Snow Awesome

We've had snow two days in a row now!  I get to stay home with the boys today (Veteran's Day holiday), and Thurgood and Miles are taking full advantage of my time off.
 

We went on our morning walk at 6:30, then the boys had breakfast.  Immediately after Ben left for work, the boys demanded some playtime.  After about an hour of playing with the squeaky Kong football-tennis ball hybrid toy, I realized that they weren't going to give me any peace until we had a proper romp outside in the snow.  So, I put my snow boots on, and off we went.  Miles mostly wanted to play with his toy and chase me with it.  Thurgood opted for a walk through the woods for his second outing of the day.


This is the best toy ever.  It has an incredibly loud and long-lasting squeak, and it bounces like crazy.  It's also St. Bernard-tough.

Last "winter" in Virginia, we didn't even get enough snow to put in a globe.  Miles found a patch of ice one day on a shadowy patch of grass, and he rolled around on that little icy island like he was experiencing true ecstasy for the first time in his life.  I felt like a bad mom.  Raising Thurgood and Miles in the South was like keeping an alligator in Alaska -- generally a bad idea.

An abundance of trails to explore.

I think that all of us are excited about winter this year.  I look forward to making snow angels with Thurgood, ambushing Ben with snowballs, and watching Miles feast on fresh snow.  When my fingers freeze, I'll add some wood to the furnace and hang out with Miles while I work on a quilt.

The blueberry field this morning.

Yes, I know that the coming season will be intensely cold and challenging.  I know that I'll have to experience a full winter in Vermont before I can truly understand what the hell I've gotten myself into. But I'm not gonna be a Negative Nancy.  I'm gonna slap on some snowshoes and have me some fun. 

Freedom and Unity

We made it!  I've been trying to write this post for a few weeks now, but whenever I sit down to do anything, the boys make me get up to play with them or go for a walk.  Yes, I'm blaming my procrastination on the dogs.  

The boys love the weather, the landscape, and the house.  They have a lot more energy, and Miles' skin problems and ear infection have completely cleared up.  Must be the air.  

Miles has his own little apartment here, so he no longer has the opportunity to antagonize his brother.  But don't worry, Miles won't be lonely in there.  He said he'd lease one of the rooms to me for a sewing studio.  Thurgood is enjoying the rest of the house, and he spends his down time stretched out on the bed, occasionally lifting an eyelid to look out the window.

Thurgood Morsel

Ben and I start our new jobs on Monday.  Though we'll be working outside of the home full-time, we'll still be able to let our freak flag fly on weekends and holidays.  Luckily, both of us are thrilled about our new careers.

Now let's get to the fun part.  Our new home place has about two dozen giant old apple trees scattered about.  We arrived just in time to harvest some of the later varieties.  Two of our loveliest new neighbors helped me pick (Thank you so much!).  We ended up with four bushels total.  If we had picked all the apples, we would have enough to feed two Asian elephants for an entire year.  

Most of the apples are tart, and some are sweet - a great combination for hard cider!    There are a lot of great resources out there for the home cider maker, so I won't give you a how-to (as I rarely do anyway).  I looked to the Alaskan Bootlegger's Bible, The Homebrew Helper, and Home Brew Hard Cider from Scratch on Instructables.com.  We don't have a cider press yet, so we used our juicer.

This is our first go at hard cider, so everything is an experiment at this point.  The process is not much different than brewing beer or making fruit wine, and all of the equipment overlaps.  

Oh yeah, I never gave a final review of our fruit wines.  Both the dry and sweet strawberry wines were decent and drinkable, but not really good enough to share with the world.  The blackberry wine was a little too good to share, and our blueberry peach wine is still aging in bottles.  

If you ever get a wild hair up your ass, I strongly recommend fermenting your own beverages.  It's not rocket science, but it can make you feel like a genius.  If you can read, you can brew!

Just so you know, we haven't just been sitting around on top of our thumbs watching airlocks bubble.  We managed to plant everything we brought with us!  That's seven varieties of garlic, 105 blueberry bushes (some are in nursery rows), six pawpaw trees, and five Asian pears.  Thanks to Ben's hard work and planning, we've begun a new micro-mini farm here in Vermont.

Baby blueberry bushes

We have a lot of work to do on the house.  Luckily, the majority of it is cosmetic.  Carpet is not a good idea when you have two St. Bernards, and the kitchen counters and some of the walls are pink!  The list goes on.  I'm looking forward to chipping away at these projects.  For now, our living room is our bedroom until we paint and change the flooring upstairs.

