TheWhoFarm

I sat down tonight with the intentions of writing another blog.
I was catching up on blogs I read by others when I came across this....


TheWhoFarm

Did you sign the petition?????

Petrified Forest National Park

So here I sit in Southern California in the snow. Yes, that's right, I "wrote" snow. We just can't seem to hid from winter. We've had our share of warm sunny days over the last month so I shouldn't complain but really, enough is enough. I giggle when we turn on the news and hear nothing but talk of "the big storm". That means it's been raining for 4 days straight now. I know places are flooding from this but I come from Oregon. It rains/snows/sleets/hails/slushes and shines the sun daily. And I mean all of that in one day. I joke that it's sometimes exhausting watching the weather.
The point of all this babble is that because I can't go outside I've found time and ran out of excuses not to update our blog. I love blogging but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed when I look back and realize the last time I truly did was when we were stuck in "the big storm" of Durango, Colorado back in early December.
So we've made it to California. It's been a fun journey along the way.
We escaped Colorado and spent a day in northern Arizona in Petrified Forest National Park. The place is littered with petrified logs. Not tiny bits of pieces here and there, actual LOGS. It's amazing!
To my surprise we've stumbles upon many archeological sites in the southwest. I wasn't aware on the amount of Native American history here. We've seen cliff dwelling after cliff dwelling. Found pottery on the ground and irrigation ditches built to water the crops. Petrified Forest was another happy history lesson. Over 650 sites have been found within the park. Old Route 66 also passes through. It was fun to cross paths again with the old road as we spent some time on it while in Flagstaff.
After a hike filled day we continued to head south. Again, we hit snow. Are you surprised by this yet? Feet and feet of white powder sat along the side of the road. Snowmen built by Phoenix city folk waved at us as we drove by. I am still shocked at how far south the snow really flies. I had no idea Arizona even got snow. I've learned now and I'll never doubt Old Man Winter again.
Our plan was to spend the night in Payson, AZ, and hour north of Phoenix. We arrived late in the afternoon and played in the sun for a bit. As soon as the sun set, I was reminded that yes, it was December. It was so cold out that we decided we had enough and drove late into the night south to Phoenix. From here we would drive east to Quartzsite, AZ. We spent an entire month there. I will continue on tomorrow with stories from our winer in the sun, finally.
Right now it's time for dinner. And being at families house, I get to cook it on a real stove, eat it on real dinnerware with the heater on while the snow flies outside.

Prepare yourselves!!!

Beware......I've decided that enough is enough and I've told myself that tomorrow I am sitting down and catching up on blog writing.
If I slack I need you all to harass me. Give me til the evening please, then...game on.

Til then.........

a hint of comfort in the air

you all know that smell. the smell of homemade bread.
it's a comfort to us all. makes our guards drop and our mouths water as we await the first bite.

i've been a loyal fan to the publication Mother Earth News. I've been buying it on the road, even though it will be sometime before i build my passive solar home with my organic garden out on my acreage of wilderness i will one day own.
but that doesn't stop me. the latest issue as an article about easy homemade bread. now if i can accomplish this in an RV, surely you'll all have no problem.

you'll need:::
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbsp yeast (1 1/2 packages)
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt or sea salt
6 1/2 cups white flour

in a big bowl, mix water and yeast. add remaining ingrediants. stir with wooden spoon until moist (not long). let rise 2 hours. but in fridge.
now this will last for up to 2 weeks. the longer it sits, the more sourdough-y.

when you want some fresh bread, sprinkle the top of your dough w/ flour, grab out a handful (grapefruit size)and place on cookie sheet. preheat oven to 450. let sit for 30 min and then bake. put a small bowl of water on bottem of oven. that's it! with this recipe you should get 4 balls of bread. like i said, you can use it 4 days in a row or use it over a 2 week time. when it's all gone, don't wash the bowl, just make the dough over again. this will speed up the sourdough flavor.

ENJOY!

