Thursday Dose of Cute: On Little Cat Feet

3T Has Turned Into Quite the Farm Cat

Want to see more of our Tough Tortie Topaz (aka 3T)?

1/21/08: How Topaz, Sarah Kate, and Mr. Midnight Came into Our Lives

1/29/08: Farmyard Kitty

6/20/08: Meet Our New Hay Inspector

8/18/08: Tractor Cat

9/4/08: Even Kitty Cats Need to Eat Their Greens

5/24/09: Sweet Strawberries & A Curious Cat

8/24/09: Happy Cat

© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the fine feline foodie farm blog where Topaz, who lived at the shelter for 15 months before moving in with us, is not a lap cat, she's a chest cat, which is something I never knew existed. If she spies you sitting down, she leaps up onto your lap and then just keeps going, until her paws are almost on your neck and her face is in your face. And then she starts to loudly purr. It's sweet and yet slightly terrifying, since Topaz has quite the little temper and will turn on you in an instant. But of course I still let her do it.

Tuesday Dose of Cute: One of the Neatest Birds I've Ever Seen

And the Winner of Flyaway by Suzie Gilbert!

More photos thie little screech owl here

Thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway for a copy of Flyaway: How a Wild Bird Rehabber Sought Adventure and Found Her Wings. All of your neat stories about birds and wildlife rescues (click here and scroll down to the comments section to read them) have been so heartwarming and delightful to read. I definitely think you're the perfect audience for this book!

Monday Dose of Lamb Cute: Cleaning Up and Growing Up

Daisy Mae and her brand new baby girl on April 2nd

Recipe: Roasted Leek and Potato Soup with Arugula (or Spinach)

This post is for my dear friend Judi Hendricks, who also happens to be one of my favorite authors, and who has been bugging me for this recipe for a couple of months. (You can visit Judi's food blog, The Kitchen Table, here and read my review of her most recent novel, The Laws of Harmony, here. Update: you can also join me and Judi for a long conversation about writing and food here.)

I know many of you have already turned from hearty winter dishes to light spring fare, but since Judi told me they had snow in Santa Fe the other day, and we're in the middle of a nice gray and rainy weekend here on the farm (Grow, grass, grow!), I figured we might not be the only ones still wanting to cozy up with a piping hot bowl of comfort.

This flavorful soup is thick and rich, but not loaded with calories or cream.

Can a simple pot of soup expand your horizons, change your life, and turn you into a more interesting and exciting person? I say yes.

Before I made this recipe for the first time back in January of 2009, I had never:

Bought a leek

Cooked a leek

Eaten a leek

Made or tasted potato soup

Roasted potatoes

Bought arugula (because it's almost always growing in my kitchen garden)

Put arugula in soup

Put my roasting pan over two burners to cook up all the yummy bits stuck to the pan

Made anything from an Ina Garten cookbook

I know. That's a lot of new stuff for one little soup recipe.

Friday Dose of Cute: Surrounded!

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Snuggle Up

The Family that Lays Together. . .

Book Review - Flyaway: How a Wild Bird Rehabber Sought Adventure and Found Her Wings by Suzie Gilbert

Yesterday morning two Amish carpenters, a young Amish apprentice, a hunky farmguy, and a little old diesel tractor demolished our sagging haybarn, hauled off the debris, and began constructing a new one.

Last week, while out buying building materials for the new haybarn at Lowe's, I spied a butter yellow, retro style two-seat glider that matches the chair I scored there last summer for ten bucks. I immediately dragged the glider into the aisle, plunked myself down, and waited for Joe to come around the corner, see how perfect I looked sitting in it, and loudly exclaim that of course we had to buy it.

"No," he said, then turned to the smiling saleslady and explained, "She never sits down."

"But it matches my chair!"

He was kind enough to refrain from pointing out that I never actually sit in my chair.

I love books, and reading is one of my favorite things to do. I also love living on a farm. Unfortunately these two things do not go very well together, and I rarely have time to read, especially during the spring, when it always feels like there are 3,000 more urgent things to be done. Thank goodness for the invention of audio books, or I'm sure I would have keeled over from literature withdrawal years ago.

In order to keep myself from going any crazier than I already am, I also recently decided that I need to eliminate as many deadlines from my life as possible.

More below. . .

Monday Dose of Cute: Getting to Know You. . .

Sunday Dose of Donkey Cute: On the Trail of Treats (and Why Cute Keeps Winning Out Over Food)

Follow the Leader. . .

Thursday Dose of Cute: Sunshine and a Twin Brother

Sunday Farm Photos: Color Me Happy

The lilacs are in bloom!

It's hit or miss with lilacs in this part of Missouri, especially with the late spring frosts we often get down here in our little valley, which the weather people refer to as a 'low lying area.' Sometimes the bushes put on hardly any flowers (or even none at all), and sometimes they're covered with buds but they end up freezing to death.

Wednesday Big Dose of Cute: Random Lamb Snaps and Stats

Sunday Dose of Cute: Peep! Peep! Peep!

Happy Easter

We usually have tulips for Easter:

4/16/06: Easter Greetings to You

4/12/09: No Bonnet, but Plenty of Blooms

4/12/09: Happy Easter!

More chick pics here

© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the just missed the holiday deadline with this after midnight ppost foodie farm blog where the higher the lamb count, the faster the days fly by. Lambing season updates and lots more cute baby pictures soon—or at least that's the current plan!