A boat launch and ultimate foraging.....

A friend of mine "built" a boat...yes I know..I have never met anyone who built a boat by hand. He is quite a builder. So, last weekend it was the launch at Lake Carnegie outside Princeton. He named her Tinef ...in Yidissh it means a little piece of "junk"...that is what Einstein had named his boat. I have never seen a more beautiful boat than this one. .....and after some wait...the breeze came from the North and off Tinef went on her maiden voyage...

The launch party became an ultimate foraging spree for me. I had seen this recipe of elderberry on El's site and I was drooling over them. Lo and behold...at the bank of the lake...there it was in big bushes....elderberry flowers..(atleast I think they were: ).

Then I came across this lady who was fishing and throwing back these nice eels. She doesnt like to eat fish : (?? Once she found out I was interested...she kept on calling me as soon as she caught one. Here we go...we came home with two amazing eels.

I tried to keep them alive..but alas they were not interested in life outside Carnegie Lake...maybe the fresh water from the village of Skillman was too much a shock for their system. They gave us quite a scare as they tried to escape out of the kitchen sink...with movements as creepy as that of a snake..."brrr..." Mrs. WeekendFarmer stood their while me and the kids ran out of the kitchen screaming like girls...She was quite amused.

I cleaned and froze them and now waiting for mother-in-law to come and cook a nice Unagi dish.

Eel dinner with Elderberry champagne (non alcoholic of course) and all from the nature...How does that menu sound? Do leave a comment if you have been grossed out by this post : ).

Milk continued....

It has been a surreal experience to have home produced milk. Milking sheep is one of the annoying things I had to do on the "farm" ..I must admit. She kicks, she moves, she is irritated and I am trying to get a clean cup of milk. Also, milking the sheep twice a day, rain or shine doesn't really co-exist well with a full time (12 hour/day) corporate job. Mrs. WF was very generous and helped me out a few days...and then we decided to let her dry out. We made several dishes with the milk we got. We made some yogurt, I made some scones with the sheep milk, had some "dahi bara" and the children enjoyed a cup of milk before school.

It was a humbling experience. Maybe, if we have 2 pregnant ewes next year, we will try it out again.

I checked out some milking machines online. Quite interesting and EXPENSIVE : ). The least expensive one was $1K.

Got milk?

Last night was very very difficult. Before I could get my common sense part of the brain to work, I had sold the new baby lamb and another pair (the long tail ones) to a customer. The whole evening was painful. I kept on worrying about the baby. I gave the new owner a pack of very nice lamb feed, some nice hay that I have saving for him and gave the kind old lady specific instructions on what to do with the sheep. My heart sank as they drove away. I sell animals all the time. However, this was different. I kept thinking, I was doing a bad karma that is going to haunt me.

Well, the worst part of the evening was not over yet. By the time, the guidance from our sheep mentor became clear in my dense brain, it seemed I had bigger problems ahead of me. The mother also had to be weaned! She kept bleating on in the darkness of the night calling for the baby. The noise echoed through the silence of the night and I just prayed for morning, so the new day would wash away her loneliness. Well, that didn't work. She was miserable the whole day today as well. Apart from the emotional pain, there was the physical side, we needed to worry about. She needs to be milked, or, a drastic change in her diet to dry off her milk. We thought about it and my poor wife volunteered to help. et voila...here is the milk!!! We could have had more, but double the amount than this had to be given to the chickens as the ewe had stepped into that pan. I was able to rescue my side of the milk (we divided and conquered the udders: ). Folks...I must admit...like the vet said, it wasn't easy!

We are back to my smaller flock of 3 sheep and I am happy as I can focus on their needs better.

Now, onto research on how to make sheep milk cheese.

Anyone have any ideas?

a clean yard ......

Hope you all had a good week. It is beginning of summer for most of you and end of summer for some of you. Any other weather pattern I am missing? How is it in Africa? I know there are some visitors from Africa. Would love to hear about some of your projects as well.

I survived a complex work week in the midst of rumors of lay-offs, re-orgs, CHANGE, and other fancy words the consultants could come up with. What can I do...it is what it is...cant worry about sustenance..it is provided for, from who has created me : ) ...I just have to work hard. I love my job...and hopefully not much changes.

Father-in-law was here from Japan for 2 weeks and he CLEANED up the mess outside, given I am always overwhelmed with all the yard work. He also built us a house for the bunnies, and one for the ducks. He is amazing with his hands! He cut some trees down and chopped the fire-wood. He mended some of the sheep fences and helped me move the flock. He even played soccer with the kids : ).

