​There, in full sight, stood a momma moose and her calf, munching happily on the last of the cabbage and broccoli. With tears seeping in from the corners of his eyes, an empty stomach rumbling in his ears, blood pressure rising in his veins, he reached down, picked up a rock and hurled it forward. With an intended aim for 3 feet in front of the duo, the momma moose perked her ears, snorted, turned, and led her young calf away, exiting through the opening in the uncompleted pallet fence. As my husband-to-be delicately stepped into the garden to assess the damage, he found only the mustard greens standing erect and undefeated, everything else had been devoured.

“They even ate the onions!” he likes to emphatically point out. “What kind of moose eats onions but leaves the mustard greens?!”  

The funny thing is, back then, he didn’t even like mustard greens.’~~~

Deer are not uncommon visitors to Emerald Acres, though they often arrive after sunset and stay only until the first light of dawn. Driven to survive, they thrust their hooves through the snow, digging fallen apples in the orchard. Oftentimes they bed down at the far reaches of our field, sheltered from the strong peninsular winds.


Last week, the temperatures ebbed into the single digits and eventually into the teens and 20s. We coaxed the goats outside to get a little sunshine and fresh air. The chickens basked in the fleeting sun that peeked through the barn doors, and our pups ran their hearts out, bounding through the snow and pouncing, looking for life beneath. A recent winter storm bedazzled the orchard and surrounding field with a sparkling, radiant blanket of fresh snow. Everything looked fresh and beautiful outside as we, on the inside, continue planning for spring.
​

​Farm Grown Meals of the Week: We dug into the deep freeze this week and pulled out some frozen sliced eggplant, lightly breaded in flour and egg and fried last fall. After thawing and crisping under the broiler, I rolled each with a layer of seasoned fresh goat cheese (fresh garlic, parsley and oregano) and set them into a glass baking dish. Layered with homemade pasta sauce and a little shredded Parmesan cheese, these Eggplant Alouette Rolls were delightful when scooped over a bed of organic, whole wheat pasta and paired with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon (water for the kiddos!). We also enjoyed a venison burger meatloaf and side of roasted brussel sprouts, harvested from our winter garden. These fresh meals made with ingredients from our freezer provided for some great weeknight meals. If you’ve enjoyed hearing about the different meals we have cooked throughout the week using foods grown or raised right here on the farm, be sure to stay tuned. We are working on putting together recipes to share with you!

Winter Grace: The second notable arctic airmass of the year descended on Emerald Acres last week, with temperatures dropping below 0 F and windchills -20 to -30 F. Memories of the winter from two years ago (2014) blasted back into my mind and chilled me to the core, reminding me of when daily high temperatures remained below 0 F for nearly 50 days, shattering records and freezing old pipes across the state. In The Little House on the Prairie, the chapter book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder that I just finished reading to my daughter, the Ingalls family faced seemingly endless blizzards, extreme cold and near starvation during The Hard Winter in the late 1800s. While the winter of 2014 will never fully compare to that which the Ingalls faced well over a century ago in De Smet, South Dakota, it will forever remain The Hard Winter for our family here on this Wisconsin Peninsula. While food was not scarce, propane shortages, rationing and sky-rocketing prices forced us to lock our thermostat at an uncomfortable 58 F in our drafty, century-old farmhouse and to layer on the clothing in triplicate. Our elderly family dog at the time spent the greater majority of her time lying on heating pads to keep the arthritis in her bones at bay. A hot cup of tea remained a permanent fixture in our hands. While we suffered, not intolerably, in the house, it was our first year ever with livestock and most of our attention was focused outward. With warnings on the radio that told us to ‘stay in’, we ventured out. It was the least we could do for the animals that provided so much to us.

Without a source of water in the barn, twice a day, sometimes more, we trekked 5-gal buckets of hot water in a sled, across the snow, head-on into driving winds all the way to the barn—100 steps in normal weather, 200 painful, nostril freezing steps during a polar vortex. The goats never greeted us without the utmost gratitude as we refreshed frozen buckets with warm, steaming water. Goats slurp, and slurp and slurp, swishp, slishp slurp, and lick their lips, grasping at the warm droplets before a few fell into the straw below. I swear they smiled at us after they felt the warmth hit their bellies and warmed them from within. The girls shivered on the milk stand as each squirt of milk froze instantly in the bucket, but they graciously accepted the grain in their feed bucket, which helped warm their rumens. With fresh bales of hay in their feeders, deep straw for bedding, warm water in their buckets, the goats weathered the cold that year with impeccable strength and resilience.

