A White Christmas

December 29, 2008 - The snow is upon us!! Well we didn't have too much time to fret about the coming wintry weather this year. No, no - we were forced to jump right in, with several snow storms in the weeks before Christmas. Fortunately, we have flexible schedules and the luxury of being able to just stay put during snow storms. You can be sure that we thoroughly enjoy these forced days off, no matter how it may inconvenience our life. Yes, there was shoveling and snow blowing:But there were also beautiful walks in the quiet snow. We went walking in the huge open fields right out our door, where you couldn't hear a thing and the untouched snow in every direction was unlike anything I've ever seen. I think most of us have days where snow is nothing but an annoyance. But it can also be so incredibly peaceful and magical, and there's nothing like a cup of hot cocoa at the kitchen table while you watch the snow fall out your window.

Here's the chicken coop all covered in snow:

The chickens are surviving the weather relatively well so far. The snow is more of a problem for them than the cold - they see this layer of white fluff and they simply won't leave the coop. It is their first winter though, so maybe they'll get used to it...

And then it was Christmas! This was one of the most low key, relaxed Christmases that I can remember. Our gift giving theme was food - some people got locally made jams, honey, or wine, while others got wrapped bags of organic groceries. Given the economy and our values, it seemed like the perfect gift. Plus... it kept us out of the malls! What Joe and I discovered this year is that Christmas can be any kind of celebration you want it to be. If you don't like shopping, be creative with gift giving. If you don't subscribe to the religious aspects of the holiday - celebrate something else - like the Winter Solstice! The 21st was the shortest day of the year. Whether that makes you happy because it signals a time of rest and rejuvenation or because it means the days are now getting longer - it's a reason to celebrate!

For decorations, we didn't go too crazy. The smell of fresh greens form outside always makes me feel celebratory, so since we have limited space, that's what I focused on. Here you can see our winter wreath and small potted Christmas tree (which was only in the house for less than 24 hours, since the heat would have killed it - can't have that).

Christmas Eve was exciting for us, because Natalie got to play baby Jesus at Church! Elizabeth was Mary and - get this! - Joe was Joseph! Here's the Holy Family getting ready for their big performance:

During the scripture reading they walked up to the front of the church and stood in the front by the manger.

Joseph kept baby Jesus happy with goldfish under his robes, and everything went quite smoothly.

On Christmas, Joe and I spent the day at home (our first Christmas at home!). We exchanged simple stockings filled with things like nuts, teas, spices, beans, toothpaste, and chapstick. We had a very relaxing day, reading books we had received the night before, taking a holiday walk along our icy road, and making phone calls to all our loved ones who we weren't able to be with.

We hope that you all had a fantastic day as well and are enjoying this holiday season! In case you were wondering, planting season is only about 3 months away!!!!

Merry Christmas!

The Mighty Nimrod - (Written by Joe)

"Wabbit season,duck season,wabbit season,duck season....." No, It's deer season!

As autumn changes our gardens to bare patches of earth it also transforms the forests around us from green impenetrable jungles to colorful,crunchy brown places of mystery and then to soft,quiet glens lit by the graying fall skies and defined by bare trunks and branches standing tall and still, awaiting spring. Into this new land stalks the hunter.

The deer hunters 12 step program for success......

Step 1. Think like a deer.......

Step 2. Go where a deer would go.....

Step 3. Be there when they are there also....

Step 4. Don't let em see ya!

Step 5. Be vewwy quiet!

Step 6. Don't forget to breathe.....

Step 7. Ask the deer to come along quietly so that nobody needs to get hurt.

Step 8. When the deer laughs at you.....start shooting.

Step 9. Don't be surprised if the deer sticks it's tongue out at you when you're not looking.

Step 10. Simmer in a large pan with onions,garlic and butter! Yummmmm!

Step 11. Not everyone can eat a whole deer at one sitting, so you should be prepared to divide it into smaller portions and have a little extra freezer space available.

Step 12. Repeat.....
Good luck!

