during the wintertime is Kiler....er, killer.

Ice cream-making the way God intended!

Can you see the hummingbird?

Can you see the hummingbird now?

Homemade ice cream is hard work requiring shifts at the hand crank.

One last time: do you see the hummingbird now?

A crowd gathers for the legendary milking of the cow ceremony.

And the show begins....

That is called "sign re-purposing."

Quill's lack of fear of his cows is due to his not realizing their eyes glow when he is not watching.

In the background: Quill. In the foreground: quills.

Quill getting out the lube.... children avert your eyes!

Actually, children were front and center learning how to milk a cow!

Cameraman versus cameraman!

A toast to fresh, warm, un-pasteurized, un-homogenized, organic, cruelty-free (other than the Quill-loobing) milk.

More lessons from Quill.... I did not partake this time.

The cute, little, lower farmhouse... with the other one on a nearby ridge.

A photograph featuring quills without Quill. This one turned out kinda artsy-looking I think.

This crowd knew how to park right.

Second-story doorway to nowhere but fresh air.

I can't resist taking images featuring Ernie Perlich in them (at right). Ernie hates being photographed as you can see!

Scene of the funkay partay.

From whence my veggie basket originates...

Dan the Man and a somebody who looked at me like they knew me which was unnerving.

I was forced against my will to be photographed... and committed an act of subversion!

Some dude and Quill.

The camera loves Ernie Perlich.

This is one of the best images I have ever captured of Ernie Perlich, here with Dan the Man.

Like the food, the fun kept coming in waves.....

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).