Cows and Carrots Along The Whittier Narrows-A Personal Story

 

A tons of carrots drying in the sun
Cows and Carrots Along The Whittier Narrows

In the 60's we rode bareback through the deep sands of the San Gabriel Riverbed and floodplain. The land was ever changing as the rains came and went. A full river had tall cranes, waterfalls, and grasses that swayed with the currents and leaves that circled in whirlpools. Cattails and tall bamboo grew along the banks.

The heat of summer never bothered us. We waited knee deep in the river. The sandy bottom  squished  between our toes. In deeper parts we let our horses swim across while riding their back.  As the water receded the boulders along the river bed were visible once again while dark pools lingered in the shadows under the bamboo and the willows along the sandy banks. 

The San Gabriel River was alive with the song of birds, gurgling waters, and cattails clacking in the breezes, especially in autum when they dried to a crispy golden brown. The horse's hoofs were hushed in the deep sand as we trotted along on the sandy banks. Out on the floodplain our horses hooves pounded like thunder against the well worn trails.  We rode like the wind while ducking our heads under cottonwood branches, steering expertly around the sharp turns and racing on the straight aways.  

I didn't realize it then but life was carefree. The only thing that crossed my mind was a teenage whim for a boyfriend and the fear of being bucked off my horse, Apache Tears. He was quite spirited and reared at leaves blowing by. When he got wet you several dark spots on his skin showed under his white coat. I named him Apache Tears. after a black transclucent stone that I bought in a gift shop out in Death Valley. 

Whittier Narrows Dam

Within an hour we reached the Whittier Narrows Dam. We rode up to the top of the dam on the concrete ramp called Myrtle's Rump. At the top we rested while looking over the metal fencing into the dam. The water spilled over the gates like a waterfall that occasionally rushed and roared.  We continued down the back side of the dam then headed northeast towards the Rio Hondo River. The sound of our horses hooves went clippity clop down the concrete ramp. The land was a wide open floodplain with few trees and bushes. On the way to the Rio Hondo River we rode through a farm and the Whittier Narrows Nature Area which reminded me of The Secret Garden. No one was there. It was all ours to explore.

Back Side of Whittier Narrows Dam

Whittier narrows Nature Area reminded me 
Of The Secret Garden

A picture of children playing in the
water of the San Gariel River. 

Autumn didn;t get too cold in Southern California unless you went to the mountains or the foot hills of Glenn Oaks where we bought apples. One autumn day while riding through the Whittier Narrows floodplain we caught a rich, sweet, earthy scent.  As we got closer we saw long troughs overflowing with bright orange carrots in the bright sun ! A herd of black cows were grazing on the grasses and other cows stood at the big troughs eating the carrots. The sight and smell of this made quite an impression on me. For the next 3 years autumn became quite special time as we came upon the carrots in the long troughs.  The 3rd  year we saw a dark green work truck drive up the little ranch road loaded up with giant bushel bags of carrots for the cows. It was the last time we were to enjoy this magical experience. Was it only there for us kids to see? I wonder how many people ever saw this or cared about it as much as we did. 

 At the end of the day we rode the long trail back to the stable as the west winds blew through our hair.  We were all eager to get back as their were plenty of Double Colas in the machine waiting for us in the barn and back then we would ride for miles without water. 

Writing this has brought back many good memories.  I am glad I took the time to sit down and write about it. So much time can be spent pushing ourselves forward. I want to remember more of those happy days and I want to make new memories too. Remembering my past experiences have reminded me of how they all prepared me to live on this Little Utah Farm. 

Thank you for visiting Little Utah Farm,

Deborah Moen of 
Little Utah Farm

Related article: This is on the Whittier Narrows area where we rode and The Whittier Narrows Nature Center. 

https://wnnca.org/history/

Good article about the San Gabriel River from KCET

https://www.kcet.org/shows/departures/the-other-river-that-defined-l-a-the-san-gabriel-river-in-the-20th-century

More of my stories on Little Utah Farm

100 Year Rains and Early Autumn snow

https://littleutahfarm.blogspot.com/2021/11/100-year-summer-rains-and-early-autumn.html

An Early Visit From Jack Frost

https://littleutahfarm.blogspot.com/2021/09/an-early-visit-from-jack-frost.html

Meet Our New Dog Bandit

https://littleutahfarm.blogspot.com/2021/09/meet-our-new-dog-bandit.html

Bandit's New Dog Booties

https://littleutahfarm.blogspot.com/2021/11/bandits-new-dog-booties.html

Waffles In An Iron Grill Pan

 

Waffles In An Iron Grill Pan

If you do not have a waffle maker you can use a cast iron grill pan.

