Spring Sprang and Now Summer is Simmering

Despite my most sincere New Year's resolution, I can't seem to find time to post on this blog  regularly. But I want to keep trying, so here is a quick catch-up post.

First, we found a beast to help fill the gigantic hole left by LaFonda. Actually, I found a Scottish Highlander heifer, but then the  owner decided to keep her, so when Eeyore, this mini-donkey appeared on Craigslist it seemed like he was meant to be Jitterbug's companion. He is 15 (mini donkeys live to be 30-40, so that is only middle-aged) and so, so mellow and sweet. He looks melancholy, but I think that is just due to his shaggy, saggy eyebrows--I believe he is happy here.

A couple days later,  I found another Scottish Highlander heifer, this one even cuter than the first, and at a nearby farm. It took me a couple days to convince Rog we needed her--how can we have a Cow Puja without cows?!  She is nine months old, and about the same size as Eeyore now, but will grow to be about the size of Jitterbug, the Dexter heifer. Jitter is polled (meaning she has no horns) but Scottish Highlanders grow very long horns. Right now she has little nubs. Highlanders are a very docile breed, but this calf had not  been handled much and was very shy. I kept her in the loafing shed for a week and spent a lot of time every day getting to know her. Now she loves to be brushed and petted and get peppermint treats. I think she will be a great Cow Puja star. We named her "Courgette," which means "Zucchini," because the name sounds appropriately  glamorous for a cow with long, strawberry-blonde bangs in her eyes and of course because we are Squash Blossom Farm.

Jitter, Eeyore and Courgette, make a darling herd. Surprisingly, Jitter has become a much less moody and grouchy animal now that she is the boss cow.

We have also been  focusing on farm-improvement projects this  spring.  Rog did all the prep work and we hired Marvins Gardens to lay the brick and rock for a lovely path to the greenhouse.

It will now be so much more civilized for fancy dinners in the greenhouse and wedding parties!  You can also see in this photo the wonderful deck Rog built along the south side of the barn from two humongous redwood greenhouse tables. He is planning a pergola to offer shade to the deck and the inside of the barn.

When they aren't gardening, our assistants and WWOOFers have been painting siding and trim boards for

the re-siding of the Loafing Shed. Eric Eggler and his son Ethan are tackling this project; they did a fabulous job re-roofing and re-siding our chicken coop last fall.  All the buildings on our farm are over 100 years old and in pretty good shape--our intent is to restore them to make them survive for the next 100 years.

Another thing that kept us busy last month was TedX Zumbro River in Rochester.  We were honored to host the speaker dinner in the greenhouse the night before the event. We also  made 500 "Handpies of the World"  (savory turnovers in combinations such as  Samosa, Reuben, Beef Stroganoff, Greek Lamb, Carnitas & Sweet Corn) and we coordinated all the food for the big event.

The Willow and Twig Furniture class taught by Bob McNeely was held three weekends at the farm. Everyone built truly beautiful chairs and benches. One weekend I managed to join in and I built a butterfly bench for  the Pollinator Garden. (Just happened to have been saving the perfect butterfly-body newell post for the past 10 years!)

We got a new (used) car! A Honda Element--which has an amazing  amount of space for a hauling all our Farmers Market stuff!  I ma so relived to be rid of that vicious, ugly old pickup which tried to kill me on so many occasions.

The garden is finally nearly planted!  We had a long delay because our heavy clay soil was too, too wet, and then we were occupied with the TedX event. I am so grateful to my incredible gardener Denise, her dauhgter Willow and our WWOOFer Ari for working so hard to get this garden in and whip the flower beds into shape, More about  that in a future post.

On a related note, the CSA program has also begun. Our members have gotten lots of asparagus,  rhubarb and mint so far, with pansies, scallions, and even nettles to help fill out the box until the greens, radishes and other early crops are ready.  Hopefully next week!

Summer Sundays at Squash Blossom started last weekend, with wood-fred pizza and live music The first band was Cook With Honey. We  sold out!  We are off to a good start to the season.

The Rochester Downtown Farmers Market  summer season has begun! Find us and our wood-fired breads and fancy pastries in the northwest corner of the Saturday Market!