The duck house is a big help. Now I can have them in the "orchard" section all by themselves so they cant ruin the chicken waterer for me. They make a mess with the waterer and the chickens go thirsty. Geese on the other hand are cleaner...but I do LOVE my duckies. We have a friend who has breast cancer and we are supplying her with a lot of duck eggs (duck egg manages your bodies pH...as it is more alkaline then acidic (?))and also she has wild ducks on the list of things they are trying to feed her as a regimen. (I need to research more on this...I didn't have the time)

Father-in-law gave me a gift of a saw that can cut through metal....so now I can make roofs for the various projects out of the leftover tin in the barn. I had great fun using the saw last night. It is an amazing tool.

We had some nice food when he was here. We made his favourite Bouillabaisse, pine-apple fried rice [nasi-goreng (Malay word?)], and steak. Mrs. made an amazing pizza..with home-grown asparagus...yum : )!

It was fun working with him. I will miss him.

Meet Fuzz-Fuzz : )

That's what the kids named him/her.Our geese have been great hatching machines...but TERRIBLE parents. I had seen one baby under one of the goose few days back. After several days it went missing. The papa goose is a mean old animal....he sheared two of my ducks with his beak. Poor ducks survived as I intervened in the assassination attempt. I am not sure if he has done something funny to the goslings. So - when I saw the next baby - I didn't want to take any chances. I gave it to Mrs. Weekenfarmer who gladly takes care of any orphaned chicks. What would we do without her. Well Fuzz-fuzz follows her around the vege garden...pecks at her hands and sleeps in her sweater pocket : ). I was getting worried that it was lonely by itself and behold I found two other goslings under the mother which I kidnapped again and now Fuzz-fuz has 2 other siblings named Sunshine and Cheese (!!). I told them any other obnoxious names like Cheese again and the naming committee will be fired. Update: I kidnapped one more gosling from under the mother today. Dining room population went up to 4 : ).

The 2 geese are still sitting on 10 or more eggs and so if the mothers are not ready to come out the hatchlings can not just wait and stay there in the barn. They need to go out and get food and water. So - Fuzz-fuzz and company is stinking up the dining room again.

On other baby news...Milkyway is doing well so far. I have no experience is raising lamb and so I am praying that we get over this bridge soon. I am actually glad that we didn't have more than one lamb. I think I would be officially overwhelmed. He is a funny little lamb. He chases the chickens and the ducks around like a little puppy.

We have started eating from the garden again. Asparagus and Mustard green.
Our bee-keeper friend tells me that the hives are doing well. We have lost one hive already. The bees all died in it for lack of food. Here is one hive that is doing well.
These bees ran away and parked themselves on an old grape vine. I didn't even know we have a grapevine on the land. Father-in-law discovered it. It looks promising.....but then again...I am not that hopeful. Anyway - our beekeeper friend and I got on top his truck and cut the whole vine down with the bees and parked them in front of an empty hive. I am still waiting for them to claim the new 'hotel'. Bees are amazing. I don't know why they do what they do...I have so much to learn.


My dear poppies are back again. Last year was not so great...but this year the prince and princesses woke up with eyes wide open and smiled gracefully at the heavens above. They dance in the breeze nodding their heads. I would like to think they are wild...but I am sure someone planted them here. Someone lived here at this house for 70 years. Sometimes I give thanks for all the nice things he/she have planted around. The Lilacs, the Strawberries, the Asparagus, all the Crocus and Daffodils, the horse barn they have left behind...is truly a blessing to have.
Enjoy your week. Will be back next Saturday with news around the "farm" : ) Happy farming!

Meet "Milkyway" .....

Most of the exciting things on this "farm" happened while I was away on a business trip...like this one. I was in the middle of a breakfast with a client at the Four Seasons in Chicago while this little one arrived at our "farm". It is the first lamb that was born here and we are all very very excited. Kris drove an hour each way just to give it the Iodine dip that it needed. Thank you Kris! The little one is a miracle. I watch him in sheer amazement. He walks around, sleeps by his mom and follows her around. The mother is the best. She is such a good, caring mother...leaves me speechless. I hope Milkyway does well and have a good life. Did you know lambs shake their tail as they are drinking their mother's milk? I just noticed it this week...

Is it full moon in Mexico...???

