May 20, 2015. Starting our 1st house-sitting assignment!

LOCATION: Near Redwood Valley and Ukiah, California in north central California

WEATHER: Very pleasant.  Highs in 60s.  Cloudy, but no rain (which people are hoping for)

We are taking a 2-week "detour" from RVing. 

We drove from Clear Lake to Redwood Valley via the "scenic "route". Highway signs said vehicles longer than 39 feet were not allowed.  We are 38 feet combined, so George wanted to do it.  It was very curvy, going up and down a mountain.  It was another trip with my eyes closed.

Our "detour" is a 2-week house-sitting assignment.  We will watch their property, keep things tidy, and care for their 4 rescue pets, a dog and 3 cats.  We also volunteered to help with their garden, so we will be picking vegetables and taking them to the  farmers' market for them.  They have some loyal customers who would be disappointed if they could not buy their products.  It will be fun!

Once we arrived in Redwood Valley, we contacted the homeowners about getting to their farm.  Luckily a neighbor happened by, and we followed him, up and up a mountain road.  We are at the top of Heart Mountain.  There is a beautiful view of the valley below.

The homeowners are very welcoming.  They have 109 acres with a 2-acre organic farm.  They gave us a tour, and we sampled lots of delicious greens.  They specialize in flower-like salad mixes.  The homeowner picked these salad "flowers" for one of their CSA customers.

We befriended the dog and one cat, but the other 2 cats are hiding.  

We will spend the next few days learning more about the gardening from the homeowners, then we will be on our own.  Check out their website at www.floodgatefarm.com for more pictures.

DINNER:  We had some of the "flower salad" that we picked this PM.  So beautiful!  

I made some spaghetti with leftover grilled hamburger, garlic scapes from the garden, onions, and mushrooms.  We are planning to stock  up at the farmers' market on Saturday.