We’ve had quite the winter. Living in eastern Connecticut, we’re on track for one of the snowiest winters of all time. The last 30-days have been one of the snowiest every, anywhere in the US and February is on track to be the coldest month since records started being kept. In late January, right after our first lambs of the year were born, we were hit by a massive blizzard (the first snow of the season). That was January 27th. Since then we’ve had “record” snowfalls 3 or 4 more times and are on track for the snowiest winter ever, with total snowfall for the year approaching 100 inches. The kids haven’t even had a full week of school since January 12th.
Normally I move the snow around with my tractor, but since the weather got cold the hydraulics (which operate the bucket loader) hadn’t been working right – after the first blizzard the hydraulics didn’t work at all. Jamie and I started trying to shovel the driveway (all ~200 feet of it). Jamie had to get into work the next day and neither car was movable. Luckily we got it good enough get the truck down to the bottom of the driveway and called it a night (there was still probably a foot of snow on the driveway).
At 10:30 at night, I hear a truck in the driveway. My friend who does snow removal brought his plow over and cleared our driveway. He’d heard we had tractor problems and really saved the day. We had another storm and I finally started getting serious about fixing the tractor hydraulics. The dealer suggested it might be a clog in the filter or intake strainer. Sure enough, after draining the hydraulic oil and replacing the filter, cleaning the strainer and putting in 10 gallons of clean oil, it worked like a charm.
Now it’s fairly easy to move the snow around (this was from our latest snowfall, a dusting).
It hasn’t been all bad though.
Elsa loves the snow. She’s sitting on at least a couple feet of snowpack.
The kids have loved the snow mountains.
And we were able to go to a friend who’d made a tubing course in their back yard.
Things have been relatively quiet here the past month. We had an incredibly relaxing Christmas and New Year’s. We stayed home for the holidays this year and had a small celebration with my parents. We also got to spend a lot of time with friends and getting out to some local sights (Roger Williams Zoo, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston). Up until this past week, the winter weather had also been relatively quiet. There were even some days that approached 60 during the holiday break.
This week, that all changed. We got a substantial blizzard on Tuesday, dropping the highest snow total that we have had since living here on our farm (close to 30 inches with drifts over 5 feet). I was particularly concerned about this storm as we have two ewes that looked due to lamb any day. Thankfully, Frances waited until this morning to drop another set of twins–a boy and a girl. It was bitterly cold, but at least it was sunny.
When I got to the barn this morning, I could see her in there with one lamb. We had closed the sheep into the barn for the duration of the blizzard. I got the other sheep out into their other stall and fed everyone. Frances had been huge, so I expected two lambs. After a minute, I thought I heard something. Sure enough, the other lamb had already been born and had managed to crawl behind a board in the barn, wedging itself into a corner. It took me a few panicked moments to get her out. She was wet and cold, but once I put her with her momma, she started to perk right up. We made one of our hay-stalls and put the mother and two lambs into it along with a bucket of water, some hay, and some grain. We have been out every few hours to check on everyone and each time, both lambs have been up and nursing. Their father is our ram Rorschach who had also been born in a snow storm a few years ago and survived on his own for a good six hours during a snow storm. There is no question that this is some hardy stock. I expect for Cameo to lamb sometime in the next few weeks.
We are in full-on holiday mode right now! We got our tree the day after Thanksgiving and have been decorating the house and making things merry.
Yesterday we spent the entire day with our friend Amanda making all sorts of confections. We followed the same recipes we used in this post from 2011 and added in a few new treats. And just in case anyone has any illusions that our children are perfect little elves, if you could hear the background in these pictures you would get to listen in on sibling arguments, Mario Kart, and a whole stream of Taylor Swift videos playing on YouTube. We really are people who make big messes and sometimes have short tempers, but when it is all said and done, we have a lot of laughs and share a lot of love. We are also really good at cleaning things up. We think it is all worth the cost.
We started out making marshmallows. They are always a favorite and come out so good. We wrapped them in parchment paper and they look like Christmas Crackers.
Next we made fudge that we actually cooked too long and it was crumbly. So, we turned some of it into fudgy cake truffles that turned out beautifully and added the rest to a batch of granola. We made a second batch of fudge that was perfect.
We made two kinds of almonds, candied and spiced. They always come out so well. We also made peanut brittle, something we have been doing for the past 15 years.
Two new things we added were bacon caramels and peppermint bark. All in all it was a great day and we can’t wait to share these delicious treats with friends and family 
We have wrapped up our harvest for 2014. In every aspect, this was the most productive year we have ever had. The garden was incredible, we got a ton of fruit from the orchard, and our meat yields were the best yet. We finished up with all of the vegetable and fruit harvest by the end of September and then turned to getting the animals culled, processed, and put in the freezer. Here is where things stand.
