Basil infused Mayonaise

Now this one is a little hard to photograph so use you imagination :-)

Take a cup or two of Cains Mayonnaise dressing with Olive oil. Gather a large bunch of fresh Basil. Chop it by hand (I suppose a food processor would be fine) until it's coarsely chopped. I always take the main stem out before chopping. Add it to the mayo and mix it in thoroughly. Remember, you can't add too much much Basil in my opinion.

Let it set overnight, give it a taste the next day. If you want it stronger add more Basil and repeat the overnight process. You'll be amazed at how much Basil Mayo can absorb without changing the taste very much.

One of my favorite sandwiches to have with it is a Grilled zuchini wrap. We slice the Zuchini either in circles or length wise, marinate with Grape seed oil, Dried onion flakes, garlic and salt, pepper. Sliced and grilled on a fish basket outside on the grill. Then rolled on a tortilla with Basil mayo applied. Add lettuce, tomato's or what have you.

Enjoy!

Spring Honey

One of my coworkers has bees. The raw honey they produce can't "bee" beat.

Sprouts, Sprouts and more Sprouts

Nothing like fresh sprouts that you grew yourself on a salad or a sandwich. Harris has been trying out all sorts of different sprouts. She says they are quite simple to do and the results are so much better than store bought.

Here's a batch along with our first tomato of the season:

HAY!

I came home from work today and was informed that there were 50 + bales in the field down the road and we were slated to pick them up.....surprise! So here here's a pic as I'm throwing bales into the loft two stories up.....could be worse. 50 bales is way less than 300 which is what we used to put up before we fed round bales :-) Oh I should mention I love round bales!!!

New Fangled Blueberry picking container

You know what's really aggravating to me when picking Blueberries? To drop the whole pail that contains numerous hours of picking onto the ground. You never find them all no matter how hard you look.

So, to minimize this dilemma we came up with this little rig below. The basic instructions should be enough to help you make your own! Enjoy.

 
 Here are the components:

 Cut the top of the bottle off just above the label like so.

 Using a hole punch, punch a hole in each piece on opposite sides. (for the string)

 We used a little hook like this with a string tied onto it for one side. This facilitates emptying the container when it's full. Simply tie the string through the punched holes on the opposite side.

Voila! the completed version.
The inverted bottle top keeps the berries from dumping out should you drop the container.

Hang it around your neck and you have now have two hands to pick with.

                          Blueberries Have Arrived!

 

Blueberry Jam (aka the fruits of our labor)

Looks like the pruning and fertilizing is starting to pay off. Now to figure out how to net the rather long and tall expanse of Blueberry bushes to keep the birds from eating more than we do :-)

Harris was out this past February pruning away the old growth, dead branches and pulling out the non Blueberry plants mixed in with the bushes. She did a great job! The production is up at least three fold from last year. We think the Blueberry stand had been neglected for at least ten years previous.

One day last fall (2011) I happened to be going out the front door towards the side yard and noticed a car stopped in the street. The driver looking at the house with a rather inquisitive look. Being a neighborly sort, I gave a wave and good morning. He proceeded to describe, with ever an intricate detail the interior of our home.

Well, being a true New England Yankee I had to suspect he was up to no good of course. Who else would park outside a New Hampshire Yankee's home in the country and stare but Ne'er do gooder. So I walked over to the car and said " can I help you?" He proceeded to repeat what he has said before. He described in exquisite detail the interior layout of our house complete with the purlin on the second floor that still had bark remaining from the original construction. Now I knew this fella was more than someone casing the place to break in.

He introduced himself (and his grandson who who happened to be in the vehicle) and a discussion pursued that left me flabbergasted.  He had spent the entire day driving around on his vacation looking for the "Special place" in New Hampshire where he has spent a good portion of his childhood with his uncle during the summer months. Now keep in mind he came from Colorado, which is in itself a wonderful place. But there was something special about this meager farm in New Hampshire that brought him enough joy and memories to draw him back so many years later.

That draw, is what has brought so many to enjoy this wonderful home and fertile land that we now call home.

Of course I invited him in for a tour!.....he seemed so pleased and I was thrilled to share what is not just our home but a place that so many others through the years have been blessed to enjoy!

The pictures that follow were from his uncle who worked on the farm during the summers. The fellow with the large brimmed hat is E. O. Smith who owned and farmed the land from 1915 to approximately 1949.