Eloise

/in /by

Special individuals come along in our lives from time to time and thus they remain indelibly marked in our memories and our hearts. Eloise the cat, who we found on the front lawn dead on Wednesday morning, was one of those individuals. She was part of a 6-kitten litter back in August of 2017 whose mother died when she and her siblings were 17 days old. Jack and I raised all six kittens with droppers and regular butt wipes and careful bathing. All 6 made it. 3 were given away and 3 stayed. Eloise’s remaining sister and brother disappeared as cats who live mostly outside have a tendency to do, but she remained our constant friend, and commander in chief of all the dogs and cats here at MHOF for the next 7 years. In that time period Eloise bore perhaps 12 litters. She seemed to be the happiest when she was pregnant and/or nursing. As commander in chief, she always bore her children in our bed, and then moved with them to the closet floor of our bedroom. Over those years she probably bore 50-60 children, and most of them went to very happy people needing a cat friend.

And Eloise, with a special assumption that she was really a human being whose job it was as farm greeter, made friends with every single person who showed up at our farm, and was often found riding on someone’s shoulders or snuggled in their arms. This one single cat touched the lives of so many humans through her kittens and her own behavior, in ways that are not easily calculable.

And Eloise was one of my best friends too. When we crossed each other’s path she would ride with me to my next destination, purring and rubbing all the way there. And of course, Jack and I grand parented all of her children, which provided us with hours of happy memories.

I miss Eloise very much, as do many who knew her. I hope I leave such a positive memory of a life well-lived when I pass from this place.

Nick and Eloise having a love fest last Monday

Special Gratitude this week

Wednesday night during a violent thunder storm we got a call from a man looking to find out more about our farm. After some conversation and him having a bit of a hard time understanding me we determined that he was a recent immigrant from Ukraine. After talking about what it is like to be a refugee from that war torn country, we agreed that he would come out and visit over the week end and see how to get involved in the farm. On Saturday Jack and I spent an hour talking with Andry, and his children Ostap and Uliana, about farming, Ukraine, and the life of the refugee. Hopefully they will be regular visitors on Saturday mornings in our 7-9:30 volunteer slot.

This week I am reminded how fortunate I am that when I go to sleep at night, rather than sirens and bombs, I hear only the natural sounds of the night, and that I have never known war first hand, nor lost friends or family in war.

Additionally, when I looked around Saturday morning and noted that Elias was here from Greece, Giovanna from Peru along these three Ukranians, I realized that this farm is still a magnet for folks from all over the world – a true blessing indeed.

What is in your CSA Share this week?

Share week of July 15

Best guess

  • Kale
  • Collards
  • Swiss chard
  • Lettuce
  • Summer squash
  • Cucumbers
  • Basil
  • Tulsi
  • Broccoli for some
  • Onions
  • Beets

We are still taking new shareholders – here is where you can sign up  — https://mhof.net/csa-order-form/

Flower shares started on Wednesday. They are a bit small so far, but will soon be filling out in quantity and quality.

Volunteering at MHOF

Monday – Friday  – 8-12, or 7:30 if you want breakfast. Saturday mornings we host volunteers from 7 sharp until 9:30 – breakfast included.

Giovanna and Elias moving bird houses

Logan spreading seaweed around grapes

Regenerative Agriculture Coalition Farm Voices Podcast

With Cevan Castle as host. What a thorough and considered job Cevan did  in inviting me to this podcast and the editing after it was done. I am honored to have worked with her.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yn2vXsCESL09UZtPCSGHynPW_HgGSrik/view?usp=sharing

Items that you can buy for your own food preservation

Starting now we will have some crops in enough abundance that you can buy them in quantity for preserving for your use in the next year. We now have kale at $3/lb. It is of exceptional quality, and is one of those superfoods.

Watch our kale preservation video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1VUTjpnwM8&t=37s

Jennifer’s recipe for the week

Kale Chips

I’m not gonna lie, Kale is not my favorite vegetable but I do love kale chips.  I have a tendency to crave potato chips so these have helped me to kick that bad habit.

Ingredients:

  • Kale, tear the leaves off the stalk.  Freeze stalks to make veggie stock.
  • Coconut Oil
  • Pink Himalayan Salt
  • Nutritional Yeast

Prepare:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Massage kale in coconut oil.  Use enough to spread liberally on the leaves.
  3. Sprinkle with salt and nutritional yeast.
  4. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until crispy tossing them every 10 minutes or so.
  5. Eat right out of the oven or after cooled, store in a plastic Ziploc to stay fresh.

Farm Doins

At this juncture we are juggling getting kelp spread, new crops planted to keep the CSA engine going, weeding and mulching, harvesting lots of things, cutting hay, weekly nutritional spraying, harvesting hay, and trying to keep machines running. Chores now take up to 2 hours per day as we manage meat birds, layers, pigs and turkeys. This week we lost 2 meat birds to predation and the dogs have moved their nightwatch dogging to the meat birds, and away from the crops – fingers crossed with those pesky deer.

This week we spread seaweed around the potatoes, cilantro, marjoram, grapes, blueberries and blackberries, leeks.

Getting ready to spread seaweed on potatoes Monday. Since Monday the potatoes got a new lease on life for sure.
We planted new beds of summer squash, carrots, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, chard, lettuce and celery.

We raked and picked up a bunch of hay and have some of it around Brussels sprouts, peppers and flowers, with more to spread this week. A little more to pick up too.

We pick away at squash weeds each week as we are picking, and also lettuce, cabbage, chard, peppers, tomatoes, and husk cherries. The trellis tomatoes and husk cherries were tied on Tuesday.

We accomplished a big onion harvest on Monday, and half the garlic on Friday. The barn is filling up.

Matt and Jim fixed the riding mower and ordered parts for the DR, so we presently have the tractor mower and the rider in use. And the sprayer is still functioning, to my relief.

At end of day we enjoy some red raspberry, blueberry and mulberry harvest. They will show up in birthday pies all winter.

Happy Birthday, Matt

Watch on Facebook
Watch on Instagram

Julie

This frog seems to be in deep conversation with the tomato plant

Quick Links

Buy meat
CSA pick up information
Contact Julie
Products available right now at the farm
Become a working shareholder
Donate to the MHSC
Links Workshops

Link to buy J and J’s book – Many Hands Make a Farm-
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/many-hands-make-a-farm/