I can't believe that it is Sunday already. Ross and I have had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. The weather Saturday was bright, sunny and cool. It was a perfect day for our planned outing. We went on a farm tour in Roxbury, CT which is one of those idyllic, small New England towns that commercialism has yet to reach. We got to see two, historic farms and two, more-modern farms. We had a wonderful time looking at the orchards and farm animals. The not-so-little girl to the left is a Scottish Highland cow. She was quite the character. One of the guides mentioned that one farm in Roxbury imported this cattle breed a number of years ago, and now it seems that every other farm in the area has gotten itself two or so from the babies that followed. They seemed quite the gentle giants and are supposedly well suited to our New England winters. The farm where this picture was taken is one of the oldest continuous running farms in the country. It is currently being run by the eighth generation of the family, and the land it sits on was originally granted to them in the early 1700s by the King of England.
On another farm there were goats and donkeys. As stated in an earlier post, Ross really wants goats. I was surprised at the simple shed that was used to house them. It is definitely something that we could build. I should have asked if they stay in the shed in the winter or if they are transferred to another barn. Oh well, we have some time before we get to goats, unless Ross pulls the chicken stunt on me again!
We also toured a certified organic vegetable farm and a local meat farm that focuses on humane treatment of its black angus cattle, heritage hogs, and free-range chickens. We ended up buying some bacon for Sunday breakfast. It was really good! We had a great time touring the farms, but I think it was also very dangerous because now my head is filled with all kinds of ideas.
We awoke to an overcast and very cool Sunday. I think the temperature might have made it to 62 degrees if we were lucky. It was a good day to trim some of our trees though. Ross got this picture of me climbing the ladder. I wish he was able to catch the moment that I was trying to move it while it was still extended and almost fell backwards. That would have been classic. Always the worrier, Ross came around front (with the chickens in tow) and reminded me not to let the limbs fall on my head like I did when I trimmed one of our pine trees in the Spring. I wasn't directly under that limb, but somehow or another when it dropped it hit me straight on the head. It hit me so hard all I kept repeating to myself was "don't let go of the ladder." It took me a couple of minutes to steady myself and then slowly descend to the ground. Today was the first day since the pine that I tackled some larger limbs. Believe me, not letting them hit my head was definitely a priority. I got them down just fine with no new dents in my noggin, phew.
For Sunday supper, Ross made a most tasty pot roast with potatoes and carrots from the garden. Ross likes to joke that it was his pot roast that sealed the deal on our relationship since that was the first meal he cooked for me. I think my waistline agrees.
Since I'm on food I just wanted to give a quick update on one of our annual events-Peach Week-which occurred this past week. Each year since we moved to Connecticut Ross and I go peach picking at a local farm; we did it this year this past Sunday (Daisy's last day-hence the reason that I'm getting to this now). The week starts off with us just eating the peaches, and ends with jars of peach jam, peach butter, peach chutney, and halved peaches in a light sugar syrup all heading to storage in the cellar. I can't tell you what a treat it is on a cold, late February night to open a can of the peaches we picked and get a taste of summer. Peach Week is one of the main reasons we started our own, small orchard.
This year there were two additions to Peach Week; the first was Ross' new copper jam pot (which worked great), and the second was me. He actually let me help. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about canning. Of course my mom telephoned me at the same time that I placed a jar of jam in the hot water bath and the heat broke the bottom off lickety-split. Nothing like trying to juggle a phone and a mess at the same time. C'est la vie!
I should also mention that Ross made a delicious peach pie. Some people love cakes; some love cookies. I'm a pie guy. Ross has always made stellar pies, but I must say that he has perfected his crust. I think I could down a mud pie if it was cooked up in his crust! And, on this note I think I will go since I know that there is still some pie in the fridge that needs attending to.
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