Art at the Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Art at the Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

On my family’s weekly outing to buy pie (strawberry - rhubarb this time) at The Farm in Salinas, California, I focused on finding country art.

The garden furniture art at The Farm is welcoming and rather regal with its armrests:

The large painting of squash and flowers on the entrance sliding door almost qualifies as a mural: To enlarge the image, place your fingers on the image and spread them apart.

Artist Diane Grindol, who has studied art in France, sells notecards at The Farm with samples of her artwork on them.  I love notecards with artwork.  I have some notecards by Big Sur artist Erin Gafill that I have sent to my family in Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Georgia.  Notecards help with cash flow and publicity.  Grindol’s notecard we bought follows:

A trip to the farm would not be complete without food decorative art like the squash beauties below:

The goats have the art of leisure down as they lazily wake up in the morning sun:

My daughter Florence Paget, husband Laurent Paget, and I  enjoyed our morning at The Farm and came home with heirloom tomatoes and a strawberry-rhubarb pie (rhubarb has a large amount of Vitamin K, which is important for healing wounds and blood clotting).

The Farm is a local country outing that young families might enjoy as well.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Reading Steinbeck for Banned Books Week October 5 - 11, 2025 posted by Ruth Paget

For Banned Books Week 2025, my family went to the John Steinbeck House Gift Shop and purchased several books including Grapes of Wrath, which has been banned at different times of history as well as Of Mice and Men.

The store has Penguin versions of the books as well as collector first editions of our local Nobel Prize winner.

You can combine a book shopping outing with lunch upstairs in Steinbeck’s home.  The restaurant menu features seasonal items. 

Free parking is available on the street on a first come-first served basis.  I have  listed their website below:

https://steinbeckhouse.com/

Back in the 2000s, I reviewed the Steinbeck House Restaurant for the Monterey County Weekly (Curculation: 200,000).

https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2018/02/lunching-at-steinbecks-childhood-home.html?m=1

The National Steinbeck Center houses a museum devoted to the works of John Steinbeck.  There is a large parking garage next to the Steinbeck Center. For information, their website follows:

https://steinbeck.org/

Tour groups might arrange to see films based on Steinbeck’s books at the Fox Theatre on Main Street in downtown Salinas.

Agata Popcada at the Monterey County Weekly wrote a nice online article about Henry Miller, a Big Sur resident, whose books have also been banned:

https://mail.google.com/mail/mu/mp/465/#cv/priority/%5Esmartlabel_personal/199d0945fb6cbee9

Information about the Henry Miller Library and its events follows:

https://www.henrymiller.org/ https://www.henrymiller.org/

Carmel Valley author Jane Smiley has had her book A Thousand Acres banned in several school districts despite being a Pulitzer Prize winner.  Book information about A Thousand Acres follows:

A Thousand Acres Book Information

Information about Banned Book Week follows:

https://www.ala.org/bbooks/banned

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Breton Crepes for a few days by Ruth Paget

The magic mix of eggs, milk, flour, salt, and oil makes delicious crepes you can fill with butter and cheese or a salad with chèvre goat cheese.  This little pile will last for two or three days.

My husband Laurent made these beauties! A bottle of homeopathic Elderberry gummies full of Vitamin C sits by the crepes.

My recipe for crepes follows:

California Crepes Recipe

Text and photo by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Squash Economics iat The Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Squash Harvest is in The Farm in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Now is the time to buy squash for decorating and eating, bringing children out to jump on haystacks and ride mini tractors, and buy a homemade pie.

Look at the squash beauties below!  Orange colored squash has vitamin A, which is important for vision.  Chop it up, remove the filaments inside, brush the flesh with oil, and bake it at 350 for an hour.  Eat it with butter and paprika.  The filaments and skin can be recycled as green waste.

Even the too cool to care goats were checking out the squash.

My husband Laurent and I bought a berry pie. Starting in November, the bakery will be the only department open at The Farm till spring.

Another fun marketing day in Salinas, California.

Photos and text by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Seagull Munching on Guano at Pebble Beach, California video by Ruth Paget

While waiting to film brown pelicans at Pebble Beach, California, I saw a seagull eating guano on a rock with waves crashing behind it and brown pelicans doing fly-bys  behind it.  

The sound of the waves crashing is excellent on the video below:

Guano is bird feces.  It is highly sought as a fertilizer and wars have been fought over it.

Video and text by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Oktoberfest at Asilomar on October 11, 2025 in Pacific Grove, California reposted by Ruth Paget

Oktoberfest is being celebrated on October 11, 2025 at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California.

For information about tickets, I have reposted the Monterey County Weekly calendar posting below:

Oktoberfest at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

California Debt Watch Tool looks interesting reposted by Ruth Paget

This debt watch tool managed by the State of California looks useful:

California Debt Watch

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France