Lately I keep saying that to express my feeling of craziness with so much to do ....with work related people calling me non-stop..I start the conversation ".....is it full moon in Mexico or something?" I dont actually know why I say that ...but get a good chuckle from my co-workers : )

I am sooooo far behind on being a farmer this year. I am excited that Mrs. WF has taken charge of the vege garden. She has successfully planted potatoes already. I am bit cautious about putting some of the seedlings out in the garden...we have a lot of wild bunnies and other not so cute intruders. {don't worry - I am not going to harm the bunnies - I just have to dig in and make a fence that is 6-10' burried in the ground.} Mr. and Mrs. Opossum/Groundhog - if you are reading....I cant assure any security for you if you attack our vege garden this year. You will be promptly relocated to a golf course somewhere. That is where your cousin Vinny went : ).

Good thing the animals have their own routine and don't have 60 hour week corporate job. The goose or is it geese : ) have started sitting on eggs. I have no idea what she is sitting on...goose egg, duck and chicken eggs most probably. The odd part is ...it was the white one that went broody first and then the grey one came in and took over when the white one went away and carried on with her rendez-vous outdoors. Sometimes, I think she feels bad and comes back and sits with the grey one. Chickens would never allow that. They are very very territorial...esp the ones in our barn. Geese seems to have a communal/'socialist' approach to hatching eggs. They share the duties. The grey one is really vicious now...if you didn't know any better you would think we have a BIG snake in the barn with all the hissing noise she makes as you get near. Lets see what turns out. Rosie on the other hand has started doing her thing again....she is sitting UNDER the nest box...i.e in the basement of the nesting box with a dozen of eggs. Last time she tried this - she hatched 2 out of 12! But - she is an excellent mother.
We have 2 new sheep to the flock. These are a mix of Borderleister and Romney (sp?)...and I am selling a pair of the Cormo sheep ....too many sheep on such a small pasture. (their tail is still bothering me : ). Go ahead call me a Tail-ist. Our original girl from Kris is possibly pregnant (inshAllah)...God willing. I actually have no clue if she is really pregnant and am feeling very very nervous about this. We have spent several hours looking at you.tube videos to see lambing and it doesn't really seem that easy...whew! Do you think I can call 911 when the time comes? We will have to transport pepto to the freezer before that given he is really very very violent with everybody....just a big bully. I made a mistake of keeping the friendly ram and processing the nervous one first. Rookie shepherd mistake : ).

Our master bee-keeper has kindly allocated 10 hives to us. We have them at the front of the house. I simply LOVE looking at these hives. I admire the colony from a respectable distance. Subhan Allah - what a miracle! I have seen few of the residents venturing out and going about their business. They have been in their old location for 9 years and I am saying an extra prayer that they like our old house and stay here and call it a home. We really could use some honey at the end of the season.

Quick check on YTD progress on WeekendFarm:

1. Egg *self-sufficiency - check

2. Poultry meat self-sufficiency - half way there

3. Red meat self - sufficiency - check

4. Honey self-sufficiency - check

*(I use the term self sufficiency not literally...I am not self sufficient on anything. It is our creator who created us who has also given us sustenance. I depend on Him for our sustenance. I can dig, plough, plant all day...I might not produce anything if it is not in my destiny. I often pray for a good garden this year, ask for the health of our flock of animals and a good productive year as I put in my effort to the best I can. I am grateful for the miracle of food that He gives us from the land and the work we do with our hands. Its a blessing! )

We had a few days away from the 'farm' as our kind friends helped us out with the animals. I don't know what we would do without their help.

Wonderful bakery (@ Niagra-on-the-lakes). I still remember the almond cookie!

View from the balcony of our room.

Wild Crocus...or did someone plant them by the falls? What a treat that was!

Bundled sheep...

That is what we got today at the end of the day after the shearer got done with our tiny 'flock' of 4 sheep.

Last year we were invited to our first sheep shearing. It was an unforgettable experience. Kris - we followed your tradition and invited some of our neighbors to come watch, 'help' and have lunch. After all the howling wind yesterday - today turned out to be a perfect day. The children ran around while the grown-up all watched the shearer in amazement. She used old fashioned scissors to shear and did an amazing job with the animals. Pepto seemed he was going to give us a hard time..but we managed.

Our sheep turned into little goats : ) ...Pepto (the black one) doesn't look so scary anymore.

Mrs. WF baked beautiful bread, homemade cheese and lemon squares from home grown lemon in Arizona.

Relationships were finalized : ) I told the boy ..he can have a sheep as a 'dowry' ....He seemed pleased.

