I need a few of these!

The other day somewhere between washing the pigs, hopping into the pen to poop scoop and greasing them up before the show (of course I'm serious! Just when I thought I'd seen it all after what some might call 'pimping the cows' I find out what extent it can be done to the pigs! Oi!) I spotted a market lamb in a pen that caught my eye. I have a soft spot for lambs as it was a little white lamb with a blue halter in a pen at a fair that was the reason I joined 4-H as a child. I still don't have one, yet. Anyway, the reason this particular lamb caught my eye was because he was slickshorn and he looked like a pearl. I kid you not his fleece other than being white as snow was as lustrous as a pearl and I made it a point to keep an eye on that pen to pounce (I mean politely ask "WHAT IS THAT LAMB??????") on the owner and inquire about the breed. Finally I was able to get some answers from a super polite and very knowledgeable 4-Her. She told me that he was a Cotswold. (According to the ALBC it's a threatened breed, which just intrigued me more.)

We chatted for a bit, I asked her about the breed and the fiber, she took me over to the pens where the rest of her sheep were and I was smitten, one of her ram's fleece was unlike anything I'd ever seen and it too was as white as snow and pearl like. In a word, exquisite. We chatted some more, [read I probed her with questions and she answered politely] and I learned quite a bit about this wonderful breed. She offered me a sample of fiber to try spinning to see if I liked it, and I cannot wait to try it. Once I'm done with the truckload of tomatoes, pears and apples I'll try for sure! I hope to someday in the near future be introducing you to a new cast member or two, because if the fiber spins as beautifully as it look on the sheep...... I'll NEED to have some!

pear butter...

...is worth all the hours of effort it requires to make.

the worlds best pizza sauce

... so good in fact it gave me goosebumps when I tasted it it was that good! I've finished off 7 quarts today and when it's cool enough it will line my shelves in the basement next to the other things I've put up this fall.

and the winner is.........

.......drum roll please............doglady!! Congratulations to you! I'll ship it out to the next time I go into town. It is also my hope that you'll continue to pass the book along in the same manner, though it is not a requirement. Thank you to all who entered, and please accept my apologies for the delay in choosing a winning post, I've quite literally been up to my elbows in tomatoes, pears and apples.

My sister's neighbor gave her about 300 pounds of tomatoes and she had more than she could deal with, so she passed them on to me. For which I am VERY thankful, I've made a triple batch of spaghetti sauce which is now canned and on shelves in my basement and I'm working on simmering down 5 batches of pizza sauce that will eventually be canned and sitting alongside the spaghetti sauce and I'm only half done! The others are in varying stages of ripeness. Then on Saturday I went to pick pears at my Great Aunt and Uncles house and came home with the bed of my truck FULL (I've got pictures to prove it!) quite literally of apples and pears. Faith made a batch of apple muffins, Andrew is working on a pie, and I'm working on pear and apple butters. The critters here on the farm are enjoying the bountiful harvest as well. Even the turkeys and broilers are feasting on apples! (Anything to slow down their grain consumption! 100 pounds in 5 days! Yikes!)

So I chose doglady because having never met me I think she nailed it, one anonymous post was from my mom and seeing as she gave birth to me and all I didn't think it was fair to choose her... :-) and Lisa (MA) was a close second, but we've emailed back and forth a lot.... but it pleases me to know that I've brightened your heart! So I'll keep posting, venting, ranting, and taking great pleasure in the little things, and hope y'all will keep reading. It's been a great first year!

what? a year? already?!

How did that happen?! I've been blogging for a year today! So in honor of that milestone and in the tradition of Harvest Kitchen Sisters I'm celebrating that with a give away! I won this book from the sisters and want to continue passing it along, so here's the deal...
To enter, leave me a comment, let me know what you think of the blog and how well do you know me. My profile quotes a lyric from a favorite song, saying that "You don't have to guess what I'm against if you know what I stand for." So what do I stand for? Against? How well have I articulated my life with out spelling out every detail? I'll pick the most accurate or my favorite comment. I'll announce the winner Sunday night.

There, that's taken care of, now I want to thank you. I'm honored that you read my blog, I really wasn't sure anybody would when I started, but did it anyway, thinking it would be a nice way to keep track of things that happen here or what have you. Those of you who comment regularly seem more like friends, it amazes me to think you can 'get' someone you've never met. To those of you that follow me, thank you. I'm flattered that some of you enjoy reading about my crazy life to tune in regularly. To Lisa, thank you for encouraging me to start this crazy, liberating, venting, honest blog. To Ron, thank you for completing me. And to Faith and Andrew, thank you for choosing me and being such amazing children, and especially for the joy you bring to my life daily.

not on my list

You know 'the list' you make while growing up of things that you'd like to do, think you'll do or to have happen to you? I've got lots of things on that list but I can tell you one thing that is NOT, being mounted by an 800+- pound heifer in heat, nope not even a little bit on that list. Yes folks you read that correctly, I was mounted be a heifer in heat. This week we've been at the county fair and yesterday while helping get ready for shows yesterday and today I was delegated to gopher, as in "Go fer this calf or that cow." etc. taking them back and forth between the barn and wash rack. No biggie right? Well that's what I thought until I innocently leaned slightly over to untie one amorous heifer and next thing I know.... up and away she went! One of the owners came to my aid swiftly and I was not injured, thankfully. I can only imagine the E.R. visit and having to explain that! And fortunately it was me and not one of the 4-Hers. That would have been very bad. I'm told that they are only typically in what is considered "standing heat" for 18 hours and would be fine to work with today, after our encounter yesterday I was slightly skeptical. She was, in fact she was totally over it today, back to herself and as she walked by me headed to the show ring she didn't even glance my way or say "Hi!" I guess I was just a fling! ;-)

chicken legs

This little hen has got to be one of the strangest looking hens ever! She's one of the barneys that we hatched this spring, what a crazy looking bird! She's got feathered cheeks like an Araucana, except they are white, a brownish body and BLUE legs! I cannot wait to see what color eggs she lays, given the track record of the weirdness of the farm they're likely to be square and purple!