One year on the farm

As of last Friday, the Farm has officially seen it's last first birthday. Guess whose?!Olivia is now diligently helping prepare for a brunch in her honor.

Waiting by the door to welcome her guests.

And working on her intelligent conversation topics.

We love you, Olivia! Happy birthday, baby girl.

Sunset

Misadventures in homesteading

Life on the farm is constantly teaching us something new. Unfortunately, the information we gleam from the lessons would have been much better to know in the beginning of the process instead of the middle, but I guess that wouldn't make for nearly as entertaining of a story.

This year our herb garden taught us something very important. Don't plant licorice-flavored herbs near ANYTHING else. Thanks to a Thai basil plant and another random French herb (that of course I don't remember the name of and was never cooked into anything), most of my regular basil has a unwanted licorice quality to it. Licorice pesto? I think not. You would have thought that last years squash-cini would have taught us to really consider how close you plant what. At least squash-cini turned out to be fairly tasty!

As we dable more into the concept of homesteading, I get the feeling that our trail and error days have only just begun.

Food

Thanks to an entry on someone else's blog, I now know why the pictures I take when I'm cooking always look sickly. It's my timing. I work during the day and have kid-time in the evening, which leaves night time for any cooking-binge I get on. Unfortunately my kitchen lightening = poor quality photos of yellow-tinted food. So, I guess you will just have to take my word for how mouth-watering some of our new farm-fresh faves are:


Pepper Jelly - I've eaten it before but never made it myself. Even Allen is singing its praises. Definitely a 10.

Babbaganush - Not only is it a ridiculously fun word to say, but it's another use for eggplants, a vegetable we are always trying to find new ways to eat. Slathered on a fresh slice of bread... delish.

Cucumber Salsa - this one isn't new around here; we've been making it for years. But it's as if during those long winter months I forget just how marvelous and refreshing it is.

Side note: Allen has been cooking some stellar meals straight from the garden. These are just some of the stuff I've been piddling with. His main dishes and sides are another post for another day!

Oh my it's hot.

I think that sums it up. And only leaves us with one option:
Hope all y'all are staying cool.

Lightening hits the farm

I love a good summer shower as much as the next fella (how else would my yard be producing these marvelous flowers?) , but what in the world?! Lovely evening showers have turned freakishly ferocious. This week's storm managed to strike our house just right to kill our modem, cable wiring, Netbook, cordless phones, and wireless router. Seriously?! (Please note - I had NO qualms with the storm that required my insurance company to buy me a new roof and gutters but definitely take offense to the storm that wreaked havoc but without meeting our deductible)

Any how... the lightening didn't just leave it's mark on our electronics. It also left it's mark on our pecan tree. So will this years pecans come out of the shell tasting toasted...?

Thankfully, we had some marvelous mid-week visitors to take our minds off everything else. I can't think of a Wednesday evening that I have enjoyed more in ages. Dinner fresh from the garden, red wine, pseudo behaved kids, and a refreshed sense of how nice adult conversation can be. And Australian accents as the cherry on top.And for all those out there wondering... "how could my child get some awesome tie dye like that?", it's quite simple actually... http://www.etsy.com/shop/AuthenticBonesTieDye?ref=pr_shop Enjoy!

Our computer is still gone. Prayers are being said, but no word on if it will make it or not yet. The picture-less posts continue. I can only imagine how full my camera's memory card is getting with each passing day... Yes, even though I'm slack about posting pictures, I do actually take a decent number of them. Of course most of the pictures are of questionable quality or only to be used for the later-in-life embarassment of my children.

In other news - we've got SQUASH! And CUCUMBERS! And TOMATOES! Summer has arrived. We really enjoyed a nice cool week. You know, temps only in the 80's. Unfortunately, for Father's Day Allen will be receiving temps in the upper 90's again.

And the washing machine buzzer beckons. Time to hang out towels and diapers!