Aaaahhh.....FROST!

Most of the people I talk to are disappointed when the weather starts getting cold. They wish that summer would last longer. I have always enjoyed the season changes here in Minnesota, and they seem to come at just the right time....well, for me anyway! When I've had all I can take of processing food, Jack Frost is a welcomed friend in my yard. :) If I had to survive on the food that I grow, I am sure I would not feel this way, but for now, we are ready to be done gardening.

We considered not covering anything in the garden, but then decided we'd keep the basil and the cherry tomatoes a little longer. We still have some of the cold hardy vegetables in the garden - beets, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, and lettuce. We also have bushels of peppers, squash, and some cucumber in the cellar for the market. Since our Farmer's Market runs through October, we will continue to sell vegetables and then store what's left in our root cellar for the winter.

We will be butchering on the next six Fridays. I sure wouldn't mind some warmer days on those dates! :) We have decide to run the full market for those two Fridays in November, since there will be so many people coming out. So Friday, November 12th, will be the last day that you can visit the farm this year. Then it will be time to relax and get fat........I wish! :)

Once the market is over for the year, we'll have time to get our butchering done. We will process some of our ewes, a pig, and hopefully some deer. Then I will be busy rendering lard and tallow, and making soap. :) We should finish everything just in time for the holiday season! :) .....then we'll relax! :) January and February are usually pretty quiet on the farm, other than getting seeds started. In March we start making maple syrup, and after that it's "hold on to your hats, here we go again!!!!!" Do I sound like I am complaining? :) I'm really not (although I do that sometimes), actually I am feeling quite optimistic (probably due to the recent frost). :)

I've reasoned that I love the farm so much because I am a person who likes change. The mundane is always interrupted with the unexpected on the farm. That's exciting! It may be that an animal is going into labor or an animal is outside the fence, either way, you stop what you are doing and change course suddenly. Nothing stays the same for too long....keeps life interesting! :)

For now I am working on getting my last batch of pesto made, canning pumpkin butter, making elderberry syrup, and some tinctures and salves. Soon we will be picking apples, some we will store in the root cellar, and the "not so beautiful" apples will make great applesauce. After that, we will look forward to a freeze! Then we will hit the books hard and enjoy some ice skating! :)

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Well, Brandon turned 18 today.... wow! Time goes fast. We celebrated it the Saturday before and, of course, the day started out with the traditional breakfast-in-bed. Brandon had buckwheat pancakes, bacon, and a nice hot cup of coffee for his breakfast. Yum! After that, he and Mom went out for coffee and went to the flea market, Brandon's favorite shop. :) While they were gone, me (Emily), Ben, and Jonny made Brandon's cake and made our cards for him. :) After Brandon and Mom got back, we had some lunch and then opened gifts. Then we were off to the gravel pit to do some shooting, which was lots of fun, of course! After a few hours of that, we came home and had a delicious meal of brats roasted over the campfire.... and some root beer. :) We usually watch a movie on Birthdays, and so this time we watched an old movie..... Brandon's Birth! It was so fun. By the time the movie was over, it was really late, so we all went to bed. But the next day we continued the celebration after church. :) I made some pizza and wild grape juice and we watched another movie.... "Brandon's 1st Birthday Part". It was great. Then we wrapped it all up with some chocolate cake.

Brandon is really something else. :) Our family just wouldn't be complete without him. :) Here is a poem I wrote for his Birthday:

In 1992, On October 5th,

There was born a little boy,

20 inches in width.

Cute and Charming,

Cuddly and Sweet,

Before Mama knew it,

He was up on two feet.

Cowboys became his passion,

He loved to play with guns,

Cowboy hat, boot, chaps and all,

It was so much fun!

Then he started a business,

"Brandon's Eggs" it's name,

Everyone loved the "egg boy"

and everywhere spread his fame.

As Brandon grew his interests changed,

Soon it was small engine repair,

He fixed up junk, ran in derbies,

And very well did fare!

