"Gypsy gold does not chink and glitter. It gleams in the sun and neighs in the dark."

~ Saying of the Gladdagh Gypsies of Galway


Monday, May 7, 2012

Harvest Monday, May 7, 2012


Hooray!

I am back on the band wagon with Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions!


Though it isn't much yet, the past two weeks I have been harvesting bunches of lovely Spinach from a raised bed hubby planted in late winter!

My scale battery is dead, of course, so I haven't been able to weigh in my harvest thus far.

I have also been enjoying tons of fresh herbs from my herb garden. The dill is coming in nicely, and as of late, I have been using some of the orgeano, thyme, chives and sage! I plan to get a jump start on drying out my herbs this year too!

Be sure to hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions and check out other gardener's harvests for the week!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Weekly Meal Plan: a little bit of everything!


Sunday: Roast Beef and Mashed Potatos & Pan Gravy
Leftovers were lunch the next day! I also mixed some horseradish in with sour cream for dipping sauce.

Monday: Fritatta and Bacon
We stuffed the fritatta with spinach from the garden, onions and some cheese. Mondays are quickly becoming our 'Breakfast for Dinner' day of the week!


Wednesday: London Broil on the grill with Roasted Cauliflower

Thursday: Soy marinated Pork Chops on the grill

Friday: Brats & Sauerkraut on the grill
I am sure these brats were loaded with MSG among other things - ugh - since we are working our diets away from all that 'garbage', I am excited to get sausages through a local buying club were are starting this week with a local farmer! There is no msg or any other nastys added in them! More on that later!!

Saturday: In honor of Cinco de Mayo, Beef & Cheese Burritos!



Saturday, May 5, 2012

Why I Won't Be Drinking a Julep


I am re-posting this from last May.


The Horse Racing industry is not a glamours place for a horse to be. 
I will not be supporting the derby this weekend.


At the time of publishing this blog post, this girl stands in the #10 feedlot at the Camelot Auction in New Jersey praying someone saves her from slaughter and gives her a good home. She is the great granddaughter of Secretariat and grand daughter of Thunder Gulch -- she raced 7 times and won -- but none of that matters now. Now she is facing slaughter....unless an angel steps up to give her a wonderful forever home.

Seriously. DO NOT SUPPORT HORSE RACING. Trust me when I tell you, behind the scenes is not Juleps and Pretty Hats for the horses.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Say What?




It's FRIDAY!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Coop Remodel


Our farm had a 'semi-dilapitated' poultry-of-some-sort coop in place when we moved in 4 years ago. We have heard stories from neighbors that all kinds of things from chickens to pigeons have been housed here.


So this past weekend, hubby got to work on fixing it our for our ladies since I want them out of our spare bathroom ASAP :) In the process of discussing the 'remodel', we also discussed how an outdoor brooder can be set up in the coop barn to accomodate any future chicks welcomed here on the farm - thus not to share my spare bathroom with poultry any more.


The coop is housed at one end of a metal barn type of structure. In the past we've used it for hay storage, atv storage and anything else that was homeless :)


View from inside the coop -- you can see it's pretty nasty!

Hubby raked out the old nasty dirt and bedding and then he and our niece and nephew shoveled it into the tractor to be disposed of.


Hubby assiting our niece off the tractor.

He then had to elevate the ground and fix some of the foundation as their were gaps making it way to easy for a hungry coon to stop by for a snack. Once he took care of that, he brought in fresh dirt and filled the coop floor, tamping it all down. We'll lay down shavings for bedding before the ladies move in.

Shamless Child Labor

He's been busy ever since working on additional renovations, such a a skylight :) Stay tuned for more Coop Updates.



Wednesday, May 2, 2012

More Fruit Trees


We have bit the bullet and are finally adding some more fruit trees to our orchard.
This has been something we have wanted to do since we moved in and started maintaining it. But, for various reasons, we just haven't. Until now.

And of course we can't just buy fruit trees and be done with it. There has to be a story involved.


Almost 2 weeks ago, I was at a local store doing some shopping. They had a small bunch of fruit trees for sale on their sidewalk. I told hubby about it and suggested that if he had time the following day, after he cashed his paycheck, that he should swing by and see if there are any he likes and can fit in his van to bring home.

The next day, on his way to check out the trees, he called me. He wanted to know how many he should get and what kinds. Does anyone else ever have this problem with their husband? He knows the answers to the questions, yet it just NEEDS to you tell him anyways.

So, to make a long story short, the crutch of our conversation was that he was to purchase no more then 4 trees, and whatever he chose to get, at least get a cherry tree. I have a lot of inquiries from people interested in cherries. You got that - CHERRY TREE.
Get.a.cherry.tree.

So of course, he had to call me again, while he was there, staring at the trees, to tell me the different varieties available. The crutch of this conversation was 'Sure, a Bradford Pear tree sounds good, definitely snatch one of those Winesap Apple trees and GET A CHERRY TREE'.

You guessed it. He called me...AGAIN...after he made his purchase.
He bought 8 trees, none of which were a CHERRY TREE.

I am sorry, what part of our 900 conversations did he not understand?

He bought 2 Winesaps - check
He bought the Bradford Pear trees - check
He purchased an additional 4 trees - plums & peaches, no cherries - no check.

These 8 trees better grow freaking $100 bills!

Oh wait, those Bradford Pear trees that I told him to get [as in, he only bought them because I told him to, but I also said GET A DAMN CHERRY TREE, and he didn't], yeah, those Bradford Pears aren't an edible Pear!

This is rather hilarious since we try to consider ourselves fruit farmers.

So I returned the Pear Trees and bought my FREAKING CHERRY TREES.
And now, the new dilemma begins - just where do we want to plant them.

Ladies, please raise your hand if your husband puts you through ridiculous, unnecessary charades of the likes. Male readers - I apologize in advance for any sterotype that has evolved from this blog post.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Farm Mornings


Just in case you were wondering how weekday mornings flow on the farm....


They usually involve some kind of husband-self-induced chaos.
As in, he can't keep himself on a schedule if his life depended on it and even if he wakes up early, he finds something to cause him to be running late by the time he needs to be out the door and then he frantically tears through the house trying to find socks and his coffee.

Today he decided, at 6:45 am, that he needed to rescue an innocent baby bunny that the Farm Manager had freshly plucked from its nest. I assume this is a sibling of last weeks potluck party she had. (I am sorry, was that wrong?)


So he was the bunny's hero. He rescued it while the farm manager watched his every step. And he walked back out to an area we presume it came from.


And now you see why there is no hope. Whenever an animal needs rescued...whenever I call him about a horse I saw at an auction...if I brought it home, it stays 'home'. The man is in denial about his animal whispering skills. While most significant others are constantly harping 'No more animals', mine welcomes them. I am doomed! And he proceeded to tell me how cute that bunny was. I think he wanted to 'keep' it. *Sigh*