DIVINE DAHLIAS DAHLINK

My coffee buddy Mary and I went on a road trip on Saturday and the first stop we made was at a dahlia farm called Ferncliff Gardens. 

 They have all their varieties of dahlias growing in rows. 

 You can take a clipboard around with you and check off the ones you would like to order. 

Then the following spring you get your order for planting. 
Now I don't have time to take care of the garden I have right now so I didn't order any but it is sure a nice place to wander around. I did buy a bouquet of dahlias to take home. 

Up on the hillside you can see the bell tower of Westminster Abbey. The view from there is so amazing taking in the valleys below. This abbey was established there in 1954 but had been in other locations previously. 
It would be so hard to choose. Which one of these beauties would you choose if you could only choose one? 

LEPP FARM MARKET

When I hear about a new local place to visit for  great food or specialty items I am all over it. For a long time my coffee group would head out on road trips for the day and come home with bags of delicious local foods, cheeses, coffees, and vegetables. Corn on the cob was always high on that list and our favorite place was a little corn stand in an area called Abbotsford. The Lepp family has had a stand there for 15 years. The young ladies working there were always so pleasant but the corn was worth the drive all on its own. Well the corn stand is gone but look at what they built in its place. Lepp Farm Market.

Now that property has a market on it and it is soooo worth the drive out there. I went there on Saturday because I had heard from one of my friends how good it was. Off I went and I was not disappointed.
First of all I asked permission to take photographs in the store. One of the owners, Charlotte Lepp was immediately welcoming and agreeable to my taking pictures in their store. I would have taken many more if my batteries would have held up but those rechargeables lose their juice just sitting.

The wonderful thing about this market is that they raise their own chickens and hogs. Their meats have no growth hormones or antibiotics in them. Their animals are fed no animal byproducts.They also have beef raised for them that meets all of their guidelines.This crown roast of pork would have been perfect for Easter dinner wouldn't it? I know....look at that presentation.

I went with one of their ginormous...not a word I know....roasting chickens. The ones from the grocery stores are so puny you can't even make good gravy with them because they cook so quickly. This beauty cooked up a glorious brown with a nice rich brown base on which to make my gravy. It was so good. My BB Guy is going to make sure he has some with him for the next trip to the cabin.

Just look at this meat counter. Fifty feet long. Besides the chicken I bought a pork roast, stewing beef, in-house made andouille sausages and some pepperoni. We had the andouille in a pasta dish tonight. Smoky paprika flavour. Oh my. I had a nice chat with a fellow genealogist who worked behind the counter. Great service.

I wanted some of their olives and decided on one that I had never had before. After a sample I went with the Caserecce Schiacciate. They are really fruity and don't be fooled by the colour of my photo. They are a lovely green olive. The pits are in still but they easily release the stone from the fruit in your mouth.

I also bought a few sticks of their pepperoni. All this shopping has built up an appetite so I went to their lunch counter/studio kitchen. Oh yea, they are going to have classes here too. That is Charlotte in the middle. 

Hi Charlotte.

They have this beautiful water cooler on the counter for you to help yourself to ice cold water. Lots of moist towelettes too because the best thing to have for lunch in my opinion is a pulled pork sandwich. Several napkins and a towelette later I was full.

 Yup I ate the whole thing, myself, alone. Okay cut me some slack...I hadn't had breakfast and this was lunchtime. It was so good. My BB Guy will be getting some of this to go for sure.

On the left is the garlic cheese loaf I bought. That didn't last long at home. I only wish I had room to have a cinnamon bun or scone too. I do have my limits.

 Here is something unusual and unique. I have never seen these before. Sardines. Yup, sardines...made of chocolate. What a cool gift these would make in their little tin boxes. I love these. They have many other specialty items in the store. A produce section, a dairy section, cheeses, frozen items like their soups and chicken pies. Spices and condiments from all over the place. They have Farmhouse cheeses which I have written about before along with the Backporch coffee.

I bought some of the Himalayan Crystal Salt. It is pink and really tastes of the ocean though I don't equate the Himalayas with the ocean for salt. We love different salts and always try new ones.

 Once again thanks to Charlotte and all of her staff for being so friendly, welcoming and fun. I had a great morning and have been recommending this market to anyone and everyone. I can't wait to go back. They have a great website. Click here to see it and maybe grab a few recipes even though you can't visit in person.

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ERIKSON'S DAYLILY FARM PART 4

Ooops I forgot to add myself to Mosaic Monday over at Little Red House. Visit Mary to enjoy all the creative artistic mosaics.

This is my last post for Erikson's Daylily Garden. These close ups are from the Erikson's site and I am using them here with permission from Pam Erikson who will probably be pleased that I am finally spelling her name correctly. Sorry Pam.

Now with names like Dirty Old Broad, Crotchless Panties and Isobel's Hot Flash you will see these are not your everyday yellow daylilies.
I think Pam is a bit of a character don't you?

Top row: Pattie Coles, Blurred Vision, Dale Bacon Memorial 2

Middle: Disco Lover, All Consuming, Langley Big Top
Bottom: Poppy Music, Langley Double Peach, Nydonna

Top: Wine Me Dine Me, Bare It All, Dirty Old Broad
Middle: Cruzan Cream, Crotchless Panties, Little Cupcake
Bottom: Langley Roadside Enchantment, Pink Tipped Pleasure, Ed Shellenberg

Top: Presence Of Absence, Sandlewood's Sister, Langley Morning Glow
Middle: Brad's Selection, Cross Over To The Dark Side, Little Miss Trinket
Bottom: Langley Fanfare, Isobel's Hot Flash, Elizabeth's Wedding

Top: Vixen With Values, Champagne Bubbles
Bottom: Mimosa Kiss, Miss Vavoom

Top: Susan Livingston, Delicious Dee, Mary Lois Duclos
Middle: Shirley Walkley, Langley Rose Explosion, Pushing The Envelope
Bottom: Sublime Seduction, Princess Karighan, All In The Attitude

The harpist played beautifully and the setting was magical.
If you missed the previous 3 posts on Erikson's Daylily Gardens
you can click here or here or here.
I believe these can be shipped to the US.

THREE OR MORE TUESDAY BACK PORCH ANTIQUES

Three or More Tuesday is hosted by Tam @ The Gypsy's Corner. If you would like to join in you can go there and add your post to the list.

My 3 or more is a continuation of one of my road trips. The day we went to Krause Berry Farm, The Farm House Cheese shop and to Limbert Mountain Farms we also ended at a place called The Back Porch. Now this place has many different things going on.
They sell antiques, the have an antique coffee roaster which they use regularly, they sell pottery pieces made on site and they have some of the best garlic you will find anywhere.

I chose to show 3 of their outbuildings. This one here houses more antiques inside.

This one is a greenhouse.

This one is storage.

I can't leave you with only this so here are some more pictures from this place.

Image by miss604 via Flickr

Image by miss604 via Flickr

Image by miss604 via Flickr

Image by miss604 via Flickr

Image by miss604 via Flickr

Image by new_sox via Flickr