More babies!

More babies delivered! These are Cupcake's two babies - one boy (black and white) and one girl (white). They are very long and skinny. The boy has a bum leg that we hope will recooperate quickly, we think maybe the ligaments got stretched in Cupcake's belly. Cupcake loves these kids and gives them lots of attention but refuses to feed them so they are with us most of the time. I have learned a very crash course in milking. Poor Cupcake has to deal with my learning curve!

Buttercup gave birth to twins!

Our Lamancha Buttercup had 2 beautiful baby girls this afternoon!  We are so proud of her, she is a super mom!  More pictures tomorrow when I find the cord to my camera!  - Be well

Baby goats!

These are the babies I am fostering for another farm until they have the living space ready.  They are the cutest little things ever but I'm afraid they've been rough on my poor pregnant goats who have bagged up early.  Our goats, Buttercup and Cupcake are due tomorrow but today might be the day.  I say this although I've been watching Cupcake obsessively since Sunday when she showed her first signs - which turned out to be the beginning of nothing....  I am writing this to you from my car parked in front of the barn - my new office space.  I can also work from the house with the 'baby' monitor but I have a feeling the goats are playing a game - they wait until I get settled and then make a noise that makes me run back down here!  I swear I saw Cricket laugh one time when I can running down at 3am in my pj's and slippers!

We've got babies!

This is Sasnoodle ('SI snoodle -star wars) and Arwen ('arrow win' - lord of the rings)  We are adopting/fostering 4 goats.  These are my two tiny lamancha mixes and then there are two older girls I will share pictures of when I borrow my nieces camera!  We also have a goat showing signs of labor - Cupcake!  We are thinking she will have 2 babies.  We will see....  I spent last night sleeping on the barn floor with her hoping it would be soon but nothing yet.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

I love Oak Leaf Dairy!

We went to Oak Leaf Dairy tonight to get our hay and say 'Hi' to our friends Mark and Jackie and to see the baby goats! There are some boys and girls that need wonderful adopting families. This is a little boy. Please let me know right away if you are thinking of adopting a kid this year!!!! I picked out 2 girls I MUST have. I've just got to convince John......

Hanging with the kids, the human ones....

I was driving the kids to our drum class last night and Emma told Kaylah she really liked Kaylah's question to Sedona (all nieces), Kaylah had asked Sedona who lives on the other side of the country; "If you chased the sun, would the sun never set?"  Chase said (he is 15 which makes it funnier), 'its too bad Spongebob and Patrick didn't think of that when they had the very best day with Wormy, it would have never ended!'  This lead to a conversation with all of them about how you would attempt to chase the sun.  I love hanging out with my nieces and nephews, it never fails to make me LOL or put a smile on my face.

Harriet the Great!

Harriet has been sitting on her eggs (and a few others) for a while now and today I went to check on her and make sure she had the little water and food by her side and there was one egg out in the middle of the coop.  At first I was going to return it but then I thought about the effort she went through to get rid of it.  So, I finished my chores and brought the egg in to candle it.  Well, it was a floating yoke - no baby chick.  It is amazing that out of the 6 eggs, she knew this one was not going to hatch already.  Maybe being called a 'bird brain' is a compliment!

Goats!

When I was a kid my father would take us on adventures.  He still does this today with the grandkids.  One such adventure ended in a strange broken down kind of farm petting zoo.  This is where I fell in love with my first goat.  I loved it so much my dad took a picture and blew it up to a 8x10:

Tonight I was out with the goats and they are not happy because they are swollen and pregnant and hot and tired.  I sat on the edge of their house and Cupcake layed down next to me and rested her head on my leg.  I rubbed her back and her neck and she layed still with occassional attempts to take the sparkly ring off my finger.  I thought, this is the life and laughed a little about this guy at the petting zoo that was the first sign of the life I would someday lead.

Be well!

Busier than ever and loving it!

We are so grateful to all of our loyal customers/friends and all of our new friends at the store!  This year has been busier than ever and we aren't even into the full season!  We have SO MANY great new products from locally homemade eco-friendly laundry detergent (check out Pennies a Brew) locally made organic chocolate bars (Check out Moo Chocolate)!  It has been so fun to meet all of these new people doing what they have a passion for.  There is so much positive energy in them, they can float you through even the hardest working days!