Spring has finally made its way to the house....The land is stirring and manifesting its force of life. Birds, broody geese hatching eggs, freshly shorn sheep, wild flowers in the woods, running around kids .....so this is how life is supposed to be lived. As I worked with the wool I kept thinking of the nomads living in Mongolia and how their lives must be, moving with the animals from pasture to pasture. I am glad we have been given a place where we can anchor ourselves and call it a home..... a perfect day....alhamduli Allah.

First day of Spring.

This morning the sky looked foggy from the bed. I rolled over and tried to think of a great memory of me and dad in the mountains of Nepal - 7,000 feet above sea level lost in the fog. As the fog cleared it unveiled valleys after valleys of rice field below. It was such a joy to take that morning walk with up-hill to go back to our rest house. rrrrrrrrrrrr....interruption..."its snowing". What? Mrs. WF repeats ..."it is snowing". Can't be! It is the first day of Spring!!! Alas - yes - it was snowing. The ground was white and wet on the first day of Spring! Old man winter has not left us yet...even though we have given him a farewell reception for the last few weeks. He wants a closure!

Rewind to last few weeks....we had beautiful weather with the advance R.S.V.P of Mrs. Spring at the annual WeekendFarmer's ball : ). She usually sends Mrs. Crocus as a messenger to make sure we are ready for her highness. Subhan Allah - (all glory to God) - I have never seen such beauty anywhere. As you pass by a gentle smell of honey comb arrests your senses. You pause and wonder...is this a dream? and with humility accept the gift of God.
The animals are all well so far. It is not fun when the livestock turns into sick or dead-stock. A pair of sheep arrived few weeks back. These are a pair of Cormo that came from a horse farm. Apparently the kind lady forgot to mention that she had not docked the tails on these pairs. Horrid, horrid first impression. I have NEVER seen sheep with the total tail! Yikes. Our sheep mentor (that's you Kris : ) has found us a sheep shearer and we are scheduled for our annual hair-cut next month. I am expecting another pair of sheep from an artist in the west of the state before then.

All the male animals...peacocks, roosters, ram, ducks have turned all hormonal and one needs to be careful around them. I get attacked by "Pepto" every single day and every single day I wrestle him down. I can't believe he forgot the care and kindness I had given him to nurse him back to health.

On the food front - we are getting a dozen eggs every day including chicken, duck and goose eggs. Mrs. WF have been baking with goose egg now and bread is excellent. We tried some goose eggs in omelet which was great as well. Our home raised chicken is almost over. I guess I will have to go back to the butcher for 8 weeks until I can get my broiler chicks ordered in and raise them. We have not bought red meat from the store for the last 4 months or so. The ram we slaughtered for Eid has given us plenty of meat even after we gave away 1/3 to the needy and 1/3 to family and friends. Our 1/3 has been enough for us for the last few months. I think one ram will take us through the year. I will need to raise at least 40+ broilers to last us a year. I need to do LCM -life cycle management - properly so I can meet the demand here : ). We have successfully passed the interview from the local bee-keeper. He has promised us 15 hives in Spring. I bartered 2 jars of raw honey for a dozen of eggs. These are the most amazing honey I have ever tasted. Its amazing! Try to locate some local bee-keepers and get unprocessed honey. It will also act as an antidote for hay-fever/seasonal allergies.

Wish you all warm evenings by the fire with your cup of Earl Grey. Happy simple living : ) !

How many days of winter : ( ?

Look what I found in the barn the other day! For the first few moments .... I couldn't realize what it was? It looked like a duck egg and then I thought I must have a dead duck somewhere who had to lay this monster. I started to walk back to the house and then it hit me ...hey we have geese too : ). Possibly geese egg(?) These are HUGE...JUMBO...MEGA: )

One fits in my whole palm. For comparison - that is a large chicken egg, an easter egger egg and a large duck egg. This geese egg dwarfs all of that! Mrs. WeekendFarmer went to action fast and have already baked bread with one and used the shell as 'pots' to grow sunflower.

MashAllah - she is so talented : ). She never reads this blog so I can praise away here. She has been knitting socks, baking the bread for the house, growing ALL kinds of seeds and is ready for Spring. I am so lucky to have her as an accomplice.

On a sad note: Mr. Rooster was assassinated yesterday.

He was the BEST rooster that ever was. He never ate before the ladies ate...he never attacked me once. The assassin was a hawk and I think he gave up his life to protect the ladies under the lilac bushes.

We will miss him. He leaves behind two sons who looks exactly like him!

Life is like a campfire...

