27 Sep 2017 1 Comment
One of the foxes that lives in our property next door is getting pretty bold. We’ve seen it a few times in our back yard at dusk and recently on our driveway close to our house in full daylight. This is a bit blurry because it ran a little ways when it saw me out with my camera, but turned to get one last look at me. 🙂
22 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
My one attempt at flowers this year. Petunias from WalMart. Our vegetable garden keeps us so busy there’s no time for pretty things. I do use quite a bit of the thyme growing in the top of the planter.
01 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
We have a new addition to our flock. A pretty little red hen. Don’t ask where we got her… 😉 She has a little apartment in the hen house where she’ll be able to get adjusted to the rest of our girls. It’s a goat carrier modified with a feeder, water and some place for her to feel secure at night. We’ll let her join the rest of our chickens after about a week. She awarded us with an egg about 2 hours after arriving at her new home.
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
I took this photo from our hot tub. The blackberries are close enough to pick to add to a glass of champagne. Life is good!
26 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
The only basil we have this year is grown on our back deck in pots. I’ve made pesto twice now with the basil leaves, garlic, toasted pine nuts, parmesean, lemon and olive oil. Toss that with pasta and some sauteed shrimp. Yum!
21 Jun 2017 1 Comment
Our morning haul from the raised beds usually fills a large colander and inspires the evening’s dinner.
Pickle marathon 2017 should start soon….
Gotta get my sauerkraut crock out of storage.
Roasted beets, carrots and garlic with sauteed beet greens and blue cheese.
Spanikopita pie with our spinach, garlic and goat cheese from the freezer.
20 Jun 2017 1 Comment
Our Jerusalem artichokes are almost as tall as I am.
We’re headed for a bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes this year. We have 3+ beds planted from our own saved seeds.
We’ve been enjoying the heck out of beets and beet greens.
These pepper plants are ghost, red Caribbean habanero or pimentos from saved seeds.
The green beans are starting to come in.
14 Jun 2017 1 Comment
Because you REALLY want to start this kind of activity when you get a little older… we’ve taken on shearing ourselves this year. Thankfully only Gus and Beatrice need shearing. Since the dog attack last spring, they’re the only two wool sheep we have left on the farm.
12 Jun 2017 1 Comment
The saga continues… and I don’t want to see my cherry pitter again until 2018.
Cherry liqueur. This won’t be ready for a few weeks, and yum.
Black forest preserves. I’m blown away by how good this stuff is! Dark chocolate, cherries and a little amaretto.
Speaking of amaretto…. these are amaretto cherries. They will be amazing as an alternative to maraschinos.
11 Jun 2017 1 Comment
I’ve been on a sour cherry hunt for the past month or so. I’ve tried every upscale grocery place in Greensboro and nobody ever carries them. I started looking online to see if I could get some shipped here from a fruit supplier but the only thing I could find were jarred or frozen cherries. In my online search, I located an orchard an hour north of here and sour cherry picking started yesterday. And they were expecting 3000 people on opening day. We were one of the first in line. This place has 34 acres of cherry trees. We met folks from NC and Tennessee picking there. I pitted cherries for 2 hours when we got home. I so far have made maraschinos and the best cherry pie I’ve ever tasted. Today’s adventures include cherry liqueur and maybe some black forest preserves. 
