Vintage Home and Farm

Gardening can be a great way to relieve stress and anxiety.  I know most of us are feeling some level of stress as we're reading the news and seeing that most of the world is social distancing to try to stem the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).  The constant worry and fear about the virus can lead to a terrible sense of unease.  Some of the physical effects of too much worry are tension headaches, sleepless nights and higher blood pressure.  All of this is hard on our immune systems.  We want our immune systems to be strong right now, and so it seems wise to take steps to relieve stress and reduce feelings of anxiety. To break the cycle of worry, like many families we've focused on all the positive and productive activities we can still do.  For us, that means reading, watching movies, playing music and getting outside in the fresh air.  We go for long walks with our dog.  And one pastime we've really dug into lately is working outside in the g...

This year instead of tilling up the entire garden, we decided to make due with what we have and just pull out the weeds.  We began work on it a few weeks ago at one end and then planted peas. As we looked over the remaining rows of monstrous weeds and took stock of what is left to do, we noticed that there are a number of vegetables that overwintered.  Amazingly, new growth has appeared on last year's kale, spinach, and swiss chard.  We never did cut down the broccoli and cabbage plants last fall, and the giant stems are sporting brand-new tender leaves. Three kinds of lettuce are growing throughout the garden from seeds that blew around during the fall, after the lettuce bolted. So there I have been out in the garden in mid-February and early March, sampling the leaves of all of these perpetual vegetables and finding that they taste quite good.  At least once daily you'll find me out there nibbling like a deer that has discovered a bounty of produce for th...

The ingredients on this sheet pan were so colorful that I had a need to share it.  It's one of the easiest ways to make meals that incorporates fresh vegetables with herbs and olive oil.  Sheet pan suppers! Simply slice veggies into smaller sizes that will cook quickly, then rub olive oil on everything, spread it out across a pan, sprinkle with your favorite herbs and seasonings -- we enjoy rosemary, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and only a little bit of salt -- and then bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or so.   After 10 minutes in the oven, use a spatula to turn and mix the veggies a bit so that they can brown on both sides.  As soon as the veggies are tender and your meat is cooked through, remove and enjoy! Our latest version of the sheet pan supper included several salmon fillets (given to us by our neighbor, Brian, who is an avid fisherman).  I added potato spears, mushrooms, tri-colored sweet peppers, and believe it or not freshly ...

Valentine's Day is upon us, and our sweet farm dog Mojo has something to say. You may be wondering why we taught our dog to say, "I love you." Or I guess for her, the words come out something more like, "I ruff you." Being the Scooby-Doo fans that we are, we thought it would be fun to teach our Springer Spaniel a few words.  After a couple days of encouragement along with some Scooby snacks, Mojo began to speak to us with her low growly voice.  Eventually she began to understand that we were looking for her to say just three growly words with a speech pattern that sounds like "I love you." Nowadays, Mojo says those three words pretty much anytime she wants anything from us.  She talks growly to us for her kibble, to get a bone, when she wants to sit up on the couch next to us (zoiks!), to be allowed up on the bed (jinkies!) and to go outside. (Can you tell she is the world's most spoiled dog?) If we mention going for a walk, the dog comes u...

The days are becoming longer which means several of our hens that had stopped laying over the dark and dreary months of fall and winter are now back in the nest.  Where most winter days we've been lucky to get a single egg, yesterday there were a whopping 4 eggs in one nest. The hens have a whole bunch of nests to choose from, but for whatever reason they prefer to wait and take turns in order to deposit every egg in just one nest. This does make it more convenient for me to gather the eggs. Included in yesterday's haul was one of the prized Easter eggs, a delightful green-shelled egg laid by Angel, our puffy-cheeked white Ameraucana hen.  We haven't been eating that many eggs lately and so I have now accumulated enough to fill this wire egg holder.  I can't decide if the wire holder is a bunny or a chick. It depends on how you look at it - we can see both. Angel and one of the Rhode Island Red hens that is appropriately named Little Red have been up to their old...

Today's snow may be short-lived but it is a reminder from Jack Frost that he hasn't lessened his grip on us quite yet. I've been watching the snow fall from our office window where I can also see the creek in the distance. Morse Creek has risen and is flowing rapidly, which makes me a little nervous.  This has been one of the wettest winters on record for our area.  The photo below is taken from the edge of our back yard this morning. Unaffected by the turbulent creek water, the trail along the creek looks so peaceful in the morning snow.

A year and a half ago, our family decided to leave our local physical public school system due to safety concerns.  Our daughter was surrounded by bad behavior from defiant and disrespectful students and while none of it was directed specifically at her, it was impairing her ability to concentrate and participate. Additionally, we were hearing that the instructors were unable to effectively cope with the number of students acting out, which creates an unsafe environment for everyone in the schools.  Our daughter was feeling anxious and depressed, dreading going to school and as a result her grades were negatively impacted. To address our concerns, we inquired at the schools to learn more and we were discouraged by the enormity of the problems in the schools.  So we began the journey of exploring homeschool options.  That's when we came across online public school as an alternative to homeschool.  While there are several online public school options in our area, ...