Thanksgiving Day

November 27, 2008 - I think Thanksgiving might be my new favorite holiday. It seems like a holiday made specifically for the gardener - as a perfect last meal of a very long season of growing and eating meals fresh from the garden. A way to appreciate with your loved ones all the good that has come from your hard work. As a first year grower, I have a whole new appreciation for this holiday and what it is we're really celebrating.

This was the first year that we did a true local Thanksgiving. All foods that we could buy locally, we did. There were only a few traditional dishes - like cranberry sauce - that we did without, but nobody seemed to miss them because everything we had was so delicious. I typed up a menu that was placed at everyone's plate, which read like this:

Thank you for being a part of our local Thanksgiving! Let us give thanks for the fertility of our home - the Hudson Valley, for the local farmers whose work has enabled us to enjoy this feast, and for the following ingredients that have all been grown locally!

Turkey - Northwind Farm - Tivoli, NY

Butternut Squash, Collard Greens, Celery, Eggs, Chicken Stock - Zen Acres - Red Hook, NY

Onions - Migliorelli Farm - Tivoli, NY

Corn - Kesicke Farm - Red Hook, NY

Garlic - Garlic Festival - Hudson Valley, NY

Pumpkin - Saulpaugh's - Livingston, NY

Apples - Hardeman Orchards - Red Hook, NY

Potatoes - Staron Farm - Valatie, NY

Butter, Cream, Ice Cream - Ronnybrook Farm - Ancramdale, NY

Milk - Hudson Valley Fresh - Hudson Valley, NY

Goat Cheeses - Coach Farm - Hillsdale, NY

Sheep Cheeses - Chatham Sheepherding Company - Chatham, NY

Flour - King Arthur Flour - Norwich, VT

Maple Syrup - Russell Farm - Rhinebeck, NY

Honey - Paul & Barb Ballard - Roxbury, NY

Wine - Millbrook Winery - Millbrook, NY

Beer - Keegan Ales - Kingston, NY

And I also included a thanks for the ingredients that are not grown locally but that we are fortunate to have access to: Sugar, Salt, Oats, Canola Oil, Olive Oil, Yeast, Seasonings.

As you can see, Zen Acres (that's us) contributed a few vegetables. Despite the freezing cold weather lately, we still had one celery plant that was still surviving outside. The trick this time of year is to cut hardy vegetables after they have thawed out from the night, or else they will be all mushy when they thaw. I pulled the plant up by the root, placed it in a vase and let it thaw out inside. I don't think it was super crisp when it thawed, but it was just for the stuffing and it worked great.

The collard greens have been holding up really well so far - so we know to definitely grow those again next year. We had hoped to have brussel sprouts for Thanksgiving, but our plants didn't produce very big ones. We think maybe the soil just didn't have enough nutrients.

The butternut squash was harvested months ago, and has been kept in the basement since. Winter squash is one of my favorite things to cook and I love that it stores so well for winter.

The chicken stock we used was from when we cooked one of our chickens. Everytime we eat a chicken, we boil the carcass and make several containers of stock to put in the freezer. The turkey carcass from last night is being boiled as I write this I believe...

The preparations for the meal began the day before, with making bread, crackers, and pies. Kelly was in town for the holiday, and came over to make an apple pie for her family as well:

Since I was making pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin, I had to cut, peel, boil, and mash the cheese pumpkin. It made tons way more than I needed, so I froze the rest for later. I found an all local pie recipe which is made from fresh pumpkin, honey, maple syrup, cream, and eggs - no spices, since they don't grow locally. It turned out very different from traditional pumpkin pie, but really creamy and delicious - almost like a custard.

Thanksgiving Day was spent leisurely preparing everything else, with the family arriving at 2 and dinner served at 3:30.

People have been giving me a lot of credit for the meal, but my mother and I worked together all day, so she deserves half the credit -

Natalie kept the evening lively even after all our bellies were full and a nap was on many people's minds -

And the evening ended with a competitive game of scrabble, my favorite way to end a family holiday - even when Joe and I don't win. :)

And now it's officially the Christmas season! We're going local for this holiday too, only in a different way - we have decided as a family to do all our shopping locally to support our local businesses during this difficult economy. Mom and I are heading out today to walk the streets of Red Hook and see what our options are - should be fun!

