These are some of our baby goats from last spring. The kids love to be involved in taking care of them.
Farmer
This is what a farmer’s daughter looks like. This is her signature look! Raising kids on a farm is so much fun!
A Year to be Thankful
The past year has been the most whirlwind, the most inspirational and the most difficult year I have experienced. There have been so, so many blessings and quite a few heartbreaks, but we have made it through, and it sure feels good on this other side! My online presence has been severely lacking. Even though I have had so much to say, it kept seeming to me that I had to work it all out in my head and understand my experiences for myself before I went spouting about them online. Everything I *thought* I knew has mostly been thrown out the window, and I now approach life (especially as a mother and a farmer) almost through the eyes of a child–a humble beginner.
And so in the spirit of the upcoming New Year, I resolve to return to my presence online where I hope to relate some of what has gone on around here (the good and the bad).
But in the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving, I leave you here with a list of all of the things we have been thankful for over the past year.
kisses from my boy
brussels sprouts
home grown chicken dinners
high speed internet
childrens peaceful sleeping faces
strawberries freshly picked still warm from the sun
baby bunnies
cozy warm beds
a barn full of hay
a large home garden
shelves full of canned goods
a husband who is always willing to wear his farmers hat
3 family meals each day
Jared’s new office with a heated floor
5 freezers full of nourishing food
owning property free and clear
owning our farm officially!
new fencing
soft, slippery mohair
baby animals
our cozy wood stove
sheepskins
calla lillies
ratatouille
a remodeled playroom
our trusty little car
huckleberries
the Carlton house sale
fresh cheese curds
Community Plate
raw milk
2 happy cows
grits
Jerry Ripp
reclaimed wood floors
my knitting
farm tours
potlucks
feeding Corey and Armen
food from other farmers
bead board
new babies
buckets full of blueberries
our trusty tractor
Thanksgiving dinner
family and friends
Cider Pressing!
I’ve been saying a lot lately that someone was thinking of us 20 years ago because they planted a lot of fruit on our property that we get to enjoy! Of course we are planning to think of the family that lives here in the future (like WAY into the future), and we’ll pass on the tradition, but for now, man are we enjoying what we have! Being that someone nice decided to plant lots of apples on our property, we were swimming in apples. I felt like Bubba Gump. Apple pie, apple crisp, baked apples, applesauce, etc. When we got tired of eating apples every other way, we picked every tree clean and took them over to my friends house. You see, she has a cider press and graciously allowed us to use it! We took about 30 gallons of apples and walked away with 10 gallons of apple cider. Some of it was fresh canned for Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings, but the rest is fermenting and bubbling away for our future enjoyment as hard cider.
The kids were a big help! Daphne helped collect (and drink) the freshly pressed cider.
She also helped oversee while Julie ground the apples before pressing.
And then while Matt did the work for grinding.
Oh.. and Cyprus managed to get in on the action too!
We had so much fun, this is definitely going to be a traditional fall thing!
Red Milk Painted Ceiling
Ceilings are important to me. I have a plan for every single ceiling in my house, something cool, something fun, something wonderful. I removed the accoustical tile on the ceiling of the play room to discover that it was wood plank. Of course, it had 4 layers of wall paper on it, so after removing that and then sanding it down, I’m laying down the red milk paint. I just finished putting on the third coat today and it looks striking! Here I am working on the first coat.
The house is slowly revealing itself to me, and it is magical.
Old Fashioned Milk Paint
We are workin on restoring our 100 year old farm house. Since I am really particular about many things, this is a slow process. I want as much of the house to be left in its origional state, and where that is not possible, I want to use old wood from other houses to complete projects.
I was turned on to milk paint a while ago, and I am now throroughly hooked. The big bonus is that I am using the raw milk from my two wonderful cows to make the paint for the walls of my house, and it is just lovely. It has so much more meaning than driving to Lowes to buy a bucket of toxic paint.
This is the recipe I use for my milk paint.
