Celebration of Cows

Yesterday started out rainy, but it turned into the perfect afternoon for a cow puja. By midmorning the cows had dried off enough to be painted.

Bethany and I painted while Brendan distracted the cows with treats and Rog documented with the camera.

Being smooth white, Lindy was the best canvas - and was the most obliging.

He even let us daub his tail.

Jitterbug was her usual jittery self when faced with weird situations. We managed to  splotch a bindi on her forehead- the most important part - and  splatter a few unartistic streaks on her.

Bethany and Brendan had made  beautiful ginger cow cookies for the event.

We  accepted donations for the cookies to support Heifer International.  We raised just over $100 for this cause - thanks, friends!

We had no idea how many people to expect, but we opened up the pasture for parking, just in case.

It was a fabulous turnout!  (Unfortunately, I have no photos of the band playing or a photo from the  bovine blessing that our friend Dave Kraemer did.)

After the music and ceremony under the tent, we took a large platter of fruits, chard leaves, edible flowers, cow cookies and grain over to the cows.  I expected we would stay on the people side of the fence, but all the children spontaneously burst through and began treating the cows.  Happily, we have very mellow cows, especially LaFonda, who reveled in the attention and treats.

Lariat accepts a chard leaf.

LaFonda was the only beast willing to wear a flower garland, but she wore it with style.

I was  nervous about somebody getting hurt on LaFonda's horns if she lifted her head, but luckily she was totally focused on the treats on the ground.

In the middle of the mob is Brendan, trying to keep everyone safe. Our only casualty was a foot stepped on by a cow.

LindyHop inherited his mother's calm nature.
This photo makes me melt.

This little girl wasn't sure she liked cows until she found out that's where ice cream comes from. Then she broke into a grin.

Geoffrey and Martha helped Brendan and Bethany cut out the cow cookies the Saturday night and returned for the puja. They worked as interns at Heartbeet Farm this summer and will be leaving in a couple weeks to start their own farm in Wisconsin.

Winona showed off her beautiful chicken tattoo, a silver lace wyandotte, I think.

I had cleaned up the farm store and rearranged everything to highlight Enid's quilt and all the cow artworks.

The LaFonda quilt was quite a sensation.

Bethany's parents even drove down from the Twin Cities for the puja!  Afterwards, Bethany and Brendan showed them how to make wood-fired pizza from the clay oven, so they finally got to taste some Squash Blossom pizza.

It was a wonderful celebration, Thank you to all of our friends, old and new, who helped make it such a success!

P.S. KSMQ Public television showed up and did some filming for their Farm Connections show! When it airs and is posted on YouTube I will post  a link.

Fading Garden Glory

We've  have had some foggy mornings lately, which seem to fit with the waning garden and the wistfulness of fall arriving.  Here's a foggy fall garden update.

We are still harvesting  rainbow chard and  a small second planting of beets is almost ready. In the spots where the potatoes, onions and squashes used to be, Bethany and  Brendan roto-tilled and planted winter rye as a cover crop, which has now sprouted. The rye will keep down the weeds, preserve soil moisture and serve as green manure when it gets tilled in next spring.

Gordita keeps smiling.  A few of the raspberry bushes have a surprise fall crop of berries!  I hope the warm weather holds long enough for them to get ripe.

Some of the asparagus plants have  gone to seed and look  quite festive.  The asparagus beds are looking healthy and  I am optimistic we will have our first big yield next spring.

The tomato vines look pretty sad, but they are still loaded with nice green tomatoes. Every day we harvest a bushel or so of the tomatoes beginning to turn  color and they  ripen quickly inside.  Most of them get roasted and frozen for winter meals. but Bethany and Brendan also canned many jars of salsa and tomato soup.

There are still lots of all varieties of peppers growing as well - things are ripening so slowly now with the short days. I am looking forward to a meal of chiles rellenos with these poblanos.

The towering sunflowers have faded to vintage colors.

Considering how little is left, the garden still looks rather picturesque.

A Satisfied Customer

One of our Farmers Market customers sent us a couple of darling photos from last week's market.  Bethany helped a little girl choose the very best loaf of wood-fired sourdough bread, and then, as her parents were chatting with Bethany and Brendan,

she dived in.

This child knows what's good for her.

Cow Puja!