A Brother Home and a Festive Halloween!

November 5, 2008 - This is a big day for the blog because my brother Stephen gets to make his debut! After almost a year in Iraq, Stephen has returned home safely - Elizabeth has her hubby, Lorelai has her dada, and everybody is happy!

Me too, cuz, ya know... I'm a big fan of this guy.

I don't want to touch politics or war in what I write here. All I'll say is that the relief of knowing he had arrived in the U.S. was unbelievable and we all feel so blessed to have him home safely.

Needless to say, there was a sense of giddiness in the household this particular Halloween weekend, and we all decided to get decked out.

I was a cat -

Joe was animal control - and after a chase through the streets - he caught me!

Natalie was a chicken, and wasn't too keen on the whole thing at first. But I think it was mostly because her mummy mother was freaking her out. Once she got up on her roost (aka - dad's shoulders), she felt safe and managed to enjoy herself.

Elizabeth, Stephen, and Lorelai were the family farm.

And here's everybody ready to go out and trick-or-treat.

Yes, we all went, buckets in hand, door to door. Now, some may think it's a little pathetic, being adults and demanding candy from your neighbors. But it was a TON of fun, and I recommend it to everyone. There was only one mean old lady who told us not to come back next year. But I just feel sorry for her... maybe next year we should take her trick-or-treating with us?

Last but not least - what would Halloween be without an old lady in her pjs -

And a freaky guy -

All in all, it was a great time. Very festive, very celebratory.

Now that Halloween's over, we get to focus on one of my very favorite holidays... Thanksgiving! I love food, and I love that this holiday is all about food. My plans are still in the works, but I am conjuring up ideas about a completely local meal. Joe will hopefully get us a turkey, we'll have squash from our garden, and I'll have to find local brussel sprouts, potatoes, and flour to make bread with. I'll make pumpkin pie from our very own pumpkins, and serve some kind of local wine. It will be a celebration of the bounty of our area and the family who gets together to enjoy it. Can't wait...

Celebrating the Season

October 26, 2008 - As the days get shorter, I find myself fighting my crazy schedule for time outdoors. Yes, I spend my weekends outside at the farmstand - but what I'm looking for is some quality, quiet, nature time. I feel a desperate urge to stock up on sunshine and fresh air before winter hits and I want to do nothing but sit by a fire and read.

On sunny days I often rush home and run over to a beautiful hike by the river, which happens to border the property where we now live. Lucky me. On one trip I carried my camera along with me and found I never wanted to turn it off. The leaves are changing now and it seems that no matter what the season, I am constantly blown away by what an incredibly beautiful place we live in. Here are some photos from my walk -

Halloween is coming up. One of the things that makes living a life centered on the land fun is celebrating the seasons. I've never been a big Halloween person, but this year, I'm just thinking of it as a seasonal celebration. It's about pumpkins, gourds, apples, cider, corn stalks, and crisp cool air. This week we went to a Haunted Hay Ride/Haunted House with Bianca and her husband Gustavo, who is celebrating his very first Halloween here in the U.S. Then last night, we had a pumpkin carving party, after which we had six awesome pumpkins AND loads of pumpkin seeds to snack on. Here are the pictures from the evening -

That's Joe's pumpkin. And yes, that's a haunted squirrel.

We're getting ready for the cooler part of fall at the stand too - we moved our workstation indoors this weekend so that Bianca and I won't freeze to death while we work. This left a little bit of open space outside, so I decided to let my decorating juices flow, and make an "Ode to Fall" display. Hoping of course, that this will inspire others to decorate THEIR homes, with OUR stuff. :)

And it worked on me. Joe and I now have a lovely fall display outside of our home. This way every time we come home, instead of thinking how miserably cold and dark it's getting, we'll think - "ah yes. Fall...."

