Wednesday Farm Photo: Hello, Autumn!

Looking past the recently rebuilt antique tractor and into the front field.

Happy first day of fall! Has your weather changed seasons yet? It's hot and dry and still seems like summer here, but some of the leaves have started turning yellow, and the nights are dropping down into the blissful 50s.

These cooler mornings feel fresh and energetic, with the promise that all those wonderful crisp autumn days are just around the corner. I can't wait.

P.S. Super Simple Spinach Soup made with fresh spinach and Old-Fashioned Pear and Apple Crisp.

© FarmgirlFare.com, falling into autumn faster than seven donkeys heading towards the treat trough.

Weekend Dose of Hot Dog Cute

More photos below. . .

Last Farm Photo of the Year: Farewell, 2012

We're heading out in a beautiful blaze of white.

Thank you so much for all of your kindness and support during the past year. We wouldn't be here without you!

I'm really looking forward to sharing lots of new recipes, stories, and photos with you in 2013. In the meantime, if you'd like to take a look back at life on the farm during the past year, you can check out all 24 of the 2012 Friday Farm Fix posts here and here (scroll down to the bottom of each link to start with the oldest posts).

Happy, happy, new, new!

© FarmgirlFare.com, where I do believe I hear some chilled champagne and potato chips calling my name. See you next year!

Tuesday Dose of Cute: Another Tractor Cat

Taking Over Topaz's Turf?

This black cat brings us good luck:

(click here to see all these posts on one page)

6/2/08: Inspecting the Newly Planted Tomatoes in the Kitchen Garden

11/16/08: Yoga for Pets

2/16/09: Looking for Santa?

6/7/09: Beauty and Grace (and a Scary Little Corner of The Shack)

1/23/10: Staredown

7/3/10: Take a Cue from Mr. Midnight

10/24/10: Cats on Things

10/31/10: Critter Crossing

11/15/10: The Other End of the Laundry Line

1/13/11: A New Olympic Sport

The Daily Donkey 3: Donkey Doodle Dandy Scratches an Itch

© FarmgirlFare.com, the rattletrap foodie farm blog where, despite pouring a bunch of money into it last spring, this big old temperamental tractor still doesn't want to run. We did get the little diesel tractor (another antique) back in shape, but it's too small to pull the baler—which means we need to find ourselves another tractor soon, because before we know it, it'll be time to get back in the hay. Ack.

Saturday Farm Photos: Guess What We're Doing?

Christmas Dose of Cute: It's White!

Lots more photos below. . .

Friday Dose of Cute: Thanksgiving, The Morning After

Holidays Are Exhausting

Want to get to know our big white dogs better?
Marta Baby Pictures
7/27/08: Siesta Time
10/26/08: Mostly Marta
10/28/08: Just Doing Her Job
11/6/08: Maybe Marta
1/24/09: Keeping the Food Supply Safe
2/1/09: Moping Marta
2/4/09: Three Dog Sight
2/7/09: Being Watched
3/4/09: Food as Furniture

1/27/09: Losing Lambs and Lottie (and Acquiring Daisy)
1/28/09: Snowed In! (scroll down to see Daisy)
2/5/09: Daisy Off Duty
2/9/09: When Sleeping and Eating Schedules Collide
3/19/09: Nap Time
3/23/09: Bear Hug
4/18/09: A Girl's Gotta Sleep Sometime
4/29/09: Standing Tall and Smiling Wide
6/11/09: Breakfast Company
7/4/09: The Dog Days of Haying Season
8/20/09: Work All Night. . .
9/28/09: Tails in Tandem

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the staying home today foodie farm blog where there's no need to go out and fight the crazed holiday shopping crowds (not that we actually have crowds out here—crazed or otherwise) because all my hunky farmguy really wants for Christmas is to finally get this very dead tractor fixed. Though if Santa showed up hauling a nice big load of firewood for us, that'd be quite appreciated, too.

Saturday Farm Photos: Color Me Autumn

Next on the Agenda: Getting this Picturesque but Very Dead Tractor (Hopefully) Fixed!