The weather has been hovering around the 30's but with the sun out ...we got tempted to go out and enjoy the sun. These are from last weekend....While sitting by the fire-ring - I was thinking- is life not similar to a camp fire? ...you have to put some kindles here and there to keep the 'fire of life' going? Without some twigs here and there...you will have the heat but not the flame (?) whew...that was deep : )

So, what exactly does it mean to put some kindles and twigs in the fire of life ? I am still thinking : )

We had a nice camping with home-made bread, campfire chicken (got the idea when I went camping in Bar Harbor, Maine as a single guy), and soup. All home made and 80% home grown.

The earth is waking up and moving.....

.....and life is manifesting itself from a dead, barren land. Subhan Allah. It is spring 2009!!! I got another chance to be see the beautiful miracle of life where hope raises in the shape of a small blade of grass, a bud of a magnolia, or the song of a wild bird. Have you noticed how there are no bird songs in winter. Or, it is just me?

Nothing says spring more than a dancing peacock : )

Spring is here even though we have some snow on the ground and today there is more snow in the forecast...but romantic minds don't wait for weather forecasters : ). The male peacocks are dancing away beautifully and the girls are ignoring them routinely. Its is such an enigma. (This was few days ago - view from the front door)

Back of the house .... the snowdrops are blooming. The earth after being "dead" for such a long time is stirring and breathing "life" in full force. The blanket of white snowdrops looks like a group of little girls dancing away in their Sunday dress. The chickens had attacked most of the tulip patches and have dug out the bulbs in an attempt to look for carnivorous options...worms. I don't think we will have much spring flowers from bulbs.

Mrs. Weekendfarmer is planning her garden away for this Spring. She has decided to quit her job and focus on Spring activities. She has seeds growing all over the house in little containers, mini green-houses, egg-shells !! Yes - she devised this cool idea to start seeds in egg-shells. Smart woman.

And to save on grocery bills - she is baking with a zeal....Delicious breads of all kinds.

(left - thats pickled cherry blossom on the rolls stuffed with red bean paste)

We have soooo much to do...

1. The sheep needs shearing - Mrs. is waiting for some wool to make socks

2. Wool needs to be sent to be processed

3. Make room for a new pair of Cormo sheep

4. Order broiler chics for next year's meat project

5. Interview local bee-keeper's and start a bee project this spring

6. Clean the vegetable patch

7. Make fences to keep away the vege thieves.

8. Move all the barn hay to the vege patch

9. Order more egg layers (not sure if we need more)

10. Get ready for our table at the farmers market

11. Ignore this to-do list : ) oh boy my head is spinning ......Like they say - you reap what you sow....no harvest for a lazy farmer. Better get to work.


Happy Spring on this hemisphere...and happy summer in the down under...or is it? Lets hear from some kiwis and aussies ;).

Life gives you winter....you go sled - ing : )

I went to the local COOP to buy a sled as I was picking up sheep, chicken food...The guy behind the counter declines to sell it to me!! Come back when you get snow. If you buy it now...you wont get any snow. eh? what? I go back the next morning...get a $3.00 discount and acquire one of the sleds before he changes his mind : ). It seems they sell 2 pieces/year : ) HOT ticket item.

This was last Sunday...

sled - $10.00

snow - free

land - property tax - dont ask ; )

the hour having fun sliding down towards the frozen creek - priceless*

(T pulling H on the sled - our driveway: )

(I wish the creek had some water life...nothing that I can see. )

weekend rambling ....

"Whats the plan today..? " Mrs. Weekendfarmer asks. This question used to make me nervous when we first got married. I didnt know what I was committing to with my answer.

I travel between sleeping...to trying to figure out what day of the week it is. I answer - well - I have a long list of things to do today : ). I can do all of them while being in bed in my head.

1. Find a solution to the MiddleEast Crises...

2. Offer an economic solution to the new administration...

3. Write a letter to the Dalai Lama ....

4. Discuss property tax reforms with the local govt ....

She laughs and leaves me be.

I postpone those lofty goals and start the day by chasing sheep with peptobismol, feeding the chickens, peacocks, ducks, geese, rabbits before settling down for a breakfast of aloo roti (roti stuffed with potato) and ginger tea with the family. I am a simple weekend farmer ...who cares about my thoughts on such big ticket items : )

I leave you with some last pictures of great grand father's house in Japan. The northern wind brings change...with it comes younger generations..their ways of life and style. Time to move out of the way and make room for the new. This house was old (post WWII) full of memories and character accented by the burning smell of soy sauce. The resident was always warm with her stories and gliter in her eyes. She made it a nice home and now that she is gone...and the house is gone...it will simply be a memory in our minds. I will miss her.