I never thought of waffles much.  Suddenly out of the blue I had a craving for waffles! All I had was an cast iron grill pan to make them. They were good and came out looking like hands with long fingers. You got to flip them like pancakes and it took a few practice waffles to figure out how to lift them from the narrow grill channels. I will be buying a Belgium iron waffle maker to get those nice deep wells for cream cheese and honey.

1 duck egg 1 hen egg and two pretend eggs.

 The waffle batter was a basic recipe. Instead of using the 2 tablespoons of sugar (some recipes use 3 Tablespoons sugar), I used  1/8 teaspoon pure stevia (no additives) instead of sugar. I also used evaporated milk instead of regular milk. I have 1 duck and 1 Americana laying eggs right now so I had enough eggs for this recipe.

The batter was a bit thin so I would reduce the amount of milk from 1 2/3 cups to 1 1/2 cups. Most recipes call for 1 1/2 cups. 

The waffles came out looking
 like hands with long fingers

Basic Waffle Batter Recipe

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately

Mix Dry ingredients :

2 cups all purpose flour

2-3 Tablespoons of sugar or 1/8 teaspoon of pure stevia

1/2 teaspoon of salt. 

1 Tablespoon of baking powder

Set dry aside

Mix wet ingredients:

2 eggs 

1 2/3 cups milk (I used evaporated) Next time I would 1 1/2 cups.)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 teaspoon of maple extract (optional)

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

Combine the wet with the dry:

Get the grill pan hot and then brush with oil

spoon the batter onto the grill. 

This next part you are just going to have to experiment. It is a bit hard to lift it off the pan with that batter in the narrow grills. 

I found by my 3rd one I had found my method. I used a butter knife to loosen each grill channel on the edge and used a metal spatula to flip it. 

Iron Grill Pan Waffles with berries

I heated some frozen fresh berries for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and served them with the waffles. 

You can store the batter up to 2 days in the fridge or make all the waffles and store in your freezer, then toast them. 

You can also make these like pancakes on a flat pan. Waffles have more oil than pancakes so they will have a crispiness on the outside. 

Thank you for visiting Little Utah Farm

Deborah Moen 
Little Utah Farm

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow 

~ Audrey Hepburn

Canned Soup - From Watered Down to Hearty

 

To make a canned soup hearty.

Canned soups are convenient but when I went to get a can out for lunch the other day, all the good thick yummy ones were all used. I found a low salt , low fat, chicken noodle vegetable but it was very plain. I wanted something hearty to warm up. 

Wait till you see what I did. It is so quick, easy and magically turns a tasteless watered down canned soup into a creamy delicious meal. A great trick !

If you soup is condensed add the water or milk as directed and pour in the soup pan. If it is the kind you can eat without adding anything just pour in the soup pan.  

Take 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of room temperature butter ( salted or unsalted)  per prepared can of soup and knead together. Smoosh the flour and butter together until mixed then roll it into a ball. When the soup get warmed drop the dough ball and stir until it is mixed in. The liquid will be thicker and tastier. Add salt and pepper or some herbs if you like. I had toast with mine and broke off pieces and tossed them into the soup scooping each one up with a spoon. Yum *

Deborah Moen
of Little Utah Farm

Thank you for visiting Little Utah Farm 

(20,609 pageviews)

Until next time remember:

 

You can count the apples on a single tree but

Only God knows how many apples are in a single seed.

You have as much greatness hidden within you as any other man or woman who is living or has ever lived. However, greatness comes to each of us in "seed-form"; and as any farmer will tell you, it's not whether or not you have a seed that brings forth the harvest, it's what you do with that seed. First the farmer must believe in the process. If he doesn't have faith in the seeds and harvest he will not put forward the effort to plant the seed. 

But if you truly believe in the process, then like the farmer, you must be willing to toss the seed of your dreams and efforts here and there and everywhere trusting the seeds will take root and bring forth the fruit of your labor!

The farmer must believe that something is happening even when he does not see it with his eyes, when the seeds are buried deep beneath the ground. He can not doubt the seeds are still there and doubt the process continuing to dig up the seeds over and over and expect to see results.

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