Vege

I think it is time for a bloggy break. The farm is so busy right now and there is not much time for me to read all the other blogs I really enjoy! Enjoy your summer, I will be back at the end of August.

Endless Mountains

We drove up to the New York part of our property today to look at the blueberries and hay fields, this is an incredible view overlooking the valley. Our farm is nestled way down in there, folded safely in the hills. They call this region the "Endless Mountain" region of Pennsylvania, appropriately named. I do love it here.The salad days of summer are here. Lots of greens to be had, beautiful to eat and beautiful to look at.The thing about cheap labor is that you gotta feed them! You have to watch or they will eat all your profits.This a beautiful photo of some strawberries we shared with some friends last Sunday (Regina has all the best dishes in the world). Amelia has done some work in their gardens and you can see some fun photos of her doing some daring deeds in the garden here.

The lavender is beginning to bloom. My friend Tammy and I planted 100 lavender plants last summer, they nearly all made it through the harsh winter and are rewarding us with their beautiful smell and blossoms.

Last year we had no days on the farm with significant rain fall, we were never rained out of a day of work, so we never had days "off". These past couple of weeks have been nice with all the rain we have been having, life is going at a slower pace. It has allowed me more time in my kitchen. I have had some successes and failures in the jam making department, finally giving in to using some natural pectin after making a rather lemony, runny strawberry jam. I think we have to go pick more berries as 12 jars of this is not going to last very long. A bowl of plain yogurt mixed with a couple of spoonfuls of strawberry jam is SO good, we are already finishing our second jar! It would be terrible if we had to live off everything I can or freeze because we cannot practice moderation, especially when it comes to jam or applesauce.

With the rain I have had time to finish up Amelia's Homeschooling portfolio, which I will share highlights of after we have our review, although I have shared much of what we have done throughout the year. I also bought a big stack of books from Bob and Nancy's for next year's 8th grade curriculum- despite all the threats of sending Amelia to public school because I feel so overwhelmed, I just can't see her there. We are making some less than "waldorf" modifications to our curriculum, but I do not have it all figured out yet.

With the rain, I am able to take long walks in the woods and hills. The whole valley is in bloom with "Multi-flora Rose". It is a nasty invasive plant that redeems itself this time of the year. There is a heady rose scent to the air that makes you feel like your feet are barely touching the earth as you walk in a state of bliss.

While Jerome is at the market this morning (in the rain) Amelia and I are thinking about what special meal we can prepare for him for Father's Day tomorrow. We celebrate everything with food, forget little gifties, it is all about excellent food and maybe a good bottle of wine. Which makes me think of how excited I am about this movie coming out in August. We will also celebrate the Solstice with a reading of "Midsummer's Night Dream" by the fire tomorrow.

With the rain Amelia and I had time to make some new signs for the market, Amelia drew the sunflower and I painted the lettering on this one.
Have a good rest of the weekend and I hope you find ways to fill all your rainy days.

Strawberries and Storms

I am such a bad blogger because today Amelia and I went and picked over 25 lbs. of strawberries and I did not take one photo. I made some jam and put some berries in the freezer and hope to be making more jam tomorrow (hopefully I will get at least one photo of my jam). I just get so caught up in the moment and often forget to take photos.

While I was inside making jam, the sky went very dark, the temperature dropped very suddenly, and then we were bombarded with hail. It was the longest hail storm I have ever been in, it just kept falling and falling. I am not sure we will be able to sell anything at the market this week (or for a while) because all the leaves of lettuces and chards and kale...etc. were ripped and damaged. I have to go and really access the damage tomorrow morning. Then just like that the storm parted and it was all blue skies and happiness once again.Here are some photos I took of the garden the other morning (before the storm)

Happenin's

The final push to get everything into the ground is nearly finished, I am beginning to breathe. It seems like a busy couple of weeks of nothing happening and everything happening at the same time.(We are up to six hives now, mache, strawberry-rhubarb compote, new bumper sticker)

This evening after chores I spent some time picking chamomile in a very unexpected place- in an abandoned chicken run. Now that we have our chickens out on pasture, we have this empty chicken run. Because I do not wear my glasses outside I never noticed until this evening that it was full of chamomile (boy, does that stuff spread!). Now we should have enough for tea for next winter's long cold evenings.
The kittens came out to help Amelia pick flowers with me. They are growing so much. There are only four left out of the five; one had to be put to sleep because he became paralyzed after we found a tick on him...but you can't stay sad for long with four bouncy kittens around.

(Ribby, Tabitha Twitchet, Moppet, and Mittens[aka, Pygmalion or Pig-man for short])

Hope

We had a terrific thunderstorm in the middle of the night last night. The kind that startles you awake and leaves you lying in bed anxious but feeling so safe snuggled down deep inside your favorite duvet. We all woke up a little late this morning but feeling the whole world was renewed and refreshed. I am hoping this brings a better week than the ones we have been having lately. Everything looks so lush this morning, a feeling of hope.

It has been a couple of rough and busy weeks on the farm. There is so much happening NOW, with little time to play. It is hard to stay in a pleasant state of mind, especially with the ones with whom you live, work, school, eat every meal with- all day, every day. Here, we are all working in the garden; Jerome and Amelia crabbed at each other the whole time! They were driving me crazy. (A photo to remember the good with the bad):Right now it feels like we have chosen the most difficult life path to follow. We need balance.

We did have friends over for dinner one night this week. Whenever anyone comes to visit it really helps us to see things through their eyes: the farm IS so beautiful, we HAVE a beautiful life, I DO have a beautiful, lovely family. It is not always easy to remember that.

On top of the busy-ness of life, last week I was trying to capture two horses who escaped their paddock. One of them had got himself into the goats' stall and was causing much mischief, when I got his lead around his neck he stepped on my foot. OUCH!! I went to the emergency room a couple days later and it turns out my little toe is fractured in several places, with tendon and nerve damage done to the top of my foot. All this makes for a miserable me...I tried to be in good spirits and carry on with farm work, but I have really overdone it this week. Here I am not slacking on the job, but resting in the back of the pick-up truck, after loading and unloading the truck a couple times. Still, I manage to smile (albeit creepy and sarcastic).

Someone invited me to a "Women in Sustainability" conference and I told them it would be completely hypocritical as "I am not sustainable, I just cannot keep going on like this...". Why do I do it all? :

Newest Farm Friends (Cuteness alert!)

Spring on the farm means baby animals everywhere. The cat who was abandoned on our farm gave birth three weeks ago to five precious kittens.

Amelia's rabbit Nightshade gave birth a few weeks after she escaped and spent a love filled evening under the stars with Rupert (who was married last July to another rabbit). She has 7 sweet little bunnies who spent the day out frolicking in the grass. Squeeee!

Tuesday Morning we got a phone call from our post office telling us we had a package to pick up...19 little ducklings!! I love this kind of mail.I so love the richness of life that animals on the farm bring to us, thank you friends.