Farmgirl Fare

Saturday Dose of Cute: The Dog Days of Haying Season

2009-07-04T18:45:00.000-05:00

Our Hay Stacking Supervisors—It's a Rough Job, but Thankfully They Were Up to the Challenge

Wishing you an enjoyable and relaxing 4th of July!

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the planning for winter mealtimes in summer foodie farm blog where this year's big hot haying adventure is finally over (hooray! more photos soon), and at one point we had 7 four-footed critters supervising our stacking abilities—not to mention Rooster Daddy crowing his opinions from the sidelines. You're never alone on the farm—though you're often the only one actually working.

Farm Photos 7/1/09: A Day in the Hay

2009-07-01T21:24:00.008-05:00

After two very long days, the first cutting of hay has finally been mowed, teddered (aka fluffed up), raked into windrows, and is ready to be baled.

But it took two hours to make 10 bales with The Borrowed Green Beast

Thankfully our little old diesel tractor was up to the job—though you don't usually have to throw your hay into the baler.

That's Better

Sylvester Is in Charge of Haybale Security

I Start Loading While Joe Finishes Baling (Drive, Stop, Jump Out, Pick Up, Repeat)

Lucky Buddy Bear Cheers Me On from the Shade

Making the last bale (and the garage/shop/bakery kitchen/upstairs living quarters we really will move into someday—though for now the bread bakery project is on indefinite hold).

The Next Section of the Hayfield We'll Cut

Admiring My Stacking Job

You can't fall asleep yet—we still have two hours of daylight left to stack these bales in the haybarn and bring in 200 more from the field.

10:00 pm: Cleaning Out the Baler and Enjoying an Ice Cold Bottle of Homebrew

Ready to pick up a few more bales? You'll find links to plenty of past haying season photos here. Wondering what we'll do with all this hay? Feed it to the animals during the winter—and probably wish we had even more. Last year we went through over 800 bales.

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the already cutting more hay today foodie farm blog (these photos are from Monday) where there's a definite advantage to being the official haying crew photographer—you have an excellent excuse for taking lots of breaks.

Saturday Farm Photos: One Hot Guy

2009-06-27T22:13:00.001-05:00

In Hay Cutting Hell

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the still feels like August foodie farm blog (this is Day 11 of unrelenting temps in the upper 90s and heat indexes up to 108) where it just took three people, three tractors, and ten hot and sweaty hours to do a one person, one tractor, two hour hay mowing job—and we've only just begun all this.

But despite the heat, we've still got to eat, and a fabulous farm dinner of homegrown grilled lamb leg steaks, the first green beans from the garden, just dug new red potatoes (which were unbelievably good), a hunk of Four Hour Parisian Baguette from the freezer (I'm so in love this easy bread!), and freshly baked chocolate chip raisin cookies (a bribe for the cookie loving neighbor who lent us the antique tractor above—which bears a striking resemblance to our own big tractor, except that his isn't dead) almost makes it all worthwhile.

And as Joe's mom said to him a few minutes ago on the phone as he was recounting the day, "Oh, but you love what you do, and you love who you're doing it with." "Guilty on both counts, Mom," he replied. How cute is that? But we'll still both be extremely glad when haying season is once again over!

Friday Farm Photo: Flower Power

2009-06-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

Bachelor's Buttons in the Kitchen Garden

Want to feast your eyes on more farm flora?
In My Kitchen Garden: All About One of My Favorite Flowers—Echinacea!
4/16/06: Dogfoot Tiptoed Through the Tulips
4/5/07: Lilacs!
5/16/08: Outdoor Decorating
5/20/08: Building up the Soil Organically—and Beautifully
7/8/08: Winged Spectacular
9/22/08: A Bright Start to Fall
3/9/09: Hello Crocuses!
3/12/09: More Flowers (and More Snow?)
3/12/09: And Where There are Flowers. . . There are Usually Dogs
3/20/09: Happy First Day (Night?) of Spring!
4/12/09: Happy Easter!
4/28/09: Spring Still Life
Even more flower photos

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the flutter by foodie farm blog where this is what you end up with two years after buying a 10 cent impulse packet of bachelor's buttons flower seeds and scattering it in a raised bed in the garden—beautiful blooms that reseed themselves each year and blissful butterflies who come to feast upon them (you know we love our pollinators!). Talk about a bargain.

