Christmas 2012, already!!!!

                                                                   Christmas 2012 
                                                                       Horse barn


Another Christmas!!!  Already!!!  What makes them come so fast?  We are scurrying around at the barn trying to get it all decorated nice and pretty.  I just love those new LED lights. They are so bright and use so little power.... we can leave then on all night. It is a little tricky to get photos, though. I'll try to get a photo of the 'new' chicken coop we built this year (yea!!)... and decorated for the season.

I've finally perfected a tomato soup made from scratch. I love it so much, if there is any left from supper I warm it up and have it for breakfast. yum!!! 

Creamy Tomato Soup
4 Tblspoon Olive Oil
2 Lrg Onions
8 Cloves Garlic
2 Teasp Thyme, dried
2 Qrt Tomatos (home canned)
4 Tblspoon Balsamic Vinegar
1 Teasp Soda
2 cups Milk
Pepper
Salt
Chop onions and saute in olive oil until tender. About 4 minutes. Add minced garlic and thyme and saute about 2 more minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and balsamic vinegar and heat on simmer. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup in the saucepan. Or put through blender in small amounts and return to the saucepan. Add soda and stir throughly. Add milk and bring to simmer but do not let boil.

It is official... 

Thanksgiving Dinner is over, Christmas season is starting.

The fall decorations are coming down, the pumpkin was hauled out to the chickens. Our pet silky chickens (yep, they each have been named) are not sure what we expect them to do with that big ole pumpkin. It has started getting soft after sitting all season in the sun by our front door. It shouldn't take them long to figure it out, after Donya made a start hole for them.

This past season has given us some unexpected surprises and excitement with our dear little pets. Don found a skunk in the little chicken tractor we were keeping 5 of the gray silkies in near the garden. We were using the chicks to help clean up the unharvested tomatoes until the unwelcome visitor was discovered. It had killed one of the little gray hens, grrrrr. So Don shut the exit door with the dead bird and skunk inside the hut. The remaining hens and rooster were in the attached fence. After shooting the skunk (and making a bullet hole in the hut floor) we decided it was time to move all the flocks to the newly built chicken house.. including those that were housed in the horse barn, temporarily. The chicken tractor will need all winter to air out!!!

Now, let the Christmas decorating begin!!!!!

 

Early Frost

Well, I was hoping for a later frost this year. The garden just sat there during the dry spell. We watered it enough to keep it alive, but there was no production during the hot, hot months. When we started to have cooler nights, the garden got in gear with production. However, that made for late ripe and the early frost was NOT welcome.

The rains have returned to our corner of the world, and the Mandevilla blossoms were drooping when we took this photo. It is such a happy vine with it's blooms pointing toward the sun when the clouds clear. I will trim the vine to release it from the arbor and bring it indoors for the winter. DH (Dear Hubby) is not all that happy to be sharing indoors with my many plants. He COULD assemble the greenhouse he gave me for my birthday last April... but alas, it is still in the box on the edge of the patio.

First day of Fall, Already?!!!

The sweet potato vine that tried to take over the patio

Donya has become our resident patio gardener and filled many containers with flowers, vegetables and vines. One of the sweet potato vines went crazy this year. It shares a container with several other blooming plants, with a gnome statue residing IN the barrel next to the baby vine. Within 3 weeks we could not see the gnome, so he was but on the cement in front of the planter... a couple more weeks and he had to be moved forward.. then forward again. Soon he was 6 feet in front of the crazily growing vine.  Yup, he is still in there, somewhere. That is just one vine. I wonder if cuttings could be taken to use as starts for the next year patio plantings.  

Hot and dry summer

The Bluebells were beautiful early this spring, when there was plenty of moisture. And they did bloom earlier then usual.   Now... we are in a rather dry time and wishing for rain.


Donya, our resident baker, decided to get a booth for the summer at the farmer's market in New Hampton. Wednesdays and Thursdays the baked goodies smells coming from our kitchens kick starts appetites. The guys at the barn are hoping she will not sell everything in the 2 hours she sets up her tables. Last week she brought back very little along with a list of items to bake the next day for locale customers that can't get over to the market. She had ran out of flour baking for the quilt retreat so I had to make a trip to the Mennonite store to buy another 100 pounds of unbleached flour.


We can visit many Mennonite stores near the barn. Lots of green houses, a dry goods store and of course.. our favorite... the grocery store. I have not visited the furniture makers, but Don has made a few trips to their hardware stores.


A lot of the Mennonite families use horse and buggy, but there are some 'driving' Mennonites. 


It is hot and muggy, with clouds.  Please please ... rain !!

Arbor and other summer work

The arbor is almost completed.  Swinging gates, shingles, and add some potted flowers... hooray.. it is even better then the photo we had saved so many years ago!!

The gardens are finally planted, we can hardly wait for the first produce to harvest. Rhubarb has been super and we have enjoyed rhubarb muffins, coffee cake, torte, and of course.. pie.  No home garden strawberries this year, but great plans for a new strawberry bed to get planted this summer.

Donya, our chicken wrangeler, has managed to hatch out 4 batches of 'silky' babies. Mostly because we did not gather the eggs for her while she was on vacation, and 4 of her hens sat on a clutch of eggs. Thank you very much, she said to us... because you can not eat anything you name. You guessed it, she names everything.

Life is good, down on the farm.....