1 gallon skimmed milk (cream taken off top and used in coffee or creme brulee)
4 ounces hydrated lime (also known as agrucultural lime you can get a 35 pound bag at a feed store for about 11 bucks)
200 grams of pigment of choice
Pigments, oh yes. Luckily, I went to art school, so I know all about this. For white, we are using titanium white. Zinc oxide will also work. The red I am using is straight up Indian red. My yellow is a 50/50 mix of yellow ochre and a lemon yellow that is an oxide. Whatever you use, know you can lighten and darken any color with black and white. Just make sure the pigments you are using are lime proof. I like getting my pigment from my local art store because I can gab while I buy, and I get to look at the pigments myself. I can also take them back if I decide I don’t like them.
Milk paint does not stink. You can paint and stay in the house all day and not feel the drag from the toxic fumes of traditional paints. I let my kids paint with me and get it all over themselves. They get to help and I get to enjoy them while I paint. Milk paint is also very durable and lasts a VERY long time. It will not strip off, it must be sanded off. It is very easy to make and so much fun. Give it a whirl, and you could look like us.
Friday, June 24, 2011
It has been a long week. I’ve been playing a lot of catch up because I’ve been balancing a lot of projects lately. The strawberry pick is in full swing, and I headed out and picked another 27 pounds. So far, that means I have picked a total of 123 pounds. I’m not done yet either. I think one more pick and I’m done for the season. I’ve got 90 pint bags in the freezer full of berries now. I would have made it to 100 last night, but I am completely out of freezer space. I am going to have to do some rearranging, because I should have SOME space, but apparently 3 freezers is not enough for me!
My rabbits, Thing 1 and Thing 2 both kindled again! I’m very excited about it. There are a total of 20 kits out there, and I’m confident that they will all make it! These rabbits are reserved to be sold to our restaurant customer, Thistle. The head chef there is very excited to have a source for a heritage breed rabbit. The good news is that my does that were born in February should be ready to breed this month, so they will make it into the production line soon. I also spoke to the person who bred them this week, and she told me that her does are due to kindle soon, which means I will have a source for two more does to step up my rabbit production! I love these American Blues!
The weeds taking over the garden have started to bother me, so I’ve been getting up at 5 am to weed. I weed just two rows and then call it quits. It is actually really easy to do, and weeding at 5am is my new favorite time. I am out where I can see the sun rise, and it’s just me and the birds. The garden is doing well now that it is not being choked off by weeds. I think I will even be able to harvest my first summer squash here in the next week or so. I see fried zucchini sandwiches in my future.
I made it out to weed my new raised herb gardens. The grass was threatening to take over, so Daphne and I got on the job and got it weeded and then we mulched it with a heavy layer of straw. It looks so nice, and those plants will be very happy.
I got on top of it, and after a week of not being able to use the mower for various reasons, I mowed and mowed and mowed. I LOVE the look of a freshly mown lawn. Our place is really starting to look like something. I am still playing catch up because no one took care of the property for two or three years before we moved out here.
We got some bummer news this week. Just when we thought we were going to close on the loan for our house to officially own it, the bank denied the loan. After jumping through various hoops to make other things OK (banks don’t like to lend to people who file Schedule F’s, we are also considered self-employed), the bank threw a fit that our property is on two tax lots with a road dividing it. They denied the loan unless we could figure out how to purchase our lower lot separately. We are not scrambling to restructure everything so that we can order a new appraisal and then they might be ok to close. The buggers. I’ve been a little bit down about this situation.
I spent the evening getting things caught up in my kitchen. I had so many fermenting things that needed my help and attention. The vinegar needed to be bottled, the wine needed to be stirred, the sourdough needed to be fed, the cheese needed to have the brine changed, etc. I spent the whole evening taking care of all these things, so now I have no unfinished projects sitting in my kitchen.
Oh… my hen hatched out another 3 (so far) chicks, so it will be fun to see them wandering around the barn yard.
Sunday June 19 and Monday June 20, 2011
Busy, busy lots to do. I’m trying to write every day, but it can be so hard because of all the projects I have going on. I was determined to get some projects done this “summer.” Well, the spring has really only started, and tomorrow is the first day of summer. Of course, it is also the solstice, which means that though it will be the longest day of the year, it also marks the six month decent into darkness and rain… and less light and ambition to get some work done around the farm. All in all, we haven’t even been at this property for a year, and the improvements are wonderful, so who am I to complain?