Tuesday Dose of Cute: Stripping Down for Summer

2009-06-23T13:49:00.003-05:00

Our New Katahdin Hair Sheep Don't Need To Be Sheared Like Our Wool Sheep Do

Their Winter Coats Comes Off All By Themselves

It Can Look A Little Silly Sometimes

But I Bet She Feels Great!

Catch up with our cool Katahdins:
10/29/08: Lookin' for Love
4/7/09: Think Pink
4/21/09: Snack Time!
4/26/09: Lamb Whisperer
4/26/09: An Important Message from the BABS
6/1/09: Learning to Fly

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the sweltering, feels like we jumped from mid-June to mid-August, 106 degree heat index with no relief in sight foodie farm blog where the only way to temporarily beat the blast furnace that is our life is to strip down and plunk ourselves into the pool (aka a 100-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank borrowed from the sheep and filled with nice cold water from our deep well)—and putting up the hay (which desperately needs to be done!) has had to be temporarily put off due to the dangerous working conditions outside.

Monday Farm Photos: Vintage Laundry Line

2009-06-22T13:50:00.002-05:00

I Love My New Old Quilts (this one is hand stitched)

Almost as Much as I Love Cat Company

I've aired my clean laundry a few times before:
12/1/05: Warm Wash, Cool Dry
1/2/06: Winter Color
4/17/06: Monday Washday (and a Lamb Report)
1/12/08: Winter Wash and Dry (and the R-rated Version)

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the comfortably worn foodie farm blog where this former fanatical flea marketer has long since given up her old buying and selling ways, but a recent unplanned foray into various local shops and collectives yielded a surprising trove of beautiful, bargain priced (and mostly useful!) treasures, including these two quilts—one of which is already on the bed. Are you into quilts?

Saturday Dose of Cute: Local News

2009-06-20T13:36:00.010-05:00

So I Did (Because Who Can Resist a Sign Like That?)

But She Was a Little Camera Shy

Want to see more photos taken while out and about?:
9/7/06: Piggy in Pink
9/8/06: I Wanna Be in Pigtures!
9/20/08: Goat Chowder (Not a Recipe)
12/13/07: Slow Traffic Ahead
5/20/08: Building up the Soil Organically—and Beautifully
7/28/08: Country Billboard
7/30/08: Super Market
8/2/08: Golden Fruits of Labor
11/27/08: Gobble Gobble

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the horsin' around foodie farm blog where it's signs like these that remind us of just how much we love living way out in the country—and of course this impromptu stop at a total stranger's farm came complete with several amusing stories and an invitation to come back for a visit any time.

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Moving Beyond Baby Animals

2009-06-17T23:15:00.001-05:00

To Baby Carrots!

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the fresh veggie craving foodie farm blog where you know we love soft and cuddly animals at least as much as the next person does, but you gotta admit that these St. Valery and Atomic Red carrots are pretty darn cute—considering they're vegetables and all.

Monday Dose of Cute: Pizza Party

2009-06-15T21:45:00.002-05:00

Attack! (taken 5/16/09)

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the hand tossed, homemade sauced, fast growing foodie farm blog where there's something for everyone when we clean out a chest freezer, and the homegrown/homemade chicken food discussion continues. If you'd like to read more about what we feed our chickens and why, or have your own two cents to add, please join us in the comments section of this post. You'll also see why I never have time to reply to all of your comments—I easily get carried away!

Sunday Dose of Cute: Another Chick Pic

2009-06-14T08:52:00.005-05:00

At Just a Few Days Old, They're Already Turning Into Foodies (taken 4/21/09)

© 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the baby gourmet foodie farm blog where this year we decided to skip giving our eight newly hatched chicks overprocessed commercial 'chick starter' food and went straight to a mixed diet of fresh meat, fruit, veggies, cheese, and yogurt with a side of ground up oats and flax and a sprinkling of kelp and natural calcium mineral supplement instead. Everyone seemed very pleased with the menu. (You can read more about what we feed our chickens in the comments section of this post.)

Friday Dose of Cute: Last One Born's a Rotten Egg!

