Monday, March 8, 2010

Farms are Fun

After a few weeks off I'm back.  Life has been a bit crazy with bachelorette weekends, doing taxes, class, writing papers, and studying for mid-terms.  However, Bennett and Leia are great at keeping me company while I have to do homework. This past weekend was the first time I was home over the weekend in two weeks, well kind of; I certainly didn't stay put long.

Saturday afternoon I rode with Meredith to Pinehurst to help her with her wedding portraits.  We couldn't have asked for better weather and of course Meredith looked beautiful!  It ended up being quite the family affair with me working on her makeup, dad bringing the dress and veil, and mom of course was there because that's just what mom's do.  As much as I would love to post pictures, unfortunatly Meredith has deemed them off limits for anyone to see until after the wedding!

However, I can share our pictures of Sunday's adventure!  As many of you know I'm taking a class on French Gastronomy.  We have to write a paper on a topic of our choosing about a French gastronomic experience.  After looking over the menus of French restaurants Jeffery and I decided that we needed to look for a more economical option.  What did I choose?  Celebrity Goat farm in Siler City, NC!  When we first arrived we found that they raise their own free-range chickens.  Apparently I'm quite the chicken whisperer.  That's right, all those chickens ran up to the fence from their chicken coop.  Like I said, chicken whisperer!  After chatting it up with the chickens Jeffery and I decided it was time to find what we came for, goats.  Seeing as how it was a goat farm that wasn't too difficult.  We headed back around the Inn and found goats everywhere! The baby goat that I'm holding below was actually less than a week old.  Apparently they take them from their momma around two or three days. The goat farmer we met said that was easier on the mommas that way. 
This goat farmer was "playing" with the baby goats; most of them only about a month old. Really they were just chewing on his fingers and trying to eat his shirt. They kind of reminded me of puppies, only not quite as cute and the sound they make, sounds like a baby crying. After further snooping we found a adult goat pen in the back of the farm.  This goat was climbing the fence to eat twigs off a tree.  I made Jeffery stand near him for the picture... you can see how excited he is about that.  After getting our fill of goats we headed back to the inn to buy some goodies from the farm.  I purchased a delicious goat cheese with onion flakes, parsley, basil and chives along with some eggs from my new chicken friends.  Jeffery picked up some persimmon pudding, a fried apple pie and some kind of jelly perserve mixture.  Most of you know I stay away from any kind of cooked fruit, but Jeffery seemed to think all of his treasures were good. 

After returning home, and a short nap, we wrapped up the day with one of Bennetts favorite outtings, a trip to the dog park!  Since we couldn't take her to play with goats it was the least I could do. :)  This is her playing frisbee with her new friend Stella (a five month old puppy).  Bassett friend Melody and Jack Russell friend Pixie can be seen in the background.  All in all I think we'd agree that we had a wonderful weekend!