Want to see more of this place? (some categories overlap)
Autumn Color
Farm Landscape Photos
More Farm Landscape Photos
And Yet More Farm Landscape Photos
Handmade Fence Photos
Homemade Swing Photos
Haybarn Photos
Hayfield Photos
More Hayfield Photos
Sunrise and Sunset Photos
Misty Morning Photos
Snow Photos
Same Scene, New View Photos

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the roasty toasty foodie farm blog where the recent cool and stormy weather (yay—2.75 inches of rain) brought it down to a nippy 51 degrees in The Shack this morning. That's fine for me (I love wearing layers!) but a little on the chilly side for rising bread dough, so the first fire of the season in our little living room pot-bellied woodstove (our main source of heat) is emanating that into-your-bones warmth and crackling merrily away. Oh so cozy.

Now we just need to get in gear and go cut a lot more firewood before it's time to start up the big wood-fired furnace in the new building, especially since last year's wonderful heat cheat source petered out after just three deliveries. You know what they say about firewood—it warms you up four times: when you cut it, when you stack it, when you carry it inside, and when it finally burns. There's nothing that compares to it.

Catching Up: A Book, Building, and Bread Bakery Update

I'm loving this autumn color

If everything had gone according to plan, right now I would be in a massive, fruit- and vegetable-filled frenzy trying to finish up the gigantic cookbook project I started working on last November. Unfortunately plans have a way of changing—especially if you live on a farm—whether we want them to or not.

Back in March, I did such a good job whacking my head on a low ceiling beam in one of our chicken coops that—seven months, three doctors, all sorts of treatments and therapies, and numerous hours spent with an ice pack and this awesome massager later—my neck and shoulder are still screwed up.

And the thing that causes me the most pain just happens to be sitting at the computer (although putting up hay was a close second). This does not mesh well with very tight and very inflexible writing deadlines (or blogging!).

The new building, which is basically a big metal barn, looks out on the Hayfield

So no cookbook. But no massive October frenzy either. It's disappointing, of course, especially since this was a really exciting venture that went beyond just writing a book about making the most of your seasonal bounty. Because of proprietary and legal mumbo jumbo, I can't share any more details about the project; I'm not purposely trying to be secretive.

I've been approached by other editors at some wonderful publishing houses who are interested in my writing and photos, so there might very well be a book of some sort in my future. I figure an even better opportunity will present itself if and when the time is right—and I thank you for all the support you gave me for this one.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to sharing more of the Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes I created for the cookbook, including one for a ridiculously easy—and ridiculously delicious—homemade pear butter that I will hopefully have up this weekend. Update: the pear butter recipe is up!

With three big sinks and My Favorite View, doing dishes will be a pleasure

We're also back to contemplating our wholesale artisan bread bakery plan (you can see a photo of the whole building and read a little more about the bakery here), which was shelved last year due to a combination of skyrocketing gas prices, skyrocketing wheat prices, and all of my spare time being spent writing the cookbook.

Since we already have the 7-foot wide deck oven and 60-quart mixer installed in the commercial kitchen on the bottom floor of the new building, I know we'll eventually come up with some delicious way to use them. Joe says that if nothing else, every few months we'll simply bake a lot of bread for ourselves and our friends all at once.

Our new bedroom (and the locally made oak stair treads)

As far as my healing and physical therapy are concerned, we finally fixed all the plumbing problems in the new building (thankfully without having to tear into the beautiful bathroom tile), so although it'll be a while yet before we move in—there are still hundreds of feet of baseboard and trim to put up, the 'real' stairs to be installed, 17 windowsills to be built, light fixtures to be mounted, and a bunch of other stuff I'm probably forgetting, all of which are much better accomplished if you aren't already living in the space—the glorious whirlpool tub is fully functional.


Oh, baby

And after spending 9 years without a working bathtub, boy does it feel nice. This is one splurge that was definitely worth every penny.

© FarmgirlFare.com, the soak away your troubles with champagne, candles, and a bathtub built for two (only 6½ years after putting up the shell of the building!) foodie farm blog where this whole neck/shoulder thing has put a big damper on my ability to respond in a timely manner to your comments and e-mail. I love hearing from you, and I thank you for your understanding and patience.

