Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy 2007 ... Last years resolution!



Last year I made a resolution to walk up the hill at my place and put a quarter in a jar towards a new pair of jeans and a firmer butt... (see old post)

the goal was - $75 (300 walks up the hill)

(for those who have come to visit this DOES NOT include walking up to feed and or visit the goats I could have made more money that way: )

So I didn't quite make the goal but I brought the jar down today and counted $50.25 (201 walks up the hill) but I did have about 2 months off due to broken arms ... So although I'd like to be in a size smaller than I am. I'm pretty happy for at least not quitting. Now the challenge is to do something similar but different for this coming year.. do I put in more money? do I just try to make the goal I originally set out? do I say if I can run up the hill I get to put in a dollar??? humm the possibilities are endless... any suggestions???

Sunday, December 30, 2007

feeling loved...



It's been a super nice day we slept in which was a luxury and then pretty much just puttered around the farm all day... the day started with Brian cooking me a nice farm breakfast fresh eggs and homemade bacon... we got our grain storage bins filled (bins compliments of the Boyers) fixed the self water set up for the pigs gave them new bedding ...

we got 14 eggs today! which was pretty exciting looks like the girls are finally getting going... now I can take eggs to Navarre again they have been very patiently waiting while the girls had their winter slowdown and we waited for the new hens to get "up to speed" ...



My super fabulous husband made me pizza for dinner and we broke in our new cutting bord from Porter which I absolutely LOVE : ) it has the farm name burned in it which makes me vary happy to look at... the pizza was made from tomatoes given to us again from the Boyer's... Barbara has an amazing garden and has given us lots of it's bounty! Thanks Barbara the tomatoes sauce from your fruit was amazing!! and B thanks for cheffin' : ) xx











these last shots are me enjoying my new mono-pod that joseph gave me for Christmas : )






Saturday, December 29, 2007

Good Friends... and more of edward...



I think at some point I'll have to do a post of just photos of all our guests with Edward.. I think I have just about every one of our visitors posing with our guard lama... he's just so darn good looking who can resist him... so come visit and get your photo with edward : )






I'll have to say though these two are defiantly giving Edward a good run for his money ...

This post is from when our good buddy Matt came out with his girl Angie just before the holiday








Matt and Brian share a love of all things consumable they both make wine among other things...... They have worked on many a project both for public consumption as well as for personal consumption... Matt is one of our Pork customers as well as a frequent co-creator with Brian in our kitchen and out in the "shop"...

This groovy hat and scarf that I’m sporting in this pict is a gift from Miss Angie that she made!! Thanks Angie.. It was super fun to have you both out hope to do it again soon…

This is a shot Angie took of her man with his wine…"Love and Squalor" gotta love those wine guys… smokin'

this is Matt's label which he entrusted to me… : ) http://www.bluelist.net/portfolio.shtml



and Angie's shot of our dining room... and of course the Big Table... : )

Friday, December 28, 2007

A full house is a warm one...



What a wonderful Christmas Holiday we had!!

Thank you all that came and shared.

The first day of the holiday I learned something new that I think everyone on the planet knew but me... Brian and I where at the check out line at the market finishing up the food shopping for our guests and I bemoaned the fact that I forgot to get mistletoe... so Brian said that's ok we'll just go find some on our place... I scoffed "where are you going to find mistletoe?" thinking it was some sort of exotic bush that grew in Hawaii or something... Brian looked at me and said you don't know where mistletoe comes from??? I was a little embarrassed as we where in line and the guys behind us was basically part of our conversation.. He said it grows in oak trees way up high and you shoot it down with a shot gun... I laughed thinking this was some snipe hunting joke and said something like " ah yeah right!" at which point the guy behind us in line chimed in and corroborated the story ... I thought now really this is crazy even this stranger is in on Brian’s scheme ... so on the drive home Brian began pointing out the mistletoe high up in the oak trees ... see there's another bunch he'd say proudly... so after unpacking our groceries Michael and Brian marched up the hill to the woods with shot guns over their shoulders to go find the wifey some mistletoe... I'm happy to report a big bunch of mistletoe got delivered to me about an hour later. We had lots of bunches around the house ...above the sink the doorways and even above our beds ... let's just say there was lots of holiday lovin' to go around : ) ...

The Holiday was full of great food and desserts..

The desserts where many... The first night was thanks to Ethine's wonderful Christmas cake she sent to Roisin that she shared with us,


Christmas eve was Josephs cheesecakes which where so good and quite rich!! and for christmas we enjoyed Marys plum pudding which got lit although that's hard to capture in film.....

I added homemade limoncello and a lemon pie to the mix : ) lemons courtesy of Joseph and Michael and California... : )

There where also lots of chocolates and nuts and other goodies including fruit that graced our table... the meals where wonderful and Michael and Haley generously donated all the meat ... ribs, brisket and the game hens we had on Christmas .. yummy!


Michael and I also teamed up and did it again the Christmas stolen with mom's recipe.. there was some throwing of flower but we still managed to make a pretty good stolen .. in fact it was all gone by the end of Christmas day so it must not have been too bad : )


For entertainment there was skeet shooting thanks to Michael followed by some target practice... Haley proved to be a crack shot as did Brian...




Joseph gettin' down with the skeet


we did take some nice walks and enjoyed visiting animals.

chasing dinner?... : )

We got a totally white Christmas with big fluffy snow falling all day on Christmas day... it was magical... there where games played after dinner a few nights. Mr Eoin had lots of toys from Santa including this train that appeared under the tree for Christmas morning.

and this was his gift to Santa’s reindeer.

We also enjoyed dinosaur races and taught Mr Eoin to be a bookie and take bets .. I sure Mary appreciated that.. : )

... other than that we generally just hung out and enjoyed each other...

Their where some quote-able quotes this year that Joseph recorded for us : )

Eoin... and Chris... "Eoin what's your favorite day of the week?..." Eoin "Christmas!"

Clare "we voted and we are NOT noshing in the kitchen all day"

Chi "I obviously didn't get a vote"

Matt "I'm not siding with him because it's Brian it's because he's right"

Joseph "and then I found 5 dollars"

I can’t wait for you to all come back next year it was a wonderful time with you all!!!