a dollop of back country How To

i have had women in the past year requesting kindly in writing that i stop yammering on about piglets and outdoor tubs for one blessed moment to address the How To. How To make butter at home. How To can peaches in a simple syrup for the belly of winter. How To quit one's job and become a paid/ unpaid farm hand. so i wanted to provide to you a terribly unofficial forum to request any certain and specific How Tos that i am undoubtedly no expert in but nonetheless can share a morsel of knowledge about. so suggestions? comment or email me and we'll get this blogball rollin'.

peaches & carpentry

preparations for farm shabbat dinner are in full swing. we made challah this morning. dug trenches for the ground wire. built a better chicken door that allows the chicks to stream in and out but keeps the feed-minded pigs and goats at bay. lunch of fresh bread and our ricotta. an afternoon of canning 10 boxes of peaches. this is how the friday goes. about to take a little hot sun jog up and around a steep nearby hill to get a fresh view on this bluebird day. have a stellar labor free week-end. n & i will be down in nw conn for some maple syrup, lake swims, and good solid time with two of our most beautiful friends.

all the pretty milk cows

princess and hemlock. they are our jersey milkers. princess calved just recently and so is producing the most magnificent gallons of creamy milk. milking has become my favorite time of the farm day. 7 in the brilliant fall morning and 7 in the chilled and damp night.

to be that close to a cow. to a sweet large animal like princess or hemlock. to breathe in their mud grass sweet scent with your head resting on their side. to get odd and large muscles in your once delicate hands. to give the first spots of milk to the farm kitten. to sit there and milk and talk and sing with girlfriends you feel like you've known forever. to return to the milk house with gallons of fresh warm milk. to turn that into butter and yogurt and ricotta and mozzarella. all with your own hands. this is the beautiful side of farming. the part that gets me out of bed at 6h while the sun is making her way across the berkshires. all to start the day not with coffee or tea or the paper but with these two gorgeous cows.

we are tent people now

more detailed photos to follow this week. suffice to say it is stellar and was a military issued winter tent made on 15 august 1950.

for now we are harvesting cukes to pickle. the morning's milking is done. breakfast is settled in our stomachs and the early fall sun is warming our cold toes and legs.

milk maid-ing

started milking a cow at sunrise today. and nick learned how to bake challah. firsts all around on the farm.