halloween 2011

Bwa-ha-ha. It was a cold and snowy afternoon... wait, that might be the start of a different story.

A very scary cabbage chopping picture. 

Heads rolled.

The 4-H club had scheduled a gleaning for the past weekend, but the weather was a little uncooperative. A heavy frost this morning (and another scheduled for tonight) meant the crops couldn't wait too much longer, so just a few of the kids went to the farm -- owned by one of the 4-H member families -- and gleaned cabbage and cauliflower this afternoon.

I won't need to eat cabbage for a while. As Secondo observed, the smell was enough to curb your appetite, so that's my new appetite suppressant tip. Go into a muddy field with a little bit of snow (all the better to nail your fellow gleaners) and chop off some cabbage heads. Works wonders for that, as well as any excess aggression you need to release.

Still enough time when they were done to go out trick-or-treating:

Primo was a cow vet (get it?);

Secondo was a carrot;

Terzo was -- well, that one's obvious.

And the Great Pumpkin didn't fail us. For the eighth year in a row, a carved and lit pumpkin was mysteriously waiting for them on the porch upon their return.

Happy Halloween!

sweet sixteen

The frequency of my posting lately is a window on the hectic pace of life around here in October. Today was no exception. First of all, we wake up to this amazing October morning sight:

Unbelievable. Equally hard to believe, this kid turned sixteen:

He requested apple pie in lieu of birthday cake. 

I had a heck of a time getting

the candles to stand up in the pie crust.

He is turning into such a wonderful man, that I try not to mourn the passing of his childhood too much.

Meanwhile his younger brother celebrated his Rite 13 ceremony at church this morning (can't have just one milestone in a day!). I love this service, though it never fails to make me cry. By far the most poignant part is when the older kids -- in this case, his brother -- lead the younger ones away from their families, across the aisle of the church, to symbolize the start of their journey to adulthood.

It's official, if we didn't suspect it already: now we have two on their way.

procrastination rarely pays

Last Sunday at church, my LSH noted that I hadn't yet submitted my little words of wisdom for the booklet given each year to the 13-year-olds. He suggested I write about procrastination. My submission was along the lines of: "Procrastination will cause you unnecessary stress, but every so often, produces a work of brilliance."


Today was a golden example of the first part of my advice, however. Due to absolutely jam-packed schedules, we hadn't yet put our rams in with the ewes -- which means that we won't have lambs until the beginning of April. A little late, but definitely less stressful for the shepherd in some ways. Still, we needed to get them in TODAY.

Then along comes a weather forecast straight out of the North Pole in December.

We waited a bit, until we realized that conditions were only getting worse by the minute. We finally hauled ourselves out and moved as quickly as is possible with frozen hands, ears and noses. Hooves were trimmed, the last few coats were mended and put on, ewes and rams were put in assigned pastures with cozy sheds and dry hay, and we hightailed it back inside.

No pictures possible of the sheep.

I haven't seen them all day.

Primo has been nagging me since he got back from Indy that we needed to get ready for winter. (Much in the way that I come back from a fiber festival raring to get started on fibery ventures, he came back raring to start on farm chores.) I pooh-poohed him for the last week.

Because really, who on earth could have predicted snowball fight conditions in New Jersey in October?

friend ratatouille

The other night I made friend ratatouille, and it was absolutely scrumptious.

To make friend ratatouille, you need to start by having a few generous friends with healthy gardens. Mine never recovered from Hurricane Irene, but luckily Val and Amy have gardens that are still trickling along. They were kind enough to gift me with eggplant and tomatoes, respectively.

Ratatouille is a lot like vegetable soup: you can just toss in whatever veggies you have (within reason), cook it down, and it will come out pretty good. For my friend ratatouille, I started with a chopped onion and sauteed until golden in olive oil. I added a minced garlic glove and cooked for a bit more while I peeled and chopped the eggplant into half-inch cubes. Added to pan, with a splash of red wine to give it a little liquid (the eggplant sucks up the oil); sauteed while I peeled and chopped the tomatoes. Put tomatoes with all juice in plus a little water, some leftover spaghetti sauce, then a few chopped roasted red peppers, because I didn't have any fresh available. Turned the heat to simmer and put the lid on to let it cook down for a bit, stirring occasionally. Salt, pepper, maybe a little oregano, that's it.

It always looks pretty much the same when you're done, though the taste can vary slightly depending on what you've added in. 

This one was 100% delicious served over quinoa (made with a little chicken bouillon to give it a bit of flavor) and grilled chicken on the side. Our local farmstand still has tomatoes and eggplant out, so it looks like I will be making farmstand ratatouille in the near future!

romance in the air

In the way of nature, the cycle begins all over again, before we barely have a chance to think about it.

One ram lamb is left: King, one of Farrah's triplets. He will be going to his new home mid-November, but for now, he was frantic by himself. I couldn't put him with the rams -- they would do him serious harm this time of year. I couldn't put him in with the ewe lambs -- we don't like to breed them this young, plus one is his sister and the other is his half-sister.

So I put him in with Giulia. She is so over-conditioned (in sheepy lingo, that stands for really fat) that she has not been successfully bred by the rams in the past two years. I figure if he manages to breed her, he has earned his name.

Let's just say that despite the difference in size, he is doing his best.

We haven't had time to get the other rams into their harnesses and in with the other ewes, but the girls certainly know it's time. I caught them by the back gate of their pasture, mooning over the boys in the next pasture (marked by the blue arrow):

Soon enough, girls!

least favorite day

I always dread this particular day in the shepherding calendar: our appointment with the butcher. It's not that I dislike our butcher. In fact, I am very grateful that we have such a good facility within driving distance. I took sheep to an auction once, and vowed I would never do it again. This way, they are literally in clover until the moment they are loaded in the truck.

It is more that I dread the hard decisions that need to be made. As a responsible shepherd, I know I need to make those choices, for the good of the animals and the flock, but it doesn't make it any easier.

However, the whole farm seems to breathe a sigh of relief with the release of the pressure. We are back down to the number (roughly a dozen) that the farm -- and its farmers -- can handle over the winter.

We have learned the hard way that it is really important for us to know our limits.

brag book

The title is completely up front about the purpose of this post. I try not to brag too big on my kids on this blog (I know, I fail miserably), but there were too many things today to keep it in.

This kid returned safe and sound from Indy last night. His school's return was a triumphant one. Out of 24 possible first places in the various divisions of the national agriscience competition, they walked away with six of them -- and he and his lab partner were responsible for one. He is frantically trying to catch up on four missed days of homework because in his words, "Why would I stay in the hotel room when I could be out exploring Indianapolis?"

This kid marked another milestone today with his first day working for my friend and fellow shepherd Val. She raised up Primo in the way of hard work, and now she has taken Secondo under her wing, in part because Primo is just too darn busy these days. They are lucky to have her!

This kid has made a huge breakthrough in his reading and writing in the past couple months, so much so that he can finally join in family board games. Seriously though -- after so much worrying, it is wonderful to watch those connections falling into place for him. The ability to play board games about criminal activities by himself is just icing on the cake.

OK, enough already. Back to regular programming.