We currently have four cows. The two mothers (Sweet One and her daughter Buttermilk) and the two calves. They are getting really big and the female will go to the butcher around this time next year. We will keep the male and let him breed back to the two mothers and then he will go to the butcher the next year. We still have plenty of beef in the freezer from last year, so we should be set.
We are down to six sheep which is the fewest we have had in a while. Back in August we lost one of our lambs to a predator (probably a large cat, not exactly sure). A few weeks ago we took three sheep to the butcher. We culled our Leicester Longwool ewe Clementine. She was six years old and has had some minor hoof problems that have been around for a while despite our efforts to treat them. She was also our only sheep left that needed to be shorn twice/year. We kept one of her daughters to replace her (a LL and CVM cross) and took her other daughter in to the butcher as well for lamb. We also took our wether Barnie. They all dressed out beautifully and we will be sending the pelts out for tanning. So, we have our two CVM ewes, Francis and Cameo; our CVM rams Rorschach and Francis’ son; Dash, our wether who was orphaned and slept in our house; and the little ewe lamb who we haven’t named yet. Both rams are very sweet and we are hoping that at least the CVM ewes are bred.
We took both pigs to the butcher. Their hanging weights were 238lbs and 255lbs which is the heaviest pigs we have had. Usually we keep a little less than one pig’s worth of meat and do shares of the rest. Since we didn’t do pigs last year, we keep almost all of the pork. I am making stock right now from the heads and feet which will be perfect for making bean soups all winter. We will definitely raise pigs again next summer.
We have zero turkeys. We ended up with three this year, after starting with six poults. Friends came over last weekend with their two turkeys and we had a butchering day party (they then took two sheep back with them to use as lawn mowers and for fiber and meat). We had two toms, each weighing in at 29lbs and a hen that was 18lbs and will be our Thanksgiving dinner. I pieced both males and froze the meat and made stock from the bones. It was the thickest stock I have ever made, they had a lot of good fat.
We have about 16 chickens. We lost a few to some sort of predator. Elsa has them well trained to stay in the bush right next to the coop. She actually gets really agitated if they leave it and will round them back up. It is funny to watch.
We have five rabbits. Two American Chincilla does and a buck and two Silver Fox does. We put a good 15+ rabbits in the freezer this fall and likely won’t breed them again until very late winter.
We still have a thriving hive of bees but didn’t get enough honey in the supers to make it worth the trouble of collecting. We still have plenty of honey from last year.
There are still pockets of green in the garden. Some kale, chard, parsley, etc. At this point I will probably just give it to the animals as treats.
What an incredible year 2014 has been. We are excited for the holidays and a chance to take a break from producing and processing food to eating and enjoying time with friends and family.
It is hard to know where to start when words have failed. For me, the choice will always be to turn to cloth and stitching. A little over a month ago I got an email from a very very close friend. Friend isn’t even the right word, as this lovely young woman has really become a part of our family the past four years. To make a long story short, it turned out that she had grown a large tumor on her left kidney that was causing some major problems in her body. She and I had had dinner a few days before I got the email and I had noted she was tired, but chalked it up to the life of a harried graduate student.
I accompanied her to the doctor’s appointment where we learned about the tumor. She had gone to the ER over the weekend with pain and other symptoms and they had run a CT scan and found it. I can’t even begin to describe what it was like to sit in that room and hear those words. What makes it even more intense was the knowledge that my dear friend had lost her mother to lung cancer when she was an adolescent. Like my friend, her mother had been exceptionally healthy and fit and had no risk factors. She and I had spent many conversations discussing life and this was one of her biggest fears realized.
The next few hours were spent in a flurry of phone calls and emails. All of my friend’s family is in the DC/VA area and it was clear that this tumor needed to come out ASAP and would be major surgery requiring a major recovery period. Within 24 hours of learning this news, her sister flew up, her best friend made a million calls to set up appointments and care down south, tons of friends came to wish her well, and she was on a plane. Watching her drive off was one of the hardest things I have had to do. I knew she was going to be well taken care of, but it is hard to let go.
One of the things she and I spent a lot of time doing together was sewing. We both share a deep love of home and hearth and cooking and hosting and sharing hand made things. After she got safely to her family there was little for me to do here but wait. Her surgery was scheduled for ten days after her arrival as her surgeon wanted to run numerous tests first. I don’t do well with waiting. I needed a project. And so, with some coordination from some amazing faculty and staff in our department, I was able to pull together a community quilt project for her.
