News for the week

I have recovered from the craziness of last week. I actually came home from the petting barn (where I had spent hours doing the dreaded paperwork) on Sunday night & took a 30 min nap! Which I almost never do.

 Monday, I addressed the disaster- called my house. When the day was done I had vacuumed, mopped, cleaned bathrooms, and you won't believe it but I actually dusted! It's a great feeling to have a clean house!

Wednesday was our 21st Anniversary. What did we do? We lived the dream, of course! I made raspberry jelly, than we cut sugar wood together. Next we went to K3's field Hockey game (for the last 6 years we have taken the day off from our jobs and spent the day together. Every year one of the girls has a game). We finished the day by going out to dinner. On my weekly menu I had written Happy Anniversary - K1 asked if we all were going out to dinner. I told her Dad & I were - they were on their own. But actually I gave them $ to go get pizza.  It was a great day with the one I love the most!

Today, has been busy - no school. This weekend we are getting a new foster dog - Raven is a 5 yr old chocolate lab that has spent most of her life in a crate (poor baby). I will post pics & updates soon. (I know I keep promising pictures!) Sunday, we are having a baby shower in the barn (not mine) for the girls riding instructor, between everyone's lessons. Should be a good weekend!

Stop by the barn, we close for the season next weekend!

 We still have pumpkins for sale!

Winter meat shares are still available!

Our #1 goalie!

This was Pepsi in the petting barn- she looked Giant!

Black Jack is growing fast!

Super Successful Fall Fun Day!

For starters the weather was perfect - for that I am thankful.
We had around 170 people come to the fun day and they had a great time- for that I am very thankful.

• K1- worked so hard on all the posters & signs. Then spent Friday taking burdocks out of ponies.Got up at 4 am on Saturday went to work than came back to lead ponies around for two hours during pony rides! 
• K2 - who dislikes barns & animals, was there exactly when I asked her to be & helped until she had to go to work!
• K3- for organizing everyone/everything. She did lots of planning & list making ( Mark says she just like me...makes my heart swell to see her list). She got up early to come to the barn & get ready, then helped with the pony rides. My Girls are AWESOME! 
• Brandie- was a huge hit face painting, and putting feathers in hair - all day long!
• Jaime- ran the store for hours!
• Tina- made 90 hamburgers on Friday, than served food for 3 hours!
• Danny- grilled for three hours!
• Laura- helped with ponies & face painting!
• Cady- did pony rides for four hours with only a 15 minute break!
• Nancy - took pictures (which I will post when I get them) and collected $ at the pony rides.
• Jim - did all the hay rides, which were packed everytime!
• Tim- helped with the pony rides.
• Ellie- lent us her horse, Pepsi who was a perfect girl for the very long pony rides.
• Ewe & me sheep peeps- for a great display and tasty bake sale.
• Leo & Arlene for supporting us & all our crazy ideas and letting us take over their lawn & driveway for the day!

For all these people I am so Very Thankful!

After the fun was done, we all did chores. Than we went back to our house for pizza and much needed laughs, after a long day. As we were talking my sister said someone had mentioned how awesome our family was, helping each other. This past year has been crazy for Mark & I- we've missed dinners & events,and neglected our friends. Yet no one criticizes us for that. They understand a farmer has to make hay when the sun shines - no mater what! You all rock, I love you, and we could not have done this alone. 

THANK-YOU!

Eating Locally

I got the inspiration for this blog while eating my lunch: Leftover turkey (triple k farm of course!), and impossible apple pie for dessert (apples from the Simonds homestead & my mom's recipe) and realized a few things. First, it's a good thing I physically work. I think I would be over weight given the calories I eat if I sat at a desk all day, not to mention insane. Don't get me wrong, desk jobs are  ideal for some people and I am not criticizing them, they are just not for me. Secondly, I do a fair job trying to eat locally. Obviously it helps that we raise our own meat. Looking at our CSA packages I realized we eat more than a family meat share & poultry share. That's easy to do when all I have to do is go to the farm & go "grocery shopping".

