Sometimes life stinks.

The mower is not working perfectly. The truck had a flat tire. The tractor is still out of commision. The laundry mountain in the basement continues to grow. At least there is a basket of clean socks if you care to match them yourself. Yesterday I had to go to Fincastle to take care of some business. Dropped off little girls to play with the Thomas family. Dropped of Maggie to play with Moekel family. Continued up the road to pick up feed for the animals at a family run mill, Sunrise Farms, offering non-GMO grains. They are very reasonably priced, but due to supply and demand, had to raise prices from $11 a bag to over $13. Ouch. I then stopped in to The Cheese Shop to purchase grain for bread-baking. Wheat went from $31 to almost $40 in less than 3 weeks time. I have many customers who love spelt bread. Spelt berries went from $40 something to $98+tax a 50lb bag. OUCH. Guess we won't be offering much spelt these days.

Life in the land of milk and honey is not perfect. Some days seem full of an extra high percentage of bad news. We are all tired from many hours of work tending our garden and maintaining the farm. BUT, I still love our life on the farm. Yesterday morning, as I put on my go to town clothes, Patrick ran into the house. "Naomi just had a baby lamb!" We all rushed out and got to witness the birth of baby lamb #2. Wow. And even made it to my appointment on time with minimal manure on my town shoes! Our herd of sheep has grown to over double! Those sweet mamas are taking good care of their babies. Baby goats are growing. New ones to come any day now. Garden is growing. The other night we had some of the best spinach, green onion and feta pizza I have ever eaten, picked moments before cooking.

Speaking of feta, here is a funny story. Last summer I tried my hand at making feta cheese with goat's milk. It turned out-alright- but not exactly what I wanted. Tucked it in a plastic bag and shoved it in the back of the cheese drawer because I didn't have the heart to throw it out.

We, on rare occasion, take everything out of the fridge and clean it. But when I opened the bag of moldy cheese it didn't smell bad, so we would shove it back in there. WELL, some of our friends came over for Tuesday night supper. She asked if I had any feta cheese for the pizza. I said no. She proceeded to dig through the cheese drawer any way. Ughhhh. Now she knows I have a gross refrigerator that hasn't been cleaned in at least 2 months or so... She pulls out the infamous bag of moldy cheese. Opens it. Smells. I tell her it is my experiment. Better not try it. She grabs a knife and proceeds to cut off the moldy rind. Tastes. (Is this a bold friend, or what?) Declares it is one of the best goat cheeses she has ever eaten. WHAT!?!? I taste. It is creamy, picquant, just enough depth, no overwhelming goaty essence. It was absolutely delicious. We put it on homemade freshly ground whole wheat pizza crusts with the spinach combo and a fresh arugula, sun-dried tomato pesto combination. Unbelievable.

Out of a poor, forsaken, moldy plastic bag came a wonderful surprise. Delight in the middle of not very pleasant circumstances. Hmmm. OK I get the message. I love our sometimes stinky life on the farm.


"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." Better go get to work on the laundry.