The Farm in the Fog

It's been a while since I have had time or motivation to go out and take photos for the blog--it has been so dreary and muddy.  Not that I really have time today, but it was such a beautiful, foggy morning I couldn't resist. Chickens breaking fast.

The garden awaits! Still too wet to do anything in there, but it is supposed to get to 60 degrees today, so it won't be long! Rhubarb, garlic and allium are up a couple inches.

The edges of the little pond have melted. Yesterday the ducks were happily swimming circles around the big iceberg in the center of the pond. This morning when I walked  down to take this photo I scared up a pair of wild mallards swimming. After today's predicted warmth, I bet the ice will be totally gone by tonight.

Daffodils are coming up all around the perimeter of the pond. I don't know how they survive in that heavy clay but  this is their third year and  they keep expanding.

The big rock--I have intentions of  planting so many more wild flowers here this spring.

From the hill of the septic mound. This is the view the big bison sculpture will have when he gets moved here.

A couple more images of the farm buildings in the fog.

Now, off to work!!

Wordless Wednesday: SBF Commercial Kitchen is 99.9% Finished!!

Closing in on the Commercial Kitchen!

When our WWOOFing intern Kelly arrived two months ago, the north end of the barn was a big, dark open space with a garage door and a dirt floor. One of the first projects she got to work on was helping to screed and trowel concrete being poured  for the floor. When Kelly leaves for her next adventure in a few days, the kitchen will be nearly complete and this area will have transformed into a beautiful commercial baking room, a storage room and a bathroom!

Here is a brief summary of our kitchen progress the past two months.

Add caption

Rog got all the rooms roughed in, and the plumbers and electricians did their initial wiring and installed pipes and drains.

Rog reinforced the floor of the loft/attic space above the kitchen and cut a hole in the front of he barn so that the heavy exhaust system could be installed. A lull ever-so-skillfully and gently slid it through the  opening into place in the attic.

As long as  we had to take the Squash Blossom sign down to cut the opening, I repainted the surprisingly  faded sign and Rog hung it back up when he repaired the opening.(Yes, of course we did this late at night.)

Kelly and I tiled the large main  kitchen with 6-inch quarry tiles.

WWOOFer Mandy began tiling the bathroom walls (with awesome  retro butternut-squash-yellow 4-inch tiles we found at the Habitat ReStore.)

WWOOFers Kelly, Mae and Elizabeth also worked on the bathroom wall tile. Kelly and Mae tiled the floor of the storage room, working on it one night until 2 a.m.!

I tiled the floor of the baking room and also the fun part--the front of the wood-fired oven.  The red tiles were leftover tiles from a friend's project, the yellow fancy edges were from the ReStore and the arched mosaic was created from a large hand-painted ceramic  Italian plate  I broke up and reassembled.

Rog hung countless sheets of drywall in the kitchen, baking room, storage room and bathroom.

He then glued white FRP board to the drywall that would be behind sinks, and equipment.

Our "retired" professional dry-wall taper friend John offered to tape the drywall.

It turned out to be a bigger project than he realized he was getting himself into! We are so grateful for his expert work.

Then we were able to paint the walls and ceilings of all the rooms. When the paint was dry the next day, we applied a clear epoxy layer to the walls in the kitchen, baking room and bathroom. Kelly accurately described painting the sticky epoxy as like painting with sweetened condensed milk.

Rog contemplating the next step. (This guy is so amazing! He has been working his demanding architect job, and then putting in late nights and early mornings and long weekends doing hard physical work- 16 hour days, for weeks on end. He deserves a nap!)

Using the pallet jack, we moved the big equipment into the main kitchen. The huge double cooler at the end of the room is considerably taller than the door opening, and required a demonstration of Rog's brute intellect to get it through.

The beautiful, immense Vulcan range is now in place beneath its exorbitantly costly hood and fire suppression system. I cannot wait to cook on this beast!

Today the plumbers installed the 7 sinks, water heater, and toilet and hooked up the water!  They will connect the gas lines next week and the electricians will connect the power. We still have a bunch of things like counters and trim and shelving to install, and lots of cleaning and organizing. But we are SO CLOSE!!