Family Visits and Raw Food from our Garden by hilloah

Siera, Sophie, Alysa with Nathan, Archie, Hilloah, and Elena

The next two weeks will be busy for my husband Archie and me, with visits from both of our families. Archie’s youngest son (of two) and my second son (of four children) and their respective families will be coming to visit us. Fortunately, they are not coming at the same time so we can truly enjoy the company of each family and give them our full attention.

First to arrive will be Archie’s son, Nathan, his wife, Elena and their girls Siera, Alysia, and Sofie. My son Jason, his wife Cresta, and their boys Nathan and Aiden will arrive two days after Archie’s posse leaves. Our friends will also be visiting this summer, but fortunately they have decided to come later!

So! What shall we do while they are here? We will take the Skunk train one day from Fort Bragg to Willits.  There are still people who live between the two cities that rely on the train to bring them their mail. We will be able to see where over a hundred years ago all the redwoods were cut down to make way for a development project which never got underway. To look at it you would never know they were cut down as they have grown back beautifully.

There is a local brewery in town: North Coast Brewery.  It is fun to take “newbies” to the restaurant and get a samples plate. And of course, we’ll want to tour the Anderson Valley and show off all of our fabulous Mendocino county wineries.

We have almost six acres of land, so I believe there will be a lot of hiking, exploring, and fruit and vegetable picking. Last year one of our grandchildren, Gracie, was so delighted to see we had blueberries growing that she picked and ate them all! We don’t care, of course; we’re happy to see them enjoying raw food right off of our land. Hey—maybe we can get the grandkids excited about weeding as well!