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!

 

  

Warm Gingerbread

We have a bounty of eggs now that all of our chickens are laying. We sold several dozen eggs last week and have had requests for more. The new "Fresh Eggs" sign is almost completed, just waiting for my husband to letter it this week. I enjoyed painting the graphics of the chickens on the sign, but will not even attempt to do the lettering. Hopefully the sign will be up by the road this weekend.

Laying hen in nesting box

 

The sheep have one late apple tree, at the very back of the pasture, where they spend their lazy days  waiting for the last apples to drop. I think they will be quite sad when these apples are gone, since they have so loved eating apples the last two months. They still run out of the barn every morning and check the ancient, crooked apple tree they have been getting all their apple treats from, even though it has been barren the past ten days or so. At least they have this one more tree to satisfy their apple cravings. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees on our property and within our view so these red apples on this tree are a little bit of color for us to see.

The chickens, duck, and sheep are in their barns by 6:30 now, so I find myself curled up with a book on the couch by 7:00. I like this time of year with no urgency to get things done in the evenings. I do enjoy baking, so I sometimes pop something in the oven for an evening snack. My latest baking endeavour is an October favorite- gingerbread. Once you make this from scratch gingerbread, you'll never use a mix from the grocery store again. Served with a dollop of whipped cream it is undeniably an autumn treat. 

 

Gingerbread

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour( plus extra for dusting pan)

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg ( or ground nutmeg)

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 large farm fresh eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup warm water

1 cup light raisins

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8" baking pan with butter and dust with flour.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until well blended. Set bowl aside. In another bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the butter and brown sugar until well blended and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until just blended. Continue beating while slowly adding the molasses. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg mixture and stir just until incorporated.  Add the water and stir until blended. Gently fold in raisins. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on rack. Serve warm with whipped cream.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Frost

It has to happen sooner or later, tonight South Royalton, Vermont is predicted to have the first frost of the season. The weather forcasters are predicting temperatures to be in the upper 20s to around 30 degrees. Don't forget to bring tender potted plants indoors if you want to keep them a little longer. Also, cover any crops you may still have in the garden that you want to prolong the growing season of. I think I will bring in my nearly ripe tomatoes along with the ripe ones and put them on window sills to finish ripening. I have two huge potted herbs in the herb garden, a rosemary plant and a lemon verbena plant, that I will bring in. Other than the tomatoes and herbs, I think it is time to let nature take its course. By mid-September I am pretty tired of being a slave to the gardens. I am looking forward to putting the gardens to bed for the winter, and spending a cozy winter baking, quilting and wool needle felting, all in the comfort of two woodstoves.
The Tunbridge World's Fair is just a memory now, but despite the first two days of rain and mud, sunshine returned for the weekend. I was very pleased to receive blue ribbons for all of the herbs I entered, as well as my huge potted begonia. Our hens, despite their setback from the fox attack in August, received a second place red ribbon for their eggs.

Prize Winning Eggs

Blue Ribbon Parsley

 

The first place blue ribbon for my wool needle felted downy woodpecker and nuthatch was my greatest accomplishment. Although it feels so good to win a blue ribbon for things you have grown in the garden, there is no comparison to the feeling of winning first prize for something you designed and created yourself without the benefit of a pattern or instructions. I am already dreaming of next year's fair and what I can enter. I have never entered any of the vegetables I grow, so that is on the top of my list.

Wool Needlefelted First Place Birds

 

View the rest of my wool needle felting at www.thefarmatmillvillage.com 

 

 



 







Fresh Eggs

Yesterday was a milestone in the life of one of our new chickens who came to the farm in April as a baby chick. One of our Buff Orpingtons became a laying hen! She went from being a pullet (that goofy, gawky teenage stage) to a full grown hen by laying her first "tiny" egg. Not much eating out of that egg as compared to the full-sized eggs our three year old Barred Rock chickens lay, but she will soon be laying breakfast sized eggs.

 

 

It is a huge relief to me to see that they are starting to lay, because we lost some of our chickens to a fox attack in the beginning of August. Not only did he dig under the fence and kill chickens, but he severely maimed some of the other chickens and traumatized them so that they have been laying less frequently. I am already planning what kinds of chicks to order in the spring to build up our flock. For now though, I am glad to see they are all happy and safe. Maybe soon we will put up the "Fresh Eggs" sign!

 

Buff Orpington

Barred Rock

Happy hens at their hen house

 

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