Got some snow today...

Ed got up at 4am this morning to snow-blow around the greenhouses. He went out again at 9 am and then again in the afternoon. I shoveled some of the snow built up on the side walls. We can't let it accumulate or else the greenhouses may collapse.

Milking did not go well this morning. The movable barn where I normally milk was full of snow, so I decided to milk in the barn where the cows normally sleep. Opal did not like that and she was thrashing around a lot, so I had to abandon milking less than half way through. I was not pleased since just getting to the barns this morning was quite a feat.

Here are some pictures of Ed running his BCS tractor with the snow-blower attachment along the greenhouse:

 The BCS barely made it through all the snow...

Gives you an idea o what the farm looks like

And this is what Ed looked like when he was done. He was joking that we should have a pre-blizzard and a post-blizzard price for the spinach that grows in the greenhouse. It certainly takes a lot of extra work to keep it going in the winter.

Despite the extra work, it does look beautiful out there.
Peace

A day on the farm in winter

Last August I wrote a post called "What my typical week looks like at this time of the year".

I thought it would be interesting to do a similar thing for a day on the farm in the winter. If you care to read it, you can find that description in our latest farm newsletter.

Peace

Baking and other things

Sunday is my day off from milking. Sena and Aiyana milk Opal, while Ed watches them and does chores at the barn. I stay at the house, have my coffee by the fire, and then make pancakes for everyone to eat when they come in from milking.

Sena milks while Aiyana holds a bucket to hand her when she needs it. Olive is watching in the background.

Sena's been doing some baking at Christmas time. These are "cornulete", a treat mamaia used to make for my sister and I in Romania. Sena made the dough from scratch, all nice and buttery, and the filling was elderberry jam, made from elderberries growing by the river. Quite a treat.

Aiyana with the Christmas tree. This year, we had a proper tree, as opposed to a bunch of branches tied together, which is what we usually do. This tree was from our new property in Willington, and it had to go, because Ed was clearing some land for cow pasture. He saved it until Christmas, and then he and the girls cut it down and brought it home.

Sena's birthday party was small and sweet. Here she is sitting between two of her very good friends, after blowing the candles on her cake. Aiyana made the candles out of beeswax at my sister's house, and my sister made her amazing icecream cake, with homemade vanilla icecream and cookies and chocolate, as requested by Sena.

Sena and I made this traditional Romanian Christmas cake, called "cozonac". It was my first time, and hers as well, and although we had some setbacks with the yeast (it was old and did not rise), all in all, the cake came out pretty darn good. It had a filling made with pecans, cocoa, maple syrup and a little lemon rind. Can't go wrong with that. While baking, it filled our whole house with a sweet aroma that I remember from when I was a child.

Peace