sunk-in + green moldy mummies!

My pumpkin completely fell in on itself this week

The hens love smashing pumpkins

The clothbound cheddar cheese wheels have their own Halloween costumes!

Hurricane Sandy: Kingsley report

Power is fine, chilly and super BLUSTERY

Gopher: If I was you, I’d think about skedaddlin’ out of here. 
Winnie the Pooh: Why? 
Gopher: ‘Cause it’s “Winds-day.” 

in good company

The chalk board at The Cook's House in Traverse City - one of Mario Batali's 10 favorite restaurants in the world - Boss Mouse cheese now being served on their menu!

great mail from Canada

Came home to this goody on my doorstep last week

It contained a used cheese mould I ordered from a cheese supply in Quebec - this type of mould is used for making brie-style cheeses - each one will be small, about 6 ounces each.

Max le Pew

Max got a face full of skunk yesterday morning!  I did the best I could with washing him off, but oh, quel parfum!

Tipsy Boss

fresh fromage blanc

wrapped in bourbon soaked vine leaves

When I make these, it doesn't matter hat type of bourbon you use, as it gets diluted with brine and salt.  I went with the bottom shelf Ten High - yes, that's a plastic bottle

it's true

I believe if you follow your heart and do what you love, success will follow. If you enchant yourself, others will be too. 

Mark Ryden - October, 1998

blow me

My new used snow blower!  My Dad bought this second hand when we lived in Detroit, and it's found it's way all the way down to me.  A necessity when you live where I do. 

sky study #78

sunset Sunday, October 21, 2012

walking in the gold and red

walking Max & Cozy

The intersection of Dell & Gleaner Hall Roads, Kingsley

the cloud began to take form

My Araucana hens have begun laying their beautiful pale blue eggs

cheese has been made for a long time

“Rest with me on green foliage:

we have ripe fruit, chestnuts

and plenty of fresh cheese.” 

Virgil, 42 BC

the most gentle

Rabbits

In a secret field nesting on a hill,
Where time it seems is standing still,
A warren of little rabbits sleep:
In burrows very quiet they keep.
At evening on the grass they graze-
Not on lettuce leaves, their craze.
No shoes they wear on dewy grass,
Nor do they ever use a looking glass;
White tailed, furred without a pocket:
Can disappear as fast as any rocket. 

- Matt Mooney

speckly delicious

This weekend I made some "Christmas" cheeses - wheels of colby with chive and pimento mixed in to make it red & green. They should be ripe just in time for Christmas.

The cave is really filling up

fall funghi

The rainy and cool October weather has given birth to lots of wild mushrooms - the farm and woods are teeming with them

baby puffball mushrooms - these are edible

so pretty amongst the pine needles

a true toadstool

these look like a fan or an air filter

This one almost looks like a cheese

a web of tartan fine

Unused vintage garment bag from the St. Vincent de Paul.  The tag on it says 'Perth".

the vending of some cheesy comestibles

hung

Draining 20 lbs. of Boss feta cheese

it's true

Be happy, be happy!
Unless you are happy,
Your outer life will not succeed
And your inner life will not proceed.

- Sri Chinmoy

come on and take a free range

The girls in the side garden eating the fallen seeds from the bird feeders

fermented

Fermented vegetables are really easy to make - I pulled the last huge cabbage from the garden and made it into:

kimchi

sauerkraut

and the last of the bell peppers became pickled roasted peppers

sky study #77

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Dad and Willie

My Mom & Dad are hanging with friends in California this week, including their old family friend Willie Knowles.  Beyonce's cousin.  For real.


Willie in the 70s

paprika

This is an entire plant of paprika peppers, which dry on the stem, turn red, then get ground up to make the spice paprika.  

Holman Farm harvest visit

Laurie's delicate stuffed nasturtium blossoms

I love Jenny

I love Akita

Spooky night shot of their pumpkins for sale

so long, tough guy

Over the weekend I gave away my rooster Rocky.  I didn't want a rooster in the first place, but when he arrived with the chicks in the Spring and turned out to be a male, I thought I would give him a try, even after my experience with the murderous Penguin earlier this year.  Unfortunately Rocky was no different.  He badly injured Bip, one of the meekest hens (and great egg layer) in the flock, and I decided she probably wouldn't have been the last if I kept him.  The girls are noticeably more at ease without him around, and Bip is on the mend and back out in the hen yard, after several days of hiding from Rocky in the hen house.  I will miss his cock-a-doodle-doos and beautiful strut, but after two genuine efforts to understand and keep roosters, that's it for me.  

admit one

Cousin Timothy sent me a very special lady's ticket, beautifully framed, an antique from the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution dated 1867, the same year as my farm. 

rollin' in my one-five

I took a ride in a 1915 Model T at work last week - it was a surprisingly smooth ride and people stare, beep and wave as you pass.  The car is operated by a hand lever, three foot pedals and a manual throttle lever beneath the steering wheel.  I loved it.

write me

I went to a church rummage sale in Traverse City and got this box of vintage post cards for $2.50

It's full of goodies from the 40s & 50s, all unused