Missing Willow Farm

She was born the day before the Mayan apocalypse  last December and lives to tell the tale.  Seriously, she’s as big as her mom Kat.  They are always together.   I hope she turns out to be a good mom, too.  She has a great role model.

Bindi has a knack for finding the one sunny spot in our house at any time of day.

Our blueberries seem to enjoy the pots we have them planted in.  They are a few years old now and look nice on the back deck.  The berries plump up as they ripen and we pick them daily.  They’re going in the freezer for muffins this fall.

Tomatoes are coming on strong.  I’ve canned some, roasted and frozen some, made two batches of a spicy chicken wing sauce and a delicious tomato apple chutney.  Tomorrow I’ll make a huge batch of lamb puttanesca from our tomatoes, garlic and lamb shanks.  We’ll have it for dinner and I’ll freeze a few meals.  I’m tired.

Those fabulous beans that grew like crazy overnight are no more.  We think Jack broke a part of our invisible fence (fishing line) running into the garden and the deer found their way in.  They must have enjoyed them a lot.  In related news, the bugs destroyed our pumpkin plants so no pumpkin for me this year.   Dang it.

Our sourwood trees are just starting to bloom.  No clue if we’ll get any sourwood honey this year.  We didn’t get any last year and folks are asking for it at the market.  Our spring honey is selling like crazy.  Someone who bought a quart this morning at the farmer’s market  just called and asked me to set aside 2 more quarts for him next week.  I’d call that a satisfied customer!

We are swimming in tomatoes!  I spent yesterday canning and have plans to make a tomato apple chutney and another batch of a tomato based chicken wing hot sauce today.

Our three little red hens are down to two.  We found one missing yesterday morning.  I am blaming the raccoon we let go free last week.   If we catch it again, I’ll shoot it myself.  We spent the afternoon replacing the back wall of the chicken barn.  It needed to be done, just happened sooner than later.  Originally built as a horse barn, it used to have a 5 inch opening at the roofline and a few rotting spots near the dirt.  We repurposed our old deck boards to make it secure.  Thankfully, everyone was accounted for this morning.

Here’s one of the recent pieces I made in our studio, aka the mobile home we bought next door.  It’s thrown on the wheel.  Brian mixed up the glazes, I got the effect by dipping the piece in oatmeal colored glaze then dripping blue down the side using an eyedropper.  I think it kind of looks like a peacock feather.  We’re so busy lately, we haven’t been able to do much with clay.  Right now we’re focused on honey, wiring our new deck for electricity, canning, brakes for my car, securing our chicken barn and we’re swimming in tomatoes!  Not a bad problem to have.

As soon as our tomatoes start ripening, I bring them inside so the birds don’t get them.  Lots don’t make it into the house because they get into my tummy.  These are cherry tomatoes.  I’ve already roasted and frozen a few quarts for a taste of summer when it gets cold out.