Our flock of laying chickens also tolerated the extreme cold of the polar vortex (without fire-causing heat lamps!) so long as they had freedom from drafts and access to ample food and water. Our birds survived the confines of a long, hard winter and ranged far and wide as soon as winter gave way to spring.

As my belly grew through 4 to 6 months pregnancy (for our second child) during The Hard Winter, I was never so thankful as when winter ended and that I no longer had to ask my ‘hard-core other half’ to try to zip me into my Carhart overalls so I could head outside to do chores (don’t worry, he helped me with them!). By the end of winter, there was simply no more ‘sucking it in’! As The Hard Winter transitioned into a chilly, not entirely forgiving spring, I eased into my roomy fleece jackets and maternity pants and set about preparing for the coming months.

We learned through The Hard Winter that extreme cold adds a level of complexity to life that we had not known before embracing a farming lifestyle, especially one with livestock. We also learned that animals, and we as humans, are extremely strong and resilient, and that we can survive some of the harshest of conditions. This winter, 2016, has kindly graced us with intermittent reprieves in the weather and warmer temperatures, something unknown to us during The Hard Winter. Any sane person or family would probably have given up after such a hard year, especially when it was a first ever with livestock, but apparently this family has an affinity for adventure (or insanity!). Our goat herd and chicken flock have actually grown in size and with each passing season we have learned to better manage all the animals throughout the winter. It is still a tremendous amount of work each day, but what we receive in the way of food and companionship from our critters makes it worth every calorie we spend filling waterers and feeders throughout the long, dark days of winter. 

Farm Grown Meals of the Week: Last week, we enjoyed a rich stewed venison chili flavored with frozen sweet peppers, beans and dried thyme from the garden. We also slow roasted a freshly butchered cockerel (boy chicken less than a year old) and paired it with store bought sweet potatoes and garden grown corn from our freezer. We then used the remnants from our roasted chicken to make a large pot pie, a favorite in our house. We added storage potatoes and garlic, frozen peas, corn and green beans from our garden, and January picked carrots and leeks. We topped off our pot pie meal with a homemade cherry pie made from the tart cherries grown right on the farm! As usual, for breakfast and sometimes lunch, we enjoyed fresh yogurt made from our creamy Nigerian dwarf goat milk! When paired with fresh or frozen fruit, it is simply delectable! A week wouldn’t be complete without fresh chevre made from our goat milk. When added with salsa (compliments of Grandma Chris) to homemade soft flour tortillas, it makes a great lunch for the kids and me during the weekdays!

 The Polar Purge: As single digit temperatures and subarctic windchills finally descended upon Emerald Acres during the second week of the year, we dug in and started scooping out the junk and unneeded items that have settled into our home over the past year, or more….  At other times of the year, when the sun shines and warmth surrounds us, we rarely find the time needed to keep everything inline within the house; all of us prefer to be outside playing in the garden or with the animals than inside attending to the ‘inside stuff’! Papers and junkmail stack up, outgrown clothes and toys land in piles or lay strewn across the floor, and more than a respectable amount of dust settles in the corners and on the surfaces remaining just out of reach from our toddler! Spring is the time most people feel compelled to dig in and clean out (a.k.a. ‘spring cleaning’), but it is in winter, when outdoor chores are somewhat reduced and slightly less is going on around the farm that our family finds the time to deal with the ‘within’. It is not a fast process, and when coupled with an active and imaginative 5-year-old and 18-month old toddler AND a new puppy, it is a blessing that any forward progress is actually achieved. However, little by little, the piles are growing smaller and the bottoms of our socks are a tad less dirty!

Polar Planning: I recently posted a cartoon I found on Facebook about how it is that ‘S.A.D’(Seed Acquisition Disorder) time of year at the farm. While I can’t take credit for the cartoon’s originality and good humor, it’s actually pretty funny, and is almost entirely true for our family! The moment the first seed catalog arrives, usually sometime in December, thoughts about and plans for the upcoming growing season start sprouting in our minds. By the first week or two in January, we are nearly ready to place our seed order(s) to ensure that everything arrives in time to get our plants growing and ready for the next growing season. Deciding where to purchase seeds from is a careful, considerate and deliberate process; we are mindful of whether to trade from our closest friends that have seed-saved over the years or to purchase organic, non-GMO seeds. Many of our decisions are influenced by the flavors of the food to be produced as well as our goals for the year. As we work to define our plan for 2016 (stay tuned….it will be disclosed soon!), we choose as wisely as possible to ensure that our garden will grow to its potential and provide food of the highest quality. As my ‘hard-core other half’ prepares to hit the SUBMIT button on our seed order, I can hardly keep from salivating at the thought of juicy, flavorful summer tomatoes, fresh oven-roasted kale chips, homemade pesto, and much, much more! Spring and summer seem a long way off, but there is much to plan and prepare for and we can’t wait to hit the ground when the ice finally melts away in a few more months!

