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Well, here it is December. Whew. What just happened?
I had my last farmers market October 28th. Phew. Always a huge milestone to finish up with that full 6 month stretch of every Friday/Saturday markets. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, we went from days in the 90’s to days in the 70’s in what seemed like a nanosecond. But upon review, we did get a week of 80 degree days. And we FINALLY got some rain, after a wet spring and then nothing for months and months.
First baby picture. This is what I sent my husband when I visited the pound. “I think you need to meet this one” was my comment.
We have a new kitten! And I’ve become one of those crazy cat ladies where the vast majority of the photos on my phone are of my cat, lol. Read the rest of this entry »
From left to right, Butters, Kirby and Malcolm, in a moment of harmony.
Last week, our cat Malcolm didn’t show up to come in for breakfast. He had been a bit whiny for the last few days. I couldn’t remember when I had last seen him the day before (the cats have a cat door so they can let themselves out – but not back in, after one too many live mice in the house incidents). I called for him and searched the yard, but almost immediately suspected he was gone. He’s spent most of his time in the past almost 7 years either eating, sleeping near me or sitting in my lap. He was always the first one to came in for breakfast, if he even went out at all. Read the rest of this entry »
Dan Savage, a writer and advice columnist for The Stranger newspaper out of Seattle (and not for the prudish, as he deals with a lot of explicit sex advice questions for all comers, from sis to trans to everything in between) is famous for coining catch phrases. One of my favorites of his is The Campground Rule. In this scenario, an older person dates a substantially younger person, and in the end, as often happens, things don’t work out. Dan has no problem with the age difference, as long as you follow “The Campground Rule”. Your goal, should you be the older person in this situation, is to leave the younger person in better shape than you found them. Read the rest of this entry »
Babies!!!!
We generally like to have our American Blackbelly Ewes give birth in March. The weather has warmed up enough by then that we don’t need to worry so much about a newborn getting chilled, or mama being stressed enough that she decides she doesn’t want another mouth to feed. Because sheep have a 5 month gestation, that means that we put our ram in with our ewes in early October.
But not last year. Kenny, our beautiful ram, had only one fence between him and his girlfriends, and he had been pining after them for MONTHS, and so he promptly rammed his rather substantial head and horns against an inadequate wooden fence post until he broke the post. That, along with the bottom of the fence not being well attached, and in he went with his girls in early September. Read the rest of this entry »
© Stitch Fix
OK, I realize this is a 90 degree turn from farming, but a girl still wants to look good when she’s not wearing carhartts and mud boots, right?! And really, this is a post about trying to find the balance between consumerism and minimalism, between living deliberately vs looking like you’ve given up all together, between fashion and farming. Read the rest of this entry »
First snow. When it all seemed charming.
Years ago, I took a summer biology class at the Mountain Research Station near Nederland Colorado. During the course of that wonderful week, there was a conversation with our instructor, in which she was talking about an old friend of hers, who used to do work at the station, and was now suffering from Alzheimer’s. She would go to visit him, and ask him questions about his past, to keep him engaged. At one point, she asked, “What’s your favorite season”. And his answer has always stuck with me, these 20+ years later. “WINTER, because it’s so dynamic!” I try to remember this, as I witness how snow transforms the landscape, softening edges, hushing the noise, insulating the world from all insults. Read the rest of this entry »
After my dad (1995) and step-mother (1999) passed away, I spent some time cleaning out the house I grew up in, and found a cache of recipes my father had clipped from various newspapers over the years. My step-mom tended to be the meat and potatoes cook of the house, but my father loved to bake. (I just used his Kitchen-Aid standing mixer today). I kept the recipes that sounded interesting, scanned them, and I’ve worked my way through most of them over the years. Read the rest of this entry »
Wow. These last few months just FLEW by. I did my last farmers market of the season on October 29th. I did my first market of the season on April 30th. We got rained out of four. (Because all of my soap and jam labels are paper, rainy markets and I don’t mix. Even though I’m under a tent, its almost impossible to keep everything dry.) We took one additional Saturday off. So I did a total of 47 market days, in four different locations, this year. My sales were up about 40%, so the move into the Pendleton and Richland markets was a good one, even though the first year at a new market is always about building your brand and customer base with the locals. I attribute a large part of the increase to my being able to offer jams throughout the year. Jams were about 27% of my sales this year. Mostly, I am thrilled to be finished. I’ve been pretty darned brain dead these last few weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
MilesAwayFarm
Miles Away Farm Blog 