Honey Bees Arrive!

Our friend Adolfo arrived today along with 6,000 Italian honey bees! We couldn't be more excited (okay, except for two weeks ago when we picked up our goats). Adolfo is a self-taught bee keeper -- having read tomes about these exquisite creatures back in Guatemala. He put his arm-chair knowledge to work last summer after rescuing an abandoned hive from a forgotten St. Olaf student project. Adolfo was living with us at the time, and thus we were the lucky landlords of the hive. Needless to say, after tasting our first spoonful of creamy honey (transformed by the bees from nectar in our yard) we were hooked!

So, we ordered bees of our own this year and, with Adolfo's help, hope to learn the art of bee keeping. Our Italian workers come from California (no local bee sellers -- can you believe it?) and are supposed to be the most gentle of all honey bees. Having grown up in an Italian family, I find it absolutely SHOCKING that the Italian honey bees are considered the most tolerant and even-tempered. Can anyone say "oxy-moron"??? In the picture below you'll see Rocky and Adolfo applying some store-bought honey to the hive frames -- this is just a bit of food to get them started before blooms emerge (the lilacs are close!) Our hive of 6,000 is expected to grow to 30,000 by summer's end! Honey in yogurt ... honey in tea ... honey on toast ... mmmm.

Bartering for All Things Yummy!

One of the true pleasures of producing our own, high quality, healthy food is that we can trade it with other artisans, gardeners, and foodies! Pictured here is lovely, hand tapped maple syrup from Nicoletta's third grade teacher. She bartered syrup for several dozen eggs last week (I think we got the better end of the deal!)

I absolutely love sharing in the bounty of others and am always privaleged when they ask for a trade. It seems like such a time honored way to connect with others in the community, make new friends, and fan a new passion. Last year I swapped eggs and herbs for Red Bee Balm, Anna Bell hydrangeas, and Black-Eyed Susans -- what a great way to gradually build our perrenial gardens! Can't wait to see what our chevre, goat soap, and honey will bring this year!

A Farming Legacy? Reflecting on My Roots

While I often say that "I have no connection to the farm" -- what I really mean, is that I did not grow up on a farm (nor did my father who couldn't have had a more urban upbringing living through the Great Depression and WWII in Detroit's "Motor City"). However, I come from a long line of "peasant" farmers (as my nana would say) -- who eeked out a living as shepherds in the hills of Intermesso in Abruzzo Italy.

Pictured here is my great-great-grandfather (bottom left), great-grandmother (Bettina, middle), and grandmother (Elgira, dark hair, top center). This photo, taken in Italy, always makes me pause -- seeing the dirt under my great-great-grandfather DiGiacomo's nails and the sparkle in his eye. Monetarily poor but happy, I imagine, to be connected to the land, digging in the soil, herding goats and sheep, and tending to the family gardens.

When my grandmother and her family came to America in 1913, they brought with them what would become a tradition of "backyard farming" -- chickens, fruit trees, a few pigs, and tomatoes. They made their own pork sausage in the basement, dried tomato paste on their tin roof, and the canned tomato sauce to last the winter. My "big nana" (great grandmother) never learned to speak English, unlike her children who Americanized as quickly as possible, but she spoke to me through food every time I sat in her kitchen during summer visits to Pennsylvania. I guess this is where my farming heritage comes from ... it's the only explanation I have for the goats in my backyard, tomato seedlings in my kitchen window, and chickens pecking in a side yard coop!

I expect Nicoletta will be the next in a long line growers to make the most of their land wherever it may be (even if we skipped a couple generations)!

Eggs!

Spring is in the air -- and that means more eggs from our small flock of eight laying hens. Soft blues, cinnamon browns, rich creams, and speckles -- nothing more beautiful than the natural palette of Mother Nature. Pictured here is "Pumpkin" -- one of our best layers -- a three year old "Red Star" from "Another Quality Chick" hatchery in Decorah, IA (www.decorahhatchery.com/). Nicoletta picked out Pumpkin when she was only a day old during a trip to Iowa with friends - which meant for a loud car ride home (lots of peeping, which is better than ... ahhh ... you know ... and if not, read our first blog entry and you'll get the idea).

So Many Visitors!

It seems that the goats have more friends than we do! We've had visitors non-stop since bringing our four-legged ladies home Sunday afternoon. Our nearest neighbors, of course, were here first to gawk and ... shake their heads. Next came friends on bikes and, the day after, the UPS driver did a double take, stopped his van and wandered up the driveway for a "look-see." Said he's always wanted a cow and asked if we would board it for him ... um, what do we look like -- a farm? Nothing like a couple of goats to build a little community!

The Star of the Show: Violet

Okay, so lots of friends are asking: 1) What kind of goat is that? 2) How old is she? 3) How much milk does she give? 4)What happened to her ears?! 5) Will she really eat Buckthorn? So, here you go ... everything you want to know about our star milker, Violet:

1. She is a La Mancha goat -- some books say the La Mancha is from Spain, others say that they originated in the United States somewhere in California ... I'm putting my money on Spain and guessing that the goats found their way to Mexico during that Conquistador period and then on up to California!
2. Violet is four years old.
3. We have been getting ONE GALLON of milk each day from our lovely lady.
4. She really does have ears - you just have to look close! The LaMancha goats have one of two ear types: gopher (almost non-existent like Violet's) or elf ears (about 1"-2" long).
5. As for Buckthorn ... We hope she devours it! So far though she has been munching on the oak firewood, my prize pagoda dogwood (we hope it lives), the sugar maple, tulips (just about to open ... ouch!).

Our First "clean" Milk

We ended up with a 1/2 gallon of gorgeous, relatively clean goat milk (in other words there were only a few goat hairs in the bucket by the time we were finished) today! And I can proudly say that more milk ended up in the bucket than on the floor (hey, I think I'm doing pretty good for a "city slicker" who has never milked anything before). We are beginning to get the hang of this milking thing! And, guess what? The milk actually tastes GOOD -- I mean, no "goaty" flavor. Apparently, goat milk only begins to taste goaty after having "aged" a bit ... so we are off the races and already counting up our savings at the grocery store! -- signing off, "Farm Hand" Gigi

Squeezing two goats (and family) into a Toyota 4-Runner

What do you get when you put two goats (one weighing 125 pounds), a ten year old, bags of hay, and feed in a car for three hours? A ... um ... really big mess! After our "mama" goat (named Violet) neglected to tell us that she could use a rest stop, we pulled into a gas station to purchase paper towels. As I was paying at the counter, I glanced out at the car (yeah, I was curious what the other gas station customers would think of our hauling two goats in a small SUV) and saw Violet "relieve" herself yet again (only this time it wasn't the liquid version and it ended up in Nicoletta's seat!) What can you do but laugh ... we only had 2 1/2 more hours of driving to go ...