2009-06-12T22:28:00.001-05:00

Ignoring the New Kid

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the peeping foodie farm blog where, considering these baby chicks (who were born back in, ahem, April) are usually fed (and often photographed) several times a day, it seems impossible that the only picture that's been posted of them so far is this one, and yet it's true. Where the heck are our priorities? Oh wait—they would be over with the whole 'several times a day' feeding thing. Current chick photos coming soon. Can't wait? Get a peep of past peepers here and here.

Thursday Dose of Cute: Breakfast Company

2009-06-11T22:48:00.002-05:00

Bird

Dog

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the soft landing foodie farm blog where one of the only sheep memories I have from my pre-farmgirl days is of taking a favorite back road parallel to Highway 101 in Sonoma County (the name of which I've completely forgotten, despite the fact that I used to drive on it all the time—I'm thinking it was Old Highway Something or Other) and seeing black birds sitting on the backs of sheep. For some reason I just thought it looked really neat, and I love that this sight—which never ceases to delight me no matter how many times I see it—is now a part of my life.

Wednesday Farm Photo: A Lovely Luna Moth

2009-06-10T22:10:00.001-05:00

So Pretty

And So Fuzzy!

We can never have too many pollinators on the farm:
5/8/08: Luna Moth Love (and an amazing butterfly book)
4/10/06: Look What Landed At My Feet
5/11/06: Butterfly Conference
5/11/06: My Good Deed For The Day
6/22/06: Farms Depend On Pollinators
6/23/06: You Can't Have Too Many Pollinators Around
6/24/06: Butterflies & Sheep & I Love Spiderwort
6/28/06: Butterfly Paradise
6/29/06: Obsessed With Bunnies & Butterflies
7/08/06: The Stuff Of Life
7/16/06: Butterfly Bonanza
8/26/06: Butterfly Photos Are Better Than Nothing
8/14/07: Joint Pollination Task Force
9/11/07: Welcoming Autumn with Open Arms
9/27/07: The Squash Blossom Butterfly
1/1/08: Fortunately All Flowers Look Perfect to Pollinators
7/6/08: Abuzz with Activity
7/8/08: Winged Spectacular
3/31/09: Flash of Butterfly Brilliance

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the fly by night foodie farm blog where seeing a Luna moth on the farm always feels as if we've been given a gift. For those of you who have been wondering about my camera, these pictures—along with all of the photos I've posted on Farmgirl Fare and In My Kitchen Garden during the past two and a half years—were taken with the little point and shoot Canon PowerShot A630 that is almost always strapped around my neck.

Less Fuss, More Flavor 'Recipe': How To Make One Minute No-Cook Homemade Raspberry Jam

2009-06-10T10:57:00.001-05:00

Breakfast Bliss

1. Find yourself some very ripe organic raspberries.

2. Pick out the best specimens and set them aside so you can whip up a batch of Really Raspberry (and Really Easy) Cream Cheese Pastry Tartlets.

3. To make one serving of jam, place the raspberries on a plate and mash them with a fork. For a larger batch, put the raspberries into a bowl and mash them with a potato masher.

4. Sprinkle in a smidge of sugar if your berries are a little tart.

5. Slather your raspberry jam on a toasted and buttered slice of Farmhouse White, a warm and flaky biscuit, a buttery homemade scone, or a peanut butter sandwich made with Honey Wheat Bran Bread.

6. Shake your head in disbelief at all the jam and preserves recipes you've seen that called for 1 cup of sugar (or more!) for every 1 cup of fruit as you savor each ridiculously delicious bite.

7. Lick the jam off your lips and set off to find more raspberries.

8. Put some of your next batch in the freezer to be devoured next winter during a snowstorm.

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the fruit-filled foodie farm blog where it doesn't look like we're going to get any homegrown raspberries this year—the brambles never quite recovered from the summer Cary spent in the kitchen garden—but all the rain we've had lately (including two more inches during a thunderstorm yesterday that also sent down 1½-inch chunks of hail!) means there just might be a bumper crop of wild black raspberries ripening along the edge of the hayfield. Yum.