I grabbed a ton of fabric from my stash, a few machines, and tons of supplies and set up shop in an empty office in our building. My goal was to get 25 squares made. The first day started out a bit slow, but by the time lunch came around, things started hopping. People came in wanting to sew a square who had never sewn before. At one time we had three machines going. One of the things that is important to know about my friend is that she coordinated one of the major TA courses and so interacted with a huge number of graduate students and faculty members. Everyone wanted to come in and do something. Sometimes, when a beautiful, healthy, kind, intelligent 29-year old woman grows a giant tumor on her kidney, just signing your name to a card isn’t quite enough. It is pretty extraordinary to see people that you know and have interacted with for many years (I have been a part of this department since 2001) try something new and step out of their comfort zone to make something for another person.
By the end of the first evening we had over 30 squares done. I had brought three with me to start (made by us). It was incredible. I had made a little “inspiration board” with a poster and pictures of things she likes. As people finished their squares, I started hanging them on the walls. I loved seeing the way the room was transformed. Ironically, that space had been one of my offices for a semester a few years ago. People made squares that matched their clothes. People made squares that matched their interests. People made squares and more squares and more squares. They inspired and supported each other in the very definition of collegiality.
All-in-all, I was on campus for one full day and two-half days. At the end we had 60 squares, enough to make a reversible quilt. The original plan had been for me to put it all together and FedEx it to her before her surgery, but her best friend had a better idea. She was traveling down two days after the surgery and wanted to bring it with her and give it to her in person. Of course. It was perfect.
The way the quilt came together was magical. I had sorted the squares to make sure that the front and back were balanced. I had been having people use a 12.5″ square template so I only had to do a tiny bit of trimming. First I stitched the columns and then the rows and I marveled at how lovely it all was. It exceeded every expectation. From the time I started laying out the squares, to having it finished was only a day (with soccer in the middle). To quilt it, I just put each “top” on a sheet of batting and stitched along the seams in both directions. I then added a 3″ strip of binding to both sides and then stitched those two sides together in the same way you would make a pillow case. When it was done, I turned and top-stitched around the edge. After it was washed a dried, Miss C and I hand-tied the center of each square. It will keep it together better and also makes it that much more lovely and homey. Doing this kept me busy and occupied in the midst of so much waiting and uncertainty. It was the perfect project in many ways.
While in the midst of the quilt-project we got great news that all of her tests revealed that there was no evidence of cancer anywhere else in her body. Her surgery went very smoothly and they removed the tumor, which was in fact cancerous. I just got back from visiting her this past week and got to go to the follow-up appointment with her surgeon. This time, it was all good news! The cancer is gone (clean margins!!), she is healing well, and will be monitored with MRIs and bone scans regularly for the next few years. She can go on to do all of the things young people hope and dream of doing like finishing graduate school, getting married, and maybe even starting a family!!
The quilt was indeed hand-delivered to her in the hospital a few days after surgery. The words I got were “speechless,” “overwhelmed,” and “amazed”. Due to the beauty of technology like snapchat, video texts, and Skype, I got to witness the moment of unveiling and then talk with her about each and every square. During my visit we got to repeat this process in person. We talked about each square and who made it (I had taken pictures of each person with their square) and how impressed we were by everyone and laughed and cried and laughed some more. Because it has two layers of batting it is exceptionally warm. Because it was made with so much love and care, it is something I know she will treasure forever. To be able to facilitate this for her, and for all of the people who didn’t think they could make a square was a very meaningful experience for me. Her best friend, another graduate student, and I became close through this experience. She said to me, “I am the brains, she is the heart, and you are the hands.” Truer words have never been spoken. Everyone should be so lucky to have such a collaborative friendship.
Each square has a story and I wish I could share each and every one here. They all have meaning and symbolism. I cannot begin to thank each and every person who did this for her enough. There really aren’t words to describe this feeling. It is an experience I will treasure for my entire life. So often we here about the bad things people do, but in truth, people come together every day to engage in acts of kindness big and small.
Amanda, we love you so much. You are the most incredible person. Kind, intelligent, compassionate. You bring people together in the best possible way. I am so glad to end this chapter of our story. Here’s to a new narrative. xoxoxo
Jamie
The last time we had pigs was in 2012. We never got around to getting pigs for last year and we were really missing our pork and especially the ham and bacon. We started two pigs in the spring, a Landrake-Yorkshire cross (our pink pig, we called him “cookie”) and a Duroc-Hampshire cross (our belted pig, we called him “oreo”).
Piglets adjusting to their new home.
