It's been too long...

Hi all,

I'm sorry we've been away from the bloggy world lately. It's just been so busy around our little farm.

Here's a quick update -

The chickens are getting HUGE! They are starting to actually go "cluck" which is pretty funny. No "cock-a-doodle-doo" yet, but it' s just a matter of time. We're hoping to whack the boys soon, but we need them to be a little bigger.

We have been getting a lovely bounty of things from the garden. We picked 10 turnips last week and so we made tacos with sauteed turnip greens, beans and grass-fed ground beef from our favorite real farm down the road and they were amazing!! We also made a shepherd's pie with mashed turnips on top instead of potatoes and beet and turnip pickles, which are pickling in the sunny window in the kitchen. They are the most gorgeous shade of magenta! They are supposed to sit in the sun for 2-3 weeks, and then we can taste them. Can't wait! Today I picked about a pound of yellow wax beans, another of snow peas and mowed down a pretty head of Rouge d'hiver lettuce.

The bees have been left to their own devices since the last posting (no, not only because they stung me!!). I still peek in the window and they're doing their thing, so I'll just let them do it.

A has been plugging along on his Rocket stove, which we will use to scald the chickens to de-feather them, and to maybe do some canning in the great outdoors and boil down maple sap this coming winter/spring. We picked up bricks this weekend and he poured the concrete slab for the base and that's curing now.

Yesterday I picked tons of yummy blackberries at our friends Z & J's house. I plan to go back in another day or two to pick more. They are so sweet and delicious and there are tons still ripening!

We'll try to be better about keeping you posted. Leave comments, it will be so much more fun!!

Love to all,

A, R & S on our little OAID