Tuesday Dose of Cute: Stop, Look, and Listen

2009-06-09T21:49:00.002-05:00

One of BB's Twin Ewe Lambs On the Way Out to Breakfast in the Front Field

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the black is always in fashion foodie farm blog where one of the questions I'm most frequently asked (which will definitely be included in the Frequently Asked Farmgirl Questions page I'm diligently working on) is whether our black lambs stay black. The answer? Sometimes and sort of. It usually depends on if their mother is a true black sheep, and even then their wool usually bleaches in the sun to brown or grey. Most of the black Suffolk lambs fade to white and only keep their black faces and legs. But the Katahdin hair sheep (if they aren't bright white) retain their color and spots better, and since this lamb is half Katahdin and her mother is a true black sheep, there's a good chance she's going to stay that way (yay!). You can read more about black sheep and how much I love them here.

Sunday Dose of Cute: Beauty and Grace(And a Scary Little Corner of The Shack)

2009-06-07T12:52:00.002-05:00

Mr. Midnight on the Roof

And off the Roof

Fancy some more feline photos?
Topaz
Patchy Cat
Smudge
Sarah Kit Kat Kate
Mr. Midnight
Sylvester
J2
New Cat
Molly Doodlebug (aka The Doodle Monster)

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the supercat foodie farm blog where some of us can leap from tall buildings in a single bound—though not to worry, Mr. Midnight is actually jumping onto a very conveniently located six-foot tall stump, not all the way to the ground.

Friday Farm Photos: Morning View

2009-06-05T20:45:00.005-05:00

From the Front

And the Middle

Want to get a bigger view? (some categories overlap)
Farm Landscape Photos
More Farm Landscape Photos
Snow Photos
Misty Morning Photos
Hayfield Photos
More Hayfield Photos
Same Scene, New View Photos

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the dewey morning foodie farm blog where one of the lessons learned today was that if you wear a calf-length work dress instead of your usual tuckinable overalls with your rubber boots while tromping around in the waist high wet grass, your feet will stay dry, but the bottom half of your fresh and comfortable and seemingly brilliant outfit is going to get immediately soaked. (Rambling run-on sentences are okay in the copyright notice.)

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Steppin' Out

2009-06-03T21:23:00.001-05:00

That's One Way to Get Your Minerals

Farmgirl Fare is four years old today!
In my very first blog post, An Unexpected Beginning, I wrote about the word unexpected, which my thesaurus told me meant surprising, unforeseen, sudden, stunning, eye-opening, astonishing, astounding, amazing, breathtaking.

Yep, that pretty much sums up the last four years (along with all the cute of course). Thank you all so much. Here's to another four and hopefully many more!

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the time-sure-flies-by foodie farm blog where it wouldn't be a birthday without cake, so there's an Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake cooling on the kitchen counter. But since the oven is still hot and there's plenty of yogurt left over, I'm thinking about mixing up a quick Chocolate Emergency Cake—because it's always good to be prepared for an unexpected emergency.

Monday Dose of Cute: Learning to Fly

2009-06-01T23:24:00.003-05:00

And the winner of The Laws of Harmony by Judi Hendricks

Or At Least Kick Up Her Heels

Okay, I admit it. One of the reasons I like to hold book giveaways is purely selfish. I always make you answer a specific question in order to enter because I know I'll love reading your responses—and once again you didn't disappoint.

For The Laws of Harmony giveaway, I asked you to share a favorite novel that somehow features food. You not only mentioned several of my favorite novels (including Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy the caterer culinary mysteries and Like Water for Chocolate—which has been sitting on my nightstand waiting to be reread for months) but you've also given me a whole new list of books I can't wait to read—especially Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch since I really enjoyed her quirky second novel, By Bread Alone. Thank you!

The random winner of the signed copy of The Laws of Harmony is Gen, who said,

When I was a child I would read Little House on the Prarie every summer. I remember the food that was written about very well, it was homemade & homegrown most of the time.

I've just heard from Judi, and she's starting the California leg of her book tour. If you'd like to meet her in person, check out her Events Calendar to see if she'll be in your area. And I hope you'll let me know if you read and enjoy The Laws of Harmony!

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the high kicking foodie farm blog where, unlike our Suffolk sheep, these new Katahdin hair sheep get to keep their long tails (rather than having them docked), which means they swing around and around in hilarious circles any time the little lambs—or their mothers for that matter—pick up speed.

