Oh Christmas Tree...

For whatever reason, this year we didn't venture down to our enchanted forest to get a tree. It may have been the late snow arrival, the cows, the electric fence, or maybe it was just our way of supporting the local economy and BUYING LOCAL!



Anywhooo, we had a fun time, with a beautiful selection. Trying to get 2 kids to agree on the same tree was the hardest part, although there may have been a dis-agreeable adult in the group too, but I won't name any names, Chance.
oh yeah, I was there too...

Why you don't wait for snow to move cows....

How many trucks does it take to get 8 cows out of a pasture?
He may be uber strong (in his own mind..)
A real power horse is needed to move this load

up, upand away they go!
We'll call this group if Santa gets stuck this year...

Beans, Beans the Musical Fruit

How can something so pleasing to the eye create such havoc to your intestinal tract?

The Pork was a huge success!

After raising 8 berkshire and berkshire/tamworth crosses this year - everyone is happy with the end result.

Read about it at amusebouche!

Children of the Corn

A great way to spend a brisk October Saturday in a 10-acre corn maze! The maze is shaped like the state of Maine, with a tractor inside and the logo "Eat Local" .Very cool.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Although my neighbor left a voice mail asking"Why did your chickens cross the road?", we'll never know the answer. In years past, people have expressed concern - 'ooh, those chickens are really close to the road', or 'jeez, I see the chickens waaaaay down in the field'. My response has always been 'don't worry they are chickens, and they are chicken, they won't go far'.

Today, when Grace said " I don't mean to be mean, but chickens are stupid", I should've had some sense of foreboding. When I returned the neighbors phone call, I learned that indeed that darn chicken DID cross the street. And now I may be getting a bill for Hazel's therapy after watching the chicken try, with no luck, to cross the street home again....

Have a good week.

Ta Da!

Done with pick-ups. Now to can and freeze the leftovers, and prep for Fall and Spring.
For those of you who asked - what on earth will I do with ALL my free time??? Chance has magnanimously suggested that I could start splitting and stacking firewood. Oooh, are there enough hours in the day?

This french onion soup recipe is a keeper!

Slacker City

It's almost as if I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and put it on cruise control. I did get busted tonight by a friend who said "it's been awhile since you posted anything new...". Yeah, yeah.
Let see since we spoke last:

• Broilers : gone. Yummy.
• Pigs : gone. Way yummy.
• Veggies: last pick up is tomorrow. A little blue but ecstatic that I did it!
• Cows: a few more weeks. One bugger keeps getting out of the fence. He should be yummy.
• Kids: Thing 1 at school; Thing 2 never too far away (from trouble).
• Husband: working, working, working. The honey do list is long!

Here are newsletters from the past weeks - some really good recipes in there too!


Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 11

The winter squash is so good on the grill with olive oil and herbs!

Week 10

My cute kids

need I say more...

A Seemingly Simple Week

The week started off nicely - finally a forecast for sun all week, reasonable temps and Chance with a few days off in a row - I should have known better. Although we have spoken about remodeling certain parts of the house, I am never sure when the grand poohbah is going to start the actual demo until I see the saws-all blade poking through a wall or door - its a feeling that has seemingly become less shocking over the years. Hey - I still agreed to marry him after he had demolished a wall in MY house while I was at work and without any real discussion or plan....

Anywhoooo, the kitchen has entered its final phase (hopefully) of remodelling... I could try to detail it with words, but pictures speak volumes. All this and we still don't really know what kind of view we'll have because we had to plastic the whole side of the house to protect the new area from this silly torential rain and freaking cold temps (seriously - its still August!) A word to the wise - yes, children and in-laws can sleep through hammering, electric staple guns, electric drills and profanity at 1 am....


before

after

Week 9 - on the downhill slide...

No major mishaps this week. Well the pigs did get out 2 more times, but they are now predictable and easy to convince with aromatic suggestions such as peanut butter and corn in a bucket. So with things the way they are these days - that is not a major mishap.

