Amazing home-farm day

It's a gorgeous Sunday morning and I'm sitting here, basking in the glow of breakfast and the first cup of coffee and reflecting on how completely awesome Saturday was:

- Yoga, naturally, was  a blast, followed by about an hour at Cibo.  It's so great to have the additional time next door over Blue Bottle and breakfast, just extends the yoga buzz wider and deeper, sets such a firm happy foundation for the rest of the weekend.

the crew

- Lunch at home, with our lovely guests Peggy and Jim who came over to help us with building our new gate.  Following some delightful focaccia from Arizmendi (so good!), we got going on pulling down the old gate posts.  This is our third joint-project together this year, going to each other's house to help with an undertaking, a little quasi-urban barn-raising.  First they came to us in January and helped us remove all of the vines from our old fence -- no small feat, especially since Joe was at his weakest from the chemo.  Getting that project done lifted his spirits so much!  Then we installed a three-bin compost system at their house two weeks ago, which has revolutionized Peggy's whole life, I kid you not.  And then yesterday the gate.  So fun!  There's a lot more work to do yet, but the old posts are out and the new posts are set, so we're well on our way.

pulling down one of the old posts

peg and voila!

- Meanwhile, because digging holes was really a two-man job, Peggy and I picked all of the apples from one of our two trees, and started the long, chatty process of peeling, coring, slicing for the dehydrator.  Once that was filled, we prepped the rest for apple sauce.  Absolutely so much fun to sit in the shade in the garden operating our new apple peeling device, talking and laughing the whole way through, like a quilting bee.

- Then as if that weren't enough quasi-farm-y fun, Rebecca and Ruby came over and cleaned up our hive boxes, taking home many bags filled with gorgeous sheets of honeycomb. I'll have the great pleasure of going to their place on Monday to help pour candles.

- And finally, we ended the day having dinner at Trixie and Josh's house, where we ate and laughed and tried to name their baby boy, due in 3 months.  I am voting for Declan Sabundayo Frechette, at least for the moment.

Really, that was my favorite weekend day in such a long time: filled with people I adore and slow activities that revolve around food and garden.  I want more!