I Need You in My Life

I don't think I can go another day without owning a Great Pyrenees. If anyone visits my future farm you'll probably find a pack of them with me as their leader.

Goodbye Andrew!

Sadly, our second year student (read mentor, food orderer, mediator, community organizer, sunday morning breakfast maker and question answerer) is leaving us to work with Nate onCrimson and Clover Farm. We threw him what was supposed to be a surprise (didn't work out so well) going away party on Thursday night. We cooked up some beef stew, churned ginger ice cream and even scraped together a few presents.

At the NOFA conference, Lee bought Andrew this antique scythe. Very awesome.

Josh gave Andrew a women's t-shirt with a sequin flower. Also very awesome.

We gave Andrew the dishes that have been sitting in the basement and are very likely possessed by a ghost. Also, I take full credit for the amazing duct tape bow.

Hay

All that hay for 20 days. Amazing how much cows will eat. And how they'll turn that into delicious meat and poop.

Betsy and Olivier have a bet going that we won't run out of hay. Even though we ordered this, Olivier is technically winning since we still have some of our own in the loft. Hopefully this will turn out better than the time Betsy bet Justin he wouldn't make it down to Virginia before midnight and charged him a nickel for every fifteen minutes he was over.

Prospective Students

We've had a good time hosting prospective students this fall. It's fun to see the type of people interested in this program and meeting so many folks from different walks of life who also want to take a year off from the 'real world' and live on a farm together. This week I had my first person come up to me and say that she had read my blog. Not only did it make me feel like a superstar, it also let me know that besides this being a place for funny pictures of sheep and an outlet for typos, but it's also a helpful tool in recruiting people to such a wonderful place.

In that vein, if anyone is reading this and is interested in farming, or The Farm School (or more funny pictures of sheep) I invite any questions, no matter how mundane. I remember this summer when I was packing and kept wondering if the beds were normal or extra long like in college and therefore what sheets I should bring. So, any and all questions are welcome.

In other news, we erected the beginning of our timber frame this afternoon. So exciting! Pictures to come.

Welding

Another one of our winter classes is welding. It's really fun to learn, mostly because you can make sparks fly really far just like in the movies.

We have independent projects over the summer and I'm thinking about using my new skills to make one of these:

Yes, that's right. A giant steel ball with fire inside. Amazing.

Wool Part 1

Over the month of January, we've had a number of fiber arts workshops. It's a lot of fun to get to work with the wool from our own sheep. Sadly, we're using wool from 2009 and since the shearer isn't scheduled until April, I doubt that the current sheep's wool will be very good (lots and lots of hay crumbles).

We started by skirting the wool, which involves picking out manure, brambles and hay. Then it gets washed which is honestly pretty gross.

We got to pick what colors to dye ours and I chose a variety of greens and yellows. It came out quite nice if you ask me, but I'm probably biased. After carding it, I'm going to spin it and knit it into a hat. More to come on my adventures with the spinning wheel!

Winter Eating

You would think that living on the farm would mean delicious, nutritious food all the time. Not so, sadly, at least for these winter months. Our hoop house, which was supposed to provide greens during the winter, bit the dust in a storm this past fall. Only the carrots and some baby spinach survived. Since we have 1,500,000 carrots in our root cellar already, we would have happily them in for some of the endive or broccoli rabe that we planted.

Theo and I are house sitting for two weeks and are taking advantage of an excuse to eat off the farm. So, I bring you the mesclun/ sprouts/ smoked salmon/ mango/ avocado/ grapefruit/ goat cheese salad of champions. Every nutritional component not delivered through turnips, parsnips, potatoes or carrots. Delicious!

Conference Time!

We're headed to Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York's conference for the weekend. Hopefully it'll be a fun, informative weekend. More to come on my return!

Snowy Owl

Can you spot the owl that is snowy? I can't either since this picture was taken on my phone. But it was really pretty in snowstorm #1452 of the winter.

