Monthly Archives: August 2012

New Chicks in Town

Today we added five new chooks to the Jacob's Reward flock - courtesy of our friend Mia, her son Levi, and friend Cassandra. 


 Cassandra had never been to the farm before, so she made herself at home and introduced herself to the menagerie while we installed the new girls.


It's an interesting group - very cool breeds including a Blue Andalusian, an Araucana, a Salmon Faverolle, and two black and white ones that I can't even remember.  Flashy, no?  Their names are Lupita, Annie, Elizabeth, Marilyn and Ginger, but I'm still working on which one is which.   I'll get better pictures when they settle down a little.


Little Levi was sad to leave his friends here in our care, but the City of Carrollton made it impossible for these ladies to keep living at Mia's house.  She's going to be working on getting the ordinances changed, so watch out C-town, the Chickens Are Organizing.

These new ladies are in some wacky temporary digs until we can get a proper coop set up for them.  Next time you're at the farm, come say hi!  They're really pretty!  For best results, we'll incorporate them into the larger flock a little at a time, as usual.

New Chicks in Town

Today we added five new chooks to the Jacob's Reward flock - courtesy of our friend Mia, her son Levi, and friend Cassandra. 


 Cassandra had never been to the farm before, so she made herself at home and introduced herself to the menagerie while we installed the new girls.


It's an interesting group - very cool breeds including a Blue Andalusian, an Araucana, a Salmon Faverolle, and two black and white ones that I can't even remember.  Flashy, no?  Their names are Lupita, Annie, Elizabeth, Marilyn and Ginger, but I'm still working on which one is which.   I'll get better pictures when they settle down a little.


Little Levi was sad to leave his friends here in our care, but the City of Carrollton made it impossible for these ladies to keep living at Mia's house.  She's going to be working on getting the ordinances changed, so watch out C-town, the Chickens Are Organizing.

These new ladies are in some wacky temporary digs until we can get a proper coop set up for them.  Next time you're at the farm, come say hi!  They're really pretty!  For best results, we'll incorporate them into the larger flock a little at a time, as usual.

A baby was born in December . . .

 . . . and I made her a quilt.

  DSC_0153

Just about a year ago, quilter Elizabeth Hartman, who blogs at Oh, Fransson!, offered her billboard quilt concept as a quilt-along in a series of instructional posts. Intrigued, I cast about for the words I might use in such a quilt, or a recipient for whom I could start a new project. I didn't ponder long, as a dear colleague had recently shared her expectant status with us; surely the coming baby girl could use a quilt. I queried mom-to-be Caroline as to nursery color plans, and the neutral-loving curator unwittingly offered a perfect background for some patchy letters. Off to the LQS I went for some Kona Ash, abubdant scrappage already in house for the letter piecing. 

As I enjoyed the process, I excitedly shared progress pix with the rest of our team and offered this as our staff gift to Caroline. Amusingly, we had an exhibition at the time, Martin Johnson: FORward, that included a piece that hugely reminded me of my own work-in-progress (but I can't find a shot of it in this online slideshow).We all signed the sheepy panel on the back of the quilt and presented it to Caroline in December, about a month before her due date. Baby Meriwether surprised her parents the next day! 

DSC_0154

DSC_0139     DSC_0142


Some Facts About Luna

There have been a few questions about Luna, our sweet and beautiful dairy cow, and so I’d like to answer them all in one post.

1. Luna is doing fine– happy and healthy, eating grass and drinking water. This is a picture of her from this morning.

2. She’s still pregnant. You remember that Doctor Grover came out to confirm her pregnancy back in June– the direct quote, and most memorable picture in my mind is our vet, reaching all the way up to his shoulder into Luna, and saying, “Yep. Feels like a face.”

3. Zac wakes up every single morning before dawn so that he can check and see whether or not she’s calved. We rearrange any and all travel plans so that someone is always at the farm with Luna, in case she calves. Every waking hour at the farm, we’re on hair-trigger Luna-watch– jumping up from the dinner-table because it looks like she’s lying down is a not uncommon occurrence. If she were in labor, it’s well-nigh impossible that we wouldn’t see it.

And every waking hour, this is our answer from her. Believe me, I know it’s frustrating.

4. Thank you so, so much for your intelligent, insightful, love-motivated comments– we love hearing from you! I promise that we’ll tell you when the blessed event occurs.

5. Even if she weren’t pregnant, and even if she never calved, we would still love her to pieces. She was a wonderful gift from a dear friend, and is just as sweet and affectionate as you please. I hate to make Luna feel like we only care about her calf.

Garden fresh

I'm the first person to admit that I am a total seat-of-the-pants gardener. I really, truly don't have any idea what I'm doing and rather than educating myself beforehand, I just do what seems right, google things as necessary when...

Ivy Covered Cottage …

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Edgartown ~ Martha’s Vineyard


Sourdough Pizza Crust

Pizza Pizza Pizza

We make pizza pretty often but I always forget to take pictures. There’s always at least one pepperoni pizza for Daniel and the rest is fairly variable. Last night I used the last of my garlic scape and chard pesto along with goat cheese, mushrooms, serrano peppers and a sprinkle of asiago grated over top for a killer pizza. Jason cooks them on the Big Green Egg so the crust gets wonderfully crispy and in summer the house stays cool. Win win!

Sourdough Pizza dough

1 cup sourdough starter

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon honey

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)

3 or 4 cups bread flour or enough to make a dough that pulls away from the mixer bowl

2 teaspoons salt

Combine starter, honey, water and yeast in the bowl of a mixer and let stand about ten minutes or until yeast begins to bubble. Add salt and 3 cups flour and knead with a dough hook, adding more flour as necessary until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead with the dough hook in the mixer for 5 minutes. Turn into a large bowl coated with olive oil and cover tightly. Let rise an hour. Roll out 1/3 of the dough at a time on a floured board. Add desired toppings and bake at 450F until edges are golden brown.

This Morning in Pictures

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Emu

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Callum, always with that look.

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Sam and Bertie, best friends forever.

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Camembert, who’ll be our dairy buck this fall.

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One of the pups, sleeping right in front of the barn fan.

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His brother’s dreaming.

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Look at how grown-up Gnocchi is!

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Ewes and lambs in the front pasture.

juniper moon farm

Cini

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Sweet Monroe and Madison

Working On: Ladybower

knitting cables "juniper moon farm" chadwick

Here’s a picture I took of my current knitting on the living-room floor. I’m working on a Ladybower in Black Chadwick from Louisa Harding’s Little Cake (as far as names go: the dress version of the sweater is Wightwizzle, if that gives you any idea.) Between the close fit and the way the cables undulate when stretched, this sweater’s going to be– I think– pretty sexy.

I’m already trying to keep myself from buying a pair of black jeans to match.


BOOK REVIEW: Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel by Maria Semple My rating: 3 of 5 stars When Bee gets a perfect report card, she reminds her parents that they promised her anything she wanted: and what she wants is a family...