Field Trip: Noble Coyote

Our trip home for Christmas included a brief visit with dear friends in Dallas, who are starting a coffee roasting business.  One of my first thoughts (besides getting to see my friend) was FIELD TRIP!  That's the "wonderful" thing about this homeschooling thing--even vacations are school for my "lucky" kids.  (quotes added to denote an opinion not necessarily shared by the children)

And now you, our lucky reader, get to go on the field trip, too!

Meet Geraldine, the roaster...

Geraldine looks a little like a locomotive.

Noble Coyote begins with hand picked green beans purchased through Fair Trade markets--standards are very high.

The beans are scooped and measured into a bin.  Here we are going with a bean from Guatemala

Next the beans are put into Geraldine's hopper and released into the drum when the temperature reaches a balmy 350ish degrees (okay, it wasn't really 350ish--there was an exact temp, but my aging memory is failing me, and I'm not exactly recalling--trust me, though, NC knows).

Once they're in the drum, turning and roasting, NC will occasionally check on the beans' progress

and listen for the first and second "crack."  These happen at fairly consistent points of the roasting process resulting from the beans expanding and popping off a thin papery layer under the increasing temperature.

After the second crack, NC empties the beans from the drum into a cooling pan, 

which rotates the beans while a fan pulls air through them to cool.

Then, they're poured into another vessel  (mmmmm...smells good)

from which they can be scooped and weighed into 8 or 12 oz packages

Ta-da!

Now that's some fantastic coffee.  Noble Coyote is a very new business--you can find them here on Facebook until their website is up and running.  

Of course, after a hard day's work, it's nice to return to headquarters for a little jam session

Thanks, Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters--we had a fabulous time.

Buon Natale, y'all

Skating in Salzburg

Our group gathered in Salzburg for some ice skating near the Salzburg's Christmas Market.  This was the highlight of the weekend for our kids.

Probably because they got to have so much fun being silly with their friends.

After a few minutes on the ice, they quickly had their skating legs under them again.

Well, maybe not Cory, but then again I think he liked falling as much as skating!

Lucy, who had never been a big fan of Freedom Rink, really had fun skating around the rink with the various polar creatures as supports.

And with her daddy.

I chose to protect the camera and stay off the ice, but we squeezed together for a family shot with a statue of Mozart in the background.

It was a fun time for us all!

Thanksgiving in Salzburg Round 2

If you remember last year we were able to join up with a group and spend Thanksgiving in Salzburg just after arriving in Italy (we were still in the Base Hotel looking for a house).   We had so much fun as a group we decided to do it again.

I'll split this blog up into multiple posts.  Today I'll focus on people and time spend in the Chalet.

One of our friends found this amazing house that would sleep over 30 and had room for our 6 different families all with kids.  It was in the small town of Wagrain, about 45 minutes south of Salzburg.

The city has a link to the original Silent Night story but I'll get to that on another day.

Of course one of the first things I had to do was enjoy some German  beer.  One of the families that joined us lives in Germany now. They brought German beer and we brought Italian Wine.

Speaking of drinks.  Of course the place did not have the refrigerator space for 6 families and an American style Thanksgiving feast.  Luckily it was cold enough that the outside deck served as an extra large cooler.

We also used the same deck area to smoke our turkey's (x3).

The families all pitched in and created quite a feast.  There was so much food.  The leftovers kept us in business for days.

This kids enjoyed the small bedrooms and bunk-beds where they could relax with their friends.

The boys spent more time in front of the flat screen TV and the gaming system.

What would thanksgiving be without Football?  One of the guys has the NFL package to watch the games overseas.  With some creative electronic rigging we had a giant projection screen soon set up.

Standing tall for the National Anthem.

The Razorbacks are a tradition for me on the day after Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately CBS does not offer an overseas subscription service, so we had to be more creative in our internet viewing and the resolution did not support the projection.  But we still huddled around to watch some College ball.

Some of the german appliances required some team effort to make them work.  Here the three of us try to get the fan working.  We eventually had to call in the family that lives in Germany.  It was a multi-button maneuver to make it turn on.  Why not just an off/off?

The chalet had a hot-tub the kids all enjoyed.  It was not as warm as they wanted it to be, but the parents were all right with it being just a warm bath and not steaming with so many little ones playing in it.

The girls pose, showing off the stylish robes...

The robes were too big for Lucy, but I made her wear boots to walk out on the cold stone.

The Chalet also had plenty of internet...and we all took advantage of it.  There seemed to be iPads, iPhones, and Laptops everywhere.

The weather was very sunny and dry.  No snow.  The skiing season was supposed to have started, but the weather was not cooperating yet.

Some fun people pics.

Of course Cory brought Legos to share.  

Another cute pic of Lucy...is she ever not cute?

Family photo on the day we left...still no snow.

Ok everybody get together for a group shot...

Next up...Spending Friday in Salzburg...