|
There is so much going on at the farm this time of year! Planting, growing, fixing, kidding... Yes, I said kidding! Lily is "in waiting" and is in her birthing area because her due date is tomorrow and can go at any time. Tippy and Truffle are only a couple of days later so we will be up to our earlobes in baby goats very soon! Also, Dan has been very busy in the garden and things are starting to grow and blossom from last year again! I love April and I have posted a ton of pictures below! Pictures tell a better story than I ever could so enjoy the pictures and post questions if you got 'em!
0 Comments
It has been a very busy April so far and I have been getting behind here!
Easter was fabulous and I could not find my camera that day so I have no photos but I would love to list our menu for you! We tried to stay within the RI, CT, MA area and supported local businesses and farmers this year and it was absolutely delicious! Dan made a list of what we had and where the ingredients came from and we encourage you to patronize these local businesses!! ~ Starters ~ Cheese Board Despearado – Cato Corner Farm, Colchester CT Bridgid’s Abbey – Cato Corner Farm, Colchester CT Midnight Express – Meadow Stone Farm, Brooklyn, CT Salad Greens – Absalona Greenhouse, Chepachet, RI Celery Root – Pezza Farm, Johnston, RI Maple Vinaigrette Dressing – Chepachet Farms, Chepachet, RI Hard Boiled Eggs Eggs - Summit Valley Farm, Glocester, RI Honey Mustard Sauce – Olde Cape Cod, Ayer MA ~ Entrees ~ Smoked Ham Ham - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI Maple Glaze – Wenzel Sugarhouse, Hebron, CT Pork Loin Chops Pork – Blackbird Farm, Smithfield RI Apples – Palazzi Orchard, Dayville CT Country Style Pork Ribs Ribs – Blackbird Farm, Smithfield RI BBQ Sauce – The Stirring Spoon, Johnston, RI Bacon Scallops Scallops – Bomster Scallops, Stonington CT Bacon - Blackbird Farm, Smithfield RI Kale Kielbasa Soup Kale – Simmons Farm, Middletown RI Kielbasa – Blackbird Farm, Smithfield RI Jacob’s Cattle Beans – Summit Valley Farm, Glocester, RI Garlic – Pezza Farm, Johnston, RI Broth – From chicken Pine View Farm, Scituate RI ~ Sides ~ Rosemary Potatoes Potatoes - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI Rosemary - Summit Valley Farm, Glocester, RI Carrots Carrots - Pezza Farm, Johnston, RI Bacon - Pine View Farm, Scituate RI Onion - Simmons Farm, Middletown RI Sautéed Parsnips Parsnips - Pezza Farm, Johnston, RI Tarragon - Summit Valley Farm, Glocester, RI Bacon Quiche Eggs - Summit Valley Farm, Glocester, RI Bacon - Blackbird Farm, Smithfield RI Leeks - Pezza Farm, Johnston, RI Gruyere Cheese - Meadow Stone Farm, Brooklyn, CT ~ Beverages ~ Wines Vineyard Reserve Chardonnay – Sharpe Hill Vineyard, Pomfret, CT Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Franc - Sharpe Hill Vineyard, Pomfret, CT Spirits Onyx Moonshine – Onyx Spirits Co., Manchester CT Soft Drinks Yacht Club Bottling Works, Centredale, RI Juice Black Currant and Black current blueberry – Maple Lane Farm, Preston CT So this year Dan and I decided to stay local for Easter. That does not mean just staying close to home to eat, but buying close to home. This year our dinner will consist of meats, greens, eggs, veggies, flour, drinks and most other ingredients that were created and grown in RI or nearby MA or CT. As of right now we have greens, flour, bacon, onions, potatoes, herbs, drinks and will soon have the meats that will include ham, pork and chicken. We have purchased local maple syrup and honey as well for glazes. Bread will be made at home with local flour and we will use our herbs for flavoring. It has become important to us to support our local farmers. It is the way to go for fresh, healthy meats and a strong economy. This may not be the usual Easter dinner but it will be special to us and hopefully to those 15 other friends and family members who are joining us as usual for dinner and egg hunt! We will be posting pictures soon! Happy Easter to everyone and keep it local!!! 