HELLO friends and family! It's been awhile since we've updated. Thought I'd sneak into the local library and give you all a quick update. Sorry, no pictures this time, but believe me, we've got lots to share.
We escaped winter once again. We loved Durango but in the dead of winter in a motor home, it wasn't a long stay. The sky opened up and the sun showed her face...it was time to make a run for it.
We drove over to Petrified Forest National Park in northern Arizona. What an amazing place. Logs, and I mean BIG logs of petrified wood laid scattered about. Kaleb was in absolute heaven, drooling with all the rocks surrounding him. The warning of picking up rocks and possible time spent in jail hung over him like a black cloud. Hard to forget when you see cameras all over the place. (A weird sight in a National Park.)
Winter was still a threat so we quickly made our way over to Quartsite, Az. We've been here about 3 weeks now. It's been nice to "stay put". The kids got their groove on with schoolwork and have been busy building forts out in the desert and knitting hats galore. My brother drove down to spend the holiday with us and Nan-Nan and Uncle Justin and his family drove over for a day visit Jan 1st.
We will be here another week before we make the trek back to Phoenix to spend some time with some friends of ours from Bend, OR that are flying in to see us. We can't wait to kick it by a campfire with them for a few nights. Then over to Cali and Joshua Tree and the Salton Sea. After that we will visit Aunty Leah and park it a bit in Uncle Justin's driveway near Riverside, CA. Then it looks like a roadtrip back north with possible settlement in the Portland, OR area. We've had fun exploring the SW but realize we are true NorthWesters.
In Feb. will be camping for a weekend near L.A with other "Families on the Road". I have a link to the website over to the left. We joined this website when we first left Bend and have become friends with a few other families, following and learning from them on their journey. This will be a great get together and we are looking forward to finally meeting and playing with them.
I must get going now, the librarian is shooting me funny faces, guess my time is up.
We hope you all had a enjoyable holiday and a safe and happy New Year. Hopefully we'll be crossing paths with many of you soon!
Love to all!!!

Durango December

What were we thinking????
It started out like this.......
And currently, we're at this..

Bisbee Blue

Sun shiny blue-bird kinda day. If still in Bend, we'd be rushing to the mountain to snowboard and smile. Here we wake up and pinch ourselves and think... Is it really December? I will admit, it's a little hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's 70 degrees and the sun is bright. In my mind it's still Sept. I mean really, how can I be wearing a t-shirt and shorts when Santa is about to visit?

Bisbee, AZ has been our home for 3 weeks now. The town lies in a valley surrounded by brown mountains covered in arizona walnut trees. On top of one of the local mountains is a white cross. We've been staring at that cross since day 1. We were told there was a trail to the top. Now that we're thinking of venturing on sometime this week, we thought it was time to conquer that hill.
The journey began in town. We were fortunate to meet some extremely friendly guys our first night here who invited us up to park in front of their house during our stay. Lucky for us, they lived on one of the only flat roads in Bisbee.
We figured from their house to the top of the mountain is about 2 miles. That would make it 4 miles round trip. And would you believe, Little Miss Avery made it ALL the way up and ALL the way back All by herself. YAY!!!!

The top of the hill is a memorial built by a couple in the 1980's. People trek up here to remember loved ones, reflect, sit and think, enjoy the view and be on top of the world for a bit. Which is exactly what we did...til my cell phone rang. :) (It's okay Leah)
With the hike out of the way there are only a few more "must-do's" to check off our list in Bisbee. One of those would be The Queen Mine tour. We've promised the kids we won't leave without and trust me, they'll hold us to that.
You all know by now that our route changes everyday, if not twice a day. Snow and cold lie not that far north. It's been tough on me lately as I "think" I know that when the time comes to settle it won't be this far down. We really want to explore Colorado but not in a motorhome in the dead of winter. April and snow melt seem so far off. So what do you do when in Arizona in Jan? QUARTZSITE, AZ baby! Quarzsite is a small town north of Yuma. Every winter 100,000's of Rv'ers and travelers join up to live on the BLM land that surrounds the town and have a flea market. From what we here so many people come that you can walk around the desert for a month and not see everything. We figure it's a good place to live rent free and meet lots of interesting folks. We'll take the next 3 weeks to explore a bit of Southern New Mexico and zig-zag back through Phoenix and over.
Looks like this is where we'll be spending Christmas. We're excited cause Uncle Brian is coming out to the desert to spend the holiday with us. Hopefully Santa can find us to. Does he slip in through the stove vent?