Happy New Year

   A new year is upon us and of course it is a time to reflect on the past year, what we are grateful for and what we aspire to change in our lives. Mostly though it is a time to look forward to the new year with new hopes, dreams, and resolutions. I hope for good health in the coming year for myself and my loved ones, I dream of the perfect little sheep farm, and my resolution is to finish all my unfinished projects. I seem to have the incurable illness of having to buy every piece of antique furniture in need of repairs and restoration. "Oh I can fix this" is said every time I go to a yard sale, auction, or estate sale. I have refurbished many antiques for our home and many for our yearly tag sale, but yet I have an attic filled with undone projects. It wouldn't be so bad if my husband didn't have the exact same affliction. He now has a garage filled with hopefuls. This is the year! We are either going to use these treasures or sell them, so we must complete these tasks and make junque into treasure.
   New Year's Day I plan to finally look at all the seed catalogs that have arrived in the mail. I think planning my spring plantings is a wonderful way to start the year. Last year's cut flower garden was such a success that I am planning to expand it with more varieties of sunflowers and also different species of flowers to be used in my cut flower arrangements. Most of the flowers were blooming in late summer and early fall, so this year I want to plant flowers that will bloom from early summer until frost. My little roadside stand of cut flower arrangements was quite busy and really was a source of great joy for me. I loved providing a little bit of colorful cheerfulness for others. There is nothing like a sunny bouquet to lift one's spirits.
   January is also a good month to catch up on reading. I am looking forward to reading a new book I bought but set aside during the busy holiday season. January and February is the perfect time to do all the relaxing indoor things you feel guilty doing any other time of year. I may even find time for the daily nap I always talk about but never seem to take. From The Farm at Mill Village, Happy New Year!!

Holly, our two year old chocolate lab, does find time for many naps.

She waits at the top of the stairs every night at 8:00 to go to bed. This dog loves to sleep!

The snow continues to pile up in the sheep field.

The sheep waiting to come back in the barn, while I do morning chores.

Merry Christmas

A Very Merry and Blessed Christmas to All

Christmas Fruit Cake

   As planned, I made my fruitcake on Saturday morning, although I never planned to be mixing the ingredients at 4:00 a.m. and having it in the oven by 4:30a.m. It was one of those nights when you are awake most of the night and finally give in and just get out of bed. Usually I read or knit when I can't sleep, but I figured why not bake the fruitcake. The oven warmed the kitchen on a -8 degree morning ( maybe I should have waited until this morning's -17 degrees) and the aroma of the spices, fruit and rum was nothing short of "intoxicating". I am including the recipe in my post, but you may want to make it at a more reasonable hour.
   Saturday night and Sunday's snowfall was absolutely magical to wake up to. At 14" on the ground I think the chickens and duck will be in their houses now because of the snow depth and not just the frigid temperatures. They have all adapted to staying in with the comfort of heat lamps. When I first started keeping them in during the cold days, they tried to push their way out every morning while I cleaned the coop and fed and watered them. Now they want no part of going outside into the deep freeze and snow. Egg production is high so obviously they are content with their winter arrangement. The sheep on the other hand, enjoy a romp through the snow as long as it is not zero or terribly windy out. They like the freedom of being able to come and go into the barn during the day.
   The Christmas baking and present wrapping continue this week. All the things that make the holidays so wonderful!

First time out making paths

George not to sure if he likes snow yet

 

Martha, twin brother George, and Francis playing in the snow

 



 

Christmas Fruitcake Recipe



 

1 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons cloves

1 teaspoon allspice

3 cups sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup raisins

2/3 cup currants

1 lb. mixed fruitcake fruit

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped dates

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups applesauce

1/4 cup rum

 

 

Cream shortening and sugar gradually with spices. Sift flour, salt, soda together. Dredge fruit and nuts with 1/2 cup of flour. Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add alternately with remaining flour mixture,stirring until well blended. Stir in applesauce, fruit and nuts, and rum.

Bake in a well greased tube pan in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or until done.

Ready for oven

Ready to eat!



Oh Christmas Tree

   We got our Christmas tree last Saturday, put it up in the house Sunday, and decorated it on Monday. You know you are getting older when it takes three days to get a Christmas tree up and decorated. It was snowing lightly all day Monday, and with Bing Crosby crooning Christmas songs it finally felt like Christmastime. It took us longer than usual to pick out our tree this year, since I pledged not to get an overly pruned tree. Last year our tree was so artificial looking with each branch so manicured by the tree farm. This year I wanted a more graceful, natural looking tree with boughs that were not all trimmed to be of equal size. This was not an easy quest, but after walking up and down hills at the tree farm we found our treasure. This tree was in the last row of Christmas trees, almost in the outer forest. Maybe it was in the forest! Anyway, my collection of vintage ornaments showed off much better this year with more space between the branches. We put the tree in our library this year and I don't know why I didn't think of putting it there other years, because it is in the perfect spot to enjoy it.
   I'm still finishing up making a few last minute gifts, but most of the shopping, crafting, and Christmas card sending is done. That leaves baking and wrapping presents. Tomorrow I plan to make my family's recipe for the most fabulous, moist fruitcake. It wouldn't be Christmas without this cake!
   We are still waiting for Charlotte to come home to the farm from the breeders. Hopefully just before Christmas we will pick her up. It will be good to have another body in the barn to keep it warm. Since we sold our cow last year, I can tell the difference in the temperature of the barn. A big animal makes a big difference in the winter months for heat.
   With the cold weather and snow cover outside I have been feeding the birds at the bird feeder. This year feeding the birds is becoming stressful do to pigeons. And I mean a lot of pigeons! They can clean out a bird feeder in just minutes. My husband and I keep scaring them away and luckily they are becoming fewer and fewer everyday. We are very vigilant at watching for them, but the minute I go out for a few hours they definitely help themselves to every seed in the feeder. We also nearly had a casualty yesterday. A chickadee flew into our kitchen window with a thud and ended up laying on the back porch stunned. After bringing him in the house and stroking his little body, he was ready to go back outside to be with his friends. A happy ending!