Whoops

My editor-in-chief (my mom) informed me that one is not in the throws of winter, but in the throes of it. Top prize to whoever figures out what a throe is.

Its that time of year...

For seed catalogs! Even though we're in the throws of winter and it's snowed pretty much all week, continuing tomorrow, our heads are filled with varieties of tomatoes, which kale to plant and how many carrots we need. It's been pretty exciting to go through our crop planning sessions and see the whole plan for the vegetable operation materialize. We're gone for the month of February, but when we get back we'll begin seeding right away. I'm looking forward to our first harvest in June!

The Phantom of the Sheep

Here are my guesses. Either the sheep were putting on a production of Phantom of the Opera for the horses, cows and chickens or this sheep just lost the brown vs. white sheep snowball fight of 2011.

Let There Be Doors!

Olivier, in our winter farm carpentry workshops, informed us that we would be building new barn doors for the lower barn. I never would have thought that I possessed the skills to do something quite that cool, but it turns out that I do. We built a frame, added the fancy diagonal panelling and used a jigsaw to cut out space for windows. Olivier taught us how to use a router for the shelf for the windows to sit on and we used chisels to even out the corners. All would have gone well if we'd actually been good at math. Instead of counting correctly, we spent and extra two hours frustrated because the opening was too small for our panes of glass. In the end, we finished both doors and had time to hang the first one up. So pretty!

Only one door! So sad!

Sophia with the jigsaw:

Success!

The Creepy White Line

We had one of the best weekends in a while. Nat, Rebecca and Anthony came up for Josh's Eggnog Party. Very eggnogy, very fun, very good food. Also, a very rousing game of Settlers of Catan.

We finished the night with a huge fire behind the bunkhouse and the very good idea to go contra-dancing. We drove out to Springfield at 9, got there a bit before 10, and were thrown into a situation none of us were expecting or quite prepared for. We decided that contra-dancing is what the world would be like if the south and the hippies had won their wars. Look it up on you tube because words just don't do it justice.

It was, however, really quite enjoyable. Rebecca, Nat and I all danced with varying levels of skill and self-embarassment. Theo even waltzed with me at the end (which was slightly terrifying and and uncoordinated to say the least).

We rounded out the evening with a beer at People's Pint and rocked out in the car on the way home.

This morning, it was eggnog challah french toast, pork sausage and a sad farewell to our friends. Nat had brought us a pair of snowshoes from home, so Theo and I went on a bit of an adventure in the late afternoon sun.

We were happily walking along when, out of nowhere, a white string appeared across the path in front of us. A creepy, creepy white string that extended across the trail in both directions, about waist height and looking very deliberately set up. I was convinced that if we touched it, a giant rope net would scoop us up and ewoks would come out of the woods with spears.

Theo finally convinced me that that probably wouldn't happen and we ducked under and continued on our way. About 300 yards later, we came upon another one and took it a sign to head back.

If anyone knows anything about said creepy string, we are very curious and would love thoughts of what it is. I believe a deer probably grabbed a spool of thread in his mouth and went on a jolly jaunt through the woods. Thoughts?

Snowy!

A photo essay of how chores in the snow disintegrated into play time in the snow.

Snowy horses:

Snowy cars:

Snowy Barn:

Snowy Theo head:

Snowy Emily climbing into the sheep manger headfirst:

Snowy Theo helping snowy Emily climb into the sheep manger headfirst:

Snowy sheep eating hay from their manger:

Snowy Theo laying on snowy sheep eating hay from their manger:

The End!

Onions!

Grow onions!

We spent yesterday afternoon figuring out the profit margins from vegetables. To make 50,000 gross income on 2 1/2 acres, you need $500 per bed. Onions give you $1,200! Woot!

Assuming, of course, that you can sell all of them...

Every time we do this, I feel this hope welling up in me that farming will, in the end, turn out to be secretly very profitable. Alas, that is never, ever the case.

