It’s been unusually cold lately, cold enough to snow although we weren’t so lucky. Hard frosts for several days in a row left everything sparkling with minute crystals in the early mornings, the ground hard frozen, and we marveled at the layers of ice on the water troughs that had to be broken through. The…
Category: Celebrating
Happy Holidays!
Just wishing you a lovely holiday!
Holiday Madness
Everyone always tries to do too much for the holidays. Our version of that this year was an apparent fit of madness in which we decided to take advantage of the cool weather and slaughter a giganormous pig just before Christmas. Bee was actually our first Gloucester old spot to have piglets on the farm….
The Longest Night 2017
Today marks exactly a year since we left our house in town to live in the middle of nowhere with our garden and animals. I love the long, dark nights of winter, when you can wake up in the middle of the night and feel the quiet emptiness around you, and the soft breath of…
10 Things I’m Profoundly Grateful For, And Some All-Local Recipes To Make Your Holiday Extra Special
This year was a difficult beginning. Ethan had been out of work for months, and no opportunities for a living wage seemed to present themselves. At times it felt as though darkness had swallowed up the happy life we had, and we were adrift, every day heading towards an uncertain future. In the midst of…
Hallows Eve
I love celebrating, and Halloween is especially fun with costumes and carving pumpkins. But this year the everyday work of keeping a farmstead going and homeschooling three children alone while Ethan is far away working crushed all hopes of a leisurely celebration. There were pumpkins carved, and costumes made, but these celebrations were done mostly…
Hurricane Days
This season always brings uncertainty and shifts in weather, and with that, the hurricanes. Here in the North and the middle of the peninsula, we are usually sheltered from the worst of the winds that devastate the coasts. The last really intense hurricane season I’ve experienced was the fall and late…
Easter and Lichen’s First Calf
Spring is such a lovely time, and Easter might just be my favorite holiday! This year has been so busy already, we missed out on a lot of our usual celebrations, like making an Easter tree. I felt downright unprepared for Easter just now, to be honest. We were so busy putting in an ambitious…
Spring
I love spring! The winter garden has burst into lacy yellow, white and pink blossoms. The tender, bright green leaves of the trees begin to soften the bare branches, and you can smell flowers on the breeze. The pastures have lost their stark, crackly brown look, and the sweeping broomsedge leftover from the…
TARTE AUX FRAISES: Strawberry Tart
Happy Valentine’s Day! Fresh strawberries and rich pastry crust make this delicious and simple recipe a perfect way to celebrate! This recipe starts with the crust. Adding the strawberries is simple and is translated below, along with US measurements for the ingredients. I didn’t have enough strawberries to make a large tart, so I made…
Kefir, An Immortal Ally
I have bought and tried out many different milk cultures over the years – piima, viili, fil mjolk, heirloom buttermilk culture, Flora danica….there were more, but those were the ones I remember clearly. While all of these cultures made different and interesting forms of sour milk, there was one problem – they were incredibly…
Imbolc/Candlemas
Imbolc or Candlemas, the ancient celebration of mid-winter, approaches on February 2nd. It marks the middle of the time between the solstice and the equinox, between the time of long darkness and time of the day outlasting the night. Imbolc meant “in the belly,” as the sheep were about to begin their lambing season, and…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 