Visiting Chickadee

Vintage sled and skates by our back door

Christmas Tree 2013

 

Butternut Squash Beef Stew Recipe

   The Christmas decorating continues At The Farm at Mill Village. Hopefully I will be done by Friday, so I can sit and relax listening to Christmas music and just enjoy looking at all the embellishments which bring back wonderful memories of past Christmas seasons. On Saturday we plan to go and cut our Christmas tree at the local tree farm in Chelsea, Vermont. It would be nice to have a fresh snowfall on the ground, but the forecast for today and Friday is calling for mostly rain with a little mix of snow and freezing rain. Tomorrow night may bring an inch or two of snow, so I have my fingers crossed for a little tree harvesting snow.
   This year I decorated the wreath on my barn with vintage garden hand tools, a terra cotta flower pot filled with faux holly and apples, and a miniature watering can. I tied the garden tools on with baling twine that I took off of a bale of hay in the barn. That's what I call re purposing.

 

   I forgot to mention in my last post that our oldest black lab, Millie, had her birthday last Sunday on December 1st. Millie is now 14 years old! She only climbs the stairs once a day now just to go to bed at night, do to her arthritis, but other than that gets around pretty well. She also has much less gray hair than I do. She is such a joy to us!

Millie

 

   Tired of leftover Thanksgiving turkey? Try this tasty, warming stew on a chilly night for supper. The butternut squash and Marsala wine give it a sweetness that is just delicious and the herbs lend a savory flavor. Served with a loaf of crusty bread it is a wonderful winter meal. Enjoy!

 

 

Butternut Squash and Beef Stew

Olive oil

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

Rosemary

Thyme

Beef cubes coated with flour,salt, and pepper

1 cup Marsala wine

1 butternut squash cubed

can of diced tomatoes (15 oz.)

3 cups beef broth

 

- saute' onion and garlic in olive oil

- add flour,salt,and pepper coated beef cubes and brown

- loosen browned bits with Marsala wine

- add beef broth and thyme and rosemary (tied in a bouquet)

- add tomatoes, squash and more pepper to taste

- cook at least 1 1/2 hours ( better if cooked all afternoon)

- remove herb bouquet

- served garnished with fresh parsley

 



 

 

November's Farm News

   After a month of not blogging, it's time to get back to writing about the happenings on the farm. Daily activities are very quiet this time of year. No garden tasks to attend to, except perusing all the colorful seed catalogs that are showing up daily in my mailbox. It used to be that in January, right after Christmas, they would arrive giving us something to look forward to after the holidays, but they seem to be coming earlier and earlier each year. With too much to do getting ready for Christmas in December, I have tucked the catalogs away in my desk drawer until January. It is such fun to sip a cup of tea by the fire in the middle of a snow storm and dream of next year's garden. The empty palette of a snow covered garden offers endless possibilites of what to grow next year.
   The animals are spending a lot of time in the barn with the exceptionally cold temperatures as of late. Yesterday was hovering near 30 degrees and the sheep acted like spring lambs, running and jumping. It really puts a smile on your face to see them run and play in the bit of snow we have on the ground and act like it is April rather than December.
   The chickens are really not a bit impressed with the snow we have covering the ground, in fact they do not like it at all. They squawk as soon as they come out of the hen house and feel the cold and see the snow. Frostbite on the rose on top of the chicken's heads and their feet is a real concern in the sub-zero temperatures, so they have spent a few days locked in their house with a nice warm light on and are just as happy, and actually laying eggs everyday. The shortened days of winter offer less light and most chickens lay fewer eggs, but my girls have been laying steadily. With holiday baking starting now nothing beats farm fresh eggs in all baking recipes so I'm glad for the extra eggs, as are my family and neighbors.
   Charlotte, our breeding ewe, is now in New York State at Cabin Creek Acres in Schuylerville being bred. The younger lambs miss her terribly and look for her and call her with their baaing daily. Even though she is not the mother to any of them, they seem to rely on her as a mother figure. She will be home just before Christmas, hopefully pregnant. She is a bit chubby from sneaking grain from the other sheep and eating more than her fair share of hay. This extra weight can be detrimental to getting pregnant and to birthing in the spring, so she is on a diet. Poor Charlotte, she so loves food!
   Today's chores include hanging the outside Christmas wreaths and enjoying the upper 20 and lower 30 degree temperatures. After our latest cold snap it will feel downright balmy out. Thanks for your interest in The Farm at Mill Village.

Unhappy chickens in the snow.

Francesca trying to drink frozen water although she has heated water in her duck house!

Sheep happy to be in their barn when it was 1 degree outside.

 

I have no idea where they came from, but these yellow violas are still blooming against the foundation of our house despite frigid temps. Summer lives on!