back on the farm

hi, sorry i did not pop my head in on sunday, well although Hollis nh was stunning with it's rolling hills colonial historic farms, orchards and quaint eateries i was not able to photograph such things since i worked from daylight deep into the night. I have to say when i was working all i thought about is the farm and how i missed it so. how just before i left a big pile of wood was dropped off and how i would love to be stacking it. i thought about all the recipes i wanted to try from the books i got at the library and how i was going to try to make mozzarella from scratch! how the farm stands would be over flowing with deliciousness and how i would like to walk in the pastures with sophie, grace, mike and clarabelle.

we arrived back very early sunday morning, went to ct for coffee. we came home and started stacking the wood and decorating the barns with pumpkins, bittersweet and under vines i found on the farm. then there was a football game to catch so we drove to a little tavern surrounded by antique stores, ate, perused the lovely shops then headed to our favorite farm stands. we came home and i stacked some more. monday i woke very early, more stacking ( very large pile:) and hayed all afternoon under the gorgeous sun, it was hard worked but i loved every minute of it!

our 5 o'clock ( well six)

pretty much the minute k. gets home we walk the dogs through the pastures. yesterday we went through the corn field. did i tell you we have a corn maize? well we do. k, the dogs and i walked around in it, when i decided to go a different way and so did grace before you knew it we were calling out to each other" are you out yet" i would say yes as i thought is saw the glimpse of an out, but wrong i would yell out "not yet" we found ourselves running in every direction. victory was mine as i was the first to find my way out, then grace, k and sophie how fun was this, in our own backyard! how i wish all our niece and nephews could play, in fact i wish every one could feel like a kid again in the maize!

all the animals are now comfortable with each other, both mike(horse) and clarable are in love with sophie perhaps it is her white as snow color and her sweet and shy demeanor, grace on the other hand thinks she can take down clarable and out run mike! have a wonderful weekend everyone, i am headed to new hampshire for work, leaving the farm and the dogs in friends care i do hope they have a good time here! you might see me pop my head again on sunday!

what we put in our mouths

the last few days i have been listening to books on cd when i work around the farm, one in particular is animal, vegetable, miracle. I have for the most part been a healthy eater, my mother cooked from scratch. at the age of eleven i decide that i would no longer eat any animal flesh and shortly after any animal bi product, although as of late that has changed since a new found love for cheese and eggs. if i am going to raise animals i must no exactly who i am when it comes too what i will put in my mouth, admitting that i will raise chickens for eggs and goats for cheese was and is very hard for me to say with conviction. visiting farms around us i also realize that i must start to form a thicker skin when it comes to animals and living things. although i will never kill any animal for food there was a time i would say " but aren't eggs animals" again as you can see a struggle inside of me.

I am learning a lot, like did you know that in all the countries in the world americans spend less of their paychecks on food in fact no time in american history have we spend less. I thought about this and traveled back into my memory in all the countries i have lived and yes on all the tables of my childhood and travels there was bountiful of fresh ingredients, cheeses, meats, oils, nuts. that if we simply started allowing for more of our funds to go to the purchase of food we would fill our baskets with free range meats, cheese, variety of vegetable and fruits. we would see the difference immediately and it would all translate to healthier society, we end up paying many times over what we try to save at the grocery store in medical bills, medicine, sick days and so on. ironically k and i in the last year have had a very small budget for food, living in the country allows me to buy straight from the farmer and fill my bags with vegetables that i would probably pass up in the grocery store for financial reasons. although we do not all live where farm stands and markets surround us, what we can do is maybe trim our budget in other areas because truthfully i can not think what is more satisfying than preparing and sitting down at table for something that is ethical, healthy and in season.

*dearest friends i am writing all of this to put it in perspective for myself, in no way do i want to preach but what i would love to do is share what ia m learning along the way..

just the way..

i find myself putting my wellies on and tucking my pajama legs into them i grab a sweater and step outside. it is early morning and it is-quiet and peaceful. the fog is lifting, things i have not noticed before come forward. i walk to the bottom of the drive and look toward the barn and the house, it is what i have always thought such a place would be.

when getting lost is a good thing

well one thing i have been doing on a daily basis is getting lost, there is no shortcuts in the country, but i must say all the wrong turns have been wonderful. I must pinch myself many times daily, for every road leads to a feast for the eyes. like the other day, trying to find some homegrown potatoes for a big pot of soup i had planned for the weekend, i ended up at this tucked away farm. I parked the car and saw the vegetable stand, a scale, money box everyone around here does the honor system! well there right before me was a beautiful duck with her chicks, kitties, a horse named fred. no one was around no sign of a humans i poked around, explored and ran for my camera. a few days later i returned with k, we spent an hour talking to the owner who happily answered many of our questions and told us we could have two of the chicks if wanted, that he would also sell his gorgeous thoroughbred horse to us, we want! oh boy we are in trouble:)!