One of those people is my new friend Lisa and her horse Apple!  She stopped in the store yesterday morning and said, 'Hey, lets go for a ride!'  Just like that.  And off I went into the sunset (well, not really, it was 10am) with Apple :)

Apple

This is Apple, he's a police horse from NY, NY who moved out to the country after sustaining an on the job injury.  He loves carrots and apples and peppermint and visits us often with his friend Lisa.  I LOVE this job!

Vermont Peanut Butter is HERE!

First off:  New Product we've been waiting for just came in!!!!

OMGOODNESS!!!! We now have Vermont Peanut Butter! Flavors; Good Karma (Dark Chocolate PB), Avalanche (PB w/ White Chocolate), Champlain Cherry (Almond butter with Cherries & Dark Chocolate), Green Mountain Goodness (Almond & PB with flax... & Pumpkin Seeds), Maple Walnut (PB w/ Vermont Maple Syrup & Walnuts), Mad River Mojo (Almond & PB w/ Cranberries & Seeds), Beenut Butter (PB w/ Honey), Creamy, & Chunky!!!! No preservatives, No trans fats or GMO's, No hydrogenated or palm oils, No excess sugar, Very low sodium - they are nutty about nutrition - 10 grams of fat per serving!  100% Natural!

New organic products!

Our new products of the day are Neptune's Harvest organic fish&seaweed fertilizer (2-3-1) and Black Gold organic potting soil! You can check out the company links here. You asked for it, we got it (but we aren't Toyota- We are the Connecticut Country Store and we are working for you!

Neptune's harvest and Black Gold

garlic basil pesto!!!!

I spent this morning harvesting basil from our plants that are growing growing growing!  I will give away the basil in the store, but I will have plenty to make a few batches of garlic basil pesto!  I love this for a quick toss with pasta and veggies in the summer.  I have all the ingredients at home waiting for the fresh basil!  I use this recipe I modified from http://www.allrecipe.com/!

Ingredients


3 cups chopped fresh basil
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Directions:

Put basil and oil into the food procesor and blend to a paste.  Add other ingredients gradually and blend until it is smooth.  I put some aside in the refridgerator and then I fill an ice tray with the rest and freeze cubes for use later!

Its a good life!

This morning Dori (our Catahoula Leopard) was limping terribly.  John took the dogs for a short walk yesterday and sometimes she strains her very lazy body but I've noticed that she's been getting a little thinner this month as well.  I'm afraid she has the dreaded lyme disease.  Roxi had lyme disease recently and she had some of the same issues.  I have also had lyme disease.  Ticks are everywhere!  They say this year will be worse because of the mild weather.  Because of this I am considering allowing my polish chickens to free range during the day.  The silkie mixes can't do this because they are small and do not fly well - they would make perfect prey.  The polish, however, are already flying high in thier young age and twice the size of the silkies of the same age.  I will have to investigate this... 

I spend Tuesdays and Thursdays as a research associate for a local state college.  It is a perfect balance with my other lives as an entrepreneur and a hobby farmer.  I actually get to sit down 2 days a week!  ha!  This past year I have drastically changed my life with the support of family and friends and my wonderful husband.  And I am so happy and life is so good.  When I talk to some people about our adventure they respond with words that indicate they would like to change their own lives, but they can't.  I used to respond the exact same way - it will work for you but not for me.  I would see their energy and their enthusiasm and not see myself in that. 

Here I am on the other side now.  A series of life circumstances affected me profoundly and I found myself saying 'Why not me?  Why not now?'  And I dove into a new life and I find that energy THROUGH the enthusiasm.  I want to tell these people that want to change their lives that there is nothing special about me that made this all work, you just need desire and faith.  A person from my old job came in to the store yesterday and said, "I didn't recognize you, you look so.....happy".  And I am. 

Be Well, my friends, and Be Happy!

A beautiful April afternoon

I have finally updated the Connecticut Country Store Events Page to show the next 4 months of activities including a rain date for the Spring Re-opening event with petting zoo which is scheduled for May 20th from 10-2pm!

The goats are wobbling about looking as if they might have the kids at any minute!  And they LOVE their food!  John tried to go hang out with them last night while I was driving home from New Jersey where I spent the day with family.  He said they would not give him a bit of attention just looking for food and yelling at the fence for me to come bring it to them!  They are getting very demanding!

