For our 9th wedding anniversary this year we wanted to check out Sebastopol at an Urbarn Farm Air BnB. This gorgeous craftsman house we stayed at came complete with chickens, bunnies, a cat and a hot tub for relaxation. We had such a relaxing time reading, hanging out in the hot tub eating delicious meals with fresh eggs from the chooks. The kitchen was a dream to cook in with a beautiful view of the back garden and a kitchen island with draws for organization – the best was the gas stove! Our place has electric only so it is always a treat to be cooking with gas especially when cooking is a favorite thing to do. For the first dinner when we arrived we had this leek, olive and tomato rice salad with feta and hard boiled eggs with a glass of Pinot Noir from Sonoma County – a splendid beginning to our getaway!
 |
| Dinner inspired by this Brazilian rice dish |
On our first day out into downtown Sebastopol – just a walk away was a trip to the Barlow – an up and coming local food, art and retail area. There was a Mexican place I wanted to check out called Cinco but it still is a work in progress – always next time… we had some lunch at
Zazu Kitchen and Farm which is great if you like meat and pig especially – so it was not a good choice for me being a vegetarian – pretty much every dish had a pig meat product to accompany it. I ended up having dessert for lunch made with local goat cheese so that worked out fine! My husband had the pastrami sandwich which he said was a bit too chewy.
 |
| Happiness is sunny sunflowers! |
 |
| An apple processing plant converted to a collection of local delicacies |
Coming home in the afternoon we hung around in the garden with Tiger Lily the cat of the house – she is such a sweet pussy cat! The garden was beautiful with a veggie garden out the front with the chicken coop.
 |
| Tiger Lily |
 |
| Hydrangea in bloom |
 |
| Zucchini flowers |
 |
| A pollinator in action! |
 |
| The chicken whisperer |
 |
| Feathery chicken bottoms! |
 |
| Fresh eggs every day! |
 |
| Our bounty from the garden |
 |
| The weather was perfect! |
The kiddos enjoyed being farmers for the time we were away and spent a lot of time with the chickens and in the hot tub! The hot tub was at the end of the deck with lots of sunshine in the afternoon to relax and read – we all enjoyed catching up on our reading! My summer reading is The Hunger Games trilogy that I am really loving. The films are also superb with the costume design!
 |
| The little farmers with the bounty |
 |
| The kids in the hot tub |
 |
| Snowy (the kids named him) the chicken |
 |
| Albert – named after Albert Einstein as he is such a smart chicken |
 |
| Ash is now on Harry Potter number 7 – with each book we get to watch the film! |
Venturing out to Sebastopol in search of more goodies we found
Screamin’ Mimis ice cream for a treat and just around the corner this amazing mid century modern furniture store
Retrospect where we found this wooden chess set in a box for Ash for his birthday. I loved it and would have bought furniture if we had the space – there were a couple of sunburst clocks which are hard to find! The store was curated beautifully with found art on the wall by the owner – definitely a gem of a vintage store.
 |
| Enjoying ice cream at Screamiin’ Mimis! |
Dinner was across the road at Sushi Tozai – fresh, local and organic where possible and it was indeed! The cocktail I had a cosmo made with Soju which was super strong accompanied with the rainbow roll made with fresh fish selected by the chefs! I of course enjoyed the ceramics, I need to chat to my teacher on how this soy sauce pot is made 🙂
 |
| Sushi Tozai – right across the street, now that was a score! |
 |
| What a rainbow roll – delicious!! |
To say a fond farewell to this lovely house that inspired us to own a craftsman house and become urban farmers – maybe one day in Portland??
 |
| Saying farewell to this beautiful house! |
While we were in Sebastopol I had read about
Bohemian Creamery in the local paper The Bohemian and wanted to check out the goat milk frozen yoghurt (lavender and agave which took me to the Shasta lavender farm) and of course the cheeses! We were very lucky to taste the cheeses before we made our choices but the one which stood out for us was the Cowabunga with the goat milk caramel in the center – perfect for an after brunch treat. Overall this is a foodie paradise full of people who are super friendly and relaxed – Sonoma County is the place for me with it’s local philosophy with food that I love and appreciate!
 |
| Looking forward to enjoying this bounty of cheeses from water buffalo, goat and cow |
It was close to lunch time by the time we left so we had one more stop downtown at the local Ramen restaurant. All I can say is it was perfect with all the veggies and seaweed with the crispy tofu and egg being the stars of this Ramen bowl!
 |
| Vegetable Ramen just to visit Sebastopol for! |
As we were waiting for the Ramen restaurant to open we wandered to the local crystal store called The Uncarved Block and found our souvenir of our adventures an egg shaped crystal all the way from my favourite state in Australia, Tasmania made from Atlantisite, Serpentine and Stichtite. The store was beautifully laid out with places where crystals are found in the world which was fascinating! And at home I found the perfect nest for the crystal on the bookshelf – perfect for our adventure with chickens!
 |
| Our souvenir egg from the crystal store The Uncarved Block all the way from Tasmania, Australia |
poppypeach 