Easy Summer Picnic or Potluck Recipe:Garbanzo Bean (Chickpea) Salad with Red Onion, Scallions, Cilantro, Parsley, and Feta Cheese

2009-05-31T21:58:00.007-05:00

And the winners of Falling Cloudberries

My New Favorite Way to Eat Garbanzo Beans

This was such a fun contest. I loved reading all of your 'around the world' food and travel entry comments. What a wonderful collection of personal memories and stories—and what a well traveled (and well fed) bunch you are! I truly felt like I'd journeyed around the world without even leaving the farm.

The two random winners of Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes are:

Lisa, who said: When I was 11, I travelled to Australia to visit relatives and was horrified when I was offered lamb to eat, which I refused. Now, at 46, I am always on the lookout for new lamb recipes as I raise sheep myself. I never imagined it at the time, but I did always dream of living on a farm. My farm is small, but it's mine and it feeds me.

Missallizoom, who said: I am dying to try Edna Lewis's Fried Chicken Recipe. It is so simple sounding. I don't have lard on hand and want to go pick up a cast iron chicken fryer to do it right. Some day soon I will... it is supposed to be the best!

Congratulations, ladies! I think you'll really enjoy this book. Please e-mail me your shipping address (farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com). As for the rest of you, I'll be giving away several more books throughout the summer—including a few great beach reads—so stay tuned.

In the meantime, here's another recipe from Falling Cloudberries that I've fallen in love with. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to use garbanzo beans (because it keeps me from munching on them straight from the can), and this refreshing salad caught my eye because it calls for two things I have plenty of in the garden right now: onions and cilantro.

Red Candy Apple Onions—One of the 9 Varieties in My Kitchen Garden This Year

Last year I asked you for suggestions on how to use up the 125 scallions I had in the garden (thank you!), and this year—because I'm crazy like that—I planted even more onions. Some of them have already formed good-sized bulbs, and yesterday I made another batch of this salad using the red beauties you see above.

If you love cilantro but have never tasted homegrown, I urge you to do whatever you can to lay your hands on some. You know how everything harvested from the garden has so much more flavor than storebought? Well, it's the same for cilantro. I haven't grown any cilantro in a while, but I planted some seeds on a whim back in March and was rewarded with a bumper crop. (Cilantro is easy to grow from seed as long as you keep in mind one thing: despite often being associated with summer and salsa, it's actually a cool weather plant. I've even had volunteer seedlings come up in the snow.)

I never would have thought to put cilantro in a salad like this, but it really works. Of course that's what a new cookbook is supposed to do—surprise and persuade and inspire you, which is exactly what this one has been doing for for me.

While I definitely recommend Falling Cloudberries, I do have a small word of warning, as I've come across a few discrepancies with measurements. For example, this recipe calls for cooking 1¼ cups of dried garbanzo beans or using one 14-ounce can of beans, but a can is about 1½ cups, and 1¼ cups of dried beans will cook up into a fair amount more than that. And the Greek-Cypriot Salad (which sounds wonderful) calls for one '6-ounce jar (about 3½ cups)' of Greek olives, but a jar that size won't hold anywhere near 3½ cups of olives (and it would be way too many olives in the salad). If you carefully read through the recipes, you should be just fine.

So what's your favorite way to eat garbanzo beans?

Garbanzo Bean (Chickpea) Salad with Red Onion, Parsley, Cilantro, and Feta
Makes about 5 cups—Adapted from Falling Cloudberries

Lately I've been converting my recipes to measured amounts of ingredients rather than saying 2 onions or 3 cloves of garlic, because I've come to realize that there is often a huge size discrepancy among fruits and vegetables. Just look at lemons. Some are golf-ball sized, while others will barely fit in your hand. The 'juice of half a lemon' could be almost anything.

I don't consider myself obsessive when it comes to cooking, and I admit to rarely following a recipe exactly, but this has started driving me a little nuts because there are times when it can make a real difference. 'Six apples' might literally weigh anywhere from 2 pounds to 5 pounds. Measuring ingredients by weight is often the best way to go, but not everybody has a scale (I love my Oxo Good Grips digital kitchen scale and use it almost every day).

That said, this is the kind of recipe where you don't need to be exact. Use my measurements as a starting point and adjust things to suit your taste. Next time I'll probably add extra red onion, and I'm thinking that using half red kidney beans and half garbanzo beans would be interesting. The original recipe calls for lots more olive oil (like about a cup more) than my version does, so feel free to add extra, either while you're tossing everything together or drizzled on top just before serving.

