Friday Dose of Cute: Have a Well-Balanced Weekend.

Mr. Midnight hunting at the edge of the hayfield.

Any plans this weekend? We have a heat wave coming, so I'm going to harvest the rest of the lettuce in the kitchen garden—which looked a whole lot better before being pelted by last week's hailstorm—before it bolts any more than it has, and then hopefully catch up with all my spring transplanting before it's actually summer. My stunted basil and pepper plants and overgrown heirloom tomato seedlings will be thrilled.

A friend who came by the other day for a quick visit said he'd heard that a lot of people's tomato plants were rotting because of the unseasonably cool and wet weather we've been having, so this time my garden laziness procrastination may actually pay off.

Meanwhile we're still waiting for some favorable hay-cutting weather. All the rain we've been getting has been great (the wet weather creek is running!), but the hay, which the sheep and donkeys eat for several months each year, is already past its prime. We need at least three dry, hot, and sunny days in a row in order to get the hay dry enough to cut, dried once it's been cut, baled, and brought into the barn, and we're just not getting them.

We were out running around several days this past week and saw a lot of people baling up acres and acres of hay we knew couldn't possibly be dry enough. And yesterday our Amish neighbor told us that he and his brother have had a bunch of their cut hay laying on the ground for three days because these scattered thunderstorms just keep blowing in and opening up on it.

Rather than risk putting up (literally) 10 tons of moldy feed, we're just going to wait. The fescue and orchard grass have already gone to seed, but we should keep getting more leaf growth in our "Missouri mixed salad" fields. And as Joe reminded me the other day, we've cut hay in the past as late as October.

Or as the donkey peddling (and cattle raising) cowboy likes to say, "Any hay tastes better than a snowball."

I figure we'll end up hauling in hundreds of square bales (pretty much the most exhausting job on the farm) on the same day the sheep shearer finally calls to let us know he'll be in our neck of the woods. It's happened before.

Over the years we've (slowly) started getting less stressed out about (most of) the many things we have no control over. Strength and stamina are essential when you live on a farm, but I've come to believe that patience, flexibility, and a big sense of humor are probably even more vital.

More Mr. Midnight? Here.

More farm cats? Here and here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, keeping calm with the help of all this cute.

Black Cat Love: The Tail of Mr. Midnight

Do you like black cats? I've always loved them, and I know I'm not the only one. I even have a book left over from my previous life as a graphic designer called The Black Cat Made Me Buy It!, filled with antique and modern packaging and advertisements featuring black cats.

But black cats aren't so popular at animal shelters. In fact, they're by far the least likely cats to be adopted. There are various theories regarding this sad statistic, including the whole bad luck/superstitious thing. Another reason is because black cats simply don't photograph as well as lighter colored cats, which explains why there's often a surplus of black dogs at shelters too.

Back in the fall of 2007 we were down to just one indoor cat, so my hunky farmguy Joe suggested that I head to our local overcrowded, underfunded animal shelter and adopt a couple of new cats. And then he let me go there alone.

More below. . .

Thursday Dose of Cute: Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you beauty, balance, and grace this holiday season.

© FarmgirlFare.com, thankful for too many things to count.

Weekend Dose of Cute: Hard at Work

Flattening the baby kale. . .


And staying inside the lines.

More Jasper? Here.
More Mr. Midnight? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where there's lots going on in the garden—and it's good to be a cat.

Monday Dose of Cute: It's Monday?

More photos below. . .

British Invasion: Homemade Cornish Pasties & Favorite English Cookery Books

The dangers of outdoor food photo shoots (Cornish pasty recipe here).

I'm not sure why, but for some reason my recipe for Jamie Oliver's Cornish Pasties with beef, onion, potatoes, and carrots that I shared with you last fall has been one of the most popular posts on Farmgirl Fare for at least the past six weeks. (You'll find the top ten posts of each week listed over in the left sidebar.) Maybe it's pasty season.

