As soon as Christmas was over, the chickens decided it was spring and started laying. We don’t usually get that many eggs so early in the year. They were such beautiful shades of pink and brown I had to get a picture. My little lettuce plants are finally just big enough to start getting salads. …
Author: toadstoolsfairyrings
Explorer Off
Sampson and Nutty, the two biggest bulls now, spar to see who’s the biggest Some big changes have happened recently – we lost Night Hawk, we got a new buck (he’s even stinkier than before – the girls are still not going for it), and our big bull Explorer went off to a new farm…
Yarn Along: Wrist Warmers with Colorwork
Rug space in front of the window is in really high demand It’s been awhile since I’ve picked up any knitting. I think it took that long for my brain to recover from the anaesthesia. For a few weeks now I’ve been glancing at my yarn stash, wondering when I would feel up for it…
Biggest Billy Goat Gruff
On Thursday we went to see the buck. He’s big, beautiful, and very friendly. The family who raised him is having to move, and they are very sad to say goodbye to him. He’s also extremely smelly – just how a buck should be. When we got him to the farm, we first…
Not a Quiet Day
Friday was NOT a quiet day, after all. It turned out to be a constant-fun type of day. I’m not even sure what I was thinking writing that. I hardly got to knit very much, and it stopped raining. We had friends we hadn’t seen for awhile come over in the morning, and overlap with…
Quiet Day
It’s raining this morning, so we will probably have a quiet day today. Some out-of-town friends are going to be visiting this afternoon. Yesterday we went to look at a new buck. He was beautiful, and I think we will buy him. He’s already grown-up and knows what to do, which is kind of what…
Goodbye Night Hawk
Something very sudden, and very sad happened this week. Night Hawk, our little buck, became very, very ill suddenly and died. I believe he had Stargazing, or goat polio – not a contagious disease, but caused by a vitamin B1 deficiency. He was growing, in appearances in good health, although he seemed behind developmentally. He…
Signs and Portents
This is gruesome…but an interesting story. Ethan had dropped me and the girls off at the gate on the way in to the farm, because they like to walk along and look at Star’s piglets. They were lingering, loitering, moving very slowly, and I had a lot I wanted to get done, so I ran…
New Year’s Calamondin Cake
Welcome 2016!!! We had a wonderful New Year’s Eve dinner with my family. We had a big ham bone from a ham Ethan brined, so I made the traditional Southern New Year’s meal: Black-eye peas (with the ham bone), cornbread, and greens (turnip greens this time – I think they are supposed to…
Unfriending
We finally caught this raccoon who has been raiding the dog food – another unwelcome guest! I just had to unfriend someone after a decade-long friendship. It was hard. Our children liked to play together. She is going through a really hard time in her life, and I felt sorry for her. We have things…
Roots and Rabbits
Ethan uncovered this adorable little rabbit when he moved the chickens through a thick patch of Spanish needle in the garden. It tried to run away, but he caught it again easily, and it squeaked loudly. It had a litter mate that he unfortunately stepped on by accident, before he even realized there were rabbits…
Local Dad Finds One Cool Trick For Storing Tons of Back Fat
Ethan got out the meat grinder and tons of frozen back fat the other day in an effort to create more freezer space. It seems to work really well storing the fat like this. It doesn’t get moldy or go rancid the way rendered fat does. You just chip off what you need and throw…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 