January in the Sunshine

The laying hens are in the garden at this time of year. They keep it clean, eat the left over grubs, and fertilize daily! As we clean the stalls out in the barn and deliver it by wheelbarrow full, the hens work it out and spread it around.

Pigs! Now three weeks on the farm and the star attraction for the neighborhood especially on a sunny Saturday. The pigs are enjoying rooting, running, playing, and eating walnuts.

Young hens and Ruby Rooster keep to themselves. There are six hens in the big pasture that should be great egg layers as the days are getting longer. We have 25 laying hens and 4 roosters on the farm right now.

Here is Big Boy! Our tom turkey is about 35 pounds and roams the pasture with the chickens and sheep.

Pigs and their farm friend, Dutchess! The dogs love to play chase along the fence line with the pigs.

We call these turkeys The Brute Squad. These Bronze turkeys are very docile. They roam the property and beg for walnuts at feeding time!

At the end of a sunny day, the pigs are enjoying some squash from the larder! What a treat to have the fog lift and the blue skies and sunshine on a January day!

Dinner Out

We headed downstream to our favorite place to eat out, The Galice Resort!

But we knew at this time of year Galice is closed for the winter so we brought our own dinner to enjoy outside on this rare, warmish, sunny day in January!

We started with farm fresh eggs because who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?!

We are still getting a few eggs a day even in the short days of winter!

The eggs were cracked into an onion ring. Yep, just a freshly sliced onion used as a place to hold the eggs!

They cooked alongside some farm fresh sausage.

Then they were stacked together to make a sausage-onion-egg bagel dinner sandwich!

There were a few extra onions cooked also so they went into the stack. Then the dinner sandwiches were wrapped in foil and packed in a picnic basket and we headed out for a beautiful view along the river.

We parked at the boatramp at Galice. The river is flowing high right now with the winter rains that we have had lately.

We ate our dinner outside and watched the ducks, herons and listened to the water.

We had the perfect place to eat our dinner out!

See you soon, Debbie!

Thanksgiving 2014

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving spent with family in Tumwater, Washington. We packed up a little of our homegrown food and headed North to be with our parents. It was a beautiful visit and a time of togetherness that we treasure.

We had a care package waiting for us in our room, complete with a five pointed star and a delicious cookbook from another Family Farm in Missouri!

It felt so good to be with Mom.

We relaxed into one another and visited and shared and remembered.

The evening before Thanksgiving we shared a wonderful lasagne made by Mom! There is nothing better than Mom's cooking!

Mom and Bob and Kari ready to eat salad, French bread and lasagne.

The following morning began with the prep for stuffing and getting our 21 pound turkey into the oven by 10:00 am.  We had some nibbling prep ready with Nana's now Mom's scrumptious onion dip, a little Irish cheer, and celery, pumpkin bread and walnuts from the farm.

We combined two different stuffing traditions this year and used cornbread stuffing with the addition of sausage. There was plenty of sausage left over from the stuffing to add to mushrooms for stuffed mushrooms.

My beautiful mom!! She is a wonder of hope, love, humor, wisdom, creativity, ingenuity, resourcefulness, artistry, color and more love!  There is never enough time to spend with Mom, a true inspiration and one of the most influential people in my life. xo

Back to stuffing the turkey. Mom was good to keep an eye on the clock and keep the target time of 10. After the turkey was stuffed, we sealed up the oven bag and Old Tom Turkey was ready for the oven.

Our great turkey farmer, Tim had the honors of getting the big bird into the oven.

Then there was time to visit some more, continue preparing for the feast and keep up with the dishes. Mom oversaw it all and she kept us all on task without anyone one of us knowing how she did it!

Bob is very adept in the kitchen. He has even been known to be called El Jefe de la cocina! What an amazing man, besides his culinary talents, he is a remarkable story teller and story writing and has a great sense of humor, loyalty to his family and to his country. He is a true American hero.

Our loving parents working the kitchen!

Sweet granddaughter Kaylee, came by on her way to the rest of the family for a big hug from Gramps and Jojo! Her baby due in just a few short weeks.

The turkey is out of the oven and we are ready to carve up the bird and celebrate a day, a week, a year of gratitude.

Bob in his gentle, low key way and his dry sense of humor always makes us laugh!

Our feast on the table and ready for a blessing of thanks.

~ Mom and Bob ~

My Nephew Dave survived Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia traffic and arrived at the perfect time to share and enjoy the Thanksgiving Feast.

Jojo and David with a sweet moment in the computer room.

The day after Thanksgiving provides more opportunity to share stories and a meal together.

Such sweet memories were gathered this Thanksgiving and in the words of Mom...

...A time for our souls to mingle together.

Slainte'

All of our love and gratitude ~

November on the Farm

Looks stormy, but November started off very mild

Endive, onion, zucchini and tomato pizza picked from the garden in early November!

Turkeys joined by the wild friends

Cracking the nuts

One pound bag of walnuts

Hundreds of pounds of walnuts drying by the woodstove

Sugar Pie Pumpkins ready for roasting

Ruby the Rooster

Butternut Squash, Apple and Sage Soup waiting to be made

Still picking beans the second week of November

Cannellini Beans

Turnips waiting for the freeze to sweeten the meat.

Parsley and cabbage still thriving in the garden mid November

Nigerian Pygmy Goats eating their share of the bean vines

Bags and Bags of Walnuts

Farmhouse Kitchen

Butchering Day

Roasting pan is ready for the oven with a turkey back and root vegetables.

Old family recipe written by sister Lisa for walnut cookies. xo

Dried beans are getting shelled and into storage

Another butchering day

Second Harvest of turkeys

Poultry Plucker

Celebrating with Family

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Beautiful French Pumpkin called Galeaux D'Eysines

Farmer's Breakfast:  Rustic Apple Pie and Scrambled Eggs!

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

All of the leaves have blown off of the trees by the end of the month. November was so beautiful on the farm with every type of weather possible. Sunny, mild, soft, warm to blustery, blowing, freezing, raining and wet. We enjoy each new day as it comes to us. Happy Autumn to all.