(father in law cutting down ancient trees)

Missing summer....

Pepto is doing well (Alhamdu Li Allah). If you run into issues with bloated sheep..."attack" him with a bottle of peptobismol, epsom salt, banamine. He started limping on the 4th day where I thought his organs were failing. He could barely walk. Four days of banamine shot did help. Disclaimer : ) - I am not a vet....please consult with your vet for advice as well. Kris - Thanks for taking all my pesky phone calls during the last 2 weeks : ).

Well...warm weather is faaaar away. Digging up some older pics to remember the warm days. Thought I show you a Tagine dish ...with Salmon. I had this in a restaurant in Granada Spain....my friend Adam's restaurant to be exact. It was phenomenal. Anyway...I tried to replicate it. You will need a Tagine cooking pot...i.e. clay pot. I think 80% of falvor can easily be contributed to the way the food is cooked in this pot. The aroma of the clay gets infused in the food. Make a sauce ...of tomato paste, lemon slices (here marinated in honey), olive, oregano, onions, garlic etc etc. You can add anything you like. Loads of cumin, saffron, salt to bring out the flavor.

Start a fire...do NOT put the Tagine dish on direct flame. It will crack. Create a fire and let it cool down. You will cook in the heat. Add the salmon and put some fresh herbs and cover with the lid (see at 9:00 O'Clock).
For a fish dish...you do not want to over cook it. I would say 20 mins...let it simmer and come together and serve with couscous. For a meat dish...you will have to cook for hours.

You can mail order Tagines in the USA. I bought one and cooked with it on a stove top and killed it. Then.... got this one while on a business trip to Paris. I had to negotiate in French...so that didnt go very far : ). I think I paid less money for it than buying it here in the US though.

If you ever get some time while in Paris...visit the open air market in Aligre...Amazing! Do not negotiate with the food vendors though : ). The Tagine seller was a Moroccan gentleman...so I ventured that direction knowing it was culturally acceptable.

Life on the "farm"....

Hope you all are enjoying your winter and yes other parts of the world, your summer. We managed to get away for a few days to the beach. Boy...6 hours drive made a huge difference. The sun, the water, the people ...it was a great break.

We are covered in fresh snow today. The temperature is teasing around low 30's. (feels like in the 10's)The fresh snow is FUN, however the aftermath is not that good when the driveway becomes like a skating rink.

The animals are doing well except for Pepto. Pepto ATE and ATE all the corn he could find in the barn while we were away for a few days. The animal sitters were overwhelmed with their naughty behaviour. They had broken through the chicken section in search of junk food. Chicken feed has copper which is a poison for sheep. I have been treating him with pepto bismol and banamine and praying that he comes around. I am not that hopeful. Any day now : (

The ducks/Geese seems to enjoy the snow. The chickens make dirt baths inside the barn. We are getting closer to 8-10 eggs a day between the ducks and the chickens. Yes! we got some BLUE eggs. I have been wanting to get some Easter eggs and they ARE fun. The pea family seems to be doing great. The boys are not at all interested in the girls and the girls seem to care less if the boys stayed around or not : ). L.T still is missing. I was hoping and praying he would come back.

The seed and the poultry catalogues are in. We are seriously thinking about the farmer's market this year and see what products we can bring to the table. The garden is frozen...I am hoping the garlic do survive. I managed to buy some garlic seeds from e-bay and did plant them in early Nov. Hope they make it.

How is everybody? Eid Mubarak!

It has been BUSY to say the least : ). Hope you all have been doing well. I am sorry I have not been posting. [I had blog fatigue maybe. ]

The Jr farmers dressed for a Japanese festival with a speacial candy. Arigato Kanachan!

The old man winter has come in unexpected even though I try to be a generous host...this is one guest I am ready to see go. I am sure he/she will overstay his/her welcome. I don't mind the warm, cozy evenings by the fire but the green monster in me revolts and gets very nervous with the short dark days and windy outdoors.

We had a nice Turkey day (3 days later:) . Friends came from all over...the farthest being Japan.
Kana-chan - more Karinto please : ).

I made a little success on cutting woods for the fire. The youngest in the human family turned 3!!! Yes - she is the princess of the farm.


