Serendipity?

We've been a little depressed and overwhelmed and work-obsessed over here lately, and I've noticed that every time I look out the window, I think about work. Because it's right there. Outside the window. All the time. I can't leave the house, or come back to it, without looking at the building I work in and thinking of all the things that are piling up that I haven't gotten done yet.

J and I were talking about it, and also about the fact that his pony will need to retire in a few more years, and mine a few years after that. We don't really want to pay board on FOUR horses, but we want to be able to keep riding and also not send the ponies to the knackers just because they are old and can't do the job anymore. That seems a little ungrateful... to say the least... And then Vaughn mentioned that he probably has about four more years of running the barn before he won't want to do it anymore. With the way the land out there is developing, the chances of it selling as a horse barn are slim. And we can see a time when our 0.7 acres won't be enough for the things we want to do and/or the area around the University will be rezoned.

So we thought, now's a good time to start looking around, and see if maybe we could find a couple of acres, a little farther from work, where we could put a barn and an arena, and keep a few chickens and a garden. Oh, and a house too... ; ) If we can find a property with all that already on it, we probably can't afford it, but let's look.

Oy. Be careful when you walk out your door. You never know where you'll get swept off to...

We've discovered that prices in Ogden Valley are WAY, WAY down from a few years ago. And we've found a property (http://www.utahrealestate.com/880895) that might suit. It's dramatically over-priced compared to comparable properties---the owner is still pegging it at 2007 prices. There are five acres, with a house, a large chicken barn and a pond. Mature trees, 17.5 water shares, and it backs up to a river (which is down a hill, so no worries about flooding at the primary part of the property). The house is about twice as big as we want, but the main floor is the right size, so maybe we could compromise, if the price is right.

So we called an agent our friends recommended, and made an appointment for Saturday morning to talk to her about what we might be looking for up there. We specifically asked about this property, which turns out to be one of hers. On Friday, the Homefinder circular in the newspaper has a picture of the property. It said, 'Will trade for smaller property' across the top. Eep!

So on Saturday, we asked the agent. The woman had the property on the market in 2007, but then her husband fell ill, and they took it off the market. He passed away recently, and she re-listed it for the same amount as before (which is about 40% more than the market will bear). She lives there with her daughter and granddaughter, but the property is too large for her to care for. She is looking for a house in Ogden, not in a development, with about half an acre, where she might have a garden and a couple of chickens, and live there with her daughter and granddaughter. WE HAVE THAT! And two houses and fruit trees too! Our house is valued at about the same amount as this acreage, according to several different sources.

So now we are waiting until next Saturday, at 11 am, to go actually see the property, and see if it actually will suit. We've viewed it on Google Earth, drawn in an arena, played around with barn placement, looked up barn-building estimates, etc. We've run the numbers every conceivable way, and find that if we do a straight-up trade, we can afford to build a nice barn, add an arena, fix up the house, and cross fence the pastures. If we trade plus money, we can't do it all right away before we move in, but we might be able to make it work if we stretch.

There's a lot of carbonation over here, as we are buzzing about the possibilities. Maybe.

Our First Wine Review

A friend of ours has opened the OakCrest Cabernet-Merlot blend that we made this year (our very first wine ever!). He has written this over-the-top and hilarious review:

Wine Review:

Chateaux a cote de tournant dans la horizon (Oak Crest Bordeaux Ute 2009)

Wine Review excerpt from YDM News a distinctly impacted news group.

Oak Crest Cabernet-Merlot Blend 2009 or better acknowledged as

(Oak Crest Bordeaux Ute 2009)

Thank you Oak Crest for your submission for my review.

Arguably the foothills of Utah’s Wasatch Front are not well known for producing world class wines; we are confounded as to the overwhelming pure nectar now coming from this area.

Oak Crest Vineyards has classically blended Cabernet and Merlot to make one of Utah’s best and maybe only Ute Bordeaux.

We find it to be extraordinary from the de corking when it fills the room with a bouquet of wonderment, as say a walk through a blossoming cherry tree orchard to the point where you fall from your chair into a deep sleep brought about by its tranquilizing aftermath.

Its color is rich and fills the glass with untold possibilities of pleasure.

The wines astonishing flavor suggest to me in subtle ways Lake Bonneville, pounding the earth for millions of years into granules containing of all life and all the elements life has to offer. Wow! That’s pretty good.

The finish also renders all at once in mind boggling proportions every finite element on the periodic table. This is not easily accomplished. My hat is off to you people of science.

For pairing this wine, it works well with all foods normally associated with red wines. We love it with the meat from animal carcass or any other derivative from the carcass when it was alive, like cheese or anything that the carcass consumed when it was alive, like vegetables.

For this robust vintage may I respectfully suggest for your consideration of the following?

We at YDM would like to see for marketing a more definitive label.

Oak Crest Bordeaux Ute 2009

Chateaux a cote de tournant dans la horizon

(For the less informed lovers of this brew the conversion is :):

House next to or inside the bend in the skyline (for this tag will tell the “drinkert” exactly where in Utah he can find the vineyard when he wants to haggle for a case or two) You will of course have to have these labels printed by the state of Utah, this should be an effortless detail: see form ez-ut-booze on their web site.

Cheers from YDM editor and Chef Toola MacRoot

Potatoes, etc.

We almost ran out of potatoes! ohno! But our local newspaper came to the rescue, and we found an ad from someone who still has local potatoes in his barn, waiting for someone to come and buy them. We called up some friends around town, and ran down there with an order for 200 lbs of potatoes (which was not enough, and we'll be going again next weekend, if anybody wants to place an order!).

In Layton, we met Cleve Dibble, whose family has farmed there for 100+ years. He owns a Utah Heritage Farm, which means it's on the Utah historic register. His son is an artist, who has painted the most astonishing mural on the side of the barn. This year, his potato harvest was extra-ordinary, and he's got thousands of pounds of potatoes left over, and no way to 'unload' them. If he can't get rid of them by May, he'll have to 'dump' them. I am not sure what what that means, but I think it fundamentally means they go in the garbage or the compost pile.

So that got me thinkin'. He's selling these potatoes for $8/50 lbs. Suppose he has 2,000 pounds of potatoes. That's about $320 worth of potatoes. The food banks all around Utah are desperate for food.

It seems like a no-brainer to me to put these two groups together---I'd gladly pay $320 (or raise it!) so that my local farmer, Cleve Dibble, can make money on his farm AND the food bank can get 2,000 pounds of potatoes. Cleve gets paid for his potatoes, the food bank gets food, and I get to know that I did something to help poor people get actual food instead of boxes and cans.

It occurs to me that we have a Community Involvement Center right here on campus that gets involved in this sort of thing. I'll call them on Tuesday, and see if I can make something happen.

There should be a website. It could connect these people to each other and to money-bags like me. And a couple of volunteers to raise funds, drive trucks, and make this work. If anyone knows of a program already in existence, by all means let me know! A web search reveals that NJ, WA and CA are starting to think about this. But nothing about Utah.

oh. And what about schools?! Have you seen what we feed our children? No? Visit this blog... from Mrs. Q, who is fed up with school lunch, and eating it every day this year, as an eco-stunt to call attention to the problem.

Is it really possible no one is doing this already?