Monday, June 28

Monday Dose of Cute and Loss

Annette and Her Newborn Twins 4-7-10
Annette and Her Newborn Twins on 4/7/10

© 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the mourning foodie farm blog where after a very long, very hot, very exhausting, and very frustrating day spent tending to a very sick ewe (one of your best of course) only to have her die that night (which meant you then had to deal with her very large dead body at 11pm—and happened to be the only person home at the time), it's always a good idea to spend some time looking back at happier and cuter times while you're crying your eyes out. (Cake for breakfast helps, too.) Rest in peace, beautiful Annette. And thank you for giving me Cary.

Sunday, June 20

Sunday Dose of Cute: Happy Father's Day!

Braying Dan
Hee HAW!

Donkey Doodle Dandy (aka Dan) is daddy to Esmeralda, Evie, Fernando, dear departed little Flitta, and at least one more baby on the way (you can meet Dan here and get to know him better here). The problem is that since we kept Esmeralda and Evie (Fernando now lives on another farm), Dan has to be kept separate from the rest of the pack because we don't want him doing it with his daughters which, unfortunately, we think he already did. (This isn't as bad as it sounds; it's called 'line breeding' and often done on purpose—we've done it with sheep—but we would have preferred that it didn't happen, especially while the girls are still so young.)

Dan doesn't know it yet, but plans are in the works to permanently reunite him with The Donkettes—and halt our slightly out of control donkey reproduction train. I'm both sad and glad. There's nothing cuter than a baby donkey, but donkeys are herd animals, and Dan is going to be so much happier when he gets to stop living with the sheep and be reuinted with his babes people.

Now I just have to decide if I want to breed him with Dolores one more time first.

© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the sweltering foodie farm blog where I only wish I'd taken this wet and muddy photo of Dan today; instead we're looking at several more days with a heat index of up to 103° and not a drop of rain in sight. Except for the morning mist (which has more than once saved our fields from burning up) the only wet around here right now is sweat—and plenty of it.

Saturday, June 19

Recipe: Quick and Easy Raspberry Almond Streusel Jam Bars

Easy Raspberry Almond Bars 1
Freshly baked, streusel topped bribes

There are four things you quickly learn after moving to a farm:
1. The work will never be done.
2. The money will never be plentiful.
3. Your life will be a whole lot easier if every animal you own is seriously addicted to treats.
4. It's a very good idea to have at least one relatively nearby fellow farmer also addicted to treats.

Friday, June 11

Friday Dose of Cute: Just Hatchin' Out

Newly Hatched 1


Newly Hatched 2
Peep! Peep! Peep!

Fluffed up and cuted out photos of these three in their new grassy green digs (a chicken keeping experiment!) are coming soon. In the meantime, if you desperately need to see more chick pics right away:

© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the cracked up foodie farm blog where this year it seems that every time we turn around it's Chick Day again (much to some the delight of one of us)—and the reason these three look a little confused (besides the fact that the chick on the left is literally just running out of its egg) is because seconds before snapping these photos, I unceremoniously lifted off their warm and fluffy cover, aka Mama. Not to worry, everyone was happily reunited lickity split.

Thursday, June 10

Thursday Dose of Cute: Sharing the Shade

Sharing the Shade
This Photo Cracks Me Up

Want to get to know this Great Pyrenees livestock guardian better? You'll find lots more pictures of our beloved Crazy Daisy here. And there's a whole flock of lambing season photos here.

© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the totally protected foodie farm blog where sometimes it's hard to tell just who is watching over whom.

Tuesday, June 8

Tuesday Farm Photos: Amish Neighbors and an Easy Orange Cake for Strawberry Season

Amish Wagon
Don't you just love this wagon?

Several Amish families moved to this area two years ago, and in my opinion we're all the luckier for it. All of our new Amish neighbors that I've met have been very friendly, and they've already brought much to our rural community.
There are three basket makers and a furniture maker (who we might have build us a bed for the new living quarters). A couple of Amish women sell homemade baked goods on the square in town.

Two brothers who live on adjacent farms about 10 miles down the road (and across the street from the
donkey peddling cowboy) built us a gorgeous new sheep barn last fall to replace the one that was falling down, and a giant new haybarn in April to replace the one that was really falling down (pictures coming of both new buildings one of these days, I swear). The wonderful rough cut siding on the sheep barn (which you can see here) came from the Amish sawmill down the road.

More below . .

Sunday, June 6

Sunday Farm Photo: Back in the Hay

Back in the Hay
In a Very Big Way

Just joining us for haying season? This is our second foray into the hayfield. But if you grab a glass of something icy cold, find a breezy spot in the shade, you can catch up with last week's first cutting and read more about the whole haying process—without having to lift a single bale—here and here.

© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the hay as far as the eye can see (whether it wants to or not) foodie farm blog where we're pretty private people—which explains why we don't mind living several miles from the nearest neighbor—but this time of year, the thought of taking on an energetic farm apprentice (or two) always starts to seem to both of us like a pretty good idea. And if we could find somebody crazy enough happily willing to go back out into the steaming hot hayfield after helping pick up all those bales and pick up the zillions of pieces of very annoying cactus that really need to stop taking over the farm, that would be a serious dream come true.