this weekend has been great. k and i went to our library it is very old and beautiful you still ring the big bell. we gathered books on how to raise chickens( for eggs only), learned about goats in hoped to milk and make our own goat cheese, and how to start a bee hive. there is s much to learn, it is funny i have wanted this all my life pretty much yet it is funny how little i actually know but thanks to neighbors, books and blogs i think i will get to know it pretty quick!

when you feel warm and fuzzy

last year i bought a book called "how to pick a peach" by russ parsons. the book tells you where certain fruits and vegetables originated, where they are grown now, what to look for when choosing , it also includes a few recipes. what was really interesting to read is how fruit such as peaches have changed. did you know they used to be white? but retailers complained that you could easily see the bruising so growers developed different kinds. while i do not remember a white peach i do remember when the the flesh of the peach was stuck to the stone( pit) and i would suck every each of the remaining sweetness from it- well guess what 90 percent of the peaches, apricots, nectarines and so on are grown so that the stone no longer sticks to the flesh, for some reason this makes me sad. I am happy to say that the peaches i received the other day had me sucking on a stone!! have great weekend every one, if only on this day everyone could have the chance to eat a peach.

a farm stand and new friends

this weekend while trying to find a supermarket i ended up getting lost but what i ended up finding is the perfect farm stand. catherine the owner with her large smile explained that this was their first year. I listened and asked questions, took pictures and went home with all the ingredients for a ratatouille( thanks sheila) and ate a delicious apple on the way home. well yesterday needing to go get more veggies, i found myself driving there. the stand is in ct, and i must pass many farm stands before i get there but i knew it would be hard to find people as kind. i arrived and quickly gathered more veggies a couple of apples to try, they have many varieties. she handed me a big basket of peaches and a few other things on the house, how lucky was i! I grabbed a bottle of locally made ginger ale, when she said "how did your picture turn out?" i said "okay" and she said would you like to go to the orchard and take photographs? would i i was in heaven! The orchard is beautiful it has fifteen hundred apple trees of every kind and color not to mention peach trees and a pond. I was under the weather so i will return there to take more pictures. I can't help but think how quickly life has changed for k and i, their i am getting my produce in connecticut having four pets, listening to crickets under the biggest starlit sky..while eating peach crisp and ice cream!

a weekend

this past weekend a friend came over to share the farm with me. we walked through the pastures and into the forest where we spent some time with the horse and the cow. we made the freshest caprese salad and had iced hibiscus tea by the light of the moon. we baked banana bread and made a big ratatouille with the vegetables from the farm stand. we also walked down the road where we found the most gorgeous varieties of pumpkins and if that was not perfect enough there were new born kitties all about. we ended the evening with bowls of mango and vanilla ice cream while watching grey gardens and long conversations about the grey areas of our own lives.

* the last photo is from our pumpkin patch, a little behind no pesticides and lots of rain.

a new beginning

well here i am, in a new place therefore it must be a beginning. we have moved, left the city and we are in the country on the farm. we live on a farm in the country but wait, we are only twenty five minutes from the city. that might be perfect! so i decided that i would just give a little newness to the blog. i am nervous, the old is so familiar to me and perhaps to you so let try it together, i think we can get used to it.

the farm has a name, cucumber hill farm and i like it very much. i also love saying it, well mostly outloud to the dogs:)we introduced sophie and grace (dogs) to mike the horse and clarabelle the cow( not isabelle as i had thought). grace tried to play with the clarabelle and mike, we kept our eyes closed as we prepared for grace to be kicked by clarabelle, she tried her hardest but it is clear that she was happy to have grace around. sophie is much more calm and her and mike seem to have this quiet understanding and respect.

Oh dear friends, i am nervous, excited for this new beginning. there is so much to learn, like how to get clarabelle back into the pasture when she runs to the corn field for extra treats. or how to clear all the weeds from the pumpkin patch(1/2 acre of pumpkins), where to start the vegetable beds this year for next spring but mostly how to put my camera down, i am so inspired i can barely stand it: do not worry though the city has tall beautiful historical stone buildings, cafes and my studio so i will not just be a farm girl:) i also will be doing a few special photo shoots, working on special projects that i hope to share with you in the months to come, hopefully mixed in with some travel - so i guess what i am trying to say it will not be dull around here!

* i would like to say a special thanks to aran and paul for helping me with my blog redesign!