One thing that really helps me is to plan my meals, and I try to do two weeks worth. The thought behind that is we don't eat the same thing as often and hopefully I can only go grocery shopping every two weeks. Last week I cooked a large ham. First we had ham & potatoes & green beans, The next night was mac & cheese with ham, after that was grill cheese with ham & soup. Not to mention ham sandwiches for lunch. I finally had to freeze the rest in serving size portions for another day!

This week was a 16 lb Turkey. Monday was a thanksgiving like feast. Tuesday was family spaghetti dinner. Tonight we are having salsa chicken turkey casserole. Tomorrow will be turkey & biscuits. By than we will be all turkeyed out!The rest will go in the freezer.

Next year I WILL plant a garden & freeze and can much more. We were buying raw milk but I admit it was a lot of work (special trip to the farm, washing all the milk jars). I need to make an effort to get back to that. If farmer Mark gets his way we will have our own milk cow eventually.

I would love to hear ways you make an effort to eat locally. I would also love any recipes using maple syrup
(we have lots of that) or meals with eggs (again I have a close source :)

Now I need to get going, it promises to be a busy weekend.  Fun Day @ the farm !!!!

Fall Harvest

Here's my list of accomplishments this fall:

• 70 meat birds in my freezer - all poultry shares sold
• 63 quarts of spaghetti sauce
• 14 pints salsa
• 9 jars of raspberry jam

Popcorn:

Pumpkins:

This is what happens when a hydrolic hose blows as you lower the bucket- it bangs to the ground & spills your load!  We have all your fall decorations for sale (pumpkins, corn stalks, hay)

Life has been field hockey games, taking care of  two & four legged creatures, and happiness. This is the most beautiful time of year. I am just in awe driving the one mile to & from the barn, although it is already fading. I went to a game in Woodstock & was disappointed that the leaves were already dull & there were bare trees.

We are getting ready for our Fall Fun Day - as of right now my personal weather man (Mark) tells me it's going to be a sunny day! Hope to see you all here at the FARM!

This is "grocery shopping." The "heavy feeders" as I call them - the meat birds, turkeys, & pigs account for most of this. I will be happy when all are in my freezer ! Who needs a gym, when I get to unload this by myself!

Sweet Nala - I just want to cover her with a baby blanket!

Whatta Week!

Farmer Mark, as we all know is obsessed with the weather (pretty much every farmer is because so much is dependent on the weather). He checks the weather in the morning with his coffee and every evening. If it looks like its going to be haying weather, he calls me every few hours to see if it has changed. SERIOUSLY!

Sunday it was determined that this was going to be a good week. We made the decision to mow all we had left. Roughly, 35 acres! Well, it helped that my nephew Jeremy called and offered to help & use some of his equipment in exchange for Mark helping with his roof. Amazingly, they accomplished both. Hay is all in the barn & roof is done. I think we were all a little nervous on Monday night when all the hay was down, his roof was open, and we knew rain was coming on Saturday. We were praying the weather was going to stay nice for the week.

Here's what it looked like for them, work on roof until dew was off, than work on hay till late afternoon, back on roof till dark.  What that met for me: chores both morning & night by myself, running Kira where she needed to be by myself  (big thanks to my favorite sis for making a SOS call to OV), running the house & everything/anything by myself. Then 5 hours of tedding on Wednesday , 5 hours of  raking on Thursday, 2 hours of raking on Friday = sunburned face and sore a** due to the fact the Grandpa tractor has zero padding! K1 was a huge help on Friday by running the petting barn  ( we had 2 preschool field trips that day!)& helping  me to unload hay while Andy & Jeremy stacked.  Phew! Mission accomplished!

