Happy Easter from BSF

A beautiful spring day at Busy Solitude Farm. 

 Abe is keen on a day spent outdoors, on his tuffet!

Luke's just about to do some grooming.  Nothing a cat likes better than a bath in the sunshine!

We'll be spending the day outdoors -- hope you all have a lovely Easter!

It's my birthday!

 Spots been in a tussle; he didn't want his picture taken!

 And some of the hens had specific feelings about birthdays.

 

This Gold Laced Wyandotte is so pretty I had to share a close-up!

 

This is Eggy Jr.  He's taken over the boss job from his dad, who is retired to the iso -pen.

 

The middle white rooster.  As yet nameless.

 

Scruffy is spending a few days in the crate.  She was feeling punky.  She's rebounding nicely.

 

Can't get too near the ducks or they scatter.

 

But if you look closely, you'll see the Wacky Quackers were serenading me.

 

In the house, Abe offered his best wishes.

 

Luke wasn't as effusive.  He never is.

 

Ulani loves picture taking -- look right at the camera and smile!

Something moved in the far back yard.  But I'm sure Oskar was thinking "Happy Birthday Johanna" while he refused to look at the camera.  I'm sure of it!

And that is the birthday tour of Busy Solitude Farm for 2011!  I hope everyone enjoys my birthday!

Christmas at Busy Solitude Farm

U:  "Uncle Oskar, is it true that Santy Paws flies around the whole world tonight, bringing presents and biscuits to all good dogs everywhere?  What time do you think he'll get here?"

O:  "I must explain, Ulani, that he sees you when you are chasing the cats.  Or eating chickens.  Or stealing food off the kitchen counters.  Santy Paws sees everything."

U:  "Oh.  I didn't really want to meet him anyway."

Merry Christmas from
all of us at Busy Solitude Farm!

Have a Pac-Man Christmas!

After much struggle to get a single strand of lights around the little pine tree in the yard, I finally broke down and got a couple of those shrub light blankets.   Seemed a piece of cake until the timer switched on and I discovered...

Someone took a bite out of our lights!  Now a blizzard is bearing down on us, so I'm not certain if I'll be able to get this fixed, or if I should just enjoy having a "special" tree this year!

Ulani: Come into the kitchen!

The counters have been cleared off!

Well?

Please, I would be SO thankful for a cookie!

Weihnachtsstollen

It's a tradition.  Thanksgiving week I bake Weihnachtsstollen.  Yesterday was the day.

I met my first Weihnachtsstollen in 1979 when I was doing a semester abroad in Germany.  I lived with an elderly woman who had survived the firebombing of Dresden in the second World War, then escaped with her husband and the clothes on their backs just ahead of the Iron Curtain.  Grossmutti, as I called her, baked her stollen (which is also known as Dresden Stollen) in late November or early December, then placed the well-wrapped loaves "im Kammer" (which meant in the unheated vestibule closet) for a few weeks. 

The big reveal came the last Advent Sunday before Christmas, when at coffee time she'd bring out strong German coffee and slices of this delicious, yeasty, eggy bread full of dried fruit and nuts.  Resting for those weeks allowed the fruitiness to permeate the sweet bread.  It's fragrant and rich and delicious.  Did I say delicious? 

Baking Weihnachtsstollen is an all day affair.  Simply mixing all of the ingredients together until smooth takes a good long time, even in a mixer.  And it kind of wrecks your kitchen!

Then there are two long "rises" in the bowl.  My dough never appears to rise much.  I always worry about it.  But I think it needs a rest as much as a rise, so I stick with the recipe.

By mid-afternoon the dough is ready to be formed into loaves.  Then the loaves have a rise.  Finally, just about the time I'm making my supper, the loaves go into the oven for an hour or so.  And that sweet, yeasty smell finds its way into every nook and cranny of the house. 

Now you're thinking "start the coffee, the stollen's coming out of the oven!" aren't you.  But remember Grossmutti's practice -- a couple of weeks at least tightly wrapped and stored away.  It's hard, so hard, not to taste a slice right out of the oven, but look at how beautiful it is!

I want to have my stollen as the centerpiece of my Eggnog party table.  So I wrapped it tightly, and now it's sitting.  Waiting.

And so am I.

The Fairy Cactus

My cactus spent the summer out on the front porch in part shade.  The day I brought it inside I could already see buds beginning on all the branch tips.  Now it's covered in these gorgeous fairy flowers!

A bit too much back light, but you get the idea.  Of course, sadly, the blossoms will fade and drop starting by Thanksgiving and come Christmas this plant will be set on a shelf, out of the way, just a memory of a spectacular burst of color.

Until next year!

Christmas Spirit

The Christmas spirit.  Got it?  Since Thanksgiving I've listened more and more frequently to the all Christmas, all the time radio station.  Chipmunks, Mariah Carey, Bing Crosby, all the favorites.  And then Band-Aid comes on singing Do They Know It's Christmas with the lyric "tonight thank God it's them, instead of you."

And I cry.  Every time.

Because while I live a simple life, and I don't have fancy things, I do have the most important things.

I have Oskar, showing some graying on his muzzle but still exhilarated every morning when I open the door and he can race into the world.  And I have friends who send wonderful, loving holiday cards.

I have Abe, my cuddly old boy.  He wakens me each morning (if 5:00 am is morning to you!) with a pat on the cheek.

We have cookies in the oven.  And lots of cookies on the counter, waiting for a party.

I have Luke, the thinker, who considers me his right-hand girl.  He tells me when, I pour the kibble.  It works for us.

We have heat that works.  Our old house is not toasty, but we are comfortable.

And I have Ulani, aka Stinky Emilio.  Life is never dull with an active girl scheming out her next escapade.

So when I hear the song talking about people starving, with no water, and it says "tonight thank God it's them, instead of you", I do. 

I live a simple life, but I have all the important things.  And in the Christmas spirit, I hope you do, too.

Merry Christmas to You!

Deck the halls with bow-wows jolly!

Oskar and Ulani have been working hard to get our tree beautiful in time for Santa.  Luke and Abe did their part by supervising.

And the chickens and duck?  They did their part, too!

   

Merry Christmas to all of our readers!

---Johanna