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!)

Sunday Dose of Cute: Hey!

What are you doing with our sheep?

Not to worry, Marta and Daisy, they're just being sheared. Photos from Sheep Shearing Saturday 2012—which everybody survived just fine—should be up in a day or two. In the meantime, better beware of the big dogs.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where sheep rustlers don't stand a chance—and can you believe how well Daisy cleaned herself up? There's nothing like a self-cleaning farm dog. And then there's Marta Beast, whose self-cleaning mechanism isn't quite 100% functional.

Friday Dose of Cute: (Still) On the Move

Hello from the new house! Although we moved ourselves over here late last summer, until yesterday our satellite Internet connection was still located in The Shack, so I've been blogging all these months from my old cluttered little studio office (which you can read a little about here).

The commute across the farmyard, which I made numerous times a day, was very pleasant, and Sarah Kate and Mr. Midnight, who still prefer to hang out and sleep in The Shack, kept me company, but it feels so good to finally be over here in the new house.

More below. . .

Wordless Wednesday Dose of Cute: Pupsicle

More Wordless cute? Here.

More beagle Bert? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where farm dogs can always find something fun to do—no matter what the weather.

Recipe: Sunburst Carrot Soup with Fresh Ginger, Orange, and Carrot Juice

Could you use a piping hot bowl of healthy winter sunshine? (recipe here)

This Sunburst Carrot Soup with Fresh Ginger, Orange, and Carrot Juice is packed with carrots and bursting with antioxidants and flavor. It's cheerful, low fat, and even freezes beautifully. The flavor and color from the fresh carrot juice stirred in at the end add a wonderful brightness (we love our powerful little $50 Waring juicer!), but the soup tastes great even without it.

Adapt my easy recipe to suit your taste: try more fresh ginger, more orange zest, maybe extra garlic—or leave any of them out. A little ground cumin is a very nice addition. However you serve it up, cold and flu season won't stand a chance.

Can't survive on soup alone? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where our seven donkeys don't get all the organic carrots, just most some of them.

Monday Dose of Cute: What the. . .

Oh my.

More photos below. . .

Sunday Dose of Cute: Another Sheep Working Sunday

All lined up and ready to be drenched.

After almost a year, we're still being really good about keeping to our new Sunday sheep working schedule, which is a source of both pride and constant amazement to us both, considering how discombobulated our days on the farm always seem to be, and how much trouble we have keeping to any kind of agenda.

More below. . .

Saturday Dose of Cute: About Those New Year's Resolutions (and Micro Actions)

Our New Year's goals? That's easy—get more treats.

Did you make any New Year's Resolutions for 2012? I didn't actually write any down (mistake number one), but I did create the usual sprawling mental list: spend more time on my kitchen garden blog, post all those backlogged recipes on Farmgirl Fare, expand the raised bed garden by about 300%, plant a bunch of raspberry canes and fruit trees, declutter my entire life, organize my entire life, get back in better shape, and lose 15 pounds (okay, 20). Oh yeah, and work on that book proposal my very patient agent has been wondering about.

Overwhelmed? Me too.

Then the other day my publishing network, BlogHer, emailed to let me know that, as one of their Life Well Lived panel members, they wanted me to write a blog post featuring this Getting Organized question:

How do you keep/maintain your New Year's Resolutions?

My mind went totally blank.

Fortunately over at Life Well Lived, Alicia has come up with 5 Easy Ways To Keep Your New Year's Resolutions. My favorite? Limit the number of resolutions you make to no more than three.

More below. . .

Friday Dose of Cute: Looking for the Weekend

(and snacks)

Have a fun one!

© FarmgirlFare.com, where it's pretty much always snack time.

Wordless Wednesday Dose of Cute: On the Trail

More Wordless cute? Here.

More Dolores? Here.

More beagle Bert? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com

Monday Dose of Cute: Beagle Break (and The Whole Picture)

More photos below. . .

Sunday Dose of Cute: Farmgirl Fare on Facebook, Easier than Ever

Don't you like us?

Thanks so much for all your Facebook support! The Farmgirl Fare Facebook page has nearly 3,000 fans and is growing daily. I share links to each new Farmgirl Fare and In My Kitchen Garden post on our Facebook page, so it's a great way to keep up with everything that's happening on the farm.