Farm Photos 7/1/09: A Day in the Hay

After two very long days, the first cutting of hay has finally been mowed, teddered (aka fluffed up), raked into windrows, and is ready to be baled.

Lots more photos below. . .

Saturday Farm Photos: One Hot Guy

In hay cutting hell.








© FarmgirlFare.com, the still feels like August foodie farm blog (this is Day 11 of unrelenting temps in the upper 90s and heat indexes up to 108) where it just took three people, three tractors, and ten hot and sweaty hours to do a one person, one tractor, two hour hay mowing job—and we've only just begun all this.

But despite the heat, we've still got to eat, and a fabulous farm dinner of homegrown grilled lamb leg steaks, the first green beans from the garden, just dug new red potatoes (which were unbelievably good), a hunk of homemade baguette from the freezer, and freshly baked chocolate chip raisin cookies (a bribe for the cookie loving neighbor who lent us the antique tractor above—which bears a striking resemblance to our own big tractor, except that his isn't dead) almost makes it all worthwhile.

And as Joe's mom said to him a few minutes ago on the phone as he was recounting the day, "Oh, but you love what you do, and you love who you're doing it with." "Guilty on both counts, Mom," he replied. How cute is that? But we'll still both be extremely glad when haying season is once again over!

Monday Daily Dose of Cute: Tractor Cat

That's Our Tough Tortie Topaz (aka 3T)

Want to see more collections of cat candids?
Topaz
Patchy Cat
Sarah Kit Kat Kate
Smudge
J2
New Cat
Molly Doodlebug (aka The Doodle Monster)
(Sorry, no photos up yet of Mr. Midnight & Sylvester)

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Patchy Cat may be the boss around here, but 3T (who, after living at the animal shelter for 15 months before we adopted her last December, chooses to spend nearly every minute outdoors) rules the farmyard — and she loves our rickety old tractors almost as much as Joe does. I think she's already vying for position as next year's hay raker rather than hay inspector. (Oops! I totally forgot I said I would explain the haying process to those of you who asked about it back during haying season. Sorry!)

Saturday Farm Photos: A Slight Haying Delay

Old Tractors Don't Always Start on the First Try



But the 20th Time's a Charm!

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where sometimes we fix our well worn tractors and haying equipment with duct tape and baling twine — then hold our breaths and repeat our soothing mantra while waiting to see if they'll make it through one more year: They may be old, but they're paid for. They may be old, but they're paid for.

Friday Farm Photo: Antique Haying Equipment

Oldies but Goodies (Who Needs Brakes?)

A year of Farm Photos ago:
6/17/07: Whitey & Her Baby Chicks
6/19/07: Caution Foodie Forming
6/23/07: Looking for my Strawberries, Turtle?
6/25/07: Echinacea by the Cat Cabin

Two years ago:
6/25/06: Weekend Turtle Blogging
6/26/06: Who Needs TV When You Have Cary & DDD?
6/27/06: Snugglebunny's Twin Girls Heading Out for Breakfast

Three (!) years ago:
6/24/05: Makeshift Fence
6/25/05: J2 in the Cat Cabin - Where's Breakfast?
6/26/05: Glance & It's Mundane, Look & See Reflected Beauty
6/27/05: Sweet Teddy Boy

And out of the kitchen came:
Three Onion & Three Cheese Pizza and My Easy Pizza Dough Recipe (plus Loving Leftover Pizza)
Decidedly Different Chocolate Chip Cookies (and how to hug a sheep)
Blueberry Breakfast Bars

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where scrolling through the late June archives reminds us that some things do stay the same around the farm - outside right now are little lambs (including Snugglebunny's twins - boys this year) and little chicks (well, not quite so little anymore), strawberry-munching turtles (they're everywhere!), a hungry J2, and a showy mass of cheerful echinacea flowers. Now if only there was a homemade pizza and a pan of blueberry bars in the kitchen.

Christmas Eve Greetings from the Farm

If Santa drove a tractor. . .

© FarmgirlFare.com

Daily Farm Photo: 6/29/05

It's Best To Cut Hay On A Hot, Sunny Day