Anyway, a few weeks ago, I decided to tear apart the playroom and see what I could do for some restoration. Behind the horrible 1970’s paneling, I discovered some beautiful wood plank boards. The ceiling, the walls and the floor were all this beautiful wood. I know what I want to do with the room now, but it involves getting the ceiling done first. I had to remove 4 layers of wallpaper from the whole ceiling, which was a nightmare. It involved steaming and boiling water and scraping paper off the walls at 4 am while the kids were asleep. I was glad when that was done. Next came sanding, and that was just as bad. I like to sand, but not really up over my head. It took about 5 hours to sand the ceiling, But boy was it worth it. That ceiling looked amazing sanded down and loved.
Enter milk paint. I’ve known about milk paint for a while, but I’ve recently fallen in love with it. I have plenty of milk around, and plenty of lime. It is so easy to make. It is also non-toxic, so when the kids want to help paint and they all but roll in it, there is no harm. In fact, they could eat the stuff and be just fine. It is also the most durable paint in the history of man, yep, really. I hear that if you want to change the color of something painted with milk paint that you actually have to sand the top layer of the wood off. Luckily, I went to Europe and studied art and painting and pigments, so making my own colored paint wasn’t so hard on me. The first coat of the ceiling is red. Oh man, is it a beautiful red. I almost swoon every time I walk into the room. And though I am going to paint over the red with something less dramatic in the future, I am enjoying the red for now. In fact, I might just clean up the room and let it become a playroom for another few weeks while I admire the best paint job anyone has done anywhere. It is THAT good, I mean it.
I had made a gallon and a half of milk paint for the ceiling. I didn’t want to run out in the middle and have the color change on my slightly. Well, it was way too much paint. As I was contemplating what to do with it, i.e. where to dump it, it occurred to me that the red chicken coop in the barn could use another paint job. And so, off the kids and I went to work on yet another project. Painting the chicken coop was so far down my to do list that it hadn’t even made it on the list yet, but I must say that it makes our place look pretty darn spiffy. It is a nice, dark, deep, rich red. I like it. I do have to coat it with a sealant, but I won’t mind looking at that color for the next 40 years of my life.
Today, Monday, I headed over to Julie’s house to eat breakfast out, just for fun. MMMMMM, poached eggs and scones. We then headed to check out the nitty gritty details of another friend’s new house that she just moved into. it was built in 1920, and it is cute. I love looking at old houses.
We then went on a hunt for a place to pick strawberries that did not spray fungicide this year. The berries we picked first this season were sprayed. The berries are so porous that the chemical can’t be washed off, and the berries actually taste like chemicals to me. I picked another 30 pounds of berries for the freezer. I think I’ll be done in two more picks this year. Lots of work, but we will have lots of berries.
I was feeling overwhelmed with all that I had to do when I got home to make dinner tonight. I then checked my email and saw that we are well on our way to turn the farm’s lease into an actual purchase. In fact, a little bird says we may get to sign the paperwork this week. This put it in perspective for me. This truly is our little spot of Heaven, right here. I’m so happy and honored to live here that I could burst with wonderful joy.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Lots of fun for us today. We got a lot of general busy work done. First things first, I walked right in from milking the cow and got on processing milk. We made some creme fraiche and some butter with the cream. I then put the milk in a pot to make a wheel of Manchego. While the Mancghego was ripening, I also got some feta going. Making cheese is so fulfilling because the milk in the fridge turns into something so beautiful and delicious.
I finished processing the strawberries, one more load into the dehydrator, and some more in the freezer. We are up to 40 pints in the freezer so far, and there is more to pick still. My goal is to get 100 pints in there. I calculated the yield of the berries out. I can pick about 3o pounds of strawberries in about an hour or an hour and a half. If I pick into 2 gallon buckets, that is ideal. They are big enough to fit quite a few berries, but not so big that the berries on the bottom get squished. Each 2 gallon bucket holds about 10 pounds of strawberries, so that’s about 5 pounds of strawberries per gallon of container. Just good to know for the future. Also, one 4-tray dehydrator full translates to a quart jar of dried strawberries.