And now it's easier than ever to find Farmgirl Fare on Facebook: just go to http://facebook.com/farmgirlfare.

See you there!

More Crazy Daisy? Here and here and here.

More Marta Beast? Here and here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where today is Marta's birthday! I can't believe our goofy, awesome livestock guard dog is already four years old. It seems like just a few months ago this big bad beast was an adorable fluffy white pup—and I don't think she's been that white since. Our Marta could find a mud puddle in a desert—which just makes us love her that much more.

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.

Friday Dose of Cute: Snack Time!

More photos below. . .

Wednesday Farm Photo: Morning Light

I love the muted colors of winter.

More hayfield photos? Here.

More sunrises and sunsets? Here.

More farm landscapes? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where I spent the afternoon coming up with gratifying little outdoor tasks so I could sneak away from my indoor To Do list and enjoy the beautiful, warm (50s!) day instead—before cozying up for tonight's snowstorm and tomorrow night's predicted single digit temps. Digging chicken manure into kitchen garden beds and working on a compost pile in January? Yes, please.

Tuesday Dose of Cute: Cluck, Cluck, Cluck, Cluck. . .

Peep.

Every few months one of our hens lays an itty bitty, yolkless egg. It's the darndest—and cutest—thing.

Love chickens? Get to know ours here.

Chickens and eggs that came before:

7/1/07: On Loving Lettuce and Eggs on Salad for Breakfast

4/20/08: Chick Days Are Here! (hatching photos)

11/11/08: Farm Fresh Eggs, They're What's for Breakfast

3/7/09: Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Ouch.

10/25/09: Egg Layers, the Next Generation

12/16/10: Somebody's Laying Green Eggs

© FarmgirlFare.com, currently laying about three dozen beautiful eggs a week—and hoping that the next time somebody goes broody she'll hatch out some hens. Three of our four most recently born chicks turned out to be roosters—and two roosters around here is already plenty.

Sunday Dose of Cute: Equal Opportunity Treat Thief, Version Two

(Click here to see version one)

More photos below. . .

Saturday Dose of Cute: Pregos Looking for Treats

Eating for two or three (or four!) really works up an appetite.

Life on the farm revolves around treats. Here's proof:

Treats Part One

Treats Part Two

Treats Part Three

© FarmgirlFare.com, the outnumbered foodie farm blog where everybody is always trying to convince us they're hungry on the verge of starvation, no matter what their size, shape, color, or species—and even if they just ate.

Recipe: Classic Meyer Lemon (or Regular Lemon) Scones

These oversized scones are crunchy outside, moist & tender inside (recipe here).

Meyer lemons are in season! These beautiful fruits are mostly grown on backyard trees, but their rising popularity in recent years means they can often be found at farmers' markets in warm climates, as well as at natural foods stores and supermarkets around the country. Meyer lemons are sweeter, less acidic, and have thinner skins than regular lemons. They also have a wonderful floral scent—and make delicious scones.

This recipe is a variation of the traditional currant scones I used to sell at the little bakery cafe I had in my previous California life, back before I moved to the wilds of Missouri and became an enthusiastic but clueless farmgirl. They taste great plain, but you can fancy them up by adding currants or raisins and/or sprinkling coarse sugar on the tops. Butter, berry jam, and a proper pot of your favorite English tea are optional. I recommend serving them warm.

If you can't get your hands on any Meyer lemons, these scones—which freeze beautifully—are still very nice when made with regular old lemons instead.

Any sconeheads out there? You might also enjoy these:

Savory Feta Cheese and Scallion Scones (one of my most popular recipes, made with cream cheese instead of butter)

Cranberry Christmas Scones (tasty any time of year!)

Lazy Susan's Easy Whole Wheat Cream Scones with Currants and Oats

Can't survive on scones alone? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where homemade scones are always in season, but they're especially nice to cozy up and munch on during winter.

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Bear on the Mole Patrol (and The Whole Picture)

More photos below. . .

Sunday Dose of Cute: Do Donkeys Get Hangovers?

More photos below. . .