What I do know is that these classic British meat pies taste delicious and freeze beautifully. I made a double batch during the tail end (ha) of lambing season this year, and hopefully next year I'll remember to make some at the beginning of lambing season because they're the perfect thing to have on hand for quick and easy dinners or hot and hearty (and portable!) lunches.

I defrosted the frozen pasties at room temperature and then reheated them in my beloved little Oster convection toaster oven (which I often use several times a day), but you could probably go straight from freezer to oven. If you're in a hurry or at work, you can gently heat them in the microwave. They taste especially wonderful when served with brown mustard and cold beer.

Everybody loves these traditional Cornish pasties, including Mr. Midnight.

This pasty recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver's Great Britain: 130 of My Favorite British Recipes, from Comfort Food to New Classics, which is a neat cookbook. I bookmarked several other recipes to try while spending a couple of hours leisurely reading through it.

I have a huge cookbook collection but rarely use most of them. So in keeping with my word for the year—SIMPLIFY—I've been slowly sorting through my cookbooks, most of which still haven't made the move from The Shack to the new house, and donating a bunch of them to the small local (35 miles away) library, much to the delight of the librarian. Jamie Oliver's Great Britain is staying here.

More British cookbooks (including three for under $1) that made the cut below. . .

Sunny Sunday Dose of Cute

14 more photos below. . .

Sunday Dose of Cute: Looking Out

Toward a brand new week.

Wishing you a beautiful one.

More Mr. Midnight? Here.

More of the hayfield? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, sleek, black, and able to easily see long distances (thanks to the pair of binoculars we keep in the kitchen).

Wordless Wednesday Dose of Cute

More wordless cute? Here and here.
More beagle Bert? Here.
More Tuffy? Here.
More Mr. Midnight? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #20

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week (mostly on Fridays). Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

Our favorite hot summer dinner? BLTs on freshly baked Farmhouse White.

There isn't much to show and tell from the farm this week. Hot days, dry skies, burned up fields, blister beetles, same same. I haven't been feeling well for the last few weeks, and when I wasn't lying in bed, we were in the truck driving 500 miles to various clinics, labs, and other places that were seriously short on photo ops (rural living + no health insurance = lots of traveling).

On Thursday morning while we were sitting in a waiting room several counties away, a guy walked by and said something to Joe about the rain they'd had there that morning. "At least I won't have to water the yard," he said, and then added, "I sure feel bad for the people who are trying to make a living farming."

I smiled wanly and half-heartedly raised my hand. He looked at me.

"You're a farmer?"

Yep.

We're not alone of course. All 114 counties in Missouri have been declared federal disaster areas because of the devastating heat and drought. We had 1/10th of an inch of rain fall while we were gone on Thursday, which is better than nothing, but not by much. Yesterday it rained for about 10 minutes. That was it for the week. Last week we got a quarter inch.

I thought I might have to skip the Friday Farm Fix this week, but it turns out I did make a few fun pictures. Another BLT dinner (no complaints here; we're having them again tonight), some pretty purple in the kitchen garden, a zucchini butter photo shoot (recipe hopefully up soon), heading in for sheep working Sunday, and of course some of our 50+ chickens, because it seems like they're everywhere. My favorite big black cat was seemingly everywhere too. Garden companion, photo stylist, mighty hunter. He catches a lot of rabbits.

Cooler weather, ample rain, medical answers. All we can do is enjoy the bounty of the season—including the juicy Missouri peaches, six pints of cherry tomatoes, and several more pounds of zucchini I bought on the way home Thursday—while we wait for everything to hopefully turn out fine.

12 more farm photos below. Hover over each picture for a description. . .

Tuesday Late Night Dose of Cute: Bird Watchers

More chickens? Here.

More Mr. Midnight? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, on the inside looking out.

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #14

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week (usually on Fridays). Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

Mr. Midnight knows the secret to staying cool—you just have to sprawl.

Birds seem to be this past week's theme around the farm: baby chicks, big chicks, wild turkeys, and the two graceful white mystery birds we saw in the front field one evening when we hiked out to count the sheep.

