A look around the winter-time farm

(Yeah, those photos didn't post right ... today is very evidently not a good technological day for me ... maybe I'll find the problem and - even better - solution tomorrow. For now, I give up. Technology has once again outwitted me.)

A snowy February!

It has been a cold few days here, with a low of minus 8 degrees Celsius last night (or, more accurately, at about 7am this morning) and bursts of snow every day so far in February (granted, there have only been three days in the month so far, but still, they have made an impression on me!). There hasn't been enough snow to create real problems (unlike the time a few years ago when so much snow fell that it snapped the electricity line) or even enough to make a proper snow-scape, but I took some photos anyway, and I'll use them to give you that tour of the farm I have been meaning to get to.

Very well, to begin:

The animals! My goat friends, Mary and Pon, made a little noise at the snow but ate a good afternoon's meal nonetheless:



While nearby, the chickens kept together but explored the snowy yard a little:


In the vegetable kingdom, things are slowing down:


But the beautiful (on the inside) greenhouse is fooling the mizuna and shungiku into growth:

And finally, in the farmhouse, the woodstove is a key bit of farm equipment:

Them ukoke (Silkies) are looking fierce these days!

Kurashiki Roji Ichiba: Where you'll find me every Saturday

I think I posted some photos from our trip to the Roji Ichiba last summer, when we visited to see if we'd like to join. It looked like fun, so we signed up and have been going for several months now.

The Roji Ichiba is held in the Bizan Chiku historical area, just off the Ebisu Dori covered walkway. Keep going straight a few steps after the roof ends, and you are sure to bump into one of the wonderful volunteers handing out flyers. Take their word, and don't be afraid of what is down the narrow alley they point to, and pretty soon you'll come to a lot filled with green tents, good food and smiling people.

Fun with high tech toys

We had some visitors last week, and while chatting of this and that, they mentioned the very fancy Geiger counter they bought, and that they happened to have it in their car. Naturally we all decided to try it out!

The first step was to check the reading far from the chickens (16 something-or-others), then near the chicken house (16 again), and finally, inside the egg-layer chicken house, where the reading was slightly lower (less radiation from above, one assumes) at 15 what-have-yous.

A good news sort of day, especially when combined with the faxed results of the egg testing: no radioactive ions detected! Happy chickens.

Lovely winter sun

Okayama is "hare no kuni" or the land of sunshine. Every now and then I doubt the accuracy of the title, but today I loving the gorgeous sunshine with all my heart. So nice. After a minus five degree Celsius night, the warmth of standing in direct sunshine is wonderful.

So, what do we with the sunshine today? Dry the harvest, of course.

All these lovely beans are destined to become anko, simmered kuromame and miso. I don't care for the first two myself, as it happens, but people who know have told me that the an and kuromame we grow and cook is very, very good. The miso, I do like, and always comes out great, both as plain miso and cooked up into walnut miso or shiso miso. Good stuff!

Wait, it's December?

It's hard to believe Christmas is almost here. Especially since, with one thing and another, there are no presents under the tree yet. And also no tree, in the house, anyway. After killing last year's evergreen with the lack of sunlight in the house, we decided to go with evergreen boughs indoors, and decorations on the plum tree outside. My winter cheer needs are not quite being met, though, so as I write I am forming a plan to buy a potted citrus tree, decorate it and set it atop the presents (just as soon as they are ready - soon!). Then, come next week, I can give it a happy home outdoors. Yep, that's the new plan.

That, and to bring in some more firewood. We had an absurdly warm fall, and are going into shock with the sudden onset of winter and daily frosts. We only started making fires in the last week or so, and I am just today washing the heavy winter coats (right, must go hang those up now! 'Kay, that's done). The winter veggies did great with the unseasonable weather, though, and we've been feasting on (nabe) winter hot-pot with napa cabbage and daikon radish and carrots and green onions from the garden, plus tofu or meat. Probably four nights a week we are eating either that or the same selection of veggies and protein steamed. Possibly it is time for new additions to the menu (certainly my five year old daughter has been hinting as much - any napa cabbage, bok choi or daikon dishes to recommend?).

So anyhow, that is what December is looking like here right now - veggies piling up (and also being sent home with customers, which is nice for everyone), bread and sweets taking on a winter-y and Christmas-y flavor (did I mention the cherry liqueur soaked fruit bread they are baking today? My gluten free self would be more envious if it weren't for the fact that I can drink the cherry liqueur!), and me scrambling to remember how we survive winter in this draughty old farmhouse.

Season's greetings!

Breakfast, anyone?

I found this nest hidden under the feed shelf. Several Henrietta's have remembered how to fly (don't worry, they are safe again now - I put in taller netting yesterday) and have been spending their laying hours outside. One secret nest down, how many to go, I wonder? At any rate, I am glad the weather is cool, so the eggs are bound to be pretty fresh. I'll eat these ones myself - fried eggs? Crepes? Brownies?

Thanks For All the Kind Words!

I just wanted to take a few minutes to say a big thank you to all the kind folks who stopped by the comments on my last post to share support for our lovely Henriettas. You guys made me smile lots and lots and made the stress step back a few paces. Thank you all so much!