Animals and Engines Are Actually The Same

WARNING: Graphic images of animal and engine internal parts. If you can't handle a combustor and/or rumen, stop reading now.

It's a little known fact that animals and engines are actually the same thing. What follows is a photo essay illustrating such.

We dissect both of them:

We inspect both of them:

And the carburetor and rumens mix up fuel (and air) and transfer it into other forms of energy.

In conclusion, there's no discernible difference between the two.

Chicken Livers!

In one of the best treats of the holidays, my cats got to spend a few days living in my parents barn. I was able to see them whenever I wanted which was amazing. What precipitated this was inviting Rebecca and Anthony to New Years- never travel with your cat sitters! Just kidding: we had our third amazing New Years together.

When we got home with Hobbes and Pippin (Hobbes is the closer one and no, they're not related), it turns out that Mom had some chicken livers from Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds. They turned into a Christmas treat for some very happy cats. Hobbes was so excited he couldn't choose his bowl or Pippin's.

Also, in big news, they caught their first mouse while we were gone!

Tenderloin?

Right when we got home from the farm, Theo and I volunteered to cook a big dinner the one night the whole family would be home. As we don't have unlimited access to meat here, we opted for some good old fashioned beef.

So commenced the hunt for grass-fed beef. It's good to know that there's a serious market in the greater boston area for it, since it was impossible to find. No Whole Foods around us had it and all they could offer was grass-fed lamb from New Zealand (talk about a carbon footprint!).

We finally found some at a small shop downtown. While paying, I asked where the beef was from. Lo and behold, he tells us it was from Adam's Farm. The same Adam's Farm that we can see from our farm.

I had a few competing thoughts at that point: I'd seen their pastures and wasn't super impressed, I'd seen their cows and wasn't super impressed, and I knew their reputation and wasn't super impressed. What to do, what to do.

We bought it anyway and served up a great dinner of tenderloin with bone marrow, swiss chard souffles, braised leeks, garlic mashed potatoes and tiramisu. But I really can't wait until I have my own farm where I know how everything is raised and don't have to hesitate at the cash register.

Remoras Are Pretty Awesome

Who knew? Remoras attach themselves to the bottom of sharks and eat the scraps that are left behind. Apparently, they also really like bread. Awesome.

Caribbean Getaway

Theo and I had the most amazing/exciting/relaxing/enjoyable/etc vacation ever. We went with my family to the BVI and spent ten days sailing, swimming, snorkeling and celebrating the holidays.

I had meant to catch up with things I wanted to write before I left but never got around to it. I did, however, clean out my room at my parents house for the first time in years so that counts for something. The next few days might be a bit of a mash of vacation and farm related stuff as I catch up.

We decorated the boat for Christmas (there was a tree down below but we didn't get a picture).

After carols on Christmas Eve, we had our traditional sweet rolls (quite a feat when cooked in a galley!) on Christmas morning. We did a secret santa this year instead of lots of presents. I got Anomia from Mom, a new card game which is really really fun.

Theo and I spent Christmas day collecting firewood. Nothing like limbing and bucking on a beach!

After grilled lamb chops for a mid afternoon dinner (so good!), we built a fire for hotdogs and s'mores. Quite the Christmas.

On New Years Eve (locally called Old Years Night) we went to a great beach party. A local artist makes huge steel figures (this idol was complemented by giant balls and cubes), fills them with wood and lights them on fire for New Years and Full Moon festivals. Right at midnight what you see below was doused in kerosene and lit. The circles were fire crackers and behind all this were torches. All was well and good, except the wind was blowing from the water right onto the beach. We spent the first few moments of 2011 dodging smoke and embers.

We're Back!

Our Winter Break was also a break from writing because this happened:

Not just the pelican landing (and pooping) on the boat, but a spectacular vacation. Theo and I are currently doing laundry, getting used to the cold again and heading back to the farm. More to come!