SUNNY DAYS

The sun came out to play this weekend after a very long and very, very, very rainy spring season here on the Eastern Shore.  I had to forgive myself for not being very inspired to sit at the computer and work on editing my book.  I just wanted to be outside and have some fun in the sun.  And so I did.  

My son literally spent the entire weekend outside with this Dad.  At one point he went into the house to put on some "shorts" and came out wearing his underwear.

The smoke in the distance is Scott getting a nice bed of hot coals ready for grilling our Saturday evening meal.

Grilled asparagus and pork chops hot off the grill.

It was so hot I was inspired to brew up a batch of Classic Iced Tea.  Unfortunately I was too busy having fun to take a photo of it, but here is the recipe...

CLASSIC ICED TEA
Makes 1 quart


So easy to make, you'll never buy packaged again.


2 cups water
3 organic orange pekoe tea bags
local honey or organic sugar to taste (I used about 2 generous tablespoons)


Method:  Bring the water to a boil.  Remove from heat and immediately add the tea bags.  Steep for 5 minutes.  Remove tea bags, sweeten with honey or sugar to taste.  Pour the tea into a pitcher, adding 2 cups of cold water, or less if you want a stronger brew.  Allow tea to cool before refrigerating.  Serve over ice, garnished with a wedge of lemon.

The turkeys playing in the grass.

Late Sunday afternoon, the turkeys decided to fly up into the trees and peer out over the land from above.

Today was a cold, blustery, windy, and rainy day that was somehow so much easier to swallow after a weekend of solar battery recharging.

SETTLING IN

My neighbour Catherine took a couple of great photographs of the goats.

 The goats are settling in.  They are part of the family now, part of our rhythm, a part of our lives.  As I write this I am listening to their goat song, their tragic cry as they learn to be separate for a little while each night.  We are gently weaning the kids from momma each night for 4 hours to build up her milk.  Then Scott goes out and milks Cassie (the momma), and the family is then reunited for the night and all of the next day in the pasture.  It is an interesting journey into home dairying, especially being an actively lactating mammal myself right now.  I am face to face with the reality of animal husbandry.  To be in the front lines, in direct contact with the process of extracting milk from an animal and then consuming it is pretty intense.  I often wonder what it would be like if I was the mammal being kept by another animal for the same reasons.....As you can imagine, my mind then begins to wander in all kinds of interesting directions.  Suffice it to say, getting goats has been a very eye opening experience.

This first week was also a bit stressful.  We had to figure out how much to feed the goats, when to feed them, and when to milk Cassie.  Scott has also been busy building housing for the goats, as well as a goat stand. Then Cassie's pooh got all clumpy, which freaked me out because it is supposed to be like little beans or pellets.  To top it off, we then discovered she has an infestation of some sort of flea or bug.  So off I went into the city to purchase some bulk herbs to concoct a formula to rid her of those, along with some other herbs to keep her worms at bay.  I think everything is under control.....for now.  My current concern is whether she is too thin.  It's like having another child!  In a good way though.  I love having them here.  I know it was kind of crazy to get goats when I have a such a young baby to take care of too.  Our lives are definitely "full" right now....but it is also wonder"full", thought"full", and bounti"full".

Goat accommodations.

Super comfy goat accommodations.   The new wood and straw smells so good.  I could live here.

My husband Scott is hilarious.  He is definitely getting into this.  Maybe too much.  The other night he was milking Cassie in his "shop", which temporarily housed the goats.  He had the radio going, he had Cassie's udder all greased up, and he was milking her in time to the rock song on the radio.  He then proceeded to tell me about how when you stroke her in a certain way, her eyes kind of half close in ecstasy.  Oh my, what have we gotten ourselves into?

On a totally unrelated note, here is picture of our lovely turkeys.