The farm slaves er children helped me clean up the sheep bedding. We used it on the garlic patch as mulch. New hay were down and fit for human bedding : )

The ducks have started laying and we are drowning in eggs again. Being the LCM (life cycle management) guy I am (not!:) - I introduced younger generation of hens to the older flock. They waited until the farmers market was over and started laying when I dont have the regular egg customers. I miss the English ladies who used to come early in their hats all proper asking and waiting patiently for the eggs. Right now we have 3 generations of chicken. I think the first acquisistions have STOPPED laying....but they are the matriarchs of the farm and so they stay despite their zero productivity.

Duck Herder - if you are reading - These KC eggs are much better than the Pekin eggs we had. Now I know why you like your ducks so much. They are fun to have around.

no more CNN for you !!!

hah? what did you say? That's what Jr. WF declared as I was making the Sunday supper....Jambalaya to be exact. I look at him and not sure where he is coming from....continued with my cooking. Afterwards this is what I find taped on the T.V. Apparently my watching of the election coverage is getting in the way of his one hour cartoon shows per day : ). Poor Jr. WF ...his Arabic language training is confusing him...he writes English from right to left as well. I hope he gets over it soon : ). I wish they didn't grow up !! such innocence....I remember the day he was born ...too early for the world to receive him at 4 lbs and few ounces. The smell of his body..the warmth...the cocoon shape as he slept on my arm....priceless!

This should read " NO to CNN" "Yes to Cartoon" : )

on wild things....

A friend invited me for a walk at one of the local natural reservation. He is a natuaralist (?) there. If you know me...you know that I have self invited myself to a walk as soon as I heard there were wild persimmon trees there : ). What persimmon trees in the wild...in NJ? SubhanAllah ....what a treat this was. The fruits were almost ready. They were beautiful trees. Brought some home for a friend's birthday bouqet this week. She is sure to like them. Happy Birthday Gerda! At 6 O'Clock those are the clay persimmons from our visit to the Japanese Poet Bashu's home in Kyoto.

Talking about wild things....here is this guy/gal who showed up in the living room, landing right on top of Jr. weekend farmer's masterpiece : ). The composition could be a great subject of a "still life". And Yes - after several efforts - it made its way out of the living room and onto the wild again. I think this was the 2nd wildlife visit. The 1st one was a squirrel that Mrs. WF handled: ). I wasnt around.

Silly peacocks....

Last Saturday - I started to rake in the leaves....so I let the peacocks and peaehens out for the day. They played nice...followed me around and ate BIG bugs! I was so happy to see them run around. Well ...repeat that Sunday and came inside for a nap ( Sunday naps are such a luxury! : ) By the time I came out, the boys were GONE! They had left. I looked everywhere and was so sad! Fast forward to Thursday - The blackberry rings...."this is your animal control officer" a friendly young voice on the other side ! Ah - what ???? Why is the animal control calling me? One of the boys had crossed the major highway (its a tame highway but still a highway) and had claimed a lady and her house as his next place. He had travelled close to 3 city blocks and settled there. She loves the bird but annoyed by all the mess he was making. Thanks God - no lawsuit of damage and the animal control officer was so kind. OOOOOPs I see a hawk landing on the backyard tree...must run!

ok...I am back...so one of the boys took a ride in the big white animal control van and is back with his friends. Animals are unpredictable....you would think they would know where home is...but then again ...who knows what they are thinking. I think peafowls have a tendency towards going wild....I am not sure.

L.T - if you are out three - Please come back. We miss you : ( . You can climb on my wife's van as much as you want. I will not tell her.

friends...

We had a wonderful gathering of friends 2 weekends ago. The weather was great ...the fire, the children, the animals - what an amazing time! We had simple food by the fire and got to catch up on life. I wish we could do this more often....

Done for the year!

View outside the office window this morning. Needless to say - we are done for the year with any kind of gradening : ). We are officially in fall....but the old man winter came to visit earlier than expected. It is quiet, the color is black and brings a sense of finality ( is that a word?) and closure.

What a day .........!

Atlast - one day in the weekend where I could "play" like a weekend farmer. Something about this day was full of so much blessings. We got so much done!

The day started even before the sun was up.

I ploughed a section for the garlic...nothing like a freshly tilled ground.