Today was a beautiful day!  It is so nice to be able to enjoy the weather every day.  I love spending time in our greenhouse enjoying the warmth and the smells of herbs and flowers and tomatoes and dirt.  And visiting with our friends who come in to check out the new building or the new flowers or just to chat.  These are wonderful days when I get to spend them at the store.  I have met so many wonderful people and heard so many interesting stories.  So many people come in remembering the store when the Popple's ran it.  I hope to be able to help people as much as they did.

We are into another week of fun with new products coming in all the time :)  We look forward to the goats kidding on the 28th and I've got 6 chicken eggs under Harriette right now due to hatch the same weekend.  The bees are happy and buzzing around like mad.  I am able to check on them without the suit right now.  They are eating heavy sugar water and coming out when its warm enough to go hunting for more food.  It is a happy time at Arrowhead farms and the Connecticut Country Store.

Be Well!

The farm is buzzing!

Yesterday we installed our 20,000 (give or take a few) bees and today with weather in the 60's they were buzzing around and having a great time.  I went out to thier hives this morning after feeding the goats and just stood there.  If you have never stood in front of a hive, it is an experience.  The bees are flying in and out and whizzing past you so fast you can only see a streak and hear a quick buzz.  My inspiration for getting the bees was not honey (although that totally has helped my allergies and I no longer take any allergy meds most of the year!).  Before they came, I loved to sit out in the garden in the morning, when it was quiet and the ground still damp, and listen and watch the bees work.  Sometimes they would land on me or there would be bunches all around me and they were so busy, so determined at thier duties, that it was like I was not there at all.  I loved that.  SO, being me, I went out and bought 20,000 of them.  ha!  This is not to say that I didn't hold my breath and say a little prayer when THAT many were crawling all over me - I did.  Now I'm more used to them in large numbers, calmer, I can breath easier when I change their feeder or drone comb.  And there are times, like this morning, when the sun is warm and the silence is all around me and I can stand with arms stretched out taking in all of those busy creatures and just smile and know 'Life is Good'.

Be well!

Our Bees Are Here Early!

We got our 2 bee packages early!  I picked them up after work today and then Jeff and I installed them using the lights of my car :)  Everything went well, we followed our own tutorial video made our first year (Youtube video on installing bees our first year).  Today I was emailing with my girlfriend and she said, "Thank you for the honey, my face is so smooth".  I thought, 'what a weird thing to say'....  So I wrote her and said, you put it in your tea, NOT on your face!  And she said that you do both.  Once a week she used a brush and applies a thin layer of my honey to her face.  She lets it stay on for 20 minutes and then rinses with warm water.  She says her face is as smooth as a babies bottom!  I was going to post a link to a site that describes this but there are a million and they are all generally the same.  The antibacterial effects of honey as well as the anti-inflammatory properties make it the best facemask!  There is even postings that it cured bad acne!  Oh, what I would have loved to know as a teenager!  haha!

At first we put 2 full hive bodies together.  Once we watched our video we remembered that we only want one hive body to start...

This is a drone comb that I don't need yet.  It is used to encourage the queen to lay drone (male) eggs here.  The mites then attach to the larvae.  I take this whole thing and freeze it killing all the bees (no offense guys, but we don't need male bees) and the excess mites which is a natural way to keep the mite population under control.  Another thing we do is dusting the hive and bees with powdered sugar to get the mites to fall off and go to the ground where they die.

I love bees, I know its crazy!  This whole project started not so much for the honey as my desire to see them all enjoying the garden in the morning.  My favorite thing about having a huge garden was spending the morning with them while harvesting dinner.

We are trying to pick the best comb for the starter body and I needed one with space for my queen who comes in a small package where she lives until the sugar plug is eaten and she is released to her new loving community.  If she gets out early, the loving community may actually kill her!  Scary times!

Jeff is filling the feeder with sugar water.  5 pounds of sugar with 1/2 gallon of water to make a yummy spring syrup!

Shaking the sugar syrup!

Somehow I lost the inside of my cap so I had to keep pushing it up my head.  You have to wear a face mask because getting stung on the face causes enough swelling to make it hard to see!

Taking out the queen and her helpers!

Taping the queen's cage to the comb.

We are about to dump the first 10,000 bees into the hive - then the darn battery on the phone wore out!  OH well!  Goodbye!

Grand Re-opening, check out our new store!!!!

Here are pictures from this weekend the morning after the grand re-opening!  For comments on each you will have to visit us on Facebook, the blog is not a friendly place for mass picture loads!  Just look up 'Connecticut Country Store' on facebook or click on the link on the left side of this blog :)