Cooking the onions and garlic is the real trick here, as it makes them mellow and sweet, but allow them to cool before mixing them in or the feta cheese will melt. The optional olives add a flavorful, salty bite. Tote this salad to picnics and potlucks, or serve it up along with a loaf of crusty bread (these easy Four Hour Parisian Daily Baguettes are a staple at our house) and grilled chicken or steaks on those hot summer nights when nobody feels like cooking. You could also serve it on a bed of soft butter lettuce that you drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

As always, I urge you to seek out local and organic ingredients whenever possible—they really do make a difference. Organic garbanzo beans are a staple in my pantry and can often be found for the bargain price of about a dollar a can.

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if desired
3 cups chopped red onion
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh garlic
2 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed (or 3 cups cooked garbanzo beans)
3/4 cup (packed) chopped fresh cilantro
3/4 cup (packed) chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley
1½ cups chopped green onions (scallions), green parts only
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
A handful of chopped kalamata or black oil-cured olives, optional

Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a large frying pan and add the red onion, stirring to coat it with the oil. Cook the onion gently over medium or medium-low heat, stirring often, until the it is soft and starting to brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute; don't let the garlic brown. Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, stir together the garbanzo beans, cilantro, parsley, green onions, and lemon juice. Add the cooled onion garlic mixture. (If you're impatient like I am, you can mix the onions and garlic into the beans while they're still warm, and the other ingredients will help cool them down.) Mix in the crumbled feta cheese and olives (if using). Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (remember that the feta and olives will already be salty) and up to ½ cup more olive oil if desired.

This salad tastes best if made ahead and allowed to sit for a few hours before serving. Serve at room temperature, with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.

Other Farmgirl Fare recipes that call for garbanzo beans:
A Perfect Spring Salad
Arugula Pesto (garbanzos are the secret ingredient)
Broccoli Onion Garbanzo Bean Soup
Colors of Summer Salad
Lowfat Swiss Chard Cabbage Salad (a fresh twist on coleslaw)
Quick and Healthy Cream (or not) of Artichoke Soup
Roasted Red Pepper, Tomato, and Artichoke Soup (and Lambing with your Mom)

Still hungry? You'll find links to all of my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes over in the right hand sidebar on any Farmgirl Fare page.

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the bonkers for beans foodie farm blog where Farmgirl Susan shares recipes, stories, and photos from her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.

Saturday Dose of Cute: Tiny Tussle

2009-05-30T09:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, You Two, Break It Up

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the ram tough (and ewe tough!) foodie farm blog where little lambs learn early that their foreheads are as hard as rocks—and that bashing them into other babies is bad.

Thursday Dose of Cute: And She Sleeps

2009-05-28T22:20:00.001-05:00

Annette and Her Twin Ewe Lamb (taken 4/5/09)

New around these parts? Here's a look back at lambing season:
4/2/09: Baa Baa Baby Baa Baa! Lambing Season 2009 Has Begun!
4/3/09: Black Babes for Black Beauty
4/4/09: Spotted Beast?
4/6/09: Whispering Sweet Nothings?
4/7/09: Think Pink
4/9/09: Oh, You Big Baby
4/14/09: Too Cute for Words?
4/16/09: Smile for the Camera!
4/16/09: Amendment to Today's Earlier Lamb Count
4/20/09: Morning Traffic Report
4/21/09: Snack Time!
4/22/09: Oops
4/26/09: Lamb Whisperer
4/26/09: An Important Message from the BABS
4/30/09: Reading Lesson
5/1/09: May Day! May Day!
5/21/09: Rest Stop

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the always up for a nap foodie farm blog where we just came across an entire file of forgotten cute lamb photos that were never posted. The last lamb of the year may have been born several weeks ago (where does the time go?), but that doesn't mean the baby pictures have to stop anytime soon!

Book Review:The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks

2009-05-25T18:33:00.011-05:00

Win a signed copy of The Laws of Harmony!

Back in March I received an e-mail message from Lisa at TLC Book Tours about a new book called The Laws of Harmony. Hmmm, I thought, a self help book. Wait. Judi Hendricks. I know that name. Of course—Judith Ryan Hendricks is the author of the bestselling novel Bread Alone and its sequel, The Baker's Apprentice, two of my favorite books (which both revolve around food and include recipes). How interesting that she's written a self-help book. Okay, nothing slow about me.