Squirrel Stew for Supper

October 19, 2008 - I'll admit it. It wasn't easy for me to eat a dead squirrel. Obviously we don't currently live in a culture where this is a common choice of dinner meat - but according to my mother and my google search, it is something that people actually eat. Lucky for me, Joe gave me plenty of fair warning - I had a good two days to prepare for this meal and when the time arrived, I was mostly ready. I had determined that in Canada, squirrel eating is actually all the rage, and I had been reminded by my mother that I actually throughly enjoy eating eel - something that doesn't exactly sit well when you think too hard about it. I sat down, took a few gulps of wine to get in the mood, and took my first bite of squirrel. It wasn't too bad. Honestly, if I hadn't been told it was squirrel, I probably would have slurped it down readily. Because of my acute awareness of what I was eating, it was what I would call a lingering meal - but I ate it and I'm proud to say so.

For those who are intrigued rather than disgusted and would like to try some squirrel stew at home, it was apparently quite simple. You just shoot a squirrel (or two or three, since there's not much meat on one), and then skin and gut it. Then Joe just put the whole thing in the crockpot with some water and cooked it for a while til the meat would pull off easily. This is the point at which I entered the room, of course, and this is what I saw -
Then he pulled all the meat off, put it in the crockpot with onions, garlic, potatoes, barley, some beans, and kale. And there's dinner! Very inexpensive, I might add. :) Here's the finished product -
Squirrel isn't the only thing Joe's been hunting though. He also got a wild turkey the other day. He cut it up into pieces, rather than keeping it whole, and then he just cooked it with onions and potatoes. That was pretty darn tasty.
I believe there is also a rabbit in the freezer. I haven't had the pleasure of eating that yet, but I'm sure that on some cold winter night I'll come home to roasted rabbit or something similar.


Here's Joe in his hunting gear... wait - where'd he go? I can't see him...All in all, this whole wild game thing is definitely an adjustment for me. For one, I've all but become a vegetarian over the last year, what with all the vegetables we have on hand. So eating a lot of meat at all is something that I'll have to ease into. Plus there are those irrational, yet still real aversions that I have with eating certain animals. But I'm determined to get over that. Food is food, and local, free ranging food is something I believe in. So I will get over whatever issues I have with it and grow accustomed to eating the meats that are available to us in our natural surroundings. Add the meat to our vegetables and eggs and we're getting darn close to being able to provide ourselves with all of our food needs, which is pretty cool.

Speaking of eggs, I took this picture of our collected eggs the other day -
The chickens are starting to slow down a bit due to fewer hours of sunlight. We have to make a decision about whether or not we will supplement their light in order to keep production at a certain level. They say that if you let them naturally slow down during the winter months, then they will have more years of production. We'll probably come up with some sort of middle ground.

We've also been presented with an opportunity to bring a goat into our family. My sister used to have goats and one of hers that she gave away is now pregnant and looking for a home - meaning once she has her baby we would have a milking goat. VERY tempting. We have decided to think on it and do some research over the next few days, and then make a decision.

Of course it doesn't help that we just spent the weekend at the Sheep & Wool Festival, which reaffirmed all our desires for a homestead - complete with sheep, goats, cows, chickens, gardens, etc. It was a great festival. John has a stand there where we sell apples, cider, and donuts. Here's John and I working-

And here's Joe sporting his new wool scarf, his cup of hot cider, and his vendor bracelet that he's very proud of acquiring. The last thing I have to report is that I think tonight is the last night of our summer garden. We had a frost last night and I think we're going to have an even harder freeze tonight. Two days ago I went over to the garden and harvested a whole bunch of stuff. I cut celery and basil, picked beans and tomatoes, and gathered up the last of the ground cherries. We celebrated the end of the summer garden with a summer meal of pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, and mozzarella. Here's me preparing it, with our bouquet of basil and bowl of tomatoes in the background - We are certainly sad to have picked our last tomatoes and basil, but it's okay because we are well stocked for the winter with sauces and pesto. And I know that whether we like it or not, next summer will be here before we know it, and the joy of eating our first tomato of the next season will be worth the wait.