What's going on

Yesterday and today I've been working in the greenhouse. I planted carrots, beets, lettuces and other salad greens, and watered all the crops. It feels good to be seeing bare ground, and to be getting my hands dirty again. Also, seeing greens growing at this time of the year, like spinach, is downright therapeutic.

I've stopped milking Opal. Olive is still nursing, so Opal will keep producing milk until Olive is weaned. But at this point, it's just not enough milk to make it worthwhile my going out there every morning. It's only been two days, and I do miss our morning routine, but I have to say that I am grateful for the time it frees up. I have more time for homeschooling, greenhouse work, and other things. I still go to see the cows and bring them treats in the afternoon. Ed said that the first day after I stopped, they were all waiting at the gate for me in the morning, and looked confused when I did not come as usual.

Olive is 10-months-old now. She's getting big and strong. I am working to halter train her. She needs to be trained before we start putting the cows on pasture again, otherwise we'll have trouble when we try to move them from one pasture to another.

Jasmine is due to give birth in April, and Opal in June, so we will have to buy milk between now and April.

Our CSA filled up really quickly this year. Most people who signed up are members that have been with us for a few years. But we did open up a few shares to new members, and they sold out in less than a day. I feel grateful that our farm has built such a good reputation and that people are eager to join our CSA.

This year, we're planning to buy in some products that we don't produce ourselves and offer them to our CSA members in addition to their shares. We're talking with small, local producers such as ourselves and we're looking at goat cheeses, breads, eggs, and possibly pastured beef. Buying in from others is a new thing for us. The key, for me, is to buy only what I like to call "high integrity" products. I feel that people have come to trust us, knowing that we produce food to a high standard, so everything we buy in and offer in addition to what we produce ourselves, has to be of similar quality.

For my birthday this year, I got two quince trees. I am very excited. My grandmother "mamaia" used to love quince marmelade, and she shared it with my sister and I when we were small. I've never had it since I was a child in Romania, and had totally forgotten about it, but this fall, a friend sent me some quince she got from someone (they're not easy to come by in this area), and I made marmelade, and it came out amazing. It brought back all these memories. The smell of the quince alone is reason enough to get a tree. It is intoxicating, and it lingers on for days and weeks, filling the house with a wonderful sweet aroma. Quince looks like a homely fruit on the tree, but when you cook it, it turns a lovely pink-peach color, and it tastes amazing. One interesting thing I found about quince is that it has been around for thousands of years, and it is even argued that it was the forbidden fruit in the Adam and Eve story. In any case, once you've smelled it and tasted it, you'll know why it's been around for so long.

That's some of what's been going on.
Peace