Wordless Wednesday: Rx for January

Lovably Wovel-able Snow

Another 3 inches of snow this morning.  Rog didn't have time to clear snow before leaving for work, but he used the wovel (shovel on a wheel) to  make two tire tread paths out to the road. He came in and said the snow was perfectly wovelable today.  So, after chores and coffee, I went back out to deal with the snow and I decided to wovel rather than snowblow.

Most of our snowfalls this year have been too deep, densely-packed, or icy   for easy woveling or the weather has been bitterly cold and we wanted the fastest result, so we have resorted to the snowblower. To use the wovel, you wheel the blade along the ground scooping up snow, then push the handle down to flick the snow off.  Today's snow is a bit heavier than powder and our tall snowbanks have receded enough that it is now easy to flip the snow up onto them.

I bought the wovel because shoveling is so hard on my back. The wovel is comparatively effortless, altho of course doesn't work on the steps.  It took me about  45 minutes to wovel out our long driveway and parking areas--maybe 10-15minutes longer than snowblowing would have, but the wovel is quiet, you don't have to wrestle a heavy snowblower around, it uses no gasoline and emits no carbon, and best of all, does not  make snow blow in your face and down your neck.  Plus, it is an aesthetically pleasing tool to use.

If you are a more obsessive person who desires machine-perfect snowbank edges, the wovel is not for you. A driveway  cleared by a wovel is a bit more handcrafted, like a sweater made with hand-spun yarn.

When I got this wovel I loved it so much I interviewed the guy who invented it for a newspaper story.  I told him they needed to invent a wovel-rake (a wrake?), and he said they were working on it.  Now if only he could invent a wovel-manure-fork, my back would be so happy.

Cats Sawing Logs and Catalogs

A good afternoon for a little catnap.  Weasel and Orange are so darn sweet, when they are asleep.

Seed catalogs started arriving at the beginning of December, so we spent many hours leafing through them over the holidays. But today, my favorite Wishbook arrived - the Murray McMurray chick catalog.  We already have more laying hens than we really need, so I don't want to order the minimum of 25 chicks, but I hope I can find somebody nearby who has room to let me order just a couple chicks on their order. I think our little flock could use a couple Blue Cochins...or black Jersey Giants...or maybe a fancy crested Polish...

Creme Brulee' Brouhaha

It was a  brisk, but sunny winter day. Rog worked on the two big downed trees with the chainsaw. Cocoa rolled around in the snow happily, apparently working up an appetite.

Tonight for dinner I roasted a chicken on a bed of rice with herbs and corn. I also made creme brulee'  - a simple but decadent dessert I have been looking forward to all week. The Joy of Cooking recipe calls for  2 cups of  heavy cream (organic), and 4  eggs (from our own chickens). You heat the cream in a double boiler, add the beaten eggs, and stir over heat until it coats a spoon, then pour into ramekins and cool. I placed the 6 ramekins in a cake box, covered loosely with a lid and set out on the back step to cool (I love that winter gives us extra refrigeration).

After supper when I opened the door to get the creme brulees, I was dismayed to discover 5 of the 6 dishes were empty!  Not realizing I was cooling our dessert on the steps, Rog had let Cocoa out, and she had scarfed them down!  I guess she could only eat 5; they are extremely rich.

I spread a layer of brown sugar on top of the one remaining ramekin and caramelized with a torch.  We shared it and it was delicious.

Cocoa is still outside in the snow in the dark--looking very guilty.  And very well-fed.

Wordless Wednesday: Seriously Winter

Kitchen Invasives

When I opened my birthday present from Rog a few days ago, the box contained just a few hunks of wood, one roughly carved into a spoonlike shape.  Huh?

Well, the real present turned out to be a bandsaw--a tool I have been teasing Rog I needed since before we were married (My friend Debbie cleverly told her sweetheart she wouldn't get married until she owned a bandsaw--thus, she has had her bandsaw for over 25 years!) The pieces of wood were from some of the invasive buckthorn we chopped down last fall -buckthorn has a very  pretty red wood.

This afternoon, Rog and I played with the bandsaw, and created three wacky buckthorn utensils: Rog's long-handled bowl scraper, the completed very-long-handled spoon, and my jam-spreader/cupcake-froster with a scooped blade and finger holds.

We learned a lot about carving spoons from buckthorn from this experiment - not the least of which is if your spoon breaks, you can still make it into a different utensil! If we get more skilled and considerably faster at carving spoons and utensils, perhaps we will try to sell them at the Farmers Market next summer.

Dawn of 2011

2011 got off to a beautiful (but extremely cold) start with a hazy sunrise.

Because of freezing rain and icy roads last night, our New Years Eve party at friends' was postponed until tonight. Instead, Rog and I stayed home,  drank a little wine and snuggled up on the sofa,  reflecting on our accomplishments and adventures of the past year:

Highlights of 2010

• Installed solar panels on the barn!
• Acquired our sweet milk cow LaFonda; learned to handmilk; made cheese, butter, yogurt and ice cream galore.
• Completed our second year as Farmers Market vendors selling wood-fired sourdough breads, pastries, cupcakes, sprouts, squash blossoms, herbs, 
• Did a prairie burn,  removed a bunch of  buckthorn, scattered collected native prairie flower seeds on our way to prairie restoration.
• Harvested our two steers - our toughest farming experience so far. The beef is wonderful, but I wept through the first few steaks.
• Raised 50 Label Rouge chickens for meat -absolutely delicious!
• Raised crazy, clowning guinea hens.
• Raised 5 turkeys for Thanksgiving dinners (lost 4 to the  great-horned owl.)
• Our laying hen flock expanded greatly, thanks to broody hens raising about 60 darling chicks.
• Planted 8 hazelnut bushes, 2 more apple trees, a curly willow, yellow magnolia, many assorted perennials and 350  spring bulbs. Cut down big old silver maple and  box elder for solar panel project.
• Made violet jelly, dandelion wine, elderberry wine, wild grape wine and honey mead. Cadence dried abundant nettles, sage and mint for tea. 
• Grew mushrooms, mostly devoured on pizzas.
• Expanded the little sprout-growing operation and  constructed a sprout-growing room. 
• Bred our two cows, Lariat and LaFonda through artificial insemination - expecting calves this spring!
• More adventures with bees- losing swarms, gathering swarms, harvesting honey.
• Made progress on the granary renovation project - installed a little wood stove, wood floor, several windows, and an arbor of over the deck - using all recycled materials acquired through Craigslist. 
• Rog- played lots of music with Blue Monk, Nodding Wild Onions, many other friends, and wrote some new songs.
• Sue - painted a bench for the Farmers Market and sold a bunch of artwork.
• Sara- moved to Chapel Hill to  pursue her dream of being a documentary filmmaker.
• Cadence- moved to Mexico City to pursue her dream of being a mariachi musician.
• Susan-- went on an unforgettable trip to Guatemala.  Wrapped up her position with SE CERTS to pursue her dream of being a farmer and artist.
• Hosted a wonderful family reunion on the farm with Rog's mom, brothers and their families.
• Rog and Sue - started Farm Beginnings program through Land Stewardship project to develop a long-range plan for our little farm.
• Treasured the daily beauty, joy, and agrarian adventures of living at Squash Blossom Farm.