Ethan’s Birthday cake from last week – and probably the nicest birthday cake out of my kitchen so far – four layers of grain-free cake, whipped cream with cherries and cherry filling, chocolate ganache icing with toasted almonds…. Wow last week was crazy. There must be something in the stars. Weaning babies. Unweaning babies as…
Meeting
When we first started out at the farm, the whole place was dominated by blackberries, bahia grass, cactus, and weedy laurel oak trees. The bahia isn’t so bad – the cows can eat it, and it isn’t thorny. But it seemed so monotonous. I missed my favorite little herbs and wildflowers. It stayed like this…
Arms Full
I don’t know why anyone worries about Friday the 13th. To date, nothing awful has ever happened to me on Friday the 13th. Monday the 13th, I think, ought to be the worst. With Friday, you at least have the weekend to lick your wounds, but on Monday you have the whole week to suffer…
The Potato Bazooka
For an April Fool’s joke, Ethan told Mirin that he would get him a bazooka if he watched the baby while we did the chores. Mirin hardly ever watches the baby, so this was a big request. There’s a family joke that he needs a t-shirt that says, “Big Brother Ain’t Watching You” with a…
The Art of Mowing
This week began with a major advance in technology for us. As the cactus has been fading from the pastures, wickedly sharp-thorned blackberries have been taking over. While we very much enjoy the berries from these bushes for a short time during the year, they also tear our clothes, scratch us and the animals’ udders,…
In the Garden: Missing tooth, Hay Hut, Summer Garden, and Lepidoptera
The biggest news is that Rose is minus one front tooth now. It had been loose for awhile, and despite lots of wiggling and even dreams that it would come out, it didn’t manage to until Mirin accidentally kneed her in the teeth, and Clothilde bashed her in the mouth with her forehead during…
Easter
I’m sorry I haven’t been writing! I realized that this makes a whole year that I have been dedicatedly writing here – and then was forced to take a break by computer problems. Easter was wonderful….it was just right. Not too busy or full, just right. Painting blown eggs for our Easter tree,…
In the Garden: Kohlrabi, Kohlrabi, Kohlrabi
As I have said before, the winter garden is in decline, but we are still suffering through the kohlrabi. Well, perhaps suffer is too strong a word, because I really do like it, although it doesn’t seem as versatile as the lettuce was, when you eat it every night for dinner (and lunch). While it…
Recovering
Man, I’ve been sick. It wasn’t one of those colds that allow you to still shuffle about your day – it was one that knocks you out. But I’m better now, and resting was enforced. It’s been awhile since I’ve been so sick. I went to the farm for the first time this week yesterday. …
The Cruel Frost
The night before last I woke up suddenly, long after midnight, with that strange, scratchy, dizzy feeling I get when the first grip of illness comes into my awareness. So I was not just tired, I was also sick. We’ve had so few illnesses this spring compared to last year when Rose was attending pre-school…
In the Garden: Hello Summer!
My silence here this week is not only because of melancholy and exhaustion, also our computer has not been behaving itself. There’s always something broken around here. It keeps things interesting. Ethan and I almost killed ourselves trying to get the summer garden built. We’re mostly better, but I’m still bone-dead exhausted, and Ethan’s back…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 