Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays and Merry a couple days after Christmas! We finally have a little bit of snow on the ground here, but not really enough to be excited about. At least it's snowy in the mountains!
For the second year in a row we have had a ridiculously huge Christmas tree. This year we went out to the woods with our friends Michael and Dionne in hopes of finding the perfect tree and we did! Michael and Dionne ended up with a beautiful 12 ft tree and we managed to cut down a 19 feet 8 inch tree-just under the 20 foot limit! We had a bit of pruning to do, so the height of the tree in the house is 15 feet 8 inches-kinda huge! And all it cost was $5 for the permit to cut the tree down and a fun day in the forest!
Keith had to work Christmas morning, but Bear and BJ were ready to open presents as soon as he got home. BJ is experienced at opening presents and took his time, while Bear mauled each present he was give to open, which looked like he was having the most fun ever!


Bear's first Christmas consisted of being inside almost all day, getting tons of presents, stealing all of BJ's presents and generally being the most spoiled outside dog that ever existed and BJ got tired of all this pretty quickly. Now all Bear wants is to come inside all day...maybe letting him in for such a long time was a bad idea!

  
Even with Keith working for part of the day, we had a really nice and relaxing Christmas day. We are so thankful for all the generous gifts and beautiful Christmas cards. We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

I'll be posting a Winter Farm update soon! Stay tuned

It's finally happened!

After years and years of talking about, we have goats! On Saturday our friend and goat aficionado Nancy dropped off Cupid and her kid Valentino. So far they have not escaped!
   

This is what I know about them so far. They do NOT like the dogs, especially when they bark. They do like the chickens and seem to prefer being in the chicken pen than by themselves out in the pasture. Valentino is a very large 4 month old kid and is still nursing, which means that I don't have to start milking just yet. Also, Valentino loves to have close ups taken:

 

I haven't quiet won over Cupid yet, but hopefully she'll grow to like me.

 

And are you thinking what I'm thinking: is that snow on the ground? Why yes it is! It started snowing in the mountains on Saturday and it's been snowing down here in the valley all day. Looking at the forecast I'm not sure when it's going to stop, maybe by this weekend or maybe by May, we'll see!

This is both Bear and Fang 3's first snow and they both seem to be enjoying it!

Bear is trying so hard to convince me to let him in. Obviously he's not wet and dirty.

We have some interesting days ahead with learning to milk and all. I'll keep you posted!

Buh bye, black sheep

Oh, lambs. Today you take you final walk into the sunset. No more lounging in the shade. No more getting stuck in the chicken coop. No more ramming me in the back of the knees or stomping on my foot so hard I thought you broke my toe.

Let's remember how cute and little you were!

Slowly, you got a little less cute and a lot bigger.
 

And now you, the Ram (aka Testicles), drive me crazy! You're so big and ram me so hard. I wish you would just stop it! And when you stepped on my toe and it was bleeding and swelling, I called for your head on a platter! Well, by this weekend you will be in my freezer. I know it sounds morbid, but I don't care!
 

While I say all of this, we are planning on getting more sheep (ewes not rams!) so we can have our own little flock of sheep.

I will miss them and I do look forward to getting more sheep. I also hope that the lambs are as at peace about becoming kabobs as Robert is!

Brothers

Am I getting close to ending up on one of those animal hoarder shows? Since Keith just informed that we are to get no more puppies or kittens, I can't help but fear that is my fate.

First, we (I) adopted Fang III at the end of June. He was this adorable, cuddly 8 week old kitten that I just couldn't say no to. Besides, Fang II disappeared in late April and we had to face that he was not coming back. He lived a full 17 years, and he only spent one of them with us, but I still miss him! Fang III, or his getting longer everyday full name, King Purry Fangston the Third, is now king of the garage, front porch and garden and getting braver everyday!

 

And I thought I was done collecting animals for the summer. But no! Then I meet a dozen puppies a couple of weeks ago and fell for one of them immediately. Bear stood out as the gentle giant of the gaggle of border collie/mini Australian shepherd mix puppies. I have spent the last two weeks convincing Keith that we desperately need an outside dog and we now have one! We brought Bear home this morning. He from farm dog stock and I hope that we can keep him busy enough to be happy here!

BJ is amazingly being wonderful (so far!) , while Fang is a little trepidatious. As I say that they all are taking naps in various places on the front porch. It's adorable overload here! They are the cutest set of brothers anywhere! There ya go! Just another addition to our little bucolic utopia

Canning with Queen

Holy crap! It has been forever since I've blogged. There are a few reasons for this. One is that so much is in progress but nothing is really completed: the patio is finished but the grass seed isn't even sprouting yet, the fence around the garden is up but not painted....I could go on and on and on. Another reason is that who wants another garden update!?!  I mean I get crazy excited about my baby melons, but don't expect anyone else to be. But to me the main reason I've haven't been writing is that we've seen so many of the people I feel like I'm writing to this spring, summer, fall, that all my stories fell redundant! I mean how many jokes about giant lamb testicles are there really?