We took the advice of our breeder and were using an 18% protein feed from the local feed store. We also were very sure to give the pigs a happy space to wallow, space for a dust bath and plenty of room to root around. These were definitely happy pigs.
Elsa was very curious about the new additions.
The pigs were growing well. By keeping the pigs happy and well fed and watered, we make sure there were no breakouts, like there were in the past.
When it comes to moving pigs to the butcher, preparation is a must. Last year we weren’t on top of things and it took quite a long time to load the pigs the morning we took them in. This year, we parked the trailer in their area for the week leading up to the date and fed them on the trailer so they’d get completely used to it.
The morning of transport, we used a little bit of leftover cornbread to lure them onto the trailer with no trouble at all.
All loaded up and ready to go.
We were at the butcher in about 15 minutes, probably a new record for us. These two pigs also grew pretty well, we’re definitely looking forward to seeing how much they weight out at.
Waiting our turn to unload.
Here are some pig movies, enjoy!
It is that time of year again. All of the hard work that was put it in early in the growing season really paid off. We have produced and abundance of food this year. Probably 300lbs of tomatoes and 200lbs of squash. We grew some pumpkins and decorative squash. This weekend we all went into the garden to harvest. We are also focused on giving any and all extras to the pigs, turkeys, and rabbits who will be butchered very soon.
The pigs go to the butcher next weekend, so we placed the trailer into their pen and will be feeding them in there all week. Hopefully, this will mean that when it is time to load them on Sunday it will only take us a minute.
We hope you are enjoying the early fall activities.
Earlier this month I was able to do some sewing. I completed two projects that have both been on my mind for the better part of the past year. The first was a quilt for my mom. It was originally supposed to be a birthday present for her last year. This past year has been so intense that it just kept getting pushed back. In some ways, this was for the best. Even though we had picked out the pattern and fabric last summer, my mom kept picking up other pieces of fabric she liked over the year. One week before I cut everything out she picked out two of the fabrics that I think were just perfect. The pattern was really simple and it all came together nicely.
The second project was for my supervisor from the past two years. She was also one of my advisors from graduate school. She recently moved into a new office this year and I wanted to make something for her. I had made the “Girl on a Swing” by Aneela Hooey a few years back for Charlotte, and wanted to play with that same style. In our work, we often ask children to do a set of drawings called, “House, Tree, Person”. So this was my take on that. Charlotte helped me design it and pick out fabrics. It was so nice to make this piece and my supervisor really liked it.
The something old is actually a quilt my grandmother and her sister made. This was probably done in the late 1970s as she died in 1980. It was done completely by hand. It is exquisite. I can’t even imagine how much time it took them to complete it. It is so perfectly my color and style. My mom has it right now. It had been with my aunt, but she sent it to my mom to have.
We have two enormous elderberry bushes in front of our house. Last year we got a small harvest and made elderberry jam. This year the plants produced a prolific harvest and this weekend were ready to be picked. Our plan is to make elderberry syrup using this recipe and can it for use over the winter. We have about two gallons worth of berries so we expect to also be able to make some jelly and maybe even some sambuco.
In the front we always have a few garter snakes hanging out. I was very aware of this as I was cutting the stems to harvest the berries and watching where I stepped. Imagine my surprise as I looked up and saw a garter snake just over my head in a cluster of berries. Mike got the camera and took a ton of spectacular pictures that you can see below. There are still some berries left on the plant and I might have enough to do another small harvest this weekend.
This morning we let Elsa out around 5;30am as is our normal routine. She likes to do her perimeter check of the farm and chase away any and all foxes. She typically barks some, but not a ton. Mike had gotten up early as he had to work away from home today. He shook me awake to say that he thought the other calf had been born. He could hear Elsa barking relentlessly and saw her out behind the barn. I went from fully asleep to fully dressed and running out the door in under two minutes.
This was Buttermilk’s first calf. She is Sweet Momma’s daughter and was born here three years ago. I knew she was a few weeks behind her mother but as of tomorrow, Spot is three weeks old. I had been paying close attention to her as this was her first pregnancy and even though there was no reason to suspect anything bad would happen, you still want to be careful. I ran to the paddock and could see her beautiful black calf nursing next to her.
She must have been born last night as she was all clean and totally on her feet and had a huge poop while we were there. I was *really* hoping the calf would look like a panda (white face, white stripe) but I guess the genetics meant that an all black grandmother and an all black grandfather yields an all black baby. She is lovely and healthy and so we are happy.
This was quite an adventure, from getting the bull to getting these babies on the ground. I am very happy to be on the other side of it all. Spot will have so much fun playing with his sister/niece.