Farm Grown Meals of the Week: Warm, rich foods and flavors grown entirely or partially on the farm continued to fill our bellies this week. The precious freezer space we sacrificed late last summer to put away a small amount of whole sweet peppers rewarded us with a delectable meal of stuffed peppers this week. The sweet flavor of summer peppers stuffed with Italian seasoned venison burger, brown rice, summer tomatoes and black beans completely offset the slightly softened texture of the peppers. We also enjoyed another roasted chicken with garlic cloves and a side of roasted beets and storage garlic. Seriously, I’m not sure our family can ever consume too much garlic….. After deboning the leftover roasted chicken, we tossed the meat into the Crockpot with our lovely homemade salsa verde (green salsa made last summer from fresh tomatillos and green chilies from the garden) and let it stew for a few hours before adding some black beans and serving over a bed of brown rice. Making new meals from leftovers is a way to ensure nothing goes to waste and that our family never tires of the foods we enjoy. And of course my ‘hard-core other half’ wouldn’t pass up a chance to stir-fry any greens if they could be retrieved within 200 ft of the house, even if it meant chopping the tops off the brusselsprout plants still standing, frozen in knee-high sproutly statues within our snow covered, frozen garden.  

For the Animal Lovers………

Eggsicles: As luck would have it, the coldest temperatures of the winter descended upon us just as my ‘hard-core other half’ needed to travel out of town to attend a meeting for his day job for a couple of days. While we are fortunate enough to have reliable farm help during such times to ensure all the animals are well cared for, I wasn’t able to get outside often enough to check for and collect eggs before they chilled, froze and ultimately cracked. During the winter months, when egg laying is already at a low point, a few frozen eggs are a real drag. Not only does it reduce the numbers of eggs available for purchase to our loyal customers, but our family is also limited by what we have access to for baking and cooking. Thankfully, last week’s arctic airmass was relatively short-lived and it passed by and left slightly warmer temps in its wake. Our critters greatly enjoyed a slight warm-up later in the week and we all breathed a sigh of relief that a winter like 2 years ago remains a distant memory!

Our Furry Companions: Many may wonder about how or even whether our pups work in the cold and winter. Our snow dog, Tula, is only too happy to remain outside through the coldest of times. Her winter furt coat suits her well, it is truly magical the way it repels the snow and water and insulates her from the cold; however, she will occasionally enjoy a short visit in the house to eat a warm meal and grab her share of hugs, petting and daily grooming (brushing my big polar fur-baby is seriously a great therapy!) before she starts to overheat and wants to head back out onto the frozen farmland to do the work for which she was designed and loves to do—guarding her farm. We were excited to watch Tula this week as she seems to be developing an eye for aerial predators (e.g. hawks, crows, things that might try to catch or kill our chickens).  It is with great pride that we watch Tula through our kitchen window, overlooking the property as she races out back to bark at any potential predators and to let everyone within hearing distance know she is here. That is the way with Great Pyrenees dogs—first and foremost BARK. She will also happily keep company with our 5-year-old daughter for hours on end when she plays outside in the snow. Our Tula, truly a gentle giant, is forever loyal to our human kids, while also keeping an attentive eye on everyone and everything else around her. Our English Shepherd pup, Little Rosie De, is still mostly working on basic obedience, playing a ton to expend her endless energy, and starting to learn to watch the goat pen doors to help prevent any potential escapees as we go in and out to feed and water the goats. On-the-job training is super important for such intelligent dogs as these!

Our energetic little pup is growing fast. She plays a lot with our Great Pyrenees and our (human) kids, and is working to learn basic obedience. She has been great about observing and leaving the chickens alone and will even sit- stay- and watch when we work in the goat pens. She has a lot to learn yet about her roles on the farm but she is doing great in learning to fit into the family and we love her. Can't wait to see what she will be able to do as she moves through adolescence into adulthood!

