DARK DAYS CHALLENGE

It's been a long winter, not as harsh as the terrible -20 degree days of last winter but long anyway.  As I feel the approaching spring air and see the sun shining out there, all I can think of is - the garden!  How fun this is gonna be this year, we have so many new plans and so many possibilities out there!

But for now, I resort to my fellow farmers out there and buy their wonderful beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and meat from the Farmer's Market.  Don't know how I could survive a winter without it!

So last week, a few days I go I took the night to do the Dark Days challenge and make an all around, if not perfect SOLE meal:  Ricotta Cheese Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Whole Grain Pasta and a Garden Salad.

I took all the ingredients for the salad that I bought at market; cucumbers, tomatoes, spicy greens, onion and carrots, then chopped, sliced and diced and made a wonderful Garden salad.

I took the chicken thighs and stuffed them with home made ricotta cheese form our goat's milk.  Topped it with some homemade pasta sauce that I whipped up this last October from our plethora of tomatoes, sprinkled some homemade mozzarella cheese I made from that wonderful goat Ezzy's milk.  Baked it in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350*.

Add a side of organic whole wheat pasta and top with some more homemade sauce and walah!  a good meal!

DEATH - AGAIN

We lost another family member this morning, Barry the Pekin duck.  He passed away after what seemed to be just growing old.  I  knew he was going but he wasn't suffering, just growing old and tired. We've had him for about 5 years which is a long life for a duck.

I remember for a couple years in a row, when we would open the pool in the spring and the water would be uninhabitable for people, but perfect for ducks, we would bring the ducks down to the pool and let them swim and swim!  It was fun to watch them disappear under the murky water, only to guess and wonder where they would appear when they resurfaced!  What joy they would express with their quaking and diving, all the time we would watch and be in awe of their revelry.

It was sad to see him out there, growing old, how his legs wouldn't work like they used to ( I can relate, Barry) and how his fellow duck friends would stand by his side every day for the last couple of days, seemingly anticipating the impending death and showing their support.

It was such a beautiful sight, watching his friends take care of him, showing him that he was well loved. Last week I had the pleasure of going to see a performance of Tuesday's with Morrie based on the popular book at the Rochester Civic Theatre. The way all these people came out to see Morrie, recognize his life and give him credit for the life he lived, that is beauty!  In the play, Morrie even mentions that he throws himself a funeral!  I wonder if Barry thought that?  I know I would.  Once I'm gone, I'm gone and that's no fun, I wouldn't be able to say goodbye to all the people I've loved in my life.  I wouldn't be able to see and hug them one last time if I were to wait and have a funeral after I die.  So be prepared people - if I know I'm goin' any time soon, there will be a party!

Barry lived a good life, he had many lovers, lots of good water to play in, great food, and some real good friends to be by his side through it all.

Isn't that all we really need?

Barry (right) with friend Uno

MOOSE MURDERS IN THE BARN

Yes, we have this great friend, who by most people's standards is fairly normal, but for us - us and the fact that only in my world would someone want to do a really bad play in our barn, I am finding him frighteningly stranger lately.  Ryan is an incredible actor, playwright and person and we met him a couple years ago when we all did a play together by another great friend, Debi.

So here's how the story goes (loosely translated - I'm old remember):

Ryan calls and goes quickly into his low, mellow voice:
"Today is the 25th (?) anniversary of Moose Murders."

Me: "Ok???

Ryan: " I had that thought again that we HAVE to do a read through of this play."

Me: "Ok??"

Ryan: "Well, we should, I mean it really has to be done."

Me: "Ok??"

pause

Ryan: "We should do it in the barn."

Me: "Ok.  How' bout next Friday?"

Ryan:  "Yes!  That's perfect!  I'll start gathering actors."

And the next thing ya know - the worst Broadway production in history is being prepared in my barn, tomorrow.  10 actors. No rehearsals. No memorized parts. They will be handed a script at 8 o'clock and be given stage directions by Ryan.

How someone can pull together 10 actors, 5 back stage helpers, produce a poster,

set,

Ok, so yes, WE had these set walls just laying around our barn

Ryan kept asking for a long list of props and the only thing
 we didn't have was a can of vegetable soup

But we had a lodge and lodge furniture

props, T-shirt with logo, the Moose Lodge sign and an audience projected to be about 50 in one week totally amazes me!  Who does this?  and WHY?

Only in my world, only in my world.

DARK DAYS CHALLENGE - VEGETARIAN!

If anyone knows me they know that a meal without meat is, well, a meal that is lacking in one of the most important things in life ( I live by Basset mentality).  But I was challenged this week by our team at the Dark Days Challenge: to produce a fully SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) meal that was VEGETARIAN, one that  lacked that all important ingredient - MEAT!  Ask Louisa, my hound dog, and she will tell you - no meal is complete without ~ meat! (She prays every day that meat will fall from the sky - she does!)

