Sometimes You Have a Really Bad Day...

...and then you have lunch with celebrities.

I was chatting at lunch the other day with my girlfriends about recent life activities, and my friend Allison kept saying "But it looked so perfect in your blog."  My response repeatedly was "blogs are a facade."  Right?  We generally don't post negativity, unflattering photos of ourselves, or pictures of our messy homes....do we?

But today was a bad day.  I was certain the first patient I went to see was dead...until he opened his eyes, lunged at me, and yelled "What do you want!!#$%*."  (ok, maybe I leaned in too close - I was checking for breathing!).  Next, I had to drive downriver to cover someone else's patients and I got stopped by a non-moving train - for an hour.  When I finally made it home, Trixie had been a terrorist puppy and had eaten a shoe, a box of tissues, and wicker basket.  Each of these things independently seems tolerable, but compound they were just too much.  I was sitting on the couch crying, telling Coco that sometimes your day seems so bad - like it will never ever get better - but it always does.

Then a voicemail came through on my phone.  It was my girlfriend Kelly saying "this is no time to not answer your phone - Barry Weiss at the Roadhouse in an hour...put on something cute and get over here stat!!!"

Kelly and Alex are our good friends, and proprietor's of Zingermann's Roadhouse.  Chef Alex is old friends with Barry, from Storage Wars on A & E, who was passing through town and wanted to stop in for lunch.  It was lovely.  It was as much fun as one would imagine having lunch with Barry would be.  We tried not to embarrass ourselves (or Alex,) but really it was just a super fun afternoon.

I promised Kelly I would photoshop this before posting it, but that wouldn't be any fun  - would it?

It's perfect the way it is - with Kelly's body wrapped around Barry, and me with only one leg.  wtf?

Barry had to borrow Coco's crayon to write something very important - Coco is certain of it.

Fine Kelly, I fixed it.  I took 50% of our weight off (why doesn't it look like that much?), and added a peg leg.  ok, it does look better this way.

Just a final note...Joe had to leave for work just as Barry was getting there.  They shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, and then Joe gave him a can of hair product (which he insisted was perfect for Barry's hair type.)   Well, we almost didn't embarrass ourselves.  xoxo, e.

Gwine Dig a Hole....

...put the devil in.  Ok, a shameless Leadbelly reference to kick off a blog post detailing a giant hole, or pit, to be more exact. (click to listen to Leadbelly old school while you read).

There is a farmer I know, Ben Fiddler, who runs Bending Sickle Community Farm.  He raises high quality heirloom meat using ethical management systems.  Good, old fashioned, animal husbandry.  In essence - happy, loved animals running and frolicking make happy meat.

This summer, Farmer Ben moved his operation a stone's throw from our farm.  I can't express the excitement I feel about the amazing community forming out here.  Stockbridge feels like the place to be.  Organic farms, heirloom meats, honey, eggs....oh yeah!!!!

We were cordially invited to a pig roast at Farmer Ben and his beautiful girlfriend Meghan's new farm this weekend.  We are just getting to know them, but from what I gather Meghan studies bees, and we sang "happy doctorate to you" at one point...so I think she really studies bees.  

Ben roasted one of his pigs old school.  He dug a giant pit, built a fire, laid the piggy in the hole, covered her, and let her cook.  The meat was amazing....the giant smoking pit equally as amazing.  We "ran with the goats," chatted up the pigs, and Joe admired Meghan's bees with lust and longing.  What a sweet special night under the stars in the great wide open!

*bad ass* milking station in the field.  Along with the meat, Bending Sickle makes goat cheese and includes beautiful duck eggs in their distributions.

*the pit*

The beautiful hostess and handsome host.

The stars came out, strings of light were strung...it was a good night.  xo, e.

Sunday Brunch.

Late August always seems to lend itself to Sunday brunch.  There are always a host of texts or Facebook messages waiting; loving friends trying to squeeze one more get together in before school starts.   Sunday brunch feels mildly noninvasive...we eat, spend time together, and then have the rest of the day to ourselves.

