A Happy New Year To Everyone!

We pray each of you had a Blessed Christmas!

Winter officially set in not so long ago, but it feels as though we have been buried in snow for months! How pleasant to be buried in the cozy house with one’s family when there are so many good books to read and a perfect wonderland to enjoy outdoors. The house is perpetually filled with the pungent, bitter sweet aroma of burning wood. I’ll have to admit that in the morning when one of us is starting the fire, the “aroma” isn’t exactly sweet…more choking, but overall, I don’t believe anything can replace the atmosphere a real wood fire gives. Another advantage of having a wood-stove is that we are all good at handling fire, or should I say, we all enjoy fire…hmmm…not sure I remember what that is called…pyro…something.

Yesterday morning, the smoke mounting from our chimney was picturesque…perfect for a Thomas Kinkade painting. I decided to wait to take a picture until this morning. Today, the smoke was hardly visible as you can see. I was disappointed, but truth be told, picturesque smoking chimneys are the result of a few less than pleasant circumstances…an especially bitter cold day which concentrates the smoke, and wet wood that makes weak fires that emit smoke indoors as well as out and produce watering eyes, and very little heat. The chimney pictured above, while appearing less than productive with its grey halo of haze, is in fact the product of a hot and healthy fire, for which I am grateful in spite of the missed photo-op.

The mailbox is loaded daily with the extra weight of seed catalogs! Seed time seems to come earlier every year… some catalogs came before Christmas! Harris Seeds, Johnny’s, Jung’s, Seed Savers, Burpee, Gurney’s, R.H. Shumway’s, Park Seed, Henry Fields…just to name a few! Believe it or not, some of our orders have already arrived! Of course the green-house isn’t remotely warm enough to start seedlings up here in the “Arctic” of Minnesota, but we are already discussing small beginnings! None of us can picture greens and gardening and grass with all the pleasures of winter still before us, but of course you have to plan. A friend of ours who comes from Indonesia was laughing with us at the idea that we have to wait to plant seeds for six months out of the year. Of course, living near the Equator, she was able to have a garden all year round. Even so, I’m not sure I would trade the six-month break for the heat, even though the idea of a year-round garden is intriguing!

Blessings to everyone’s New Year!

The Six Arrows

Sights and Sounds and Feels and Smells and Tastes of ... Christmas!

It's officially winter now!!!

Charlie plows us out...

The Six Arrows at the SOS Conference in Cincinatti

Read more on our Six Arrows at Home blog

Ice cream at Fair Oaks Farm(on 65, between Chicago and Indianapolis)...we say this velverty ice cream is worth the stop!  Their 5 year cheddar cheese is wonderful too!

Life is truly an adventure when you are on vacation and make a habit of running ahead of blizzards as we have the past two years. :o)

We are eternally grateful for good neighbors who are willing to do our chores in arctic Minnesota weather!

Thanks to Hannah!

And to Mr. K. who kindly shoveled us out!

Wintery Things...

Miss Grace stirring the fudge... Mmmmm....

Thanksgiving at Six Arrows Farm!

~Six Arrows Pastured Turkey~

Gravy

Dressing

~Vegetables~

Mashed Potatoes

Squash

Sweet Potatoes

Green Beans

Creamed Peas

Corn Pudding

~Whole Wheat Breads~

Herb Bread

Rosemary Garlic Bread

Wheat Germ Rolls

~Salads~

Broccoli Salad

Lettuce Salad

~Hors Douvres~

Baby Dill Pickles and Olives

Bite Brownies

Crackers and Cheese

~Desert~

Homemade Pumpkin Pie (served with whipped cream)

Pecan Pie (served with whipped cream)

~Beverages~

Punch

Cider (served with whipped cream and caramel)

Coffee

Hot Tea

Iced Tea

And other things too good to mention. :o)

Read more on our Six Arrows Home blog

Moving the hens to their warm winter quarters...

 You would be surprised how warm it is in this hoophouse on a cold day. Because the light plastic allows solar heat to penetrate all day the house is still fairly warm even at night. Our hens LOVE digging through their deep bedding during the winter months searching for grains or bugs. This process of disturbing their bedding surface enables the chips to compost creating additional heat. Our job is to keep the right bedding depth maintaining a healthy carbon-nitrogen ratio so their home is always clean and sweet smelling (that distinct sweet pickley smell that a farmer especially appreciates :o) ).

Sam makes sure his birds have a clean new home.

Tucking in the Garden...

Ben heads out to the garden to stir in the compost.

Thinking in terms of baking, he's kneading it for the last time before the final deliciously long rest! :o)

Edmund says hello...

Autumn Prose

The mesmerizing log-splitter convert thick chunks of trees into aromatic wedges for the stove, Sam rushing across the living room floor to catch sight of the grain carts or combines rumbling down the gravel road, the sharp bright autumn sky, tall boots, hearing the boys wake early in the morning to tramp over frosty turf and leaves with their guns on their shoulders, cutting up venison in the kitchen and wrapping it for the freezer, the tip of my nose bright and chilled with the snap of early morning air, the sweet and bitter rush of cold air invading my lungs, two pairs of socks, the way warm food sizzling in the kitchen gets more savory and inviting the colder it is outside, standing in the freshly shorn fields and listening to the fall wind worry the lifeless leaves and trumpet the coming of snow with every breath, planning resplendent and engorging menus with which we will laden the Thanksgiving table, cold fingers and toes to tickle each other’s necks, plants and greenery buttoning up against the cold and retreating into the heart of the earth, the myriad shades of brown, stocking caps, trees, rigid and shadowy pillars, casting severe elaborate shapes on the leaf-mottled floor, the smoky, earthy tang that accompanies the boys every time they come in for dinner, long sleeves, birds singing the autumn symphony, and frost scattering its wonderful lace-work abundantly. Summer is glorious melody, winter is lilting song, spring is ecstatic whistling, but autumn is magnificent harmony.