Now it's Brandon's Birthday,

2010, October 5th,

He's not that charming baby anymore,

He's now 6'3 in width!

From cowboy hat to welding mask,

He sure has gotten old,

And where he will end up next,

Is yet to be told!

No longer does he don,

His chaps, boots, and cap,

But today he's turned 18,

And wears a birthday hat!

So Happy Birthday Brandon,

I hope you have a fun day,

And may God send many, many blessings....

In your way!

Where are all the posts?

It's really hard to find time for blogging during this season. :) The days are busy with picking or processing some food. Washing, chopping, blanching, freezing, canning, drying......it seems to be all we do these days. There is a good side and a bad side to everything in life. Fall is the time when farmers find out what they are really made of! It all looks glamorous when it is growing beautifully in the garden all summer long, but then the day of reality hits!
This is the time of year when I ask myself, "Why are we doing this? This is too much work!!!!" It happens every year! :) Then I have to remind myself about how gratifying it is to open a jar of homemade tomato soup for lunch on a cold winter afternoon. And even more encouraging than that is the thought that I am feeding my children foods, and teaching them about foods, that are going to give them a foundation of good health all throughout their life.

Not only is the farm busy, but we have also started school which completely fills up the schedule. So all that to say, sorry there haven't been many posts lately. .....looking forward to our first frost! :)

Mr. Butter Knife

Jonny's butter knife won first place in the "Twelve and under Wood Crafts" division at the Meeker County Fair!

Hi, my name is Jonny and I make butter knives to make money, so if you want one we're 4.5 miles north of Dassel. They are made out of red ceder. This is how I make them, first I get a cedar limb and then I have my dad cut it into small lats. Then I trace out my butter knives on the lats. Then I get my jigsaw and cut them out. After they are cut out, I get a belt sander and sand them into their shape. Then I sand them by hand until they are smooth. The last thing I do is oil them with coconut oil. After that I sell them to you! :)

KITTENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by, Emily

(Lady and her kittens)

(Kitten nursing)

Here on the farm one of my jobs is to milk the goats..... 7:00 in the morning and 7:00 at night. Last Tuesday, on the 10th, when I finished up milking, I paused to pet Lady before I left. She was getting BIG and pregnant. I like to feel her stomach, 'cause sometimes I can feel the kittens in there! Well tonight I noticed that her milk bags seemed really full...... hmmm! So when I left, I half-jokingly said, "See you in the morning, Lady, and I expect to find at least 5 kittens with you... good luck!" I didn't really expect anything. :)

Now every morning since Lady has been pregnant, I always hold my breath when I open the door, just hoping she isn't there..... which would mean she's off having her kittens somewhere. And every morning I open the door, and there she is, sitting there waiting for me, with what looks like a big grin on her face. :) So this morning I again was hoping she wasn't there. Slowly I opened the door.... just waiting for her daily "meow!" as if she'd been waiting for me all night! :) (Or maybe it's the milk she's waiting for..... not me.) :) She wasn't there. I stepped out of the milk room into the barn and looked around. No Lady. So I walked excitedly towards the pen where her cat house is, but first glanced into the goat pens.......... there, in the corner, through the fence I saw a little, tiny gray head......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I rushed into the pen ....... there was Lady all cuddled up, with five, yes, FIVE, ADORABLE, KITTENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was SOOOOOOOO thrilled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After admiring them for a couple minutes, I raced neck-break speed to the house and screamed to everyone that Lady had her kittens!!! Well, me and Jonny then went back out to the barn and while we were sitting there petting the little fur-balls, suddenly I glanced over, and here Lady had ANOTHER KITTEN while we were sitting there.... right in front of our eyes.... and we didn't even see it! I've always thought it was interesting how when goats and sheep kid/lamb they always act like they're dying - pushing and groaning and maaing at the top of their lungs, while you can't even tell that cats are in labor.... no noise.... you can't even tell they're pushing! I couldn't believe it! We watched breathlessly! It wasn't moving and certainly didn't look very....... alive..... :/ Lady reached back and started licking it. I was scared, excited, and worried all at once.... then it moved......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "IT'S ALIVE!" I was ...... well, beyond happy!!! They are now a week and a day old and doing absolutely WONDERFUL! They are the healthiest, fattest, happiest little kittens I ever saw! And speaking of healthy, as a side note, these kittens are 100% organic. :) I never feed Lady any cat food. She gets goat milk, eggs, oatmeal, raw meat, as well as gophers, mice, and sparrows. And she is very healthy! Lady has never gotten sick or had any diseases! So anyways, there is two dark orange boys, one all-gray boy, one all-gray girl, one gray and brown striped girl, and one light orange girl!!!! :) SO CUTE!!!
If anyone wants to reserve one, better do it quick, 'cause they go really fast!!! My last batch of kittens.... actually all my batches of kittens, sell really fast! In fact, my friend Shiphrah already reserved the gray and brown striped girl .... and her brother might get one too. :)
Cute, cute, cute!!! :)

