I got up early this morning and dressed warmly so I could go out and watch the sunrise. There were some deer enjoying breakfast in the meadow as I walked down the road. Even though they were several hundred yards away from me, when they saw me they bounded away. Later, on my way back to the house, I saw a deer in the meadow close to the road. We stared at each other for a few seconds, I took a picture, then it turned and bounced away.
After doing the milking with Valerie, I was starving and ready for breakfast, petit déjeuner, as they say in French, ‘little lunch’. I walked into the kitchen and could smell bacon! And even better, bacon that I could slice myself from one of the farm pigs. I have never cut my own slices of bacon, mine ended up being a little thicker than I intended, but they cooked up really well, and it was hands-down the most delicious bacon I’ve ever had, sooooo flavorful. I think I am spoiled now, store-bought bacon is just never going to taste as good. Kind of like when I lived in New Zealand and got used to their delicious butter, then moving back to the US where the butter was never as good.
Later, Valerie told me about a walk through one of the meadows that would take me across a stream into a small group of maple trees, where there was rope swing. I checked it out, and kind of felt a little like Laura Ingalls in the opening sequences of Little House on the Prairie romping through a wildflower strewn meadow. I found the stream and crossed it on a little piece of wood in between the banks and saw the maple trees. Some of the leaves were starting to turn yellow and red and there was the rope swing. I sat on it, and the branch seat promptly broke in two! At first I was very embarrassed and wasn’t sure what to do. As I looked around I noticed there were other broken branches scattered nearby, I think over time the wood becomes weathered and stressed and breaks. Luckily, one of the pieces was big enough that I could re-attach it to make a slightly smaller seat. I did that and gingerly tested it. It held up, so that made me feel better.
Today I spent time weighing and labeling cheese. It was satisfying work, especially when we sampled a bit of each round to make sure it tasted ok. They all did. 😛
Two firsts happened during my evening chores today-I found an egg (they are usually all gathered up by the time I am doing evening chores) and I got to bring the goats from the field to the barn for milking all by myself (yes, I sound like a 3 year old!).
The sun was setting behind the trees when I was walking back from feeding the pigs-I love the light that time of day.
Dinner was made up almost exclusively of food grown or made on the farm-a Greek salad, roasted zucchini topped with cheese and pasta with assorted veggies. Delicious! Almost every day I walk into the kitchen and there are fresh veggies on the table.
I had to laugh when I was looking up ideas for how to deal with the swelling in my hands from milking the goats, the example of an overuse activity they gave was playing golf. Lol, that was definitely oriented towards a different audience!