Chronicles of the Long Shot Farm

General

First Weekend Open

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It’s beautiful out but it is windy.  The deck is ready, the tasting room is buzzing with anticipation and cars are in the parking lot at 4:51.  The Winery is finally opening to the public.

Friday evening started out beautiful but the weather became so cold and windy that is was impossible to enjoy a drink on the deck.  However, many guests enjoyed a brief peak at the view.  As a result everyone was inside.  There were not enough chairs so Tina brought her own dining room chairs over from the house.  People lined the hallways, the bar, and just stood around holding drinks and balancing their flights.

Speaking of flights…they weren’t something that we were originally going to pursue.  But by 6 o’clock someone had asked about them, and by 7 we were out of dishes.  Saturday morning a quick run to the restaurant store secured more flight boards and glasses. We are selling flights for $10 now and it’s a great way to taste 4 of our wines.

Rachel and Sam manned the bar while Tina and Jeff answered questions.

Lars was running around carrying cases of wine, restocking behind the bar and running the dishwasher.

No one was really sure what to expect.  Will people just stop in, buy something and leave? Will people want samples? Should we do free samples?  Will people hang out? Will anyone even come? But by Sunday the Weyants were relieved to learn that all of their hard work over the past decade had culminated in a successful opening weekend.

Posted by Anja Weyant

Winery Sign

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The Winery has a sign! It was designed by Samantha and cut out of steel by Agar Welding Service and Steel Supply with a plasma cutter.  Jeff, Zach, and Lars sunk 4×4’s into the ground, attached the metal sign and added a board below with our opening hours. The bottom portion of the sign was printed by Vispronet.  Come check it out!

Posted by Anja Weyant  

Tasting Room Open House

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We hosted a pre-opening event for our neighbors, friends and supporters to thank them for all the encouragement and help during the last few years to get our winery going.  We had our PLCB inspection last week and our winery license is active as of February 28 🙂

The tasting room was spick and span and we had light refreshments from the County Butcher Shop to pair with the wine.

It was also an opportunity to work out some of the kinks.  No one really knew what to expect in the tasting room or even how to pour wine.  Our self-taught servers used wine glasses filled with the appropriate amount of water to use as guidance.  It was also an opportunity to learn how to talk about the wine.

One of the many things we had to learn and prepare for was how to use Square to accept payments. A big thanks goes out to our first official customers and helping us with our learning process!  Knud (Tina’s brother) and his wife Shannon enjoyed the Chardonel wine and Tina’s parent’s could not go away without buying their favorite wine, Chambourcin.

The open house was a success.  We even had a random customer stop in.  They were in the area, from State College, and saw all of the cars in the parking lot and the sign.  They bought 2 bottles to go after tasting a few.  Our first uninvited customers!

We cannot be more grateful for the support and encouragement from family, friends and neighbors.

Posted by Anja Weyant, Tina Weyant, and Samantha Shaffer Weyant

Baby Doll Diapers

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Freyja is obsessed with her baby doll.  She loves to clothe her, change her, and take her to the bus stop in the stroller to pick up Leif.  In fact, we just wore out our second doll stroller.  Freyja is also into using scissors.  Unfortunately there are not too many projects for a 4 year old to go hog wild on with a pair of scissors.

So we decided to make baby doll diapers. I traced a diaper we had onto fabric (which she picked out).  I altered the pattern so it would curve nicely on the back of the baby doll and not be so gathered in the front.  Freyja cut out 4.  She also cut out 4 fleece linings for the diapers so they would be white and fluffy inside. I sewed them together, with a little top stitching and velcro and voila!

 

She was “sew” into this project we then made 4 matching spit rags for the baby doll.  These were simple rectangles I traced from an envelope and lined with fleece.  I also topstitched and sewed 2 lines down the spit rags to prevent them from shifting.  It was a fun way to expand Freyja’s baby doll accessories that she could also be part of.

Posted by Anja Weyant

Peanut Butter Cookies

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I’ve come to believe that every great recipe has its roots in Joy of Cooking.  A few tweaks here and there perhaps, but the bones of the recipe can usually be traced back to the hard work of Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker.  Peanut butter cookies are no exception.

These cookies are rich and crumbly, and are my favorite way to introduce peanut butter to infants (before 1 these days you know).

  • 1/2 C butter
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 1/c C granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 C peanut butter (I use Jif)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Blend butter and sugars until creamy.  Mix in egg, peanut butter, salt, baking soda, and vanilla until well combined.  Add in flour.  Roll dough into small balls and place on cookie sheet.  Press dough flat on cookie sheet with a fork.  I usually dip the fork in sugar between cookies so it doesn’t stick.  You can also use the tip of a whisk and create a star pattern.  Bake 10 min.

Posted by Anja Weyant