I have also been thinking about changing format of this blog a bit. Obviously we aren't really traveling any where anytime soon (expect for Ohio and after 3 visits in the next 3 months, I think I may be done going there forever!), but I do have a ton of fresh food, so why not write about what we're doing with our bountiful harvests? So I'm going to give this a go. It's harder than it sounds, since it is usually after I make something I think 'Oh, I should have taken pictures and blogged this' and I don't do things like make dinner regularly.

 A random aside: Sometimes I feel like I'm running for (and winning!) the Worst Housewife Award (let's be real-I'm pretty much a housewife and most days I am cool with it). To win this award I don't so things like make dinner or put laundry away. I feel my best event is 'Ignoring that the kitchen is a mess, even though I was the one got everything dirty'. Which actually brings me to what I'm doing this morning. Canning jam. The biggest con on making jam is that I'm in the kitchen for hours and I actually clean the kitchen, since I can't really go anywhere else and there is only so much dancing with Queen, Abba and a little Nancy and Lee one can do at 10 am! I'm sure I have points deducted for both the bad dancing and the cleaning.

Yesterday we went blackberry picking and came back with 3 gallons of blackberries! Really there is nothing else to do but make jam today! I also have a ton of rhubarb in the freezer from the garden so that is how 'Blackbarb jam' was born! This is essentially David Lebovitz's Rhubarb Strawberry Jam with blackberries and not really following the directions. PS: Everything I've ever made using a David Lebovitz recipe has been great! And honestly his book 'The Perfect Scoop' is hotter than '50 Shades of Grey'-I mean Date, Rum, Pecan Ice Cream or Raspberry-Champagne Sorbet-yes please!! (maybe I need to get out more!) Blackbarb Jam



8 cups of blackberries
8 cups of rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into 1/2-inch (2cm) pieces
5 1/2 cups sugar
zest and juice of one lemon
pinch of salt
1 package of pectin

1. In a large pot, mix the rhubarb, berries. Cook, covered, stirring frequently over moderate heat, until the rhubarb is cooked through and thoroughly tender. It should take about 15 minutes (mine took longer since my rhubarb was still frozen-ish)

2. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and salt, and cook, uncovered, skimming off and discarding any foam that rises to the surface, until the jam is thick and passes the wrinkle test.

3. Stir in the pectin, get your can on. 

If this doesn't end up being delicious, I still have 2 1/2 gallons of blackberries and 24 cups of rhubarb to work with! Maybe I'll make some popsicles or syrup next!

Spring: Everything is growing!

On this cloudy, grey, rainy, snow-ish spring day, it's hard to not just curl up by the fire and dream of the bright, sunny days of summer. But then you remember-it's Chicks Days! Yup, it's that time of year again. I was hoping that we could incubate our own eggs this year, but with our little rooster still being slightly smaller than our pretty large hens, it seems he is not getting his job done! Oh well, maybe next year. At least that gives us a chance to add some new super cute chicks to our brood.


This year to add to our Bovan and Australorp chickens, we got three Barred Rocks and three Ameraucanas. The Barred Rocks are nothing unusual. They'll be large black and white hens that lay brown eggs. If they had the Ameraucanas last year, I would have gotten them! Each chicken is going to look a little different. Right now they are light, medium and dark colored, and I have no idea how they are going to end up looking. But the really cool thing is that they are going to lay blue or green eggs! I can't wait until they start laying!


I forgot how little day old chicks are! It will be fun to watch how much these little ladies change so quickly. At least they aren't living in the house like last year! This is one of the days I love having a garage.



And every day the lambs are getting bigger. They are almost as big as BJ now and he does NOT like that! At least that means that pretty soon he'll be completely ignoring them. I actually have to go feed them soon-16 ounces of delicious formula! Ok, I'm back! There is not much cuter than feeding adorable lambs with 22 ounce Arrogant Bastard beer bottles! For the first week or so the lambs were living in the shop in the garage, but they have advanced to living out in the barn with the chickens, who they seem to happily coexist with.


Everything is growing in the greenhouse! We have finally have had a salad with delicious radishes from the greenhouse! Along with yummy greens growing bigger in the greenhouse, so are the weeds, so I seem to spend every moment out there pulling more and more weeds. I keep telling myself that it was only since November that it hasn't been pasture and that this isn't a battle I have to win this weekend, but it doesn't mean I don't want to win!


All of this is great, but still I can't wait for summer!

Ellen has a little lamb...actually 2 little lambs!

Ellen had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Ellen had a little lamb, whose fleece was black as coal!

Their names are Blanket and Baab (like Bob but with a little extra Baa!) and they are so freaking adorable!


So what are we doing with a couple lambs? Well, last Tuesday I got an unexpected email from Keith saying 'Do you want a couple bummer lambs?'. After I googled what bummer lambs meant (lambs orphaned by their mama's), I said of course we do! Why not right!? Sure, we don't know anything about lambs, we are totally unprepared for getting more animals, and they need to be fed frequently and we both are pretty busy during the day, but sure why not! One of the lambs mama's had triplets and she couldn't support all three and the other one, well we don't really know the story, but he needed a mama. And I'm the mama.


