Eggs!

We got our first egg from Rosie, our hen! The rooster's name is Entree. Just in case he really becomes dinner.

The Best Kind of Physics

Thayne has been working on creating a human slingshot. He has spent lots of hours throwing himself into the garage doors. Here is a funny example of one of his first tries.

Good things he has plenty of guardian angels protecting him. With all the stuff he tries, sometimes I think he might have legions of angels.

A Special Visit

Lydia and I had the opportunity to go to Baltimore to meet up with someone very special. Campomelic dwarfism is very rare and it is considered one of the top fatal forms. There are very few adults with this type skeletal displasia. Ms. R and her mom had traveled up from Florida to meet with Dr. Ain at Johns Hopkins. She is 26!! We connected through our yahoo group and exchanged phone numbers. Last week, we were able to go and have lunch at PF Changs and walk around Inner Harbor together. Lydia really was thrilled to meet someone with CD also. Ms. R is starting her own graphic design business and hopes to have her website up and running within the next few weeks. It was really nice to talk for a few hours with them and get to know them a little better.

After we left their company Lydia wanted to take in a little fun. So we headed to the aquarium for a few hours. Our day was filled with gratefulness and simple pleasures. I am so very blessed to have Lydia.

In our cozy kitchen...

Since Hurricane Irene did major damage and we still have no internet service, I am way behind on posting. It really is a lot harder than I expected to just take a few hours to drive to town for free wi-fi. There is always something else that is calling to me.

Lately the smells of delicious have been lurking about. I tried my hand at making coconut cupcakes with the last of our coconut from last year.

They were good but not spectacular. I need to use the other vegan recipe I have that is a little less dense. I am thinking perhaps a little white chocolate might have been a tad bit tasty also.

When our power was out the berries that we had hope to devour in mid-winter, thawed. Never fear, wineberry jam is now on the shelves. It is so delightful. Most of the berries that we had used during Summer had been devoured in smoothies. I had thrown a handful or so into a blackberry crisp which was yummy also. The jam is completely different. When raw they really taste a lot like raspberries, cooked into jam they have their own flavor. We are enjoying a jar right now but the rest will be so welcome come freezing February.

Have you ever picked a paw-paw? Remember the song from Disney's Jungle Book? When I was younger we had a record of the soundtrack and we would play it a lot. Dancing around and having fun swinging the little kids in our arms in circles. I had no idea what a paw-paw was. Still had no idea until I moved to Maryland. 

Paw-paws are actually native to Southern Maryland and many parts of the United States. You will never see them on a grocer's shelf though because they are only ripe for about two days. We found trees on the property and pick us a bucket full. Then we waited a day and our kitchen was starting to smell a little alcoholic.

If you try to eat them when they are not perfectly ripe, they are incredibly bitter. Honestly it took so much work trying to separate the lima bean sized seeds from the mushy fruit, I am not sure it's worth the effort.

We made paw-paw cake and bread. It turned pink when cooked. Most of us really enjoyed the taste, it was like a mellow mango. The smell is so over powering though, I know why there are plenty of recipes on the web for paw-paw moonshine.

That's what has been happening. We also made some very yummy applesauce and are eagerly awaiting to see what the Autumn season brings to the farm.