This weekend  we are celebrating our four beautiful bovines with a Cow Puja, an event honoring cows based on a traditional Indian celebration that our interns, Bethany and Brendan, witnessed during their travels in India and thought would be fun to perform here.

During a cow puja, the cows are painted and draped with flower garlands and often have balloons tied to their horns. Their stalls are decorated. A blessing is performed and  incense swirled around the cows. One friend informed me that the cows are led around and people give them money offerings, but we won't be doing that part in our Minnesota-style puja.

Last week, I tied LaFonda  to her milking station, gave her some grain and  proceeded to paint her with nontoxic tempera paints to test whether the paints would work. They will, but painting a cow is much easier said than done. I was able to paint LaFonda's horns blue easily, but whenever I would try to paint her face she would turn toward me wondering what I was doing, trying to see the brush and foiling my design. Nevertheless, afterward Bethany assured me she looked very much like the decorated cows in India. We may be a bit optimistic about painting all the cows--LaFonda is bound to be the easiest of the herd, and she was a bit of a challenge. At least I was able to get a photo for a poster.

Our Cow Puja will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. this Sunday and everyone is welcome to join us. It will be a fun, whimsical event.The Nodding Wild Onions will be playing music, debuting some original cow songs. There will be an abundance of cow art and photos in the  farm shop, including Enid Weichselbaum's  MN State Fair championship quilt featuring  our very own LaFonda.  Guests will be able to treat the cows to the cows' favorite garden goodies and cow cookies, and then feast themselves on "cow pies."

This the last weekend our fabulous interns, Bethany and Brendan, will be here - they are off to new adventures next week.  We have been so blessed to have two such enthusiastic, hardworking and delightful interns all summer and we are really going to miss them. So, Sunday will actually be an Intern Puja as much as a Cow Puja.  However, the interns will not be painted!

Salamander Art

The tiger salamander I found under the  duck pool a few weeks ago inspired me to create a large, colorful salamander painting.  I am going to try putting it into an ornate gold frame, just for the fun juxtaposition of unassuming-but-beautiful amphibian with extravagant gilt frame.

New Little Sprouts!

It's feeling a little bit like spring today. We had a very much-needed gentle, soaking rain yesterday.   Today it is sunny and warmer and everything is noticeably greener and perky.  Most springlike of all, we have five new keets (guinea hen chicks)!

Guineas are notoriously unsuccessful mothers, so when Brendan found a clutch of guinea eggs out in the pasture we took the eggs and replaced the eggs under a broody hen with the guinea eggs. That hen was soon joined by another broody hen, who snuggled in beside her,  collaborated on incubating the eggs the past few weeks, and now they are co-mothers.

Those little keets are so fast, they might need two moms to keep them rounded up.

Meanwhile, out in the  greenhouse: A week ago today, I planted the newly-erected high tunnel.  Amazingly, we already have sprouts in most of the beds!  The broccoli raab was the first to emerge, the first few sprouts visible on Saturday. Now you can even discern the rows.

Closer-up view of the broccoli raab.

The first Bull's Blood Beets are pushing through today.  In addition, the radishes, kale, spinach, claytonia and Asian greens are up! (I'll spare you photos until they are a bit more impressive.) Still no sign of the  leeks, scallions, carrots or chard, which take longer to germinate.

Usually, I can't shake that  impending-winter-melancholy feeling in the fall, but all this springlike growth may keep it at bay this year.

September Prairie

This evening Rog and I found a few minutes to walk the mowed path through the prairie.  Currently the prairie is  a sea of asters and goldenrod.

We didn't notice any signs of wild parsnip - Bethany and Brendan must have prevailed against it earlier this summer.

Goldenrod is often unfairly blamed for fall allergies.  I am so glad this is a desirable native plant here- we have enough to battle with wild parsnips, buckthorn, burdock and thistles!

Blue bottle gentian is abundant right now, but the creamy gentian is pretty much finished blooming.

There are a few rose-colored  gentian, apparently resulting from a   cross between the  blue and creamy.

The  highbush cranberries are spectacular.

Dogwood berries.

The wild grapes are also gorgeous - ready to be harvested for wine.

We met an argiope spider that has chosen to live in the wilds of the prairie rather than the civilized garden.

I took lots of photos of sumac leaves because they are so pretty right now - but I will only subject you to a few.

Most of the fall colors  are currently due to the sumac, but I am afraid everything  else is close behind.

Can't hep but love them, though.