I guess maybe they were young egrets? I love to be around birds but am embarrassed to admit I can't identify very many of them. They looked like they belonged near water. We do see great blue herons around this area sometimes, especially near the river. They used swoop down and grab catfish from the pond at my old farm. Such glorious creatures, even if they are thieves.

These two seemed sort of lost, circling around the field and coming back toward us. Or maybe they just wanted to stay near the sheep. The photos below aren't real clear because I took them on 20x zoom. It sort of drives me crazy that so many creatures are afraid of people but not sheep or dogs or cats or even donkeys. Although it would be nice if the deer were still afraid of the dogs. I'm covering more plants in the garden each night than I did when there was a threat of frost because otherwise they'll munch it down.

We often see wild turkeys in the hayfield, and some years in the spring there are two hens who march around out there with their babies trailing behind. For the past few weeks one hen has been staying pretty close to the house, ambling around in the grass by herself for long stretches during the day.

I haven't gone out to look for a nest because I don't want the dogs to follow me and bother her. I'll never forget the time we were walking through the hayfield and Robin came out of the bushes that grow along the edge with an enormous turkey egg clutched between her jaws.

No sign of any baby turkeys with this hen yet, but on Monday afternoon when I went to pick up the mail and our weekly two gallons of raw Jersey milk, I stopped to let a hen and three little babies cross the highway in front of me. When I drove back maybe 45 minutes later I saw them again, crossing back over in about the same spot.

26 more farm photos below. . .

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #9

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week. Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

Our little lambs have big appetites!

Thanks so much to all of you who sent healing thoughts and helpful suggestions to my hunky farmguy Joe after I told you in last week's Friday Farm Fix that he'd thrown his back out. We both really appreciate your kindness. He still spends most of his time flat on his back, unable to stand for more than about 10 minutes at a time (though he is able to walk around), and, after 12 days, is very tired of being housebound and unable to help around the farm.

He is able to rest and sleep more comfortably, thanks to some medicines we picked up on Tuesday, along with several new novels from the library. We're also continuing with the other treatments I mentioned last week (heat and ice, fresh burdock compresses, the inversion table—he's hanging upside down right now—all sorts of topical remedies, etc.), and slowly but surely he's healing. It takes time. Homemade bread and oatmeal coconut cookies help. So do smiling beagles.

The weather has thankfully cooled down; it's been in the 70s instead of the 90s, often with a pleasant breeze. We even got a half inch of rain the other day. It's too little, too late for the spring grass in the fields, but we're grateful nonetheless.

The hay—what little there is of it—is ready to be cut and baled now. Joe isn't supposed to lift anything heavier than 15 pounds for the next month. And bouncing around on the tractor for several hours at a time isn't even an option.

My hunky farmguy, who worries a lot less about things than I do, always tells me that everything will somehow work out—and usually he's right.

I don't write about the chronic physical challenges that we both deal with every day because everybody has problems, but suffice it to say that farming is hard work, no matter what kind of shape you're in. We get injured and banged up a lot. We don't consider ourselves old, but when something like this happens and one of us is totally immobilized for a lengthy period, we can't help but wonder how long we can keep doing this.

Meanwhile, life goes on. A few weeks ago we had a hard, late frost, and the new leaves on many of the trees froze, turned brown, and blew to the ground. It felt like autumn in April. Most of those trees are already once again covered with new green growth. They simply shook themselves off and started again.

22 more farm photos below. . .

Tuesday Dose of Cute: Spring Has Sprung!

In all its blooming glory.

More Mr. Midnight? Here.

More about this flowering quince? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where our mild winter and several week long warm spell (in the 70s again today) seems to have pushed everything at least two or three weeks ahead of schedule. The quince bush doesn't usually flower until April, and the daffodils have already finished blooming. The Easter tulip buds started popping up days ago. It's pretty, but kind of weird.