Being the mama is kind of fun and kind of demanding. The first few days (we got the lambs when they were 4 and 6 days old), we were feeding them every four hours. Now I'm feeding them 4 times a day and in just a few days it'll be down to 3 times a day. They are being bottle fed with a lamb milk replacer and sometimes there's a little fresh cow's milk thrown in for extra richness (we got a gallon of milk from a friend's milk cow that just has a calf) and have a little lamb chow grain mix available.

They are so adorable and cuddly! We take pretty much every opportunity to cuddle with them!



Yes, they are cute. Yes, they are cuddly. Yes, we are going to eat them. While they are living a posh life on our little farm, we will be fattening them up for dinner. They won't be cute little lambs forever! In a few months they will look more like big sheep than sweet lambs and I don't think it'll be to difficult. Of course I say that, but I know that I don't want to be around when it all goes down.

Today they are 9 and 11 days old. Everyday they are a little bigger, a little steadier on their feet. More pictures will follow!

Maui Part II

We start our drive on the epic Hana Highway with an amazing stop: Mama's Fish House, considered the best restaurant on the island and I can attest to the fact that it is amazing! I even got a lei with dinner (insert jokes here) and a beautiful black pearl dessert.


After an amazing meal of fresh fish and nice night at the Inn, we actually got on the road. While we were in Maui we had a number of people tell us how terrible the drive was but they never really said why. Our theory was that they did the drive, a very windy 100 miles roundtrip, in one day and yes that would be kind of terrible. But we had loads of time to stop on the way. Our first stop was Na‘ili‘ili-haele (4 Waterfalls Hike)-can you tell this is the entrance to the hike?


The first waterfall was pretty easy to get to, just a short hike through an incredible bamboo forest. Then we started climbing, up ropes and make shift ladders to the other waterfalls and pools, even a bit of swimming to make it to the fourth pool! And the adventure begins!



Next stop was at the Garden of Eden Botanical Arboretum, sounds a little presumptuous right? Actually, no not really. This place was amazinginly beautiful! There were so many plants and trees that we had never seen before and they were so impressive. And at least most of the trees bearing fruit stated wheather they were edible or not, so Keith and I would know what not eat off the ground.



After we got to the end of the road in Hana and got to our amazing rental house (more about that later) we did a great little hike in the Haleakala National Park in the area known as Seven Sacred Pools, but not really the hike they want you to do.


This trail wasn't very well marked and after a bit of trespassing across a taro farm we found what we were looking for. I really have no idea of the name of the waterfall and pool where we ended up, but I do know we were only people there and had a blast!



These next pictures do absolutely no justice to the Venus Pools. After going to this pool, Keith started seriously talking about moving to Maui. The hike to this pool was a little hairy, but completely worth it. This beautiful brackish pool is both warm and cold and it is crystal clear. The roaring ocean pounding just outside the pool, and all the rugged scenery surrounding the area is absolutely breathtaking.



While in Hana we stated at the only place to stay, according to me! The Hamoa Bay House. If you can't find me, that's where I'll be! With a tree full of ripe star fruit in the front yard, an amazing view of the beach and just generally being a wonderfully relaxing place, I just want to go back!



One of the best things about our time in De Young Maui Estate was happy hour! Yes, we actually drank from coconuts and it was delicious!


We're back to reality now and all I can hope is that this suntan can keep me warm all winter long!

Maui: In two parts

Let's start with the posh bit, shall we? Because really is there any other way to describe the Ritz-Carton Kapalua? I'd say no!

With amenities that include a golf cart ride down to the beach instead of walking 2 minutes (no I never did that!) and somehow almost all the staff knows your name (I came here to get away from everyone knowing me!), you know you're some where fancy.

What to do at a fancy resort? While Keith was spending his mornings getting updated on fun things like gastroenterology, infectious diseases I had very hard decisions to make-beach or pool or beach. We had two options for beaches. The D.T. Fleming beach was part of the resort but still open to the public and one would think it would be a little crowded, but NO! Until about 10am I had that beach almost all to myself!

But because we are in Maui, I did have a slightly better choice: the Oneloa Bay beach. It was almost exactly the same distance walk from the resort AND on a very popular walking route and somehow no one and I mean no one! is on this beach! Loved it! Oh and another perk of sitting on the beach all day in Maui-you can whale watch from the beach. Just sit there and look out and you'll see humpback whales jumping out the water. It was amazing.

And of course there's the pools at the resort that were surprisingly quiet even with kids running around...or maybe it was just that I had my ipod cranked up all the way ;-)

As a slight break from laying on the beach, one afternoon we went on a small adventure to the Olivine Pools-a series of tide pools that are deep enough to swim in but it's still a little freaky because a surf with massive waves that are crashing right behind you.



Let's go back to the whales! On our last day at the resort, before we took off to do some real (kind of) adventuring, we went on a whale watch with the Pacific Whale Foundation . We saw more whales than we saw when we went whale watching in Tonga, but in Tonga we got a lot closer! Still is was amazing to see multiple sets of mama and calf whales playing and jumping out of the water!


Now, lets get as far off the beaten path as we can, while still eating as much delicious food as possible!