I Am Back! Again...

I would like to start this post out with an apology. It has been over a week since my last post, but in my defense this was my finals week at college, so I was a little bit busier than usual. I will still have the Sunday Photo Update; it will just be on Monday-ish this week. I didn’t get around to taking any pictures today because it was such a nice day out I spent the whole thing in the garden, working on the raised beds, planting an awesome amount of salad greens, and watering the shit out of everything. It hasn’t rained at all this spring (less than an inch so far). It took a while, but I got everything watered real well today in preparation for the week of warm weather and sun in the forecast.

I feel like this is such a filler post, and I feel horrible about that, but it is late and I am tired. I just wanted to let all of my faithful readers know that I have not forgotten about you; I will get back into a regular routine soon. Check back later in the week for the photo update.

Sunday Photo Update...

                I don’t even know where to begin today. For starters, I remembered it is Sunday, so I do have a photo update ready for you guys today… Normally during the week I am too busy to blog every little update (even when they would make a great story… like the first time a milked a goat…) But, sometimes I get behind schedule and never get around to it. So there will probably be quite a bit of material on this week’s photo update that I never even mentioned working on during the week.

                Like the before and after of the pen I got built for our two milking goats…

                And then there is the other pen we just got finished yesterday for the two baby billies and the one yearling Saanen…

                This is the Billy that we are going to let keep his nuts… apparently he comes from a good breeding line, and he isn’t related to any of the other Saanens either. Plus, doesn’t he just look like he’s a player for the Lady goats?

                Sometime earlier this week when we were getting the barn cleaned out, making room to build all of these goat pens, we had to pull the wagon out that had our outdoor furniture stored on it for the winter. Last summer I found these chairs and tables rotting away in the weeds and strewn about various areas of our property, and I decided to get them sanded down, cleaned up, and painted. I personally love the colors… very uplifting on sunny summer day. They are now out and ready for another season of use.

Last night my dad and I didn’t get back into the house –from milking the goats- until almost nine o’clock, and we had forgotten that we had taken three dozen eggs out of the refrigerator to bring up to room temperature earlier in the day in order to hard boil…  So we ended up boiling and peeling eggs until about eleven, and then we turned them into the most awesome pickled eggs ever!

My mom came home yesterday and had stopped on the farm supply store and bought six rhubarb roots on a whim, so I had to get those in the ground today… Which, I am a bit happy about because I am a huge rhubarb fan. I got a recipe sometime this winter for making a rhubarb-vodka cordial, and I have been waiting for months for our rhubarb to hurry up and get out of the ground so I could give it try. I’ll share the recipe if it is any good. Anyway, I thought you guys might want to see what a rhubarb root looks like…

And then what it looks like in the ground…

And then what it will look like in the future… (this picture is of one of the patches we have planted under the grapes.) 

Finally, I thought I’d give you a quick photo update of how big and healthy Feta is getting.

All in all, it has been a pretty good week around here. Lots of milk and eggs coming in, the garden is starting to come together, some of the earliest spring vegetables are starting to tease us and make me hungry for their freshness. This morning I made pancakes with milk fresh from the goats just an hour prior, eggs that came out of the chicken within the last day of so, and spelt flour that came from a local Michigan Amish farm… all topped with Maple syrup that our neighbors down the road made from scratch… What can I say? My life doesn’t suck!

Booze, Rain, Milk, Cheese, Veg, and More Booze…

The rain didn’t hit us until about two o’clock this afternoon, so I got a decent amount more done today than I thought I would. For starters, I got the pea trellis put up; I didn’t think I would get that done until after the weekend because of this rain. It rained a bit last night, but the garden area was dry enough by noon-ish that I was able to get some work done in there without getting knee deep in mud. After I got the trellis put up I planted thirty-two feet of peas going down each side of it.

                After I had finished with that little project I still had some time on my hands before the rain hit so I managed to get thirty-two feet of turnips planted, and another thirty-two feet of Swiss Chard planted as well. Not too shabby.

                Once the rain started there wasn’t much more I could work on outside because it was like forty-five degrees… not like working in a gentle summer drizzle… So I went to the store to get the rest of the things I needed to finish making my Dandelion Wine. I got that simmered and put together, and wow… it already smells fantastic. It smells strongly like honey, flowers, and citrus, and it hasn’t even fermented yet in order to get all bubbly and alcoholy (I don’t think that was a word, but it is now).

                Here is a picture of the Dandelion Wine posing next to his big brother Strawberry Wine (who is ready to be bottled any day now).

                We also managed to get a half gallons of fresh goats milk saved and safe-ish for human consumption. I. Can’t. Wait. To. Make. Some. Cheese! I love stinky cheeses, but I think that is a few more rungs up the experience pole before I start trying to introduce mold and fermentation to my cheese making resume. Maybe next week.