It is also the time of year that we have veg coming out of our ears, and the time of year that our eggs boast yolks of florescent orange....point is we've got all kinds of healthy goodness out here, so come eat with us.

This morning, however, we hosted vegans.  More and more of our friends, it seems, have chosen a vegetarian, vegan, or raw lifestyle.  We are proud meat eaters, but I am more than happy to oblige the people that I love!  So......

Today's Menu:

Allison's honey two ways:  Honey harvest this week from hives she keeps in two different locations - just look at the color difference, and the taste difference in incredible!

Honey to be drizzled on Vegan Corn Johnnycakes!

Fresh corn from Rhulig's.

Bluebs picked yesterday from the Dexter Blueberry farm, peaches picked this week from Erie Orchard, Melon from Rhulig's.

Vegan waffles with fresh blueberry syrup.

Potato and veggie hash with fresh veg from Family Circle Centennial Farm.

The dishes are done, my feet are up, and a whole day ahead of me..xoxo, e.

A Bat in My Belfry.

We are an equal opportunity farm.  If you are a sweet animal or insect, you are probably welcome here...save two exceptions - don't eat my chickens, and don't come into my home in the middle of the night.

Last  night, as I laid in bed, I could here something in the hall.  We're talking maybe 3 a.m.  Florence, the little Siamese kitty, was leaping at something and then landing with a thump.

Leap, land, thump.
Leap, land, thump.
Leap, land, thump, screech, squeal ?#@!

Crap, perhaps she caught a mouse, and I knew I should investigate before she proudly brought it into the bed (this has never happened to me, a mouse in the bed, but it did happen to my sister!).  I turned on the bathroom light and started walking towards the hallway....and swoosh...something flew at my head.  I ran into the bathroom and closed the door.  I cracked the door open and yelled -

me:  Joe, there is something flying around the bedroom.

Joe:  It's nothing honey, go back to bed.

me:  Joe it's a huge moth or a bat, you're gonna have to address this.

Joe:  Go back to bed, it's only a mo...  oh f#@k it's a bat.

Let me pause here and inform you that for some reason my husband jumped out of bed fully clothed in khaki shorts and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up - like a hot Indiana Jones ready to hunt bats at 3 am.

The bat was in heaven flying around my vaulted ceiling, weaving through the chandelier, dive bombing Joe.  He caught it in a sheet after a few passes, and threw it out the window.

We got in bed and he cuddled up to me with his khaki shorts.

me:  Why are you fully dressed?

Joe:  I'm always ready for an expedition babe.

True Story.

The bat hunter.

Mix Tapes and True Love.

Last night we had the pleasure, nay, the privilege of watching two beautiful people pledge their love to one another, through this life and the next.  A stunning bride, a handsome groom, and a night filled with romance and bliss.

   My dear friend Cammila of Dressed Up Like A Lady, and her beau Matt held a beautiful wedding at The Corner Brewery.  Ceremony and dinner in the garden, cake and dancing your pants off in a space that made one feel as if they were at prom - a really really good prom where the cute boy connected eyes with you and danced you into the dawn.

   Cammila and Matt exchanged vows like two giddy lovers.  They were so very excited to proclaim their love for one another that, seen throughout the garden, were husbands and wives, mothers and children, strangers even....drawing each other near - grateful for one another.  It was like eavesdropping on two perfect love letters being read aloud - it felt so wrong to be in their holy space, and it felt so so right.

   I'm tearing up here, so on to the party!!!   Beautiful cakes filled with fresh berries and cream, or chocolate drizzled in honey (we were a party of three folks, we were allowed to sample them all.  don't judge).  And then.....there was music!  The groom took the mic, armed with love and his trumpet and serenaded his soulmate, song after song.  And, she did not miss a beat when he sweetly asked her to jump up and sing one with him.  This was followed by The Canasta's, also featuring the bride and groom.  I'm just sayin' folks, how better to show your guests a good time then by entertaining them yourselves...all night!

One of my favorite touches...the bridal party waltzed sweetly down the aisle to guitar and accordion!!