After everything was processed and cleaned up, the kids and I went out and drove up Baker Creek to a park to hang out and play. It was a blast. The sun was just warm enough for a bit of light swimming.
When I got home, my cows were running around the driveway. They had been out in the field on long lines eating grass. Jared had poped out of the house for a quick errand, and in the interim, someone came up onto the property and cut the tether lines on the cows. We did some detective work, and it is clear they were cut. The cuts are very straight across the lines, not torn. The tethers were also not at the end as if they had been pulled taut and broken, they were loosely laying on the ground. Also, my milk fridge on the front porch was unplugged by the hoodlum. This is the kind of thing that was happening with the pigs, but REALLY? Those lines are expensive to replace, and I just don’t get the motivation. I’m considering filing another police report for documentation in case we find the jerks messing with my farm.
We had a friend out to visit with her son. They enjoyed checking out all the animals, and we even peeked in the bee hive. It is looking VERY nice in there! I might be ready to do a bit of a harvest on one hive soon!
Put one more wheel barrow load on the potatoes. If I finish writing this right now, I just might be able to get up early in the morning to finish it off.
I was out in the barn late tonight to find that one of the eggs a hen was sitting on had fallen from the nest. It got pretty cold down on the ground, but I did pick it up and put it under her. Hopefully it will be OK. If only those damned chicks would hatch out so I could see.
I’d like to get the house and the farm cleaned up tomorrow.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
The sun made a nice appearance today. Seems a bit like late April, early May around here in terms of weather. Of course, the date on a calendar is not what matters. We’ve got tons of things to do. I like this time of year. It’s not generally too hot, yet the sun is shining and the grass is growing.
Our little place is looking so good. The appraiser came out on Tuesday, and if all goes well, in the next week or so, we will officially own our farm. Not that it doesn’t feel like we own it now, but it is nice to have the piece of paper that says that it is ours for good. No more of this leasing business. That said, we are SO grateful to our seller for allowing us to take our time to buy the property. She is, no doubt, ready to move on with her life, but she has nicely agreed to work with us, we really appreciate that.
The strawberry pick is still on. After getting the first 30 pounds in the fridge yesterday, we headed back out for another 36 pound pick today! I estimate that we are about half way done. I was thinking yesterday about my progression in preservation of food. Ten years ago, I bought a flat of strawberries at the farmer’s market, and that was my yearly need for fresh berries all year long. This year, we’re hoping to get a 100 pound pick! Julie and I pooled our berries to start some strawberry wine. It’s now mashed, sugared and waiting for some yeast to send it off. This should be a fun project. The rest of the berries are going in the freezer for today, but the next pick will be to make a gallon or two of strawberry syrup. We’ve decided to stop our dependency on maple syrup in the house since it is so easy to inexpensive to make our own berry syrups.
We headed off to the farmer’s market, but for the first time ever, came home empty handed. Julie swears that she’s never going with me again because I yak and yak with all the farmers around.
We had a nice dinner with the kids’ godparents. Linnea is headed off to the south for the summer, and we will miss her.
When we finally made it home, the kids and I worked on getting some chores done. I cleaned the cow stall a little bit more, which meant more potato hilling! I’m getting close to getting done.
I also fixed the sprinkler so the garden got a nice thorough soaking! Add some sun and we might actually get some food! It’s time to start planting the winter garden OH MY!
Our house is looking a little junky, so I spent the remainder of the daylight hours cleaning it up. I did manage to clean out the milk fridge really well, so as of now, the milk will be in the new Cast Iron farm, milk fridge! Very exciting for us.
My neighbor (who also gets milk from me) called me and said she was having some problems with a goat that had just kidded. The mama’s udder was all plugged up and the kid wouldn’t nurse. I headed over to help out. It is so nice to have a like-minded neighbor. She is so sweet, and she offered to help our around here as she could. Now that’s what I call community.
Lots to get done tomorrow…