Winter Lambs, Chick Chat, and Sequencing

Plus Happy Valentine's Day a couple days late.

Hello Colorful Friends:

It’s Valentine Weekend. Is that a thing? I hope you have all had a sweet time of it. Here we made our favorite chocolate cake. I found this recipe in a 2003 issue of Everyday Food - one of Martha Stewart’s publications. Do you remember that one? It was a petite magazine with a pretty multi-colored spine and packed with easy to make recipes that didn’t take a ton of odd ingredients. I love this chocolate cake recipe because it only makes one 8” layer so it doesn’t hang around forever. It is rich and moist and topped with a decadent and super easy chocolate ganache frosting. Just be sure you don’t overbake it. It is better on the moist side, not dry.

What did you do for Valentine’s Day/Weekend? Leave a note in the comments.

Farm Chat…..

Lambing is continuing…. This year we have some sheep here at our farmhouse and that is where I’m taking most of these photos. The majority of the ewes are at our greenhouse barn about five miles from here. The lambs - there are now almost 140 of them - are growing so fast. The barn is getting very full. Generally, lambing has been good. It’s all a giant balancing act. My husband “The Farmer” Mark is the one who does almost all the daily work at our farm. I help when needed and he has a wonderful friend Sam who he has mentored for several years who helps. Sam and her partner Mark recently purchased their own farm not far from ours. They are in the process of growing their dairy sheep flock. Sam makes delicious yogurt and cheese. Mark’s sharing of his knowledge with interested farmers-to-be is one of the most interesting and rewarding parts of our farm life.

There are always good and bad days during lambing - or let’s be real, for everyone. The ipad’s browser is always open to numerous posts, videos and information on lamb illnesses, medications, treatments, etc. Part of being a livestock farmer is you’ve got to be part vet, botanist, scientist, nutritionist, banker, and all around trouble shooter. If you don’t possess those skills, you’d better find some friends to help guide you. Over the years, we have come upon a myriad of illnesses and complications. It seems that each year we learn at least one or two new things. It’s a challenge and never boring. Makes life interesting and you sleep good at night.

By now, you all have heard of the Bird Flu situation. I’ve raised chickens since the late 80’s. Mark began his livestock raising career at the age of four. His Dad Norman was a dairy farmer who processed, bottled and delivered his cow’s milk. Mark would ride in the delivery truck and sell his chicken’s eggs to the milk customers. I bet the customers loved seeing him.

We have continually had chickens and fresh eggs since we got married 40 years ago. I’ve raised all breeds of chickens. I don’t really have a favorite breed but do love the Ameracauna strains that lay odd colored eggs - blue, teal, green and Buff Orpingtons - a large golden colored chicken that are really docile. In the midst of winter, my hens usually take a few months break due to short days, low light and frankly I think the cold. I purchase new chicks every few years to replace the birds who have aged out of laying or died of old age. Last year I ordered 9 chicks - 3 each Olive Eggers (mine are gray, hybrid of Ameracaunas and something else), Columbian Rock Cross (white with black trim at neck and tail), and Silver Laced Wyandottes (gorgeous black and white feathers - see photo below). Here are last year’s chicks on arrival day.

The good news for us is the new hens have started laying. The days are getting longer and it’s now light past 5:15. Hallelujah. My chickens live in a 8 x 8’ wooden shed with access to a 16 x 16’ wire run. The run has a wire top. I used to let my hens free range but mostly I ended up feeding the local wildlife. One morning I walked out to feed the flock (before there was a top to the run). I was horrified to see a hawk swoop down and pick up one of my hens for breakfast. Gone went the idea of free ranging chickens. My hen house and run isn’t fancy but it does the job. Here are some of the daily eggs. I love the different colors. You can see that the olive eggs from the Olive Eggers actually have a blue interior. So amazing what nature creates.

I’m hoping my hens will be safe from the H5N1 flu. We shall see. Our town has a registry of all farm animals so we should hear if the bird flu starts going around. I’m assuming egg prices (and perhaps chicken meat prices) will stay high and scarce for quite a while. I read this interesting post about the state of chickens in the UK by Arthur Parkinson who is a well known garden designer and wrote a book about his life keeping chickens. Let’s hope the virus doesn’t mutate and cross into humans.

Silver Laced Wyandottes

Enough farm chat for today……. Onto some color and creativity……

Last weekend, I took a class at the River Gallery School of Art in nearby Brattleboro, Vermont. The class was entitled “Sequencing.” From their website: Sequencing allows you to engage in creating art without self-doubt or other barriers that can inhibit creativity. You engage directly with the paint, surface and tools in a very immediate and tactile way. I was really looking forward to it as my friends Gail and Catherine had already taken it. The class was packed with 20 people and it was a super fun afternoon. We worked with oil paint on small rectangles of paper with our fingers (they provided gloves), a razor blade and a stick as our tools. Each student was provided with the exact same oil colors and 3 rectangles taped onto a board. Here is the wall of some of the work made during part of class. It was amazing to see all the different color combinations, and textures that folks got with the same exact colors. It made me want to get out my oils again and paint.

I’ve been finishing up some projects that have been sitting around unfinished for several years. Not much to show as they are more utilitarian and not too interesting. Lots of soups and stock gurgling on the stove. Snow coming down for days. It’s been an extremely cold winter. I've filled the oil tank up 3 times so far even though we keep our house in the low 60’s.

Here are some Good Links for you to poke around into ……

• Keeping with the Valentine’s weekend theme, see this post about handmade antique and ethnographic colorful textiles featuring hearts. So many beautiful handmade textiles to discover.

• Austin Kleon writes a fantastic newsletter. Here’s his this week about LOVE.

• This home on the Brittany coast is so beautiful. I especially adore the hand painted entrance with pattern going all the way up the staircase. It is the home of the paper conservators/designers/makers of the French company Antoinette Poisson. They are responsible for bringing back Domino Papers.

• I have never really enjoyed working with pastels but I sure am fascinated with how they are made. Watch this video for a glimpse into a time honored art of making them. (14 minutes)

• Here’s a dreamy Shepherd’s Hut for an illustrator. What a sweet little hideaway.

• Here are some pretty design ideas for painted stairs. Might have to wait until spring but our stairs are needing a bit of a refresh.

Hope you had a nice Valentine’s weekend. Stay safe and warm. Winter is hanging on here for a little while. Going to be really cold this week. We’re piling on the wool sweaters.

Yours in Color and Creativity,