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Hi Everyone,
Life doesn’t always go as planned—and sometimes the worst case scenario can throw you a little blessing. The year’s drought and early freezes caused some hardships for our cows, and a few struggled more than others. We did our best to supplement them and give them all the nourishment they needed, and while the herd has done very well; one cow in particular has suffered the hardest. We were not sure what to do with Analee—but we kept hoping for the best. Last weekend I was ready to give up hope, but Papa was not. Then Monday morning when I called Analee into the parlor to eat her breakfast of alfalfa pellets she didn’t come. Papa was there with me and we both looked for the dark cow—but she was not in the herd. She didn’t come up with the milk cows when Micah brought them in for their morning hay treat—so Papa headed down pasture to check on her. My first thought was that she had died. I ran to the end of the sidewalk where I could see out to pasture and I saw her standing up grazing—I was really confused. Why didn’t she come up if she was still alive and eating? When Papa came back he told me why—she had given birth to the littlest, and cutest, complete and perfect little heifer. To our surprise she has produced enough milk to feed her growing calf, and she is the most loving mama. Analee likes it best to have her little Leeana right by her side.
A few weeks ago I planted all kinds of vegetable and flower seeds in seed trays in the greenhouse. They all sprouted too! The pumpkins and squashes and some of the flowers are growing very fast and are ready to be transplanted out to the gardens—but I do not have the garden beds ready for them. So last Tuesday I spent 75% of the day in the greenhouse potting up seedlings. Most of my pots had not been cleaned since the last time I used them (shame on me) so I spent half of the time bent over rinsing out the pots and trays so that I could use them. Then since the pots were wet when I filled them with potting soil—the outsides had to be rinsed off in order to get all the dirt off so they looked pretty. I would say that 50% of the time I was bent over and 50% of the time I was standing up transplanting. I potted up about 30 roselles, 24 tomatoes, 30 something pumpkins, 10 watermelons and about 10 cantaloupes. It was after 5:00 when I came inside and it wasn’t long before my body gave me the biggest protest for working so long and hard all day—I was crippled in the hip for the rest of the night. Thankfully after a good night’s sleep I felt much better.
On Thursday Micah was able to help me start prepping the garden beds—and the two trellis beds were done first so that I could transplant almost 30 pickling cucumber plants out to the garden. I planted half of them on the two trellises in the East Garden in the open sun, and the other half on the two trellises in the Cottage Garden under the large oak tree. I shall experiment to see which ones do better (shade vs. sun) and (protected from pesky animals who like to dig up plants vs. unprotected).
Six weeks ago plans were made to host a Pizza Dinner here at the farm with Kalacrow Wood-fired Pizza being our chefs. After having to cancel the last two dinners (one pizza dinner and one seven course dinner), we were a little skeptical about people actually signing up to join us for dinner. To our delight the ticket purchases slowly but surely climbed weekly—two here and four there. Five people signed up hours before the dinner started which gave us four full tables—and we were very grateful to have that many.
The ingredient list arrived Wednesday afternoon from Brett and Jenni (the chef’s), and the goal was to have it all harvested and gathered together by 12:30 Thursday afternoon—if all went smoothly. All did not go smoothly, for after milking I had to place my order for meat chicks (90 chicks a month from now to October) and pay the farm taxes—and that paperwork took longer than I wanted it to. It was around 11:30 when I headed outside to start harvesting—and besides a short break for lunch (which Mama begged me to stop and take) I finished harvesting and gathering around 2:00. I harvested Swiss chard, kale, lettuce, celery, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and onions (around eight little ones—the only ones that survived the winter freezes). Then I needed to gather together the lemon juice (squeezed from our own lemon trees) and maple syrup for Maple Lemonade; ground beef and ground lamb for the Ragu and Greek lamb pizzas; Roselle juice, ginger, and lime juice for the Kombucha Mocktail. Then there was milk for the fresh mozzarella and yogurt for the sauce on the Greek Lamb pizza.
Friday was spent cleaning up—mowing the weedy “lawns” around the barn and around the Market Gardens, washing down the picnic tables, scrubbing the floor in the Poultry kitchen, rehanging the lights (because they were taken down to decorate for my 50th Birthday Party), weeding in the Market Garden tunnels, and filling the flower tub with fresh red dianthus.
Saturday was the day! Our Pizza Dinner was scheduled to start at 5:00 and there was much to do to get ready. We got the cows milked first thing, and then I had to pack the Gainesville orders before we could start setting up for the dinner. All the lettuce needed to be washed, torn into pieces and spun dry—two large bowls full to be exact. Then the tablecloths had to be set out and secured to the tables and all the plates, napkins, glasses and silverware neatly set at each place setting. The salt and pepper shakers needed to be filled and water pitchers filled with water and set in the fridge to chill. Mama had bought a red flowering plant a few weeks ago and it hadn’t found a home yet—so I grabbed it up and dropped it into a clay pot and it made the perfect floral piece for the table. We finished setting up right at 5:00, and then the fun began.
Everyone arrived pretty much around 5:00, and we snacked on some stuffed eggs and maple lemonade. Then we took a stroll through the Market Gardens, past the newest chicks on the farm, and stopped to visit with the sweet faced Jersey milk cows and see the cutest calf that was only five days old.
When we got back to the tables it was time to eat. The first food to arrive at the tables was a farm fresh garden salad with the lettuce, carrots, celery, and onions from our very own gardens! Five different pizzas followed: Tre Formaggi, Bianca, Ragu, Harvest Moon (a pizza that married pumpkin, sage and three cheeses together to make a mouthwatering treat), and Greek Lamb. The dinner was finished off with some freshly baked biscotti with herbal tea or milk for dipping. There were four picnic tables full of hungry, laughing people who enjoyed their time so much that the only time a cell phone was used was to take a picture of the food, farm, or friends.
The weather was gorgeous, the food was scrumptious, and the fellowship was sweet. If you had the privilege to join us--I hope to see you at our tables again. If you missed last night--I hope you will join us the next time.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare