Granola Bars. Do It.

Last night we happened upon Food Inc., a terrifying documentary on the modern food industry.

It scared the shit out of me.

I would probably never sleep at night again for fear of Monsanto eating my young, except I have faith.  I have faith in the small local farmer.  I have faith in my friends and neighbors, and their one or two acres of fresh food.  I get excited by the twenty and thirty somethings sharing canning recipes on Instagram.  We're going to be ok...we have to be ok.  But we NEED to learn where our food comes from, and how to feed ourselves folks.

Having said that, I have a short list of foods that I buy from the store each week.   I'm not perfect.  I buy crates of Little Cuties from Florida, and I'm not delusional in thinking that my cupboard is GMO free.  Fucking Reece's Peanut Butter Cups are labeled as GMO for Christ's sake.   But I try.  I really do.

One thing I buy each week are granola bars.  I hate buying them, but I love throwing them in for lunch and snacks.  Even the healthy organic ones have high fructose corn syrup and crap in them.  SO I MADE THEM.  And they are awesome.   And you will love them.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup almond (or peanut) butter

a good squeeze of LOCAL maple syrup

1 1/2 cups of quick oats

(aside from the oats, the rest of the choices are yours!  fill em' with your faves!)

I used...

1/2 cup coconut

handful of flax seeds

handful of sesame seeds

nuts, cranberries, raisins, etc. etc.

Toast anything toastable on a baking sheet at 350' for 15 min. (oats, seeds, coconut)

In a small saucepan, combine your wets (honey, almond butter, syrup)

Combine the toasted goodies, the wet mixture, and all of the extras (nuts and berries) in a big bowl, and mix it up.

Press it into a baking pan lined with foil for easy removal.  Throw it in the fridge (I keep it in there), and once it hardens DIG IN!!!

xoxo, e.

p.s...Coco loooves them.

She's My Cherry Pie.

Every day over the last week, as we drove in and out of Chelsea, we would see it...the big stone farm house by the cemetery, with the 30 foot tall cherry trees -heavy laden with fruit.  Finally I stopped.  I made Joe run up to the house and ask if we could pay to pick...or trade for eggs and honey.

Success!  They were a delightful couple, eager to talk fruit trees, farming, and community, and eager to share their bounty.   They were also headed out of town during peak cherry week, and graciously said we could pick while they were away or else the birds would get em'!

And, folks, this is why we live in a farming community.  Small town values, good people, trading with your neighbor, local fresh food, etc. etc. etc.  Amen to small town Michigan!!

xoxo, e.

It's a Parade!

Early Monday morning, large coffees in hand, we headed over to our friend Kelly's farm to load up for the Dexter Memorial Day Parade.  We loaded up animals, decorated the tractor and trailer, and prepared to honor the vets of the community with a kick ass parade!

They close all of the streets down really early, which means you sit in "line" and wait for the parade to start for quite awhile.  And, unfortunately, it was freezing...but that did not stop the day from being awesome!!  So proud to honor the vets by riding on the Cornman Farms float!

Loadin' up the crew!

When you gotta go you gotta go...Good thing Joe's got the pooper scooper!

Are you cold Allison? ;)

 Thank You Vets!  And Thank You Cornman Farms!

The Dexter High School Band, Grandma's Girl Goat, and my partner for the parade, Flirt the Lamb!

The parade beauties! (did I mention it was cold?)

Allison and Kelly passing out Zang Bars (adult candy!! ;).

It was really awesome to see the kids and adults light up when they saw the animals!

Me and Mini Me.

Joe entertaining the crowd!

Thanks for an delightful day Cornman Farms! 

xoxo, e.

In Slow Motion.

We had a friend over for Sunday brunch, and in chatting my beautiful friend said something that really struck me.  She said that since she became a mother, everything has slowed down...as in, she wants to see things with her daughter in slow motion.  She want to watch the leaves unfold one at a time, or drag out this beautiful spring by weeding the garden with her little one...slowly, lovingly.

This morning, over coffee, I was reading one of my farming magazines.  There is a cooking section with old recipes, and a section where one can write in and ask for help remembering old recipes.  As in, "What was the cake recipe on the side of the Hershey's box that called for three eggs?"

It warms my heart that there are still people in this world that don't just google things.  There are people that write letters to magazines, wait for those letters to be published, and then wait patiently for responses.  And then probably bake the Hershey's cake from their childhood.

For the love of God good friends, let's slow down.  Let's enjoy every minute of this beautiful season unfolding before us.  

I will not worry about planting, or painting, or laundry, or the shop.  I will drop everything to go fishing, or have popsicles on the porch.  I will have an extra cup of coffee with a farm journal instead of doing paperwork first thing in the morning.  I will lay on a blanket in the field with Coco and let the goats eat grass around us.

Let's take this summer slowly and enjoy it together!  

xoxo, e.

Build Me A Mudroom.

So, I have this hallway at the top of the basement stairs.  It's just a walk through space, really, to the laundry room.  We end up kicking off our boots and shoes there, and those piles of boots and shoes drive me nuts.  The sweet little hallway was just such a waste of usable space.

So I said "Joe, build me a mudroom."   And he did.  And I love it.  Old wood, rusty hooks and nails...just a few of my favorite things.  A bench for Coco to put on her shoes, a closet for the vacuum and Joe's obsessive collection of swiffers.  Hooks, shelves, and baskets to stuff things into and hang things on....all so perfect.  A lovely rug, some pillows and some drying Sweet Annie to tie it all together.  Yes please, and thank you.  I may sleep in there tonight...just maybe.

And in other news, I scored this at the thrift store this week.   More on accordions and my polish catholic upbringing at a later time.  But know that I will play this for you, and you will love it.

And still in other news, we taught the farming chapter at Coco's school.  Little hands planting little seeds, excitedly learning where their food comes from.  And then Coco projectile vomited and daddy carried her home.  The End.

p.s...clearly I found instagram and all it's magic.  

Oh Virginia!

In an attempt to fill my empty womb, I've been surrounding myself with animals (that sounds dramatic, but it's kind of true).  We had a very special delivery this weekend (and by delivery, I mean my dear friends caught them in their pen, bagged them up, and brought them to me...dressed in party clothes. Cuz that's how they roll)....Meet Montgomery, Virginia, and Opal.  And I love them.  They are giant, and beautiful, and always appear that they are dressed in their finery, waiting for me to bring them a cocktail.  

I'm certainly no expert (yet), but I believe we have India Blue peafowl.  The plan was to keep them in the barn for a while, so they knew that they were "home."  Then, as they did at their previous home, we would let them free range.  Ready for a good story?   Sit back, here we go.

A few days ago, Joe was taking some leafy greens out to the barn for the fowl.  As the barn door was open, Mr. Monty flew right over Joe's head, past the big barn, across the corn field, and into the woods across the street.  Like a little robin, he flew like nobody's business.  I was sitting on the couch, and saw a huge bird land....and then I saw Joe running after him with two hands full of leafy greens.  Damn it!

I was in the car in a second, and Joe and I drove over...thinking we would find a giant blue bird in a completely brown woods in like two second.  Wrong.  He completely disappeared.  We hiked the woods for hours.  My lips froze.  I was in crocs with no socks.  And I was furious.  

I cried.  I made a flyer.  We talked to all of the neighbors, who are amazing, and who invited us in to share a cocktail over our lost peacock fate.  All eyes were peeled for the missing Cesarz peacock!

Fast forward 24 hours.  Joe was making dinner when neighbor Al called.  "There is a peacock in my yard, you kids should come see it!" "That's our peacock Al!!!!  We'll be right there!" Joe yelled excitedly.

When Monty saw us, he flew into the swamp.  Neighbor CJ heard the commotion and wanted in on the action.  He brought Joe his waders and a fishing net, and perched himself as the lookout to direct Joe in the swamp.  You would not believe how a huge blue bird can disappear and blend in in a swamp! 

*pause*  In the middle of the peacock hunt, I saw a huge crazy face opossum walking through the sunshine towards my barn.  What in the hell?  F$#@er!  I screamed for Joe, ran and got the gun, and he and CJ cornered and shot the little bugger.  Then went back to catch a peacock!

There was chasing and diving.  And about a 1/2  an hour later, Joe came walking up the drive with an angry (and in trouble!) peacock.  Monty is sooo grounded.

We put a net over the top of the outdoor pen so they can sun themselves for awhile before they get another chance at "free ranging"!

Have a Beautiful Day..And a very Happy 7th Birthday to my little Coco Rose!!

xoxo, e.

Goats and Peacocks and Possums...Oh My!

Part One of Two.

The last few weeks have been spent whistfully and wonderfully waiting for spring...and I've been snuggling and acquiring animals whilst I wait!

First a quick update - Infertility - 2, Erica - 0.  Round two was bad.  I think that the hormones were messing with my body so much that I started an entire week late.  An entire week that I took pregnancy tests like a crazy person, because I wasn't starting...so how could I not be pregnant?  Again?  Sigh.  I'm taking a breather.  We'll regroup and try again in a few months.

Now onto the animals!  Kelly's goats have been popping out babies for a solid month now.  Most of them nurse on the mamma just fine, but a few mamma's didn't make it, and a few didn't bond with their babies....so bring on the bottle babies!  Their moms or moms with extra milk get milked, and bottle babies get hand fed with that milk.  One never seems to have enough hands, or bottles.  They will nurse on your fingers, or your double chin (they're not really picky :) while they are waiting their turn.  Oh my God I love those little babies!

I'm the most popular girl in the barn. (when I have the milk).

Oh, Hello Ladies!

Babies in sweaters.  Seriously.

There are still plenty of pregnant mammas, so if you want to go love on some little lovey goats, just let  me know.  I know people.

xoxo, e.

p.s.  This post was feeling long winded...so, tomorrow I give you peacocks!

Chick Days.

Have you ever run into Tractor Supply to get cat food, but then gotten side tracked by the tiny white chick that was cuddling with a duckling, and her tiny bantam friend...but then you remember that there is a six chick minimum so you pick out four more?...why not right?   Happy Chick Days!!!

It's that time of year people...chick days!  Some people have tiny chicks pipping and peeping in their incubators, some get a call early one morning from the post office that their chicks have been delivered...and some people just go to Tractor Supply and pick out chicks!

If you've never been to Tractor Supply, you should probably go.  Farm stuff, all matter of pet stuff, boots, kick ass jeans, goo goo clusters, peanut butter filled pretzels...we all have our favorites at TS.   It is the joke around here every year that your Christmas present is probably coming from either Value World or Tractor Supply.  I could hang out in there all day - especially when the chicks come in!

They have big metal bins set up in the middle of the store with all different kinds of chicks and ducklings.  You don't have to buy any (but you probably will), but you should probably take the kids in to have a look...it will make you happy for the rest of the day!

This year is my year to re-boot my flock.   My plan is to get 18 new chicks total (and maybe some ducklings a little later in the spring...don't want them in the house because they are a hot wet mess :).   I have specific breeds that I love/want, so in all of my driving for work I pop into the different TS's to see what kind each store has.  I've gotten 12 so far...but I need to pace myself.  There are a few more breeds that I hope come in to round out the flock!

Tiny chicks in giant bins...peep peep peeping!

And Oh the Ducklings!  They are getting so big that they are "on sale" for .50 cents.  They are hopping out of the bins at night, waddling around the store, and setting off the security censors.  God I love them.

Coco carrying her chick "to go" container :).

My babies!! "I'll just take a quick nap in the food" the tiny one said.

The Set Up - Chicks live under a heat lamp in your house till warm spring days.  The dining room excitedly gets turned into the nursery!

The Watchdog - Trixie jumped in once and layed down with them...she is a herding dog people!   It's her instinct!

xoxo, e.

Name That Sheep.

This shit fascinates the dickens out of me...so here, good people is your sheep naming tutorial.

It's no secret that I want to be a farmer, but since I didn't win the lottery this week, and have to work at my real job, I'll live vicariously through my friend Kelly and play with her animals.

We attended a super bowl party on Sunday.   And, along with the typical hot wings and buffalo chicken dip, the hostess cleverly built into the festivities some "light" farm work.  Name and tag 21 sheep.

Kelly recently acquired a herd of Tunis sheep.  These beauties have cream wool, but cinnamon and white colored faces and legs.  They are a meat breed, so the mammas are the breading stock, and the boy babies will be raised to eat.   

They came very pregnant, so over the last few weeks, in the middle of a harsh deep freeze, babies have been coming!  Little, tiny, shivering sheep.  Kelly has been loving and creative - everything from taking the babies in for the night and giving them warm baths, to dressing them in baby clothes.  Then back out to the waiting, protective mammas.

On to the naming.   The USDA designates a letter each year for that year's herds.  That way, you can easily keep track of what generation your stock is, and you also know not to breed daddies and grown up babies.  The mamma sheep fall under last year's letter "C," and this years babies will be "D's."

In true Cornman Farm fashion, letters and numbers didn't cut it.  They love each of these little beauties, and so they needed names.  "C" names to be exact.  We layed out the tags and the children started yelling ideas.  We ended up with a Clio and a Chloe, Queen Catherine, Curious Georgia, Charlotte, Cowgirl, and the ram, Captain Crunch.

For some reason, Joe decided he would do the tagging...piercing the tag into the sheep's ear with a tagging gun.  The young 4H young men showed Joe how to wrangle the sheep and where to tag...and the rest is history.

We were four sheep in before we realized that we forgot to identify and tag the ram first.  And of course, he had already been tagged as "Cossette."  Don't worry, we fixed it.  I also lost one tag in my pocket, so we had to come up with an extra name...hence was born Carmen Miranda!

And in other news, as we were setting up a Valentine's making table for the kids in the basement, Kelly found this Huge striped sweater in a bag.  "Put it on!"  I begged her...and she did.  And we laughed,  Hard.  I tried to defend it...It was hand knit!  It was high quality!  Ok, never mind, it was pretty bad.

And as I cuddled into bed later that night, this picture came across the wires.

This is Carlos, probably my favorite animal on the farm.  He always wants a pet and a cuddle.  He was a rescue donkey, and he came with a sombrero...you can't make this stuff up folks.  And now, he is the proud owner of a hand knit sweater.  And here is Carlos in the warmth of summer!

xoxo, e.

Farm Week In Review...

It has been a cooold one here in the mitten, but quite a lovely week at the snowy white farm.  We had snow every day, two snow days due to snow and fog, and just an all around good week to snuggle in and be with each other and friends.

On Wednesday, my friends and their cavalcades of children rolled in for Scrabble night!  There is nothing I love more than putting an apron on, putzing around, making the house pretty, and making some yummy cocktails and vittles.

The Cocktail:  The Improved Brubaker

Tequila Agave

Fresh Lime Juice

Fresh Blackberry Syrup

Dash of Cinnamon

The Eats:  Homemade crustini, baked asiago, fresh pomegranate (do you know about pomegranates?  These are a new discovery for me, and we can't get enough!)  Followed by pasta with sauce from this summer's garden, Allison's tiramisu, and Kelly's root beer floats...belly up people!

The pretty ladies...

This is the life...a house full of happy moms and happy kids...and Kelly with the camera...

And while the moms eventually moved the scrabble board to bring the food and wine closer to us, the responsible children set up the board and played a round in the other room.  We are raising responsible kids people.

And in other news...We had to give the bird back.  It's mamma came home, and she needed him, and it was the right thing.  We truly enjoyed our time with him, and welcome him with open arms should he ever need a home :).  And, kindness begets kindness.  His mamma baked us an amazing chocolate cake with butter cream frosting that tasted like love, and angels, and heaven.  And home made goats milk soap and a beautiful card.  

And still, in other news...kittenpants took a nap in the vintage piles.

And in even more news (last one I promise)...The first issue of Hey Doll vintage magazine came out yesterday, featuring yours truly in the "all dolled up" section!  These two lovely gals put out an adorable and informative online magazine for us vintage gals to connect...yay Brittany and Bunny!

We wrapped up last snowy night in the embrace of friends at a cozy groundhog celebration, and we leave in a bit for an early Superbowl "eating and making valentine's for the elderly" party.  Because we're cool that way.

xoxo, e.

Eating Brains...and pie.

Jojo Buns was my hero today.  I had to play a bunch of nursing home parties, and he stepped up to the plate for me.  He made a big batch of caramel corn and a veggie tray for Coco's classroom party, dressed up in suspenders and a tie, and then spent the afternoon being room dad and taking lots of pics for me.

When we all got home, I ran upstairs to layer as many shirts as would fit under my sweater...because it was cold as hell and there was freezing rain.  When I came back down, Zombie Joe was was making pie two ways...beef sirloin pot pie with carrots, potatoes, squash, onions, and a lush brown gravy...and apple pie for dessert.

Trick or treating with Joe went something like this.  Coco asked if it was raining, and Zombie Joe said "yes, raining brains and I'm gonna eat them all and put some in my pocket so mom can have some later."  His response to everything all night pretty much involved eating brains.  Before Coco ran up to each house Zombie Joe would yell "Go Get Em' Coco!"  Loudly.  As if there was a chance that she was maybe not going to get candy if she didn't nail her approach. (although she was disappointed when she got a coupon at one house...until I explained that the coupon got her lunch at Big Boy...oh yeah.)

Zombies and Witches

Vampires and Day of the Dead

(thanks Coco Rosie for helping me make fun pics!)

Zombie Joe only made one little girl cry all night.  She pointed and said he was really scary, to which her mother replied "Oh, he's just a mime!"   ????

To which Joe replied "Yes, a mime who likes to eat brains!!!!"

Now if you'll excuse me, I have all kinds of pie to eat!!  Happy Halloween!!   xoxo, e.

Gravestones and Chili.

The colors usually peak at our house around the second weekend in October.  Over those few weeks when things are picture perfect fall around here, I try and lure as many people out as I can for hikes, cider, chili, and love.

This years chili fest was on a crisp fall day.  Grey sky, perfect leaves.

A huge roaster of chili.

Cornbread and Allison's fresh brioche.

Sweet apple crisp.

Hot cider and rum.

mmmmmm.....ahhhhhhh...

While the husbands finished up dinner, the mom's loaded up all of the kids and took a quick field trip to the little town cemetery across the road...for Halloween fun and pics!

And, as I write this, the leaves are officially down, blowing violently around the yard.  The big storm is moving in for all of us, and my gut is that the other end of that will feel like winter.  Hunker down folks!  Stay warm, take care of each other...weather the storm!!

xoxo, e.