Still it rains!

Today has been utterly ridiculous. It's been raining all day. And not a wimpy little drizzle, but a full on, turn the parking lot into a lake rain. This makes 10 days out of 11 in April that it has rained. Absurd. In fact, the rain that has fallen in the last 24 hours is roughly equal to the average rain for the entire month of April.

I made it to the shop at about 9am this morning, after going up to Novato for physical therapy, to make some ice cream, including a few tubs to bring over to Clif Bar tomorrow. They ordered a bunch for a couple different events at their headquarters. After cleaning up the production room, I stood at the front of the store, watching the rain and debating whether I would open up shop or head home for a few hours (I had also checked movie times, but I had already missed the first wave of matinees) and then open at 3pm. Well, I got as far as writing out, "It's raining way too hard, so" when a bunch of high school kids showed up and made my decision for me.

So, that's about it. There' s a new flavor that I made this morning that is hanging out in the blast freezer...Chocolate Mint Crunch. It's chocolate ice cream with mint extract and cacao nibs for the perfect crunch. And of course it's organic.

Rain Rain Go Away...

It's my first spring in the organic ice cream business, and what a spring it's been!

Throughout the dark, cold (ok, we're in Nothern California, so it really wasn't very cold at all by my East Coast standards, but it was certainly cold enough to keep Marinites from buying much ice cream) and wet winter, I held March 1st as a metaphorical carrot. On those rainy nights when NOBODY was buying ice cream, I would hold March 1 in front of myself as the day to survive until. I pictured the skies abruptly clearing, the sun searing and customers lining up out the door for inconceivably delicious organic ice cream. Well, it's now almost 6 weeks after March 1 and the rains just won't quit. If I wasn't so sure that Three Twins is going to work out so well, I'd be highly discouraged at this point.

In some ways this onslaught of rain reminds me of some of the tougher times rowing for Cornell on the Cayuga inlet. We would row regardless of the weather, as long as the water wasn't frozen over, even if it was cold enough that we would start to freeze over - it wasn't uncommon for us to come off of the water in late fall or early spring with ice on the sleeves and backs of whatever combination of garments we pieced together to try to keep us warm. The last six weeks have reminded me of those times at the end of practice when your clothes are wet and you are freezing from sweat and backsplash, you can't feel your hands because their bare skin has been exposed to the elements for over an hour and you are ready to head in to the shelter of the boathouse and to experience the salvation that was a warm shower, but Coach thought otherwise. Instead, he would send us back down the inlet for another spin, during which you would almost certainly have a wake work its way over your boat and soak you silly. About that time the wind would begin to howl and your life at that moment would be truly miserable, but strangely wonderful at the same time, since like the time before, you would survive this test.