So it is now the time of year when we have to de-clutter and de-funk our winter homes and turn them bright and shiny! The best way to do that is to go to the store, pick up numerous plastic bottles (that we will not re-use and of course you need a different product for each different job) that have chemically colored and scented, flammable liquids inside them and start spraying them all over our homes to breathe in and touch. NOT! What we can do instead is be lean and green about our clean! Lean meaning you will be using ingredients already found in most homes (or can be easily obtained nearby) that cost a fraction of what the ready-to-use cleaners cost, and green because it is chemical free and safe for you to use around your family and pets AND you will be re-using old plastic or glass sprayers and bottles! Duh! Just a few to start with! All purpose cleaner: white vinegar that you add essential oils of tea tree and/or lavender and/or sweet orange to. That's it?? That's it!! The picture below shows a mason jar with organic orange peels soaking in the vinegar. Hey, we eat oranges anyway so why not use the peel! The orange oil will help with the grease cutting - I let that infuse for about two weeks and then I just add a drop or three of tea tree essential oil for the antibacterial and antifungal properties. Done! This can be used in the kitchen and bathroom. Super cheap AND it works! Fabric softener: This is used in place of those dryer sheets that have who-knows-what on them. There is a spot in your washer machine for liquid fabric softener and you just put it in before you start your load! Just take that same white vinegar (getting it now? Buy the huge jugs of the stuff!) and add lavender and/or tea tree essential oil drops to it and keep in near your machine. Yay, done! Toilet bowl cleaner: Yes, you have to clean that too. I know you all love those silly little blue things that cling onto your bowl and "wash" your toilet for you but do you know what is in it? Eww....really? Instead, just sprinkle some baking soda (yes this stuff that you bake with that also comes in HUGE bags for cheap) into the bowl and dump some of that fabulous white vinegar into it and watch it bubble up! So cool...this is Camile's job. Let it sit for about 15 minutes and the take your toilet brush and scrub around for one minute. Poof! Done! Welcome to the world of chemical-free, easy breathing cleaning for the spring! More to follow...   Here are some pictures of the new crew in the garden. It was their first trip outside and apparently did not move around much but they will get used to it! Pretty soon they will be out of my house and out in the world... :( We do seem to have one rooster, who I hope turns out well. We hold him a lot to get him used to people. Enjoy the pictures!     Marti, Chris, Perky, Snowball, Zoe and Domino
Apparently even dried up lavender puts you to sleep! NO, that is not a pine cone, that is Zoe! Zoe also seems to like Wilson, our scarecrow! That is our Gnome - he does not have a name yet.... I had always scoffed at the thought of a bread machine...why let a machine make a loaf of bread when it can easily be done quickly by hand? Ha! That is until I made many loaves of brick-like substances that I tried to pass off as whole wheat bread to my family. Dan may have secretly found it necessary to get a machine so a gently-used one arrived at our home on Tuesday. We have since made two loaves of bread which have been perfect. Our first one was a white loaf (tried it out for the first time and did not want to waste precious whole wheat flour so I tried plain old white first) and I just made a whole wheat with molasses this morning. It is so easy and so quick and I do not have to buy bread anymore. It has a timer and many features that should fill our needs quite well and pay for itself in no time! Time to get creative!!!!    This may sound trivial to some (even myself) but this is me... I was cleaning the kitchen the other day and "noticed" we do not have a breadbox. Do people not have those anymore? It's a great concept and makes a lot of sense but seems no one talks about them. I do keep my breads and bagels on the counter but we have to be careful of an occasional mouse (we get them here in the woods). I realize right then that I need to have one and want to make one. I go downstairs to the handyman and ask if it easy enough to build a breadbox. He surprised me a little by saying "why don't you just buy one?" - that's not really like him so I (in a determined way) insisted we make one together as a family and then go back upstairs to finish the kitchen. About 30 minutes later up comes Dan with a box and it's sliding lid. He hangs onto used things in case we need them for something (apparently like a breadbox). Long story short - he cleaned it, Camille put the "knob" on (an old game piece) and I load it up with our bread - now we have a family-made breadbox. Go figure...I love it though - it is re-purposed and perfect for the job!   Well all the chicks have now been named. Of course this is pending any gender issues we are not currently aware of... There is one that may be a rooster so we have named her/him Chris (easily adjustable once we find out for sure!) and the others are Marti, Snowball, Perky, Domino and Zoe. I will make sure we keep you updated on pictures as they grow!  Well, chocolate of course! But for now it's vanilla; homemade vanilla extract to be exact. I have a great big bottle infusing away. It has been going since the first of January and boy does it smell great so far!!! All you need is a bottle with a tight-fitting cap (you can just use the bottle the vodka came in). People have used vodka, bourbon and rum - you pick your poison! Add good vanilla beans (the more you use the less time it needs to sit but the more expensive it will become as well) and shake it every few days as it sits in a dark cabinet. Four to six months is perfect! It will last a very long time (at least a year or two) because it's alcohol and it makes a fabulous gift when you put it in cute little jars! Everyone uses vanilla extract and homemade is far superior to the store bought junk! My bottle is big because we go through a lot of vanilla in my house but feel free to make a small pint sized jar with one or two beans if that suits your needs!  On Sunday, 2/12/12, we lost 4 of our beautiful chickens to, what appears to have been, a weasel. I drove into my driveway around 8:00 pm and saw little shiny eyes (not belonging to one of our animals) in the paddock. Along with those eyes - 4 deceased chickens. A very sad thing to see because we do raise our chickens in our home while they are little and they are named and loved very much. :( We have lost quite a few birds (including our ducks) to either this weasel or the crazy owl we have living in our woods... So now a new, safer place to keep our birds is in the works! But of course that now leaves us with only two chickens as our flock. Hmmm - not quite enough. Valentine's Day comes and, since Dan knows how much I love little peeping chicks in the house (is that not the most peaceful thing to listen to?!), I get 6 gorgeous babies! Bantam Cochin chicks - the four white ones are 2 weeks old and the two black ones are 1 week old. Check them out! I need to name them all...any suggestions????       |
Archives
February 2024
|