April 2022 | The Elliott Homestead

You may have noticed that it's already the 19th... and I'm just now sitting down to spill out words for April's newsletter. Though we've already had a very active month over on our paid newsletter, our monthly round up of all things Elliott Homestead is a bit delayed. Whoops.

I do have a valid excuse though: it comes in the form of 14" of heavy snow.

Last week was "one for the books" as they say. My friend Natali once told me "It's either a good time now or a good story later." Let's just say that last week must be one of those "good story later" weeks because it certainly wasn't a good time. Just as the cherry blossoms opened and blanketed the hills around our home, and just as the tulips were in full bloom, and just as I'd put the two dozen new chicks into the outdoor chicken run, our valley was hit with a storm like I've never seen. Freezing temperatures and a massive snow storm. My 15' juniper push was layed down by the weight of it, almost completely parallel to the ground. We gave it out best and quickly began knocking the snow off rose bushes, tree limbs, shrubs, and shelters. But it was too much for many of them: trees snapped, daffodils and tulips were flattened, limbs were broken.

For the gardener, it was about as bad as it gets.

But that was last week. The snow has since melted. I made many pots of chicken soup and loaves of freshly baked bread to get us through. We kept fires going in the kitchen and living room all week and relaxed our school schedule a bit to accomodiate a bit of emotional rest.

And now, I'm ready for a beach vacation (please and thank you).

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On The Farm

After enjoying a winter of being lazy freeloaders, I'm happy to say that our chicken gang is back in full swing. The result is anywhere from 18-24 eggs a day. Our family of six can easily eat this many, but I'm also focused on preserving some of the bounty for next winter (when they go back to being lazy freeloaders for a few months). There are loads of ways to preserve eggs, but in this video, I'm showing you how I'm going about putting away DOZENS and DOZENS of eggs easily this spring when the eggs are at their very best.

​You can watch the video right here.​ And here's the equipment I use right here. ​

Last week on YouTube, I also used some of the lamb shanks that we harvested last year to make a really beautiful, thick broth to utilize in a gigantic pot of homemade risotto. In this video, there's no talking: just some footage of me, in my kitchen, making a massive batch of stock and supper for a crowd. I hope you enjoy it.​

Recipe for the risotto is in the video description :)

​​Lastly, I took you on a tour of our Charles Dowding "No Dig Market Garden" in its second year, which you can watch right here. ​

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In The Studio

And, as always, I'm deeply grateful for all of you who continue to purchase work from my art shop. My love for my "studio" photography continues to grow, evolve, and reflect our live here on the farm. I hope you enjoy the new images we created this past month.

We posted some one-off originals last month and sold out in just two hours. More will be hitting the shop in two weeks: stay tuned!

​Only Cheese​

​First Taste​

​Pink Tulips​

If you'd like to gift your Mom something beautiful for Mother's Day, may I suggest The Garden Rose Collection, The Rustic Collection, or The Kitchen Collection of greeting cards? If you order now, we will have just enough time to get them shipped out and delivered to you. Each set includes 10 cards + 10 envelopes. You can shop all the card collections right here.

If you're looking for something a bit different, you can browse the available puzzles right here or even shop cell-phone covers right here. ​

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In The Kitchen

Cooking Community members! Make sure to cook through this month's recipe - we're celebrating Easter! Recipes + instructional cooking video are on the member site. Here's a peek at what we're enjoy this month over in The Elliott Homestead Cooking Community.​

If you're not a member, I hope these images inspire you to get in the kitchen and cook something beautiful and delicious. Even if it's just for yourself.

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What’s Inspiring Me

• ​Good, clean wine. Always. ​

• A Good Year. My favorite movie of all time. I've watched it twice this month and have no intentions of not watching it thrice.

• Etsy. I'm decorating our entire new basement master suite off Etsy. It's like my favorite thrift store but one where I can find proper antiques and one-of-a-kind-items. I don't have favorite stores, I just spend time scrolling until I find exactly what I need. This week's purchase: a bathroom light fixture and vintage tapestry for above the bed!

• Recently bit the bullet and bought a Tonal home-gym system. A year into weight lifting, it was time for us to commit to having something at home we could use. While I still love free weights more, this resistance system is amazing and is super small - making it possible for us to have in our tiny cottage.

Thanks for being here, my friends! We’re so grateful for you all.

Cheers,

Shaye