We had the pet chicken come for a visit the other morning!
We were settled down by the fire with dinner on the stove. Mama and her littles were gathered around playing and reading and waiting on the larger ones to come in for dinner when she got the call……Farmer Sean and the big girls were off fetching some rabbits from a friend and Tommy was milking the cows. It was cold, dark and starting to rain. And for the 7th time that week, our naughty cow was loose and at the neighbor’s house. So we bundled as quickly as possible with a 5 year old, 3 year old and 1 year old! Just as we got to the barn to ask Tommy how we could help, he informed me that two of the dairy cows had taken off in the wrong direction and were “at large”. Ok, so it just got more interesting! Too bad the border collie pup isn’t useful yet.
The only logical thing was for Tommy to head out to look for cows and for me and the littles to put away milk and clean up from milking. Ok, perfect, Tommy and Cadi (the border collie) headed out for their part in the cold dark night. Keeping a small person out of trouble while finishing the milking is exciting to say the least. In the end the two escapees from the dairy herd were not far away and the gentle (though naughty) giant cow at the neighbors came home obediently, She took one looks at Cadi’s unhappy look and figured she’d better listen. And other than Farmer Johnny trying to eat the baby seedlings in the warm room in the barn, we all survived! Thankfully dinner was ready and waiting when we all made it in the door!
Never a dull moment here! Your shares for this week include white sweet potatoes, white potatoes, cabbage, mustard greens, arugula, and lettuce. We are going to peel, chop and roast our sweet potatoes this week. The regular potatoes are on the menu for mashed potatoes with salad and sloppy Joe;s this week! We make our with some ground beef and sausage, ketchup and homemade mustard. YUM! Growing up I thought sloppy Joe’s were some unhealthy, gross thing. Now made with healthy ingredients I love serving them to my family! They are so yummy! Instead of buns we just put it on mashed sweet or regular potatoes.
The mustard greens are great in any stir fry recipe. And we are happy the cabbage finally formed heads! Weird weather sometimes makes harvest unpredictable. I love to make steamed cabbage, but there are so many ways to use it. The arugula is a nice spicey green, great with creamy dressings. We are also enjoying lots of roasts lately. I made a beef roast just by flouring both sides, browning it and then putting a quart of broth in with salt and pepper and simmer all day on the stove. During the last half hour i put in carrots and potatoes. We had unplanned guests that we invited for dinner and just added extra veggies. It worked out perfectly!
Enjoy the cold rainy days because the plants really do want some winter, even if we are ready to skip it! Blessings,
Your Farmers