Garlic Harvest

This happened about a week ago...the amazing harvesting of garlic...that plant we all seem to love which does not fit in the vegetable or fruit category. No one seems to know what to call this great, flavorful species, a part of the allium family....but it is good...and how wonderful to pull it up from the earth...sending it's fragrant aroma everywhere...

The harvest begins with share holders coming out to help pull the garlic up out of its home in the soil
young and old are put to work...gabriella is as good a harvester as any...

the tracor is loaded up with lugs, to be taken to the barn for curing
the harvest done it is time to begin the hanging

the barn is full of garlic

We begin to hang it from the rafters...creating a ceiling of garlic

The work is done....one month until it is dried and ready to be consumed!

Mindful

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~ Mary Oliver ~

Almost a Week Old

Here are some cow pictures...taken today...Leche, the boy, and Maya, the girl....don finally declared names after a lot of prodding...Maya has an M name in honor of the fact that she was born on Micah's birthday

Leche has learned quickly how to be a cow.

Leche with his mother Lukey, Leche is quick to jump up and run...full of spirit, he brazenly looks at the camera

Maya, she is sweet and gentle...she allows you to get very close...I even managed to pet her....she takes after her mother, Lucy.

Queso Blanco

Ah cheese...this weekend I had my first attempt at making this wonderful substance...tried to start off with an easy cheese that was tasty...one can never go wrong with queso blanco:)

Milk in Abundance...every day we get about 1 and a half gallons from Chole...it will be more once we take Charlie off of her at night...(there are 4 glass containers missing from the fridge)

Heat the milk to 185-190 degrees

Add Apple cider vinegar..and you get curds and whey!

place curds in a cheese cloth and let it hang for several hours

The cheese was wonderful...though out of 2 gallons I got only 1 lb if cheese...alittle frustrating...and my how I appreciate the amount of cheese I consume...you get little cheese from alot of milk...I think maybe I did something wrong...the recipe said I should get 3 lbs..hmm...maybe next time...but it was tasty...

On another note I took on Stony ledge this weekend...a steep hike about 5 mins. from here..I finally had the energy...It was lovely....

The Majesty of Cattle

I have never been one to be in awe of domesticated animals. Cats and dogs are fine, but not really my thing...but the cattle here...there is something holy and awe inspiring about them...yesterday Lukey gave birth to a male calf...a white babe, with little black spots on his middle..he is so soft...and much larger than charlie our jersey calf...he can stand immediately and is a runner...though his legs are a bit wobbly...so yesterday Don, Monica and I went up to the hill pasture...to elastrate our new male(this is a form of castration using a rubber band...a bit less invasive and apparently not as painful). We slowly closed in on him...trying not to startle him...he darted...running into the presence of the large females who surround him...they gathered around him...Lucy, the grandmother, has a solid presence...you can see her guiding Lukey in how to mother...Don grabbed the calf...still nameless...monica grabbed his legs and i held down his head and upper body...he was so frightened...it is a rough way to come into the world...but what struck me was the other cows...these large, lowly beasts have a holiness about them...they stood and watched...their heads very close to mine...Lucy's breath on my neck...her nose touching my hair...to glance up...you are looking into the snouts of 3 very concerned cows...and yet they watched...allowing the unknown to take place...their 1000 lb bodies could crush us instantly...but they trust the hands that feed them...for the first time I felt I understood a bit what it means to be keepers of the animals...They trust though their calf is being held down...they are wise...we finished and he ran into their midst...they gathered around him...nuzzling him...protecting him...holding him close...

Today Lucy delivered a girl...females are the prize on a farm...and Lucy has only ever delivered female calves...she is solid...in a year where we are finding ourselves with 2 bulls...it was a joy to find a small female...a bit less sure footed...not so quick to eat at first but beautiful and strong...her face...boxier then the rest...she was still wet from the birth when we found her...Lucy close by...there is new life again on the farm...and my heart delights...in the middle of July when weeds are over taking crops ...it is good to step away...and see that life is still happening...

Tomorrow we harvest garlic and

The cows are on the hill...majestic in their beings...

