A Beautiful Winter’s Day

Winter is a terrible time to start a blog on farming.  So as the days and weeks fly by, I have been having a hard time getting inspiration to write.  Winter is a quiet time on the farm, well…as quiet as a farm can be.

The snow has blanketed the ground and the chickens and ducks no longer want to venture out.  They hold up in their coop or lay out in the run, waiting for the days to pass.  The three pigs have gone to market and the two ladies that are left are adjusting to their new, reduced population.  They, like the birds, don’t like to trudge in the snow and spend most of their days cozy in their house.

In the fall, when winter is looming ahead, I always look forward to long winter days.  Days when my hours aren’t consumed by my day job, my farming chores and mowing, raking, weeding, feeding, building, cleaning.  But somehow, after the holidays, I find myself just as busy.

Tough mudder training is filling a lot of my “spare” time, and I love every minute of it! I can feel myself getting stronger and am excited (and anxious) for the event.

This was our first team training, I believe the temperature was 14 degrees.

We completed basic obedience training with the puppy, Walter.  He was the best behaved dog in the class! Despite the fact that my son very rarely practiced with him.  It is a fun and informative class and I would recommend it to anyone who has a dog.

My son is busy playing both basketball and street hockey and we are knee deep in his science fair experiment.  “Do organic and natural foods taste better than processed?”  Very interesting!  Today we did a blind taste test with his classmates and some teachers.  Box mix macaroni and cheese and pumpkin squares.  It was interesting to see what their reactions were. The data is still coming in, so at this time I’m not sure of the results.  We think organic and natural taste better….and we KNOW it’s better for us!

Today is a beautiful winter’s day.  The sun is shining without a cloud in the sky!  The snow is melting and dripping off the roof like rain, and puddling on the still frozen ground.  The days are getting longer and spring is on the horizon.  As I type, they are tapping our maple trees for sap, and the rooster is crowing his delight in finding a small patch of grass.  I am looking forward to the days of mowing, raking, weeding, building and cleaning.  The seed catalogs are open and waiting.  Soon the long days of winter will be a memory and will be replaced with the chirping of baby chicks in the basement, meatbirds in chicken tractors, fence building, gardening and, hopefully, piglets!

I have been experimenting with making my own salad dressings, here are two of my favorites:

*White Balsamic Vinaigrette*

3/4 C extra virgin olive oil

1/4 C white balsamic vinegar

4 cloves garlic, crushed

sea salt

coarse ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a cruet or small mason jar. Enjoy!

*Buttermilk Asiago Dressing*

3/4 C mayonnaise (organic, or make your own!)

1/2 C buttermilk

1 tsp parsley flakes

1/2 tsp minced onion

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/3 C freshly grated Asiago cheese

1/2 tsp paprika

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate for at least 2 hrs to blend flavors.

Enjoy! Refrigerate any left overs.

OH! and let’s not forget, February 14th was not only Valentine’s Day, it was also Mustache Day!