The Laws of Harmony is not, of course, a self-help book but a novel. The main character is a thirty-two-year-old woman named Sunny Cooper who lives in Albuquerque with her boyfriend Michael, runs a little company called Domestic Obligations, and works as a radio voiceover.

Harmony refers to both the name the commune near Taos, New Mexico (called Armonia, which is Spanish for harmony) where Sunny grew up, and a small town on an island off the coast of Washington state where she ends up starting a whole new life.

I received my review copy of The Laws of Harmony the same day my hunky farmguy, Joe, arrived home from a few days out of town. I'd been working like crazy for weeks and promised him I would take the entire weekend off (in as much as that's possible when you live with dozens of farm animals). I love novels but couldn't remember the last time I'd had a chance to read more than a few pages of a one at a time.

Saturday afternoon found me curled up on the loveseat with my new book, a glass of champagne, and the luxury of several lazy hours stretching ahead. By the second paragraph I was laughing out loud and reading snippets to Joe, and by the time Sunny was describing the medicine bundle necklace she'd worn since she was ten years old on page five, I knew I really liked her.

When I first got it, it was filled with the corn pollen that Navajos use in their religious ceremonies, but I kept undoing the blue wool tie and spilling the pollen, so now it just holds my Zuni bear fetish, carved from turquoise with an inlaid white shell heart line that represents the path to power in his heart. It's my talisman against drunk drivers, muggers, lightning strikes, inoperable brain tumors, falling down the stairs, or being dumped for a twenty-two-year-old cocktail waitress. I don't leave home without it.

By the end of the weekend I'd read 270 pages, totally lost myself in both the story and the far away locations (the San Juan islands are one of those places I've fantasized about moving to for years), and felt great. Maybe it was a self-help book after all.

While I suppose it would be categorized as 'women's fiction,' there's a little of everything in The Laws of Harmony: friendships, family, mother-daughter struggles (I laughed out loud when Sunny described her aging hippie mother, Gwen, as "like a cat, always attaching herself to the one person in a room who's least likely to want her around") humor, self-discovery, intrigue, deception, secrets and surprises, and tragedy. The story constantly moves back and forth between present day, the recent past, and Sunny's childhood at Armonia. Much of the book is dialogue, which I like. No recipes in this book, but food is ever present. I always love to read about what people are eating, and how food plays a part in their lives.

My sidewalk table [in front of the bakery] is just big enough for a book—a silly mystery about drug smuggling written by some local guy—a cup of coffee, and a giant, still-warm chocolate chip cookie, its caramelized edges and gooey chunks of chocolate making me want to cram the whole thing in my mouth at once. I force myself to break off little pieces and chew them slowly until they disappear. This is not the way I learned to eat.

Gwen, in spite of her back-to-the-earth lifestyle, had been raised with table manners, which she tried halfheartedly to pass on to Hart and me. But the reality of life at Armonia was, the last one in the dinner line got more rice and less chicken, more lettuce and fewer tomatoes, cukes, mushrooms, and green peppers. I learned to get it while the getting was good, and shovel it in quickly to make room for seconds.

I remember the first time I had lunch with Betsy, looking up, suddenly embarrassed by my clean plate, while she was still languidly spearing bites of asparagus, cutting an olive in half and smushing it against a crumb of Roquefort cheese. She's really the one who taught me to savor food, all the contrasting aromas, tastes, textures.

A few days later I'd finished the book and was relaying the rest of the story to Joe as we walked through the creekbed on our way back from checking on the steers. I told him I wasn't sure what to say in my review, which I reminded him would part of an official online book tour.

"I suppose there must be a happy medium somewhere between describing the entire plot—you know I don't read the back covers of novels and can't stand how movie previews always give the story away—and simply saying, 'I really liked this book, and you might, too.'"

"So it basically just tells about what happens to this girl from day to day?"

"No. Well, yeah. I mean, I guess. Well, no. It's not like the mysteries or thrillers you read where you're racing through the pages to find out what happens. I guess there must be certain ways you're supposed to judge a novel, but I have no idea what they are. All I know is that these characters are likable and believable, and I was interested in what happened to them. When I got to the end of the book, I wished there were another 480 pages."

