A perfect ending of a good year!

Helen and I riding at Chalk Hill Winery

Today was my friend Helen´s last day in California. Since we haven´t moved any of our horses to Napa yet I decided to take her riding someone else´s horses. There are many trail riding businesses in the area and I started to ask around for the best one. Several people recommended Chalk Hill Winery´s trail rides http://vineyardrides.com/site/, so I called them.  A very friendly man named Rafael arranged our ride.

When we came to their winery everything was incredibly beautiful; from the gates, to the windows, to the houses and horses…not to mention the amazing riding arena! From a distance both Helen and I was sure that the riding arena was the mansion..

Everyone we met was really nice and made us feel very welcome there. They offered us some of their wine, a flavorful and surprising white wine that I really liked. I usually prefer red wines, but this was a good one.

After the winetasting we were showed the private polo arena which was like no arena I ever seen. (I need one!!) Rafael promised us that we could try it out ourselves after the ride. Which we did.


Time to meet our horses! All horses looked very healthy and were well mannered. Before the ride Liz, our guide, gave us safety instructions and made us do basic maneuvers with the horses outside the stable.

 

 

 

 

 

My horse´s name was Tiger. He was a Quarter/Mustang cross just like my Trigger. They certainly had a lot in common when it came to personality. (Trigger has a little bit more go though.)

The ride through Chalk Hill Winery was very beautiful. I am certainly going to take it again. Perfect when you have guests and want to do something special. I would say that the horses were extremely safe but not boring.

 

After the 1.5 hour ride we got to take our horses into the beautiful arena and try them out by ourselves.

The stable was designed by a Swedish designer! Of course it was something extraordinary!! (I need a stable like this too!!)

 

 

 

 

Helen and I really enjoyed our day and we can highly recommend a visit:

 

10300 Chalk Hill Rd
Healdsburg, CA 95448

(707) 494-0499

My 2012

2012 is almost over and it has been an awesome year!

It´s been about achieving goals and dreams coming true, hard work and lots of fun.

 

 

This morning I saw a beautiful post "A year in pictures" at one of my favorite blogs http://rowdykittens.com/2012/12/yearinphotos/.

I was inspired to do my own year in pictures. Here it is!

 

 

 

In January we moved to the ranch. It was a rainy and cold month. Even though we were very eager to do some ranching we spent a lot of time in front of the fireplace reading books about ranching and planning our work.

We had rain in February as well but we did a lot of riding anyway. Above is Joel and Trigger.

March had almost three weeks of snow! On the picture is Neikka and Bo playing in the snow.

April - Two friends, Marlin and Diamond enjoys the sun together.

Stella came to us in May. She came having serious aggression issues, including biting kids. She is now a loved member of our family.

In June we bought a start kit for Oyster Mushrooms at Whole Foods. After that we expanded our mushroom farm to producing all the mushrooms we can eat.

Our daughter Hayley Cecilia Northcutt is born on July25.

She´s only a few minutes old on the picture.

 In August we did a lot of hiking. It was awesome to be able to be outside again.

I bought my Icelandic Horse Faxi in June but he came to the ranch September 1st.

October was a beautiful month with lots of wonderful rides.

In November a childhood dream of mine, having alpacas, came true.

On the picture Eenie, Meniee, Miniie and Moe.

We spent December in Napa. Above is Joel playing with one of his Christmas gifts.


I hope you had a good year 2012 and I wish you an awesome 2013. Happy New Year!

Scared of dogs...but not any longer

Joel and Whitey

My seven year old son have been scared of dogs his whole life. His father is extremely scared of dogs...(and most animals except cats) and Joel inherited that fear.  However Joel and I have talked a lot about fears and how to not let them be in charge over our life. Whitey did his part of the job too.

Yesterday we dedicated to get rid of the last traces of his fear. We went to a park and played with Whitey. Later on we watched 8 feet below http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397313 , with Whitey in our lap.

Later on at night, Whitey slept by Joels feet. Joel feel very good about himself and he discovered that he likes having a dog as company.

This morning when he played x-box he barely let me take Whitey outside to pee..

 

 

I´m very proud of him that he decided to conquer his fear, because it was a deep fear that affected his life negatively every time he saw a dog.

Christmas in the house!

A magical Christmas!

 

 

Joel enjoyed his gifts.

 

 

 

Hayley got this beautiful dress and shoes made by soft alpaca ferr.

Design: Helen.

 

 

 

 

My friend Helen from Sweden celebrates the holidays with us and she made me these beautiful socks. The words are Swedish for horses and happiness.

 

 

 

Whitey and Hayley both turned 5months on Christmas day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

 

I wish you a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones!  /Maria

Best Friends

Whitey and Hayley, both born on July 25

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately I didn´t caught this moment with my real camera but I thought it was worth sharing anyway.

The Holidays

Prepared for some fun in the rain!

Since I have guests over the holidays I don´t spend much time in front of my computer. Today we went to Sonoma. It´s a beautiful, small town in Napa Valley. There are lots of vineyards, beautiful houses and small shops. It was raining today but we had a good time anyway.

When we came home Hayley and  I played with our dogs. They need stimulation even on rainy days!

Joel and I made ginger bread dough. The dough have to rest in the fridge until tomorrow for perfect ginger bread! I´ll post pictures and recipe on my baking blog tomorrow. http://bakethebestbread.blogspot.com.




Here´s some pictures from today.

















Joel and Hayley