Offering Another Cooking Class

Our cooking with herbs class was really fun. Unfortunately the weather prevented us from talking about all the herbs we were planning to talk about in the herb garden, but we did get a few in before it started to rain hard. Our AC unit struggled to keep up with the twenty-one bodies (plus my husband, the camera guy, my sister, Em, and myself) and my hot oven, but we managed. The weather was very sketchy outside, with tornado watches/warnings in the area, but we were happily cooking away without a thought about the storms. :) We did have one person who cancelled, leaving a message on my phone saying they were in their basement seeking cover and would not be attending the class. :)
When we started planning our class, we decided we would put a second date on the calendar for the class just in case we had more people that wanted to sign up than we had room for in my kitchen. Well, that has been the case! So we are now planning to offer the class again.
This class in scheduled for Tuesday, August 17th from 6:30-9pm. As of today, I have six people signed up. I only have room for about twenty, so if you really want to come don't wait to sign up.
I don't think we will offer this class again this year because we are planning to do a class on "Preparing Herbal Remedies for the Cold and Flu Season" this fall. Although if there is still lots of interest we may try to squeeze one in.
As I mentioned, we did video tape the class and will make that available at our Farmer's Market and through mail order. I am skeptical though, as to how the video will turn out. It's hard to make a video when you are teaching a class. It would have been better to do the video alone because there were lots of side conversations during the class, but we may be able to edit it enough to make it somewhat professional....we'll see!
We have been thinking about offering other classes too. Mike and I had talked (last winter) about offering a class on making maple syrup, but we were not prepared enough, so we may offer the class next spring. But if there are other classes that would be helpful to you please let us know and we will see what we can do. It is our goal and passion to teach others how to better take care of themselves and how to become more self-sufficient. ;)

Kool-Aid!

We grow strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries here on our farm. The strawberries and blueberries get eaten fresh and the rest get frozen for kefir smoothies. We also enjoy eating the raspberries fresh, but raspberry jam has become a family favorite too.
When I make jam, I usually end up with a few berries leftover that I didn't need for my batch. They get put into the refrigerator, nibbled on some more, and then the day comes when they look less than desirable and nobody wants to eat them anymore. Well, before those berries start to grow mold, you can make them into a yummy treat for your family - KOOL-AID!
Let me explain..... One day I took those old raspberries, put them into a pot with water and let them simmer for a long time. Then I poured them through a strainer and put the juice back into the pot. After that, I added sugar and let it simmer until it got a bit more like syrup. Voila - raspberry flavoring!
Add some to a glass of water and you have raspberry water, or what Mike calls "Kool-Aid"! :) It's very yummy and a great way to keep kids hydrated on hot days without the use of fake sugars, preservatives, and dyes! It's the best!
I have also made it with the apricots we find on the ground under our apricot tree. I am sure any fruit would work. Experiment and enjoy! :)

P.S. You really do not need a recipe for this.......you can't go wrong. ;)