Vintage Home and Farm

Like most everyone else, we've been hunkering down at home and doing our best not to catch and spread COVID-19 in our community.  Daily phone calls and texts with family and friends are a lifeline and help us stay connected.  My sister reminded me yesterday that I was overdue in posting a farm update - so here it is!  We've been spending a significant amount of time working in the yard and garden -- an activity that just about everyone I know has been indulging in as well.  Right now across the country, I have a feeling that perhaps a few million people have planted vegetable seeds and have been spending time baking bread and other treats, too.  Something about this time we are in has caused my family to want to listen to jazz and swing music, especially from the 1920s through 1940s.  Take a listen!   I am feeling a strong connection to the past, to my grandmother's and great grandmother's eras.  While listening, I like to imagine how often this m...

Aren't ducklings cute?  We couldn't resist.  On Thursday my daughter helped me clean out the giant metal feeding trough that will serve as their new "home".  We washed it out and then set it in the sunroom on the back of the house to dry.  This morning I put several inches of pine shavings inside it, cleaned out a water container and food dish for them, and installed the heat lamp.  Then I went to Airport Garden Nursery as soon as they opened.  There was already a line of people waiting in their cars.   The nursery is considered an essential business here in Washington and so it remains open during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It was quite a challenge to continue social distancing while the mad rush was going on to get these birdies.  I clearly wasn't the only one looking to purchase chicks and ducks.  A bit worried they'd run out before it was my turn, I nonetheless waited patiently in my vehicle until my number was called.  Then, ...

My mother was known for offering folk remedies whenever anyone in the family was ill.  At times we teased her for it, but the truth is, my mother's lemon and honey concoction worked wonders at soothing my own childhood sore throats and colds.   My mother's recipe involved cutting up a whole lemon and cooking it in a saucepan full of water on the stove for a few hours.  Once it was finished cooking down, she'd use a fork to press out as much of the pulp as she could from the lemon and then discard the rind.  Then, she'd add honey - a LOT of honey, perhaps half a jar - and then this lemon-honey syrup was refrigerated.  To serve, she would put a couple tablespoons of the lemon-honey syrup in a mug and then fill the mug the rest of the way with hot water. While my mom's remedy was great, as an adult who is feeling ill, I usually need a lemon-honey concoction immediately and don't have the energy when I'm sick to cook a lemon into syrup. About a year ago, I bega...

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...