So  I did it.  I went and looked at what I had in that there cupboard and found some sweet potatoes (our fav!), some salad greens and homemade herbed goat cheese and local walnuts.  What to make, what to make?!?!?

Well, here ya go - I did it!  I made a vegetarian meal that was to die for!

SWEET POTATO LATKES WITH GARLIC AIOLI AND A CRISP MIXED  GREEN SALAD

Oh baby!

 I took a couple sweet potatoes and shredded them, added some seasoning, egg, flour and mixed it all together, placing them on a cookie sheet and coking them in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Next I made some homemade aioli with garlic to top off the latkes.

Next I took the greens I got from the Farmer's Market a week and a half ago and topped it off with some home made herbed chevre, some local walnuts and added a bit of balsamic vinegar.

Add a slice of homemade bread and life is good!

Yeah, you wish you would've thought of this one yourself, didn't you?

DARK DAYS CHALLENGE

Last week I went simple, because I was tired and really all I wanted to do was eat something quick and delicious, local and good for you.  Well, what do ya know?  That's exactly what I had in my freezer/fridge.

This is our version of a simple, down-home, meat and potatoes dinner: Grilled Bison steaks topped with sautéed mushrooms and onions (ok the mushrooms were bought locally but not organic), green beans and sweet potatoes from White Water Gardens.

I took this with my cell phone after a glass of wine - so forgive me, it doesn't look as good as it tasted.

This week's challenge is vegetarian.  How am I gonna do that???

PLUG SPAWN AND ME

I'm having a lazy day today, thinking about the upcoming spring, the impending snow storm tonight and all the things I should be doing like finishing up the taxes: I find myself sitting here on the computer wasting time, dozing off and enjoying every minute of it.

So yesterday I was in the kitchen and remembered the Plug Spawn in the fridge.  I got out the directions and started figuring out what one needs to do to produce a plethora of mushrooms!

It seems complicated, a little, well no, not complicated but time consuming just like any other farm project but it will be fun!  there's a lot of paying attention to detail like watering for several days, then not, then waiting, then drilling holes into wood, then waiting, then watering, then waiting, then putting the logs in buckets of sand to stand upright, then waiting.  And each mushroom is a little different of course, so each requires a different set of rules.  Oh well, I am looking forward to the harvest!  I guess that's like anything in gardening;  you know it's a lot of difficult, time consuming, back breaking labor - but the rewards of the harvest are definitely worth it!

Then as I was going through the directions, I started thinking to myself that most people would not get it, not understand or misconstrue this in some weird way, but in my life - this question and answer is perfectly normal:

"Honey, why is there plug spawn in the fridge?"

"I'm gonna inoculate it in wood this spring."

Perfectly normal, really.

DEATH IS ALL AROUND A FARM

I was out enjoying the beautiful weather the other day with my camera in tow (of course!), and looked up to notice something on the side of the barn.  Luckily I had my 70-200mm lens on my camera so I could take a better look at what it was.  Sadly it was a bird who apparently had went to enter a hole in the side of the barn and it's foot got caught in a crack under the hole.  I looked and looked and couldn't determine if it was alive or not.

I thought for a moment, " If it is alive, I can't just leave it there to suffer!"  So I walked out to the pole barn looking for the long ladder.  Then I thought to myself, "If it's dead, I would have just carried a 100 lb ladder over to the barn for nothing."  So I thought maybe I would go get my 300mm lens and see if I could tell if it was alive or not before I did something like that.  It didn't look like it was moving but sometimes you just can't tell with the wind and such.

Well, I am truly sorry to say but the little thing was dead, caught in the side of a barn by it's leg.  It must've flapped and flapped it's wings until it just passed out.  Do animals that go through something like that, just admit defeat and die?  OR do they stay there until they starve to death?  I think they admit defeat and die, the way it should be, without too much suffering.

I wish people had such options as that.  Makes me think that we hang on to things longer then we should in life, if something isn't working, let it go.  If we aren't in the right position, let it go.  If we are dying, let us go.  Why hang on? I like to live my life to the fullest every day, linger in the moment and know that each day is a blessing because who knows how much time we have?  Animals do that, they live in the moment, why as humans do we let our selves suffer and run the rat race in hopes that someday we can retire?  I'm already retired: retired to a lovely little farm, with great animals, friends and beautiful gifts of life.  I actually worked on the computer for 8 hours yesterday; I felt like I had one of those real jobs, ya know the 9-5 jobs most people have?  And I got down on my knees and thanked the dear Lord that I will never have to have one of those!  I couldn't possible do that!  I'd die, just like that little bird did, flapping my wings repeatedly hoping someone would notice me dying and then, just give up.

No siree!  I am meant to be a farm girl!