Our precious chocolate Labrador, Lucy the Valiant, passed away last week. We were very sad to lose our faithful canine friend with her unique personality and lasting loyalty.

As the farm mascot, Lucy earned one of her many titles… “greeter dog.” We miss her every time we pull up the driveway, her perky ears, her energetic race up the garden path, her clever ploys for treats, her solemn hazel eyes that would plead tears out of a rock, the way she watched movies with us, rode faithfully in the ranger with whoever was driving, endured “love” from the cats and ate everything from chicken feed to green beans…we are so thankful that we had eleven and a half years with the best dog any family could have.

We were talking about all of those things and observed that God had truly blessed us with a good dog. Even a dog in its own way, can us teach lessons of loyalty, faithfulness, endurance and patience.

Musical Nests (Chairs) :)

Sam took this video of our happy, busy pastured hens in their nesting boxes!...


Musical Nests(Chairs) :) from Craig Lenz on Vimeo.

Calling all "Sherlock Holmes" and "Inspector Buckets"...

Any guesses as to what Mama is sewing?...

Hint: The clue is directly behind Ben in this last picture.

Autumn Harvest...

From the Six Arrows Farm Update:

"I recieved a pleasant surprise when I walked up to the garden a few days ago. Tomato cages and stakes were lying in piles to be stored. One almost forgets the desolation that follows harvest when you have witnessed a year of plenty. The dull monochromatic colors saturate the landscape. They are relieved by the brilliant leaves and clear azure sky. When I'm out driving this time of year, I love to listen to Vivaldi's "L'autunno" (Autumn) from The Four Seasons. There are few inspirations from  human composer that have come closer to reflecting the song all of creation seems to sing. Summer is such a glorious symphony that nothing but autumn can be a more fitting or glorious requeim. I love such endings only because they are beginnings as well.

Even now, there are a few buried riches that the resting earth gives up. Aubrey dug the carrots, the boys and Mama washed them... and I ate them. Of course, I was well occuupied while they were working. :)"

"This was a particularly good carrot year! The lovely orange roots are uniform, sweet and crispy! I think the early frost was good for them. :)"

Early frosts make for snow on green maple leaves!  "Sam found two different colors when he took this picture last week. Green leaves covered with snow is uncommon even here! Yes even here in this "semi-arctic" climate!" :)

The last few weeks have been filled with processing, sorting and drying produce..

Our potatoes and onions were plentiful this year and the onions especially dried beautifully!

The Colors of Famer's Market...

From the Six Arrows Farm Update...“This time of year is the best for coming to Farmer’s Market. The colors and smells are myriad and brilliant. When the sun’s rays stretch down our aisle, it looks like the hallway of a treasure chamber with glowing jewels of every size and tint piled in small mountains on either side. The scents are mellow and spicy, rich, ripe, and tangy. We managed to bring the camera along for pictures so you could see for yourselves!”

We were all devastated when my pumpkin plants ate up Emily’s flowers (accidentally, of course)and even had the audacity to thread their way through a few tomato cages!

But when those presumptuous vines yielded so prodigious a harvest we forgave them(at least I did…)and welcomed the lovely round shapes and colors so characteristic of harvest.

Mama loves the little green curly cues on the ends of pumpkin stems so we cut the vines farther from the pumpkin. They look so bare and lonely with out remnants of their vines. :)

Chicken Processing Day!!!

 I think we have mentioned before that "Chicken Day" for us is not a grueling or unpleasant experience so stop biting your nails, turn up the music, and imagine a day of laughter, pleasant hardwork and productive discussions on topics as broad as Turkey and government education!

And there is always joy in preparing a product that you know will delight your customers and constitute dozens of savory dinners for families all over the area!

Todays processing took just over 2 hours and then clean-up takes about another hour. We wake up at about 5:30 and Charlie and I start up the scalder while Emily makes "oodles" of muffins!

We don’t normally post pictures like the one below, but this one has a story. At the moment the picture was taken, we were listening to our customary motivational music. I can’t remember if it was the Red River Jig or Cowboy Jubilee. The boys pull the birds out of the cooling tank and set them to drain a few moments before bagging them. Mom and Em turned around and saw these four draining and everyone started laughing. The chickens looked for all the world like they were dancing to the lively music!

Chicken Processing Day!!! ...and the Red River Jig from Craig Lenz on Vimeo.

Sweet Stuff!

Any guesses as to what these jars contain?

A "Cherry Picker" for Plums

Well we didn't get it strictly for the plums, but it worked capitally!

The boys and Daddy spent as much time as they could with it this weekend, cutting down dead trees and trimming live ones!

Hogs and Corncobs

If you stand at the edge of the pasture south of the plum trees and call into the woods, pigs come running like bandits from an ambush.

This morning, Garrison, Sam and I picked two buckets of sweet corn to freeze. It was one of those foggy, soaking, drippy mornings. We were taking an advantage of a break in the rain, but it started dripping again as we finished grabbing the last few ears. Sam suggested that we go to the tree fort to husk the corn. Our tree fort is in the pigs current paddock, so we ran down, hauled the buckets over the fence, and dragged them up into the fort. The pigs knew why we were there. They were snuffing around the base of the fort by the time we had the buckets up, and grunted in approval when the first husks fell. The advantage of the fort is that once you are in it, there is no fear of the pigs getting at the peeled ears, and the roof keeps off the rain! It is rare to hear a mixture of sounds as ludicrous, curious or peaceful as a gentle rain on leaves and the grunting of pigs. I know it sounds funny. You had to be there.