Snow Garden: Digging fresh carrots and leeks on New Year’s Day is probably not something most people who live in the upper Midwest ever think about, let alone believe possible. However, my ‘hard-core other-half’ schemed a way to set up a small, temporary hoop-house (kind of like a small, plastic covered greenhouse) during the fall to enclose an area where we had some late season carrots growing. He dreamed of heading outside one day during winter, when the rest of the world, or at least our small peninsular county, was sitting under snow and ice, and digging some fresh veggies. An unseasonably warm fall and early winter along with our small hoop-house led to just such a success. When everyone else was probably sitting inside watching the Rosebowl, my ‘hard-core other half’ was out digging carrots in the hoop house and then leeks from under the straw mulch. They may not have been huge, but they were fresh and flavorful and they filled our week with freshness unknown to most in the first week of the New Year. And with that, we added more to our root cellar to carry us toward the next growing season.

Farm Grown Meals of the Week: This week we comforted ourselves with rich and savory meals, partially or entirely grown on the farm. On New Year’s Day, we indulged in nachos (OK, we used Organic tortilla chips from Costco) made from ground venison burger, storage onions, homemade salsa (compliments of Grandma!), organic black beans and shredded cheddar cheese(the last two, store bought). It’s a super easy meal and it made for a fun movie night! The highlight of the week was an oven roasted chicken (one of our pasture raised, organically fed broiler chickens) infused with a whole bulb of garden grown storage garlic and sprinkled with sea salt and pepper, with sides of oven roasted fresh picked winter carrots and leeks, and oven roasted sweet potatoes (store bought since we didn’t grow them last summer) and storage garlic. Using the remnants from our roasted chicken, we then made a homemade chicken noodle soup using storage onions and frozen parsley, celery (store bought) and fresh picked winter carrots. Our last big meal of the week included a new recipe, venison hamburger soup (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/hamburger-soup/, with modifications of course!). We added sweet peppers, green beans, and corn (frozen from our summer garden) along with storage onions, potatoes and garlic and fresh picked winter carrots. A fresh batch of chevre (goat cheese) made from milk from our Nigerian dwarf goats added a great touch to several of our lunches this week as well! We are always thankful for our fresh and continuous supply of milk and eggs on the farm!

For the animal lovers……..

The Grazers: The unseasonably warm fall and early winter allowed our beautiful goat herd to access pasture much later than normal for this time of year. Access to pasture allows our goats to get extra vitamin D from the sun and to exercise, all of which helps maintain a healthier herd in winter. Breeding season has been underway for several weeks and we are excitedly heading toward our 2016 kidding season (kids = baby goats!). We still have a few does (female goats) in milk that supply all our family’s needs for drinking milk, and yogurt and cheese making. We are so thankful for all that our does provide to us and we do all that we can to keep them in good health all year long.

Our Feathered Friends: Several of our egg-laying chickens (otherwise known as ‘layers’) have undergone an annual molt recently. Molt means that they lose most of their feathers and replace them with an entirely new set, beautiful and shiny. During this time, which also coincides with the shorter day-lengths of winter, the birds usually take a break from laying eggs. In small family flocks, all the birds may actually stop laying eggs at the same time, and this might last a month or more! Thankfully we have a pretty large flock here at Emerald Acres (over 60 chickens and 2 turkeys currently!) and we have several that are newer layers, so we are still getting some eggs from our girls every day, which are available for sale fresh from the farm! Our girls are fed exclusively organic feed and allowed to range to their hearts’ content each day. While the birds don’t stray far from the safety of their home building on the coldest of winter days, they have a lot of room to move around and bask in the fleeting winter sun to meet their needs for a healthy, happy life, each and every day.

Our Furry Companions: Our beautiful snow-dog, Tula, a Great Pyrenees, watches over her flock of chickens and herd of goats every day and night. Not only is she excited to meet each visitor to the farm, but she enthusiastically greets each day, rain, snow, wind or shine, to watch over the farm, and we love her dearly. Our newest and much loved family member, Little Rosie De, an English Sherpherd puppy (otherwise known as the Old Farm Collies from the early 1900s-known as all-around farm dogs) is both a wonderful playmate and companion to our Tula and our family. Little Rosie De is learning the rules of the farm and what her roles will be in helping with the chickens and goats. She has big paws to fill, but she is smart and energetic and on her way to being an important part of the family and farm.