"Then that's what you should say in your review!"

And now if you'll excuse me, I do believe today is a holiday. And since it just started pouring down rain, it's going to be a while before I can go out and plant one of the raised beds in the kitchen garden with the eggplant, sweet pepper, and basil seedlings in the greenhouse that are dying to be liberated from their cramped little plastic containers. What a perfect excuse to curl up on the loveseat and take another trip back to Harmony. Happy hour, anyone?

Related links:
The Laws of Harmony at Amazon.com
The Laws of Harmony Online Book Tour Schedule and Judi's bio
Upcoming events where you can meet Judi in person
An interview with Judi Hendricks at HarperCollins
Bread Alone at Amazon.com
The Baker's Apprentice at Amazon.com
The Kitchen Table (Judi's blog)
Sunny's Blue Ribbon Blackberry Brownie Recipe

Other book reviews on Farmgirl Fare:
Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant
Local Breads
Cooking with Shelburne Farms
Comfort Food
The Cornbread Gospels
The Artist's Palate
Falling Cloudberries
The Vegetable Gardener's Bible (my favorite gardening book)
Astrological Gardening: The Ancient Wisdom of Successful Planting & Harvesting by the Stars

Would you like to win a signed copy of The Laws of Harmony? To enter, leave a comment in this post telling us about one of your favorite novels in which food is featured in some way. If you can't think of one, then simply tell us why you'd like to win this book!

One entry per person, please. I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be several hours before yours actually appears. If your comment doesn't show up right away, there's no need to leave another one.

You can enter through next Sunday, May 31st, and I'll announce a random winner on Monday, June 1st. Please check back to see if you've won, especially if I have no way to get a hold of you (for example, if you have a blogger profile, is it public and does it list your correct e-mail address?). Sorry, but the book can only be shipped to a U.S. address.

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the book-loving foodie farm blog where Farmgirl Susan shares recipes, stories and photos from her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.

Monday Farm Photo: Highlight of the Holiday Weekend

2009-05-25T14:30:00.000-05:00

Lemon Coconut Quick Bread with Garden Strawberries & Freshly Whipped Cream

Previous strawberry posts:
6/4/05: Strawberries
5/21/06:A Beautiful Breakfast!
5/27/06: The Turtles vs. Me, Cary, and Bear
10/28/07: Growing Strawberries & Preparing Your Bed for Winter
5/28/08: Successfully Growing Strawberries!
6/20/08: Strawberries & An Easy Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake
5/24/09: Sweet Strawberries & A Curious Cat

More fruit recipes on Farmgirl Fare:
Really Raspberry Tartlets
Blueberry Breakfast Bars
Just Peachy Blueberry Breakfast Bars
My Best Bran Muffins: Blueberry Banana, Cranberry Orange, and More
100% Whole Grain Ginger Pear Bran Muffins
Mexican Monkey Cake with Chocolate, Cinnamon, and Banana
Cranberry Christmas Scones (scrumptious any time of year)
Spicy Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins
Yip Yap Whole Wheat Banana Snaps with Raisins and Chocolate Chips

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the everything's-always-better-with-whipped-cream foodie farm blog where we realize the weekend isn't over yet, but are pretty sure that nothing will top this sweet treat (which we actually enjoyed three mornings in a row)—and we couldn't be more grateful to have two Jersey cows living a few miles down the road who provide enough milk and beautiful pale yellow cream for a few lucky neighbors as well as their owners. If you don't have any fresh strawberries handy, this Lemon Coconut Quick Bread is also quite tasty slathered with strawberry jam.

Sunday Dose of Cute: Sweet Strawberries & A Curious Cat

2009-05-24T15:14:00.001-05:00

Topaz Inspects My Freshly Picked Breakfast

Just getting to know our Tough Tortie Topaz (aka 3T)?
1/21/08: How Topaz, Sarah Kate, and Mr. Midnight Came into Our Lives
1/29/08: Farmyard Kitty
6/20/08: Meet Our New Hay Inspector
8/18/08: Tractor Cat
9/4/08: Even Kitty Cats Need to Eat Their Greens

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the juicy red foodie farm blog where we're just glad that farm cats don't like homegrown strawberries as much as the turtles do.