...there were bow ties...

...and taffeta and tulle....

My gift...I seriously love wrapping gifts.

Oh hell yes we got mix tapes as party favors (which were actually usb drives filled with music that I am listening to as I type.)

And OH the handmade decorations!!

Joe and Coco were running around dancing all night...no one ever takes pictures of mom (but I looked cute ;)

The blushing bride moves so much and is so incredibly expressive...I have about 20 pictures of her in various states of facial movement ;)

Bring on the balloons, bow ties, and dancing!!

Seriously with this dress.  I can't think of another woman who has the figure or the guts to pull off the most amazing wedding dress ever...point Cammila.

Thanks for a magical evening...here's to a magical life together!!!   Cheers and Love!...e

Time to Make the Chokecherry Syrup.

    I have a beautiful friend named Amy Lesser.  She is an herbalist, a shepherdess, a farmer, a mother, and well, just a really sweet person.  If you were stuck in the wilderness and told to survive, well, you'd want her along.  She would gather wild food for you, make you soap, and probably tell you stories of your ancestors that warmed your heart (I'm guessing on that last part, but I bet she would).  When Amy says it's going to rain, it rains.  When she says fall weather is on the way, it comes.  And when she says that it's time to start nesting and gathering...you better just do it.

   And so we did!  It's funny how we wait and wait for that first tomato to ripen, like its gold, and then before we know it the entire dining room table is covered in ripe fruit, begging to be canned and processed.  Coco Rosie went to my mom and dad's for the weekend, so Joe and I got down to business and started putting up food.  Between the goodies from our garden, and fillers from Family Circle Centennial Farm down the road, there was just produce everywhere.  We canned tomatoes, made dilly beans, and threw on a big pot of veggie beef stew while we worked.  We made blueberry jam and blueberry syrup (bad year for Michigan maple syrup, but blueberries abound!).  There are peaches waiting to be processed, and more zucchini, squash, peppers, and eggplant than I can think about right now.  And then there were the chokecherries...

   We have a bunch of trees out back that we've always called "ornamental cherries."  We were chatting back there with neighbor Al this week, and he called them chokecherries...then he told sweet stories of fishing in the back woods of Canada as a young boy, and helping all of the older ladies make the chokecherry syrup.  Sold.  I live for stories like that.  If some old Canadian wilderness women can make chokecherry syrup, then so can I.

    The tiny berries have an intense tart cherry flavor with a big pit in the middle.  I stewed them down and mashed out the juice.  I make fruit or other simple syrups all the time (ok, mainly for cocktails or coffee, but I make them none the less).  I make blackberry syrup for gin drinks, ginger syrup for Pimms, gingerbread syrup for coffee in the dead of winter...etc.  So, I followed suit and added some sugar and simmered down the chokecherry juice.  I poured it into a jar...and I'll be damned if it didn't set up like the best cherry jam you've ever had!!  Not syrup, but Success!

The chokecherry syrup.  or jam.  or whatever....it's good though!

Harvest Thursday night...

Rain harvest Friday night...

By Saturday we were just screwed (in a good way).

First batch of blueberry jam. The berries are so concentrated with sugar due to the drought this year, that we used less than a cup of sugar for this whole batch..and it set up just perfectly!

This beauty is from Emily and Nigel's crop...gigantic luscious heirloom!

I canned in some of these huge 3 quart jars which will be nice to pull out for soups and chili!

I could not stop taking pictures of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes in jars.  Pure beauty.

Dilly Beans!  I'm not much of a pickler, but we had beans, and we had dill...so there you have it.

An after-canning snack with my honey and the chickens.  They liked dad's cheese-it's more than mom's pretzels.  Fo'Sho'.

The ducks know that there are treats being handed out...just waiting in the wings for their turn.

The Shiekh.  My beautiful rooster.

Lolita, my oldest kitty who is never around for pictures!

Wrapping up canning weekend with a little Sex (the bubbly that is....get your minds out of the gutter people!).  Stay tuned for Saturday morning peach picking pics!   xoxo, e.