I'm looking forward to lots of new adventures, and meeting new people.  So far, I love everything here.

We miss our friends and family, but we don't miss the stinkbugs - they came with us!

Scatterbrained

I was all over the place today, both mentally and physically.  I was a busy-body and completely unable to focus.  I wish Ritalin were available over the counter.  Here are some snapshots of my scattered day.

Mama Mourning Dove is sitting on two eggs.  She is fierce.

All three elderberry bushes are fruiting!  We planted "Variegated," "Thundercloud," and "Emerald Lace" two years ago.  Here's a photo of the "Emerald Lace."

"Thundercloud"  has pretty pink flowers.  The birds eat the berries as soon as they appear.  I will never see their glory.

I picked strawberries today!

The "Gaviota" are the first to ripen.

This puts a smile on my face.

The butterhead lettuce is enjoying the weather.

The red butterhead lettuce is ready for market.  We'll offer both red and green this week.

I'm off to feed and walk the boys now.  If they weren't around to keep me on schedule, I don't know if anything would ever get done. 

 Dog is totally my co-pilot.

Thurgood Thursday: Happy Birthday!

Thurgood Morsel turns 5 years old today.  He just gets sweeter every year.

Hiatus

We're all taking a bit of a breather here.  I'll spare you from the doldrums of our winter chores.  The greenhouse will be up and running again in a couple months.  

See you in 2012!

Thurgood Thursday: Why We Eat Watermelon Outside

If We're Gonna Starve, It Won't Be This Year

Summer has been good to us.  We dug up our sweet potatoes a little over a week ago, and it was a chore.  We had planted 200 slips, and I do believe that each and every one of them put out.

The Queen Mother (I mean the potato).

I didn't expect such an early harvest, but they were ready, indeed.  Ben had seen one poking up out of the dirt, and that was that.  I prefer them on the smaller side for baking whole, and the majority of them were just so.  However, we did have quite a few giants.  The one pictured above was the biggest.  Potatoes that size will be chopped up into fries for used in roasted root vegetable mixes.

The potatoes were cured under the carport for ten days.  During the curing process, starch is converted into sugar, and the result is a sweeter, creamier potato.  Now they're waiting in the basement for me to very gently wipe away the dirt.  Ben is building a few storage bins for them.  The bin we used last year just won't do.  We planted twice as many slips this year as we did last year, but we got about five times the potatoes.  The deer and a late frost did a number on them in 2010.  I estimate this harvest at about 1,000 taters.

Thurgood Morsel says, "I'll have mine baked and cut down the middle lengthwise with a farm fresh egg cracked on top, please."

He also says, "Get out mah face wit dat camera.  Cain't you see I'm nappin'?  Stupid biotch."

Thurgood Thursday: Just Relax Already

Thurgood Thursday: A Rant

Yes, my dogs sleep in the bed with me - if I'm lucky. They usually prefer the cooler hardwood floor.  I feed them dinner before I even think about cooking my own.   Their bowls get topped off with a joint support and digestive supplement in the form of a rich meaty gravy.

The boys visit the vet for regular check-ups and emergencies.  No, I myself do not have health insurance, and it's been several years since I've been to the doctor.  

After Thurgood had surgery to correct some eye problems, I sat on the couch with his head in my lap and read Marley & Me aloud to him.  When he cried out in pain that night, I slept on the cool kitchen floor with him and held him in my arms until morning.

We go on two walks every day, rain or shine.  When the weather permits, we go on a weekly long hike in the woods.

For Thurgood's third birthday, the boys had cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries.  Yes, those burgers were for the boys.  

When their tummies are upset, I feed them warm pumpkin to coat their stomachs.  And, although I'm vegetarian, I cook them chicken and rice.

My dogs get a warm bath every few weeks in our tub with Certified Fair Trade pure castile soap made with organic hemp and eucalyptus oils and lavender mint conditioner. We brush their teeth with chicken-flavored toothpaste every day (mostly every day).

Miles spent the first three months of his life in a puppy in Jefferson City, Missouri.  He came to me through an animal shelter, full of parasites from drinking dirty water.  There were so many animals at the mill that there was no way he could have received any significant human contact while there.   It's because of people who see animals as commodities, that Miles now has a difficult time trusting people.  If you get a dog, don't buy one from a pet store or "breeder."  Adopt, adopt, adopt!  They need our help.

