Yirgacheffe.

Yesterday I roasted some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee, it’s the “in” coffee at the moment and has a big following. The roast turned out pretty well–somewhere between FC+ and Vienna–and it tastes great. I am fond of the African coffees, especially anything that comes from Ethiopia. The African region is one of the oldest for coffee growing and most of the coffees have very distinct flavors which I enjoy.

Today we are headed to our last appointment with Charlotte our mid-wife. Ayden will get his final check up and we can see how much weight he has gained. We are also planning on getting haircuts today, Alexa is excited about that but I am rather ambivalent, I  like the shaggy look.

 

The whirly-pop

I began roasting coffee in air popcorn poppers but I have discovered a new method; the Whirly popper. It’s basically an old fashioned crank style popper but revamped a bit and made of lighter materials which allow a more effective heat transfer. After several attempts, I believe I can achieve a fairly uniform roast using this method. The process is quite different from the air poppers. In the air poppers I can only roast a maximum of 3.5 oz of coffee and most of the analyzing is done visually. However in the Whirly pop I am able to roast 9 0z and there is n0 way to visually inspect the beans as the roast progresses. Instead the roast level is determined by smell–which is very difficult–and by sound. The advantages are that more coffee can be roasted per session and I can roast almost anywhere with a camp-stove. It is a fun alternative to roasting with the air poppers and feels more rustic–definitely worth trying.

Seaside, Oregon

One of us needs a hair-cut, the other need to grow some.

The best part of waking up–it ain’t Folgers!

Coffee

Coffee is one of the few things in the world that is completely open to interpretation and yet accepted by all who enjoy it. Coffee is utterly good in whatever form you prefer it. It doesn’t lie or try to mislead and is never so pretentious as to interpret itself or others.

A day trip

We are headed out to San Juan Island for the day to visit our friends Martha and Reyes. It’s rainy here today but a nice warm summer rain. We thought about hiking up part of Mt. Blanchard today but think we are going to drink cappuccinos at La Crema instead. It is really nice to have the day off–maybe I’ll have some time to read. I finished the second of Patrick O’Brian’s sea novels and I’m ready to start the third. These books are a life-time commitment as there are nearly 30 in the series! My problem is I try to read to many books at once. Currently, I am working on twelve. I get impatient and bored easily I guess.

Well. . .

I think I’m gonna be a libertarian–I don’t really know why, it just seems like a cool thing to be. The republicans aren’t very appealing and neither are the democrats and since I can’t form my own political party (no money) I guess I should join one of them, so. . . libertarian, yeah that has a cool ring to it.

Ayden Benjamin Boyt

Ayden made his entrance into the world Friday August 6th at 7:32 in the morning! We are now proud parents, it feels a bit weird to say that but it’s true–all he does is eat, poop, pee, sleep–not a whole lot to be proud of but I guess that’s what it means to be a parent–to love and be proud of him for just being my son. Anyway, it’s pretty cool. The labor went really well. It all started early Thursday morning. Alexa awoke at 3am having very mild contractions 15 minutes apart. Me, being the all observant husband slept through these first contractions and by the time I woke up around seven things had pretty much calmed down and the contractions were inconsistent and far apart. It was my day off from work so after roasting coffee in the morning we took a day trip to Bellingham, Wa. Around 3pm the contractions started up again this time a consistent 10 minutes apart. By 5pm they were between 7 and 8 minutes apart and we thought that it might be time to give up the thrift store shopping for the day!

On the way home I got pretty good at timing the contractions (it also helped that Alexa was very predictable) and I could count down pretty much to the second when the next one would start. This was a lot of fun for me but I think Lex was less thrilled with my mad timing skills! I called into to work and excitedly told them that I wouldn’t be in for the next few days–it’s a unique experience to inform your employer that you won’t be in for you shift and not get fired for it–baby’s are a great way to get a vacation; however, it wasn’t quite so relaxing for Alexa! We made it home, bbq’d ribs for dinner, I went for a run and bought another air popcorn popper at a garage sale, ( I use these for coffee roasting in case you were wondering) and we all sat around drinking wine. It was a very relaxing evening. Alexa and I went to bed around 10 and watched wipe-out till about midnight. By then the contractions were getting much more severe and closer to 5 minutes apart. To help her relax we drew a bath and put candles out with lavender and nice music and hung out in the bathroom–a very nice bathroom mind you–for the next couple hours. At 2am we called the midwife, Charlotte, who arrived around 3:30. It was around this time that I would say active labor began.

From 4am-6:45am the contractions got closer together and increasingly painful; Alexa however, did great and bore the pain with incredible dignity and an awesome attitude. (I didn’t even get cross look) At a quarter till seven her water broke, it’s not the gush that the phrase “water broke” conjures up. When people talked about that I always thought it was supposed to be like the Iowa floods of 2003 or something. . . I was mildly disappointed. Shortly after this we moved to the bedroom and things really kicked into high gear! Alexa continued to have bad contractions and it didn’t help that she had to have an IV of antibiotic to protect the baby from the GBS–something, something, strep–anyway, it wasn’t much fun for Alexa and I busied myself with cleaning out the bowl she puked in (my duties were pleasurable compared to what Alexa was going through and If you have never considered cleaning out someones puke bowl pleasurable then just compare it to pushing a size 3 soccer ball out your uterus while being forced to lie still as a needle with an IV full of penicillin which feels like fire under your skin is threaded into your hand–not pleasant–I’ll clean puke all day!). Next she started pushing and after 20 minutes of that out popped Ayden! I got to catch him on his way out–probably on the most nerve-racking and exhilarating experiences I’ve ever had! I placed him on Alexa’s belly and there he was, little Ayden! He cried right away to let us know he was healthy. . . It was pretty incredible. So that is the story of my son’s birthday–and yes, if you can’t tell, I am a very proud dad!

Johns Island

Last week we all went out to the San Juan islands for a retreat. By all of us I mean me, Alexa, Tom and Patty (Alexa’s parents) and a friend of ours, Tony. The island is called John’s island. Alexa’s grandfather bought property there in the 6o’s and it’s has been maintained by the family ever since. The legacy of the place is amazing and the emotion that the island conjures for all who visit is a lovers obsession. We all had a great time and it was great to get away from work for a few days. The last couple weeks have been incredibly busy at Samish Bay Cheese. For one, they moved me from part-time to full-time because two people  quit. It would be really nice if they were required to pay overtime but in Washington state farm workers are exempt from overtime–bummer.

I am not sure why employers deem it necessary to make life hard for their employees. It would work out better for them if they would provide incentive to work more hours, or incentive for things in general. If an employer can get his employees to become a part of the business rather than laborers the retention rate would be way better, attitudes would improve and sales would go up. However, most employers don’t see it that way. Instead they are willing to pay low wages, endure high turnover, train and re-train employees, run themselves short on product, and alienate themselves from those who make the business work. Employers would come out far ahead if they would simply pay a higher wage, provide incentive for hard work, and care for their employees.