What's next? Now, that haying is DONE! Firewood for our house & sugaring. We have 95% of our wood for the winter cut & split, we just need to bring it all in. We have about 1 %  of sugar wood done and that was what we did last week. A friend of mine that is a Farmer once said every fall she thinks she has enough hay & firewood, than in January she starts worrying that there's not enough of either. So True!

We continue....Livin the dream!

Notice, how appropriate Mark's shirt is.

P.S. We still have meat shares available and mark your calendar for Fall Fun Day on October 12th!

Encouragement

Everyone need words of encouragement. If you are a follower of my blog you will know that this farming adventure has had its share of ups & downs. Besides our love and belief in farming we've had lots of encouragement & support.

I am encouraged every time children visit the animals at the barn. The look of wonder & excitement they have. Then when we tell them that they can actually go in and pet the animals, that's a whole other level of excitement. Or the child that is afraid of the animals at first & I go in the pens with them and eventually they overcome their fears & love petting the animals. Many people tell me the petting barn is a wonderful opportunity for kids.

Here's some of my favorite comments:

"It's nice & clean in here"

"Your animals are so happy & healthy"

" I love what you do"

One little girl called it "The Fun Farm"

Many parents jokingly ask for a cot for their child because they don't want to leave.

My favorite was on opening day this little child asked K3 "how old do you have to be to work here?"

I also love children learning new vocabulary- picture a 3 yr old saying alpaca & chinchilla.

Our meat & poultry shares have also been a big hit.   I have been told we have THE BEST: bacon, pork chops, hamburg & chicken. My friend told me her husband said it was the best chicken he eaten & she said he's eaten a TON of chicken in his life :)

As for support I have the absolute BEST family & friends! 

Many have purchased CSA shares, buy eggs every week, or spread the word to others.

Leo & Arlene (best landlords ever) have been so supportive, starting with believing in our crazy farming idea!

My BF Lisa, sent me a letter of encouragement early on that I treasure.

I have to mention Sharon, my coworker for 7 years. She listened to all my farming ideas for years & trust me there were many. She told me I would eventually find my niche and I did!

I love you guys & THANK-YOU!

Long overdue update

Well, around here is back to school time. All the K's are suddenly very busy. K1 started @ Castleton (commutes from home), still works, and spends all her "free" time with her horse. K2 is back to Stafford in the cosmetology program, she also works & all her "free" time belongs to K boy. K3 is doing the mooselamoo program at OV. Which is a more hands on/outdoor type of learning, and she likes it much better than "regular" school. She is also the field hockey goalie. All three girls played last year, so it seems strange to only have one on the field.

Life at the petting barn is good. We have some birthday parties & field trips planned for this month. I did cut back my days to Friday - Sunday. It's really nice to be able to catch up at home.

We processed all our turkeys two weeks ago. It's a relief to have them gone. We were feeding/taking care of 5 different groups of birds 19 turkeys, 40 layers, 75 meat chicks, the chickens at the petting barn, and the pullets. The pullets are the chicks we got the first week the petting barn opened. The are getting really big, and we brought them home, so they could go outside. Can you find them in the tall grass?

Here are the meat chickens. We move them everyday. They are growing really fast. I have to say that I don't like these chickens, but boy the meat is sure good. Everyone thinks so...we sold out of our chicken shares. Next year we aim to do more. This year we processed almost 200 birds. In VT you can do up to a thousand on farm per year. We definitely have room for growth. 

We brought the two female piglets home, so they could be outside for a while. We brought a big pig to the petting barn. He was full of mud, so Mark decided to brush him. The pig loved it! He laid down like a dog wanting his tummy rubbed.

Marks favorite animals on the farm, His cows! Black Beauties calf which we call Black Jack (was going to be Ebony, but this fits better) is huge. He is going fast! We sent our Hereford steer to be processed. I got the call he was done & went to pick up the meat. Which I than unloaded by myself. Mark with his impeccable timing showed up as I was putting the last box in the freezer. Fall is the time of year to prepare for winter. We still have winter CSA meat shares available.

We made a upgrade to the farm store- very fitting....