Friday Dose of Cute: The Beauty of Black and White

Have a beautiful weekend!

More Mr. Midnight? Here.

More farm cats? Here.

More snow photos? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where there is always beauty to be found in the simple everyday—and that's one of the best things about living here.

Tuesday Dose of Cute: Firewood Security

You don't want to mess with Mr. Midnight.

More Mr. Midnight? Here.

More firewood? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where it's been too freaky warm for January. A week in the 60s during the (usual) height of firewood burning season just feels wrong—but our freshly shorn sheep don't mind a bit. (And I haven't forgotten about those shearing day pics. Soon!)

Saturday Farm Photo: Another Vintage Double Blanket

There's nothing better for a new vintage treasure than drying in the fresh air.

Remember that vintage blanket mystery you helped me solve a while back? It turns out my snuggly score was a double blanket—and a few months ago I found another one.

It's not nearly as soft as that beautiful blue one (which I was thrilled to find for just $7) and it has some really worn spots and a few bleached out areas along the edge (it's been well loved!), but I couldn't resist the wonderful pattern and colors—and of course the fabulous size. It was a $26 splurge (I didn't really need another blanket) that I plan to enjoy for years.

Double blankets don't work very well on king size beds (too long one way, too short the other), but they sure are nice for cozying up on the couch, especially with someone you love. Let's hear it for the season of snuggling!

More vintage? Here.

More laundry line? Here.

More Mr. Midnight? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where it's still winter and leafless outside; it's just October in this photo.

Monday Dose of Cute: Time To Get Up!

It's Monday!

More photos below. . .

In My Kitchen Garden this Week: Swiss Chard!

Mr. Midnight loves lurking in the Swiss chard jungle (aka the greenhouse).

I did a phone interview for a magazine article a couple of years ago, and at the end of our 45-minute conversation, the guy said, "So you'd like to be known for Farmhouse White and Swiss chard?"

Well, if it means inspiring people to try baking their own sandwich bread using my simple, tried and true recipe (which can easily be adapted to include whole grains, etc.) and discover an incredibly versatile (think everything spinach can do and more), easy to grow (even in containers), delicious tasting vegetable, then my answer is a definite yes!

Since one of the most popular posts on my kitchen garden blog right now is What To Do with Swiss Chard: Hot Swiss Chard Artichoke Dip Recipe and Other Ways to Enjoy My Favorite Leafy Green, I'm guessing I'm not the only one with a garden or CSA box still brimming with this cold tolerant (and heat tolerant) leafy green.

This week's new post on In My Kitchen Garden, Wondering What To Do with Swiss Chard? Favorite Recipes and Ways to Use My Favorite Garden Vegetable, includes links to all my Swiss chard recipes, plus another glimpse into the late November greenhouse, the varieties of Swiss chard seeds I'll be ordering soon, and my new favorite way to use the giant leaves and stems (hint: we love our powerful little $49 Waring juicer).

Are you already a Swiss chard fan? Come join us over at this week's In My Kitchen Garden post and share your favorite varieties and recipes!

Ready to skip straight to the seed starting? Check out How To Grow Your Own Swiss Chard from Seed & Why You Should. And don't miss the comments section of that post, where readers share their scrumptious Swiss chard recipes.

Need more than greens to get you through the week? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where the #1 post on In My Kitchen Garden right now is still How To Ripen Green Tomatoes Indoors the Really Easy Way, and it really is easy. We enjoyed several November BLTs made with kitchen ripened tomatoes from the garden—on freshly baked Farmhouse White of course.

Thursday Dose of Cute: What To Do on a Rainy Day

Not a lot. . .

At least if you're a beagle or a pussycat (who happen to be the best of friends).

© FarmgirlFare.com, where, busy or not, we all enjoyed a brief but blissful break from the relentless heat this morning, which was a much more pleasant way to start the day than yesterday's several hour power outage. We even got a half inch of rain, which should really help the fields and the farm as we head right back to blistering tomorrow. Has it cooled off where you're at yet?