This is what our winter sunrise looks like here in Phoenix, Arizona – not exactly very wintery.
Lessons
After Jutta’s lesson, next up was Caroline. Again, Celia leads Pawnee to and fro while Caroline did her best to pretend she knew what she was doing. Celia and Jimmie Petersen are the owners of Chile Acres out in Tonopah, Arizona. Lessons to learn the art of horseback riding are a very reasonable $25 per hour. If I didn’t weigh more than the horse, I, too, would have gotten up there for a lesson. Hopefully, I will join the wife and mother-in-law for riding lessons before the end of February.
Ride, Jutta, Ride
It’s never too late to try something new and so Jutta, at the ripe old age of 72 got up on a horse for a riding lesson. Jutta has ridden before, oh, about 60 or more years ago. Celia at Chile Acres saddled up Pawnee who gingerly ferried this grandma around the pen for a bit of excitement. After the riding lesson, we enjoyed a meal made by Celia featuring her homemade goat cheese. We actually tried two different kinds of cheese, one was a French herb blend and the other was sun-dried tomato. The main course was a vegetarian mousaka with homemade goat feta and dessert was, of course, you can guess this, a goat milk-based pudding! Celia truly is a “Barn Goddess”.
Farm Tour
Took Jutta out to Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm so we could pick up some veggies, talk with some folks, tour the farm, and spend a lazy morning amongst the birds and lizards. We have been taking home a lot of collard greens lately and would like to call them our current favorite veg from Tonopah Rob’s, but the carrots, broccoli, and radishes have been awesome, too. My mother-in-law is no help figuring out if there is a favorite amongst all the veggies we drag back to Phoenix, she loves them all.
Hoop House
These tomato plants are growing in a hoop house waiting for the frost danger to pass so Tonopah Rob can get them in the ground and start growing us some tomatoes. I visited the farm early this morning to pick up some collards and broccoli greens. While on the farm, I meandered about looking for photo opportunities. That moment was best had in Rob’s greenhouse, in this case, a hoop house. It was nearly raining from the humidity but was nice and warm compared to the frigid air just the other side of the plastic covering. You can get an idea of what time I was out on the farm by looking at how low the sun was in the morning sky seen through the plastic sheeting.
Watermelon Radishes
Forgot to mention that we also bought some watermelon radishes from Tonopah Rob’s Veg Farm, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to bring them up today and show you these all-natural, beyond organic, sweet radishes. As Caroline and I consider where we are moving to next, I have to admit that one of the pleasures of living in Arizona has been the fresh local vegetables over winter and the abundance of fresh self-picked citrus. So begins the list of things we’ll miss when we no longer reside in the valley of the sun.