Friday was the pre-opening of our Farmer’s Market. It officially opens the Friday before Mother’s Day, but there are a few of us who go early in the season because we have stuff to sell. My offerings included lamb, eggs, spinach, lettuce, heirloom tomato and herb plants, soap and handicrafts. I’m sharing my space this season with a good friend who’s an amazing baker. I’ll get some photos of her Easter offerings this week. They will not disappoint!
It’s Market Season Again
18 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
My Candy Jar Quilt
15 Apr 2011 5 Comments
in Crafts
Since retiring, I’ve been on a crafty kick. I’m active on Craftster and was just appointed as a global moderator last week. It’s like a volunteer management position in a global crafting community. I saw a jaw-dropping quilt posted by a member and contacted her to tell her how much I admired it. Now, I’ve made one of my own! It’s a combination of piecework and applique (which I’ve never done before). This is just the quilt top. I’m going to take it into my quilt shop next month and get their suggestions on how to finish it. I plan to enter it into the fair this year.
Farmstead Pasta Sauce
14 Apr 2011 2 Comments
While I was watering in the greenhouse yesterday, I started thinking about what I would make for dinner with the ground beef I had defrosting in my fridge. I didn’t have hamburger buns and didn’t feel like driving the 20 min. to the grocery store. I started wondering if I could make something delicious using ONLY ingredients from our farm (the cow is ours) and settled on pasta sauce. I pulled a leek from a raised bed and got out a can of tomatoes that I had put up last year with garlic and basil. When I opened the jar, it smelled like summer! I had dried mushrooms to throw in the sauce and dried garlic to grind my own garlic powder. The oregano is already coming up in my herb bed, and had some genovese basil plants I started under lights in January. I pulled a homemade romano cheese from the fridge to bust into and crumbled dried peppers into pepper flakes. I could have made my own pasta to put it on but geez, this gal stays busy!
The Cleaner
13 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
Jenna loves milking season. My husband tells me she waits until I’m done milking the goats then sneaks over to the milking stand for a snack. I usually don’t see this because I do chicken chores after milking then get water to hose off the milk splashes but this morning I changed my routine and caught her in the act. Sneaky girl!
Out of the Brooder
12 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
Those tiny little chicks I bought at Tractor Supply are already teenagers. They have their big girl feathers so have been moved out of the breeder box into the barn with our other layers. They still kind of hang together, like monkeys. They should start laying this Summer, around July. They’re the Easter Egger breed, Americaunas, so their eggs will be large and colorful. The brooder is empty again, time to score some turkeys!
You Know You’re a Real Farmer…
09 Apr 2011 4 Comments
When you find yourself nursing a sick chicken back to health in your guest bathroom. We have to keep the door closed anyways to keep Bindi out of the toilet. Now there’s an even bigger reason. I’m afraid she might scare her to death!
Fascination
08 Apr 2011 2 Comments
Jenna is fascinated with Bella’s little black and white buckling. She watches him with laser focus. She normally doesn’t pay any attention to the goats at all unless we ask her to help us catch one which is pretty brilliant. Milos and FiFi showed up late to the photo shoot looking for a dog biscuit…
Future Frogs
06 Apr 2011 4 Comments
Believe it or not, those long stringy brown spaghetti-looking masses in our pond are frog eggs. Miles of them all along the bank. The white ‘smoke’ in the photo is just a reflection of clouds on the water. Our frogs have been busy! It’s nice to hear them again in the evenings and pretty soon we’ll be overtaken by tiny frogs like we are every year. Spring is truly here.
Cutest Goat Ever
05 Apr 2011 4 Comments
CoCo had a little doeling that’s just adorable. She’s tiny and soft and cuddly. None of the photos I’ve taken do her justice. She’s a nubian, alpine, oberhasli mix. CoCo’s an oberhasli, she came to us last year and is the only one we have. I’ll be interested in comparing her milk to that from our other goats once we’re able to milk her. She has a tendency to wander off without her baby. Our neighbors all think she’s a terrible mother. Maybe it’s because I yell it at her all the time. Just saying.
Bella’s Buckling
04 Apr 2011 2 Comments
Bella had a beautiful little buckling. She’s a really good mom, keeps him with her at all times. She’ll be a great milker. She’s already trying to get out to the milking stand when we open the gate but all of her milk will be for him for a while. All of our does are far exceeding our expectation this year as far as milk production goes. 2011 will be the year of experimenting with cheese on our farm!
