Friday, August 31, 2012

sky study #75



sunset August 20, 2012


Thursday, August 30, 2012

ardha-chandrasana with pada-hastasana



My friend Jeanette came over last week and we rode around on the Honda - Jeanette can do this in Bikram yoga, for reals:



Wednesday, August 29, 2012

just when you thought it was safe to look at this blog again...



I made more pickles.  This is how they begin, soaking with onions in salt water


7 pints of bread & butter slices - my favorite

All you ever need is ONE pickling cucumber plant in your garden.  I planted two, which is why I have 10 million cukes.  

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

stuffing everywhere



Bed pillow = fun dog toy

Monday, August 27, 2012

peppy



20 pound wheel of montasio cheese with green peppercorn

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Friday, August 24, 2012

five fingers



When I was in Detroit I tried on Alex's running shoes - it felt weird to have something in between your toes, but I like how they look, kinda like monkey feet.  He is going to run a half marathon in them - go Alex!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

blue wheelie




The blue cheese is coming along nicely - here it is at two and a half weeks

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

scary sky study #74




Stormy skies over Midland, Michigan on my way home August 19, 2012.  It looked like the start of a tornado.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Motor City paradise


My weekend in Detroit


The Renaissance Center forever!


hound of love Kelly


Raquel's laptop - 4 more years!  


We came upon a huge cycle group about 100 riders long - don't listen to anything saying Detroit is run down and dying - it was beautiful and vibrant and full of life everywhere


Randazzo's world of watermelons


yes it does


My dates for Dukes of September at Pine Knob



look out for that lowdown - Boz Scaggs gettin' it


Dave's new cat Oliver Pickles


The woodward Dream Cruise was going on - awesome classic cars everywhere you looked


Everybody Wu Chung tonight - Dave made me a mock duck salad with this stuff - delicious!

Monday, August 20, 2012

the hostas and the well pump



The beautiful scene outside the little ground-level window in my basement

Saturday, August 18, 2012

compliments of Fern



Garbage picked from Fern Street, Traverse City

Friday, August 17, 2012

sky study #73



sunset Thursday, August 16, 2012

Holman Farm cornucopia


from Laurie's magic orchard & garden


61 white peaches


a rainbow of eggplants

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Dave's hash



Dave came to visit and made the most amazing potato hash for breakfast with chard from the garden, and a fresh egg on top - smaczne!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

pickles pickles pickles and more pickles



Can't stop making pickles - 4 pints of bread & butter pickles from the garden.  Pickles for all!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

S loves D


One of my oldest friends visited the farm this weekend.  We were Detroit punk rock teenagers together, and 30 years later, she is as funny, smart and together now as she was then.  God bless Doreen!


Doreen & Sue, New York City 1982 (please note permed mullets)


Doreen & Sue, Kingsley 2012

Monday, August 13, 2012

the Perseid meteor showers



OK, who else was up between 2:00AM - 3:30AM Saturday night?  Did you see it? Spectacular!  I was tripping out watching the shooting stars, about one per minute.  Just amazing.
It spawned a complete mental brain-flow experience of consciousness where I was contemplating being on planet Earth, suspended in the Milky Way Galaxy, that we are mostly comprised of water, and that we are orbiting the Sun and it's also hanging in suspension in the universe, and we orbit around it, and I WAS FREAKING OUT about space....I hope the same consciousness happens to you during the next meteor shower. Where am I?  What are we?  Sorry for the hippie flow, but I know you know what I'm talking about.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

the little gift



Losing Whitey a few weeks ago was tough - she was my favorite chicken, my pet and also my only white egg layer.  Until this week...I went out to collect eggs and found this tiny white egg, the first from one of the new young Leghorn hens.  I didn't expect to see any eggs from the young girls for a few more months, and it was so nice to see a white egg in the hen house again.

"My sun sets to rise again."
- Robert Browning

the visitors


The other evening two canine senior citizens turned up at the farm, a golden retriever and a little black pug.  Both were very friendy and well cared for, the Golden had a tag that said his name was Buddy Gomez (what an awesome dog name).  We called their owner who came and got them from about a mile away. 



Saturday, August 11, 2012

Boss Butter



I made a batch of cultured butter this week - here is the cream churning in the kettle.  Butter making is the messiest job: greasy, buttermilk splashing everywhere - I thoroughly buttered every surface in the cheese lab making it.


But the end result is worth it - 10 rounds of freshly made butter tied up with string.

Friday, August 10, 2012

it's berry time



Fresh from the woods


right into jam

Thursday, August 9, 2012

so plump



first Summer pickles

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

it's all dog toys



This rope toy was especially tough


This plush toy had fun filling

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Kick out the jams



Saw it at the Traverse City Film Festival last week - I love Detroit!

Monday, August 6, 2012

lacking any pretense



"We tend to think that animals of a breed are all alike, yet in observing and drawing them, I have found each to be unique in appearance and temperament; and each, lacking any pretense, seems to have a natural dignity. It is unsettling to look into their eyes and wonder what they know. There is a great distance between us, yet we feel so much in common as creatures."

BethVan Hoesen, from Creatures: The Art of Seeing Animals

Sunday, August 5, 2012

the kind mold



You have to poke holes into wheels of blue cheese, which will introduce air, which mold needs to grow.  I poked 20 holes in each side of the wheel with a sterilized skewer.


Blue wheels age on their side. I am trying to find my taste for blue cheese, which I don't have much of now, even as a cheese maker.  This wheel was made with some raw milk that I traded for a few pounds of feta cheese.  I will post some updates as it ages and gets veiny.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

death of a pillow



Vintage 1950s barkcloth, or dog toy?  Cozy can't tell the difference.