(hopefully pictures will come...cattle are a bit tricky to get on camara...the wee ones are a bit skiddish)

Images from the week

This week the strawberry plants were uprooted...I went out one evening and salvaged the last of the berries...savoring their sweetness...fruit is hard to come by on a vegetable farm...one of the greatest down sides to veggies, the lack of fruit....
An abundance of zucchini calls for creative measures...these are a favorite..my dinner this week...zucchini cakes from the moosewood...bean salad and beet salad...it is good to have abundance again...our meals are begining to look much more colorful...
On another note the potato beetles continue to eat away...and though these endosperm...you see below have been squished constantly...our potato plants have been struck with leaf hoppers...a tiny bug which comes up on southern storms to suck the life out of the potato plants...it leaves a burn on the leaves...(see picture below baby potato beetle)

I continue to marvel at the beauty here...this morning was a gorgeous day...filled with sunshine and cool breezes and coffee...the world here is coming to life...
And herbs are being picked...hung and dried...my cabin is perfect for this endeavor...cool and dark...
And this evening...Lukey one of our cattle seems to be showing the begining signs of labor...we had all given up on the cattle giving birth...but we may have another calf soon...and so monday calls...Goodnight...

Milk to Ice Cream

1 cup whole mile

2 cups heavy cream(chole's is golden in color)

3/4 cups sugar
2 tsps. vanilla

pour in an begin the ice cream maker

add a goody of choice

add in last 5 minutes...and walha!
ICE CREAM

there is such an abundance of milk in our fridge...I made butter...there is panir waiting to be used...and attempts at ricotta...and yet the milk just keeps coming...welcome to the season of abundance...I think a family cow is a wonderful thing to have...though you may need an army to drink all the milk...or just keep making ice cream:)

On Becoming a Hermit

I fear the solitude here has overtaken me...suddenly, my love for humanity is waning...it has been a hard week...one in which my spirit is just disgruntled...is exhausted by humanity...the volunteers, the shareholders, the visitors passing through...and those who fill my daily life...I fear the land has taken its hold on me...and suddenly I am annoyed and perplexed by the people who come into this sacred space....suddenly I feel like this is my space...do not intrude...the ideas of ownership take hold even when i do not own a thing around me...just labor put into it...but hundreds before me have put labor into this land...the land is no more my space then it is the shareholders who have been here since the early 90's...and yet I struggle...just wanting to be left alone to the peas...rutabagas, kale...

Distribution, figuring out what to harvest...setting up, working with the volunteers who come to help...I find myself longing for the alone time milking in the morning...and yet then this morning I washed lettuce with a shareholder who spoke about her desire to create change in the world and not knowing how...and we shared our life journeys...and talked of what it means to be privileged ...what it means to give back...and this afternoon...a couple helped with distributing the veggies...new yorkers who have a house here for the weekend...and they were kind...and generous...and hard workers...they laughed easily...and were human...and it is hard for me to believe they have such wealth...and yet aren't we all just human...and yesterday, the apprentices from 2006 came for a visit...and there was laughter and stories and talks with a kindred soul...which helped ground me again in who i am...and tonight for dinner there were zucchini latkas and strawberry shortcake for dessert...what wonderful extravagance I exist in you may say...and yet despite such goodness...I have been ill at ease...struggling with the demons with in my own self...I use to work with people all the time ...and now i feel I can't be bothered...ah...the sun has about set...the sky a bright pink...i have become better at trellising tomatoes...a new favorite job...and I am rocky with distribution...the math keeps tripping me up...but i am finding good souls...and today we marched in a 4th of july parade...with signs that said...EAT LOCALLY..Melissa wisely asked..."I wonder what the blue collar workers in the crowd think of that"...I do to...it seems a privilege to eat this way...it is a privilege...a privilege that should be available to all...

These are thoughts...but I will not become a hermit...here in my cabin on the edge of a wood...it is easy to become possesive of space...so much space and there is an internal demand for more...in the city...people were everywhere...who have I become...

the lush fields...lettuce, cabbage, zucchinis