June 2022 | The Elliott Homestead
Hey friends. Happy June.
Though the weather has finally turned and my skin is rosy and warm to the touch after pruning tomatoes yesterday in the market garden, my head has decided it would like to have a “cold”. It feels so silly to be blowing my nose when the robins are dancing amongst the roses. I would so much rather be doing anything else than nursing myself back to health.
But when I’m stressed - perhaps a bit worn this - this always happens. It’s my body’s way of communicating that it would like me to settle the heck down, please. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible for me here on the farm, and the past few weeks have been no exception.
We’ve done a quick family vacation to the lake with friends, are continuing to manage the stressful construction of our entire basement/laundry room/bedroom, Stu has played some music with friends at local wineries, we’ve had family come to visit and stay with us (it was quite the slumber party in the living room as we’re still sleeping on a mattress on the floor), we’ve delivered our cow to her summer boyfriend, we delivered the sheep to their summer pasture, and have tried to keep our head above water with managing the gardens. Oh - and you know - that other little thing called work. Sometimes, the only way forward is through. So forward we go.
Forward, to us, looks like a lot of activity and changes - some good, some scary, some unexpected. Sit back, pour a glass, and come join me on the farm for a few moments, won’t you?
On The Farm
We hit a high temperature last year of 117 degrees. That is painfully hot - and we weren’t the only ones who felt it. A massive amount of cattle in our area turned up open (that is, not pregnant) which is a natural response to such weather. I’m not sure if it was the heat or the age of our neighbor’s bull that caused his man-parts to shrivel up, but shrivel up they did. It’s a bull we’ve used before, Cece was showing no signs of cycling - badda bing, badda boom. Or so we thought.
As we waited for a calf to drop this spring, we began to think that maybe we should have gotten a confirmed preg check after all. And when I received a text from the bull’s owner that his cows were all left open and Bully’s man-bits were a quarter of the size that they once were, I knew we were looking at an open cow. Bummer.
I prayed about it, gave thanks for her health, and accepted the hard truth that this too is from the Lord. I badly, badly, did not want to face a year without milk. But there was nothing to be done other than find a new bull for Cece to spend some time with.
I’m happy to report she’s now spending her days grazing grass in a nearby valley with a very thick, and fertile, beef bull.
It’ll still be 9 months until we see a calf hit the ground, but luckily, I’ve learned a bit of patience in my years of farming.
CRAZY part of the story is that my friend Molly just happens to have an extra dairy cow - a confirmed open cow of hers dropped a calf unexpectedly. She asked me if I would trade some garden produce for use of her bonus dairy cow while we wait out Cece’s pregnancy. I love when community circles around each other. So I will soon be bringing a new cow to the farm to milk while Cece spends her summer living her best life. Looks like I don’t have to face a year of no milk after all.
The whirlwind starts with the fact that we also have to bring new breeding ewes to the farm this year as well. All of our current ewes are getting a bit too old for breeding and are all slightly genetically related to our new breeding ram that we kept back from last year’s lamb crop. He’s a beauty and exactly what you hope for in a ram (masculine, gentle with the ladies, good flesh on his bones, docile around us), which means new, young ewe genetics need to brought in. Let the sheep shopping begin!
Life’s never dull, is it.
In The Kitchen
Over on YouTube a few weeks back, we made a wonderful (and quick!) weeknight meal: Lemon Spaghetti. In the video, I made homemade pasta, but boxed pasta will work just fine and save you time and effort. It’s a bright, flavorful, and dead-simple dish that is good warm, cold, for lunch, or supper. Enjoy!
I’m feel very excited and richly blessed to have had such a positive response to the announcement that we are now doing intimate, long-form workshops via ZOOM. While we deeply desire to do these in person on our farm (and in Italy) this is a wonderful place for us to meet while we continue to build those dreams. We’ve already sold-out our Summer Supper workshop, but have put three more on the calendar.
You can browse the entire workshop schedule and all the appropriate details right here.
Spots are already beginning to fill in for the newly announced workshops and packets of goodies are being mailed out as we speak! All participants, near and far, receive a packet of information, a cookbook, a branded apron, a piece of sourdough starter, and more before the workshop so that we can cook together with joy and great pleasure during the class!
Please do let me know if you have any questions - I’m here to help. I would love to “see” some of you there. shaye@theelliotthomestead.com for more information.
As always, our Cooking Community is absolutely spilling over with recipes, inspiration, instruction, and homemade goodness. Each month, I deliver five new whole-food based recipes and a long cooking instructional video to guide members through new techniques, flavors, and recipes. There’s also the added bonus of our private, online community forum with endless amounts of fellowship and ideas from other homecooks. If you’re looking for inspiration and growth in your kitchen, we’d love for you to join us.
In The Studio
Shaye Elliott art studio will soon be moving much of it’s inventory to a very small little office in our historic downtown. This will allow us to house a lot more frames that will be available on the art site for purchase and also have a slightly larger studio space to explore.
I delight packaging the art in a frame, signing and stamping each piece. There isn’t a piece of this entire process that isn’t done by my own two hands and it is a great pleasure to not only put them together, but also see the photographs of how they look in your home once they arrive.
Here is “Concertina" in a gilded frame. Signed, stamped, packaged, and available now:
As always, cellphone covers always available (and also our best selling item!). Enjoy!
In The Garden
We filmed a long and beautiful tour of our late-spring garden so you could take a little tour around our flower gardens! Each year they get more and more beautiful - and for the gardener who pulls all the weeks, that is so encouraging.
I hope you can take some time to enjoy our garden tour right here.
Still photographs of the garden are right here if you (like me) work better with those than videos.
Though never dull, I’ve sat back in completely awe and gratitude at the fullness of the vegetables beds, the beauty of the flowers, and the gift of getting to spend each day alongside my little family. It’s loud, sloppy, messy, tangled, and hard work. I’m grateful.
Oh! And Homemaker Chic is back for Season 12! This season is all about answering your direct questions. If you’re a podcast listener and would like your question answered, follow us @homemakerchicpodcast on Instagram and submit your question via a DM.
May your June be blessed, my friends.
Cheers,
Shaye