Oh man the garden produce is just getting better and better ( in my opinion). A bountiful source of food, exercise, education, companionship and entertainment. Here is this weeks newsletter with a chard recipe my mom found/tweaked and had available for members today at pickup. Folks said they liked it and would try it at home - we'll see if they actually do... Next week we'll try to make members love turnips and beets (eeew).

Ack, 2 weeks behind!

But I have a good excuse - well 8 to be exact, with 32 feet, 8 snouts and 8 curly tails. The first break out of the notorious P-I-G gang was Thursday pm, while talking to our last CSA person picking up their goods. Grace says "mom, isn't that a pig?" and points to a pig standing 15 ft from the porch. It actually took a moment for it to register, that indeed, it was a pig in the driveway. Then I started repeating a phrase like "oh junk, oh junk, oh junk", seriously not a swear word in sight ( I had 3 kids within ear shot) and the pigs aren't dangerous, they are just big bumbling hungry heads, so I didn't want anyone to completely freak out. So after about 10 minutes of scrambling to find food to lure the pigs back into their pasture and re-adjusting the electric fence to create a secure area, I looked the pigs over to assess any damages. No harm, but they were covered in black greasy gunk, hmmmm, where had they been? So another stroll around and I discovered they had gotten into the tractor shed and knocked over buckets of used motor oil and rolled in that awhile - perhaps to mask their own stink? Soooo, just like the commercials post-Exxon Valdese, I was out in the the pig pen with my Dawn dish soap, and bucket of water singing splish-splash songs with the pigs. They loved the rub-a-dub and the bubbles, but I had a hell of a time hosing them down. Where is all the rain when I actually need it??

SO, here is my newsletter from this past week, and the week before ( no good excuse for that one).

Farm Pictures

first week of August

2 week earlier...

Finally the sun is shining. Here are some recent pictures around the farm.

Late with the newsletter again

It must be because there are soooo many veggies growing in the garden. I have finally been successful at growing yellow veggies, now we are waiting for those green tomatoes to show their true beautiful red colors. Come on sunshine!!!

Too Pooped to Post

5 days late, and not much banter.... suffice it say the our garden is flourishing, which makes me happy and tired.

Week 4 CSA Pick up

Another great week!
We just finished our dinner and we tried the recipe - its wicked easy and very yummy! Accompanied by snap peas, grilled shrimp and chicken seasoned with lime and cilantro, and liguini with fresh chives. Yum!

Awww, sweet.

After 8 hours of bawling for her baby, Ginger's calf arrived at the farm this morning.

BEAR vs COW

Hmmm... you cows are still here...



















Maybe you'll be more fun to play with than the pigs ...



He ran around a bunch, til they started to surround him, then he darted under the fence for the umpteenth time and got zapped. Bye Bear, the fence won this match...

Moo

The summer guests have arrived. Nine Texas longhorn-ish cows are happily grazing in the field.

Week 3 CSA Pick up

Yay! Another successful pick up day- hope everyone is enjoying their haul!

SUNSHINE!

What a gorgeous day!!
I managed to weed the brassicas today - and there should some broccoli to harvest this week - amazing what a little winter planning will produce! And I planted another 5 rows of green beans - yummy!

Happy 4th of July!

Finally a day with some scattered sunshine! Chance is at work, but the kids and I are enjoying the great Belgrade festivities today. Face painting, bounce house, lunch in the village, a parade, and fireworks. And no matter what, I am NOT going to complain about the heat!

Week 2 CSA Pick up

Wow! This second week was so much easier. Maybe its because Chance was working in the barn on his new used mower and would periodically come out and say "How ya' doing hon?" and then walk away, as opposed to staring at me and the weeds with a anxious look on his face like last week. Maybe it was because I knew that the people that were coming would be happy to stop and say hello and get fresh veggies, despite the rainy conditions and the slugs. Maybe its just because I like what we are doing here at the farm.