Short Trip to the Market

One of the best thing about living here is that the produce section of our local market is just out the back door. I was thinking about what we need for the next few days of meals and decided to see what the farm still had to offer. Parsnips and carrots tonight! There were also a few summer squash ready to bring in, and a little cantaloupe for dessert. I think I’ll cut up a few of the last cucumbers for a healthy snack and bake some bread to eat with the raspberry jam I cooked up last night.

I picked the last four of the eight apples we got this year. I still don’t know how to tell if they are totally ripe, but they look done. Maybe a little Waldorf salad? I guess I’ll have to head back out and pick a little lettuce first and get it crisping up in the fridge.

In the wine aisle, I see about twelve gallons of white Michigan wine in the works. The yeast has done its job and the juice has been racked off into bottles to let the debris settle. It is very milky but once the old yeast by-products precipitate out it will be clear and beautiful. Making the wine is my husband’s project but I love helping to drink it.

The animals are not contributing much right now. The chickens haven’t laid an egg for a month! I did some research last night and this may be due to stress as the eight young hens try to find their place in the flock. Or, it could be a worm infestation. I sprinkled diatomaceous earth all around the run and the coop and added a little to their food. This is said to be a remedy for that problem. I did mysteriously lose one hen last week, so perhaps that is the cause. Either way, I have to go to the commercial market to bring home eggs now and it feels quite strange to have to put that on the grocery list.

The goat and sheep were quite pleased to receive the tops from the carrots and parsnips. Eddy is due to have his coat sheared in October. I can’t believe it is time already. With his last haircut being a professional buzz cut, it doesn’t seem as long as it usually is by shearing day. I will wait till later in the month and give it another half inch. I am still toying with the idea of having the ewes bred in November if I can find someone willing to do the job. Well, I mean, a ram would surely be willing, but it is his shepherd that I have to convince. I feel like I am soliciting.