The head of the house is the one with the tail.

I'm 28 years old, and my dogs are my children. 

I'll be the first to admit that I tend to go overboard when it comes to caring for my kids.  However, I will not apologize for it.  Dogs are emotional creatures.  They need to feel safe and loved.  They look to us for confidence and reassurance.  A dog's person is his everything.  My efforts are rewarded tenfold with the unconditional love that only a dog can give.   

My heart aches for the all the dogs that live their lives on the end of a chain.  All they want is to be a part of the family.  They want to be with their pack. They are sensitive, loving animals that thrive on human attention.  Dogs and humans CO-EVOLVED for crying out loud!

We live in a rural area where a lot of people keep their dogs in tiny pens or on the end of a chain all hours of the day.  Animal welfare and control services are scarce, and attitudes about animal care are all out of whack.

I understand that livestock guardian dogs live with the flock, and are not house pets.  I have no objection to that.  I do, however, object to leaving a dog outside all day on the end of a chain, bored out of his mind, wishing to come inside and be with his people.  When you call a dog your own, you are committing to provide for all of his emotional and physical needs for the duration of his life.

 No, dogs don't need fancy toys or fancy food (but they do appreciate them).  And you don't have to let your dog into your bed or even onto your couch to be  a good parent.  But, all dogs deserve adequate food, shelter, medical care, and most importantly, love.

There.  I feel better now.

Furkids rock!

Sweet Potatoes and a Lizard

It has been raining almost everyday for over a week now.  The weather has severly limited any possibilities of working in the garden.  The weeds are growing ever taller, and the grass is out of control.  At least I don't have to water anything.

 My sweet potato row

I lucked out last week and was able to get the sweet potatoes planted and mulched.  I planted 200 Beauregard slips that we ordered from Johnny's.  We are addicted to sweet potatoes in this house, and they're Thurgood's favorite.  He knows from the moment I put a raw sweet potato in the oven that he'll be getting the skin later that evening.

I found this lizard under the mailbox.  He was so well-camouflaged that I almost picked him up while I was weeding.  We have a ton of five-lined skinks out here, but I haven't seen these guys before.

Thurgood Thursday: My Dirt Dog

I've always known that farm life would suite him well.

Still Waiting

Our asparagus crowns (see post below) were shipped today instead of yesterday.  They were shipped one hour ago, to be exact.  I'm disappointed, but here are some photos of what has helped to brighten my day.

Our Chicks are Here! (The Perfect Morning)

Ben and I were eating leftover salmon and bagels with cream cheese for breakfast (part of the "perfect morning") when the phone rang.  The woman on the other end said, "This is your post office, and we've got your babies."  Her voice was sweet and very southern.  I rushed to get dressed, fed the boys, and off we went.

The girls came with straw and a heating pad.

All twelve black australorps arrived alive and well.  They were LOUD, but the sound was like music to my ears.  They probably hatched on Monday and were sent out either that same day or on Tuesday.  My Pet Chicken did a great job getting our babies here safe and sound.

The little ladies started eating and drinking within a few minutes.

I had to make a revision to our set up.  As I was reviewing all my baby chick information yesterday, I realized that it was a big mistake putting down cedar chips for bedding.  The fumes from the oils in the cedar chips can irritate their lungs and cause problems as they grow up.  Easy enough to fix.  I removed the chips and added some straw.  

Now we have to think of some names.  I don't know that we'll ever to be able to tell them all apart (though I sure will try), but they are now part of the family and need names.  The rules are: no "Blackie," no "Ebony," no "Onyx," no "Midnight,"....  You get the point.
 

After I got the girls settled in, I took the boys for a walk in the fog.  It was beautiful.  Come along.

Can we go now?

 These cows don't belong to us.  They just graze some of the pastures here on the farm.

It's been raining all week.  But after the fog cleared, the sun came out to greet us. 

 The lilacs are beginning to open.

These cows arrived recently.  The last batch has been sent off to wherever cows go after winter (I don't like to think too much about their fate.  We don't eat furry or feathered critters.)  These lovely fellows are very curious.  They're lined up at the fence in front of our house, saying hello to me and Miles.

We have three Forsythia bushes at the house, but this one is my favorite.  It's the smallest one, but it's got a lot of spunk.

The morning was glorious.  We'll see what the rest of the day brings.