LONG DISTANCE CABIN BUILDING.
I would like to go ahead and apologize for the amount of times you will no doubt see or hear about me making cedar shakes on the blog over the next few months––it's gonna get ridiculous. Making enough shakes to cover the house is a huge endeavor and is going to occupy a big portion of my time. But one of the beauties of it is it's something we can do while we're in Nashville, right in the back yard with plenty of help!- Jesse.
EGG vs EGG.
One of the worst parts about being in Nashville this winter is being away from our chickens. Not only do we love them dearly, but let's be honest....we really love their eggs! They are a vital source of protein for us, and we were spoiled on having 15 ladies laying for us every day. Here in the city, a few eggs a day really begins to add up when you are buying them at the store! Is this the place for an "EGGSPENSIVE" pun???After Jesse's last trip to the cabin site, he brought back a truly great gift - eggs from the farm! As an experiment, we cracked one of the Bugtussle eggs next to one of the eggs we bought from the store. You can probably guess which is which.The amazing thing is, that is not a cheap egg. The store-bought egg is an organic, cage-free, yadda yadda whatever egg.....but I mean, LOOK AT IT. The Bugtussle egg is bright orange, the yolk is perfectly entact...it looks healthier. It just goes to show that "organic" has become a strange word, and one that requires some context. Bugtussle is not a certified organic farm....but which egg would you rather eat? Which chicken do you think spends it's days roaming free, pecking through cow manure and eating bugs and mice, free from any sort of confinement or stress?- Hannah.
TREE JUICE.
Have you ever had a glass of maple sap as it's being boiled down into syrup? It's a profound experience, perhaps even life changing––like an earthy sweet tea. When I went back to the farm this week, the Smiths were boiling down their sap––follow their experience here!––and let me have a taste. Now I want it every day with everything.I feel there are a lot of possibilities with sap, and with trees: wines, beers, medicines, syrups. In fact, recently, a friend sent us some hickory syrup (made from the nuts, husks and bark of a hickory tree) and some crabapple jelly. They're wonderful. We've put them on bread and on biscuits and (hopefully soon) pancakes.Anyone have any other good tree/sap recipes? We're into it!- Jesse.
A LITTLE MORE PROGRESS.
I got to make another trip back to the farm this Wednesday. Unfortunately, Hannah had to work, so once again she didn't get to come. It's a bummer––truly. It's not just that we're one of those obnoxious couples who suck at being apart––though we totally are––it's also that she hasn't been back to the farm since December and she misses it, the Smiths, the animals, the work. I am, however, excited for the next time she does get to go for her to see all the progress we've made. We've just about got a threshold for me to carry her through!––we just need to build some stairs to get to it...My goals for this trip were to cut some cedar logs to bring back and turn into shakes here in Nashville (check); finish the wiring (nearly check––ran out of wire again); put up some insulation (check––though still a lot left to do there). And although mulching a third of the high tunnel was not on the agenda, I ended up getting that done, too. It was bitterly cold working in the cabin, so when I would get a chill––which seemed embarrassingly often––I would go work in the high tunnel to warm up. It happened so much that I eventually accomplished an enormous task: mulching enough area for our early tomatoes. Starting early tomatoes, however, is a whole other issue. But more on that another time.
This week, our goal is to get a wood stove. We don't need a big one for our tiny cabin. Just something like the Smith's that we can cook buckwheat pancakes on, perhaps!- Jesse.