Gundi - I kept my promise : ). The peacocks and peahens are OUT! They have a pen to enjoy the outdoors. I am sorry it took me a whole 12 months. It is last October we met. Jon and you will be happy to see the birds. A special thanks to our friends who spent their weekends helping us build it.
A break for tea. Mrs. WF fried these fresh home-made Bengali "Pithas" - with sage tea. I processed 13 broiler chickens before we left for holidays. These are few extras that are just hanging out. They are HUGE! but, completely "normal" chickens.
The other layers hanging out under the maple tree. I thought they are black sex links....but now I see pictures where they are similar to marans. I am confused. Here is a little 'thief' helping herself to the corn.

While the geese made a hole to China.....Midday - we harvested trays and trays of basil and last of the leeks. Then took the kids out to get hay and straw for the sheep and for bedding. Stopped by to check on the persimmon trees at the nursery next door. They are still quite expensive!!! I will have to wait when I can afford a perssimon tree. Thats okay.

Afternoon we spent "playing" with the kids : ). This video game is called tilling the garlic patch, putting more straw for the sheep, giving water to the animals : ).

The day ended as the round Roti moon rose on the east. The cattle gate is shut meaning we are done for the day : ). What a peaceful day full of blessings - alhamdu li Allah - its like a dream. Nobody wake me up please ; ).

Eating local .....(Bhaji and Roti)

from the backyard to be exact : ).

I combined pumpkin, zucchini, green beans, leeks, purple potato from the backyard and prepared a bhaji (Bengali term to mean stir fry or fry of something.) Really simple dish - yet full of flavor. .... and ALL from the backyard. These small pumpkins almost taste like sweet potatoes.

on Roti - for the life of me - I cant make a circular roti : ) but it taste fine. The flour came from the super market though. I wish I could be like Kevin who grew his own rice or other folks who processed local grown wheat.

Here are some pics from whats still growing. These are the gourds I talked about earlier. They will get much much bigger if only we can few more hot days.

I have always failed miserably to grow these western style (for lack of a better term) pumpkins. I have never seen a yellow, orange colored pumpkin in Asia. This year seems different Thanks God! We are seeing some of these big pumpkins growing here and there. These better not be decorative : ). The dill plants got BIG - upto 4 feet. No problem, the sheeps love 'em. The aroma is amazing!!

Okay - duck and chicken customer will be here as the sun rise - so gotta go : ). I have to also cut firewood, get hay for the sheep, change the animal bedding, plant the garlic, recover from the jet -lag, play with the children, give anti-biotics and worm the peacocks/hens.....anyone wanna hang out with me today ? : ).

whats growing?

It is difficult to come from 80 degrees to 30 degrees. The garden is almost done. We still have pumpkins, snake beans, habanero, tabasco, dill, basil, mint, sage, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, watermelon, beats, arugula, gourds, wild amarnath, elephant ears, purple beans, broad beans, & leeks.

Here is today's harvest! Alhamdu li Allah (Thanks God) - in 20 minutes - I picked up $25 worth of fresh, organic veggies and eggs. Egg production has been poor for a few months. We are getting 3/day on average.

Today's harvest - watermelon, 2 pumpkins, snakes beans, broad beans, arugula, sweet potatoes, daikon (radish) greens, gourd leaves, habanero, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, basil, sage, eggs, leeks. I will freeze some of these for the winter, sell some to the market tomorrow and eat the rest. I think I can easily avoid the grocery store for the next week if I wanted to : ).

we are back ......

.......at the weekendfarm after 14 days. Thanks to our kind friends, the animals all survived and were well taken care of. Hopefully they will remain friends after this : ).

It took us 24 hours to get home and another 24 hours to come back. A belated Eid Mubarak to all. It was great to see the extended family and grandparents and spend this speacial time with them. Little hands got henna. Many many cousins came to visit....It was fun to see all the children.The city was almost empty as people left for the villages to be with loved ones. Yes! that is empty...believe me : ).


Some stores have western style amenities ...loaded with local fruits and vegetables. (organic ? - nah!) It is rather fun to buy produce from local markets than these fancy super markets.

A favourite joint for the little farmers : )

An online birthday cake ...mother-in-law baked in Japan. Where is techology taking us ? : ) Oka-san - Domo Arigato!! I never had a virtual cake before. This is very special!

View of the parliament building from our rooftop (all the way in the background) - designed by Louis Kahn.

A little piece of the weekendfarm that we brought with us : ). It doesn't look great but was delicious. People were amazed that this grows in our backyard in 40 days !

The garden saga...........

It happens every year....during the dark winter days loads and loads of planning for the garden, ordering seeds, going to home depot several times a week, and with a brand new vigor we welcome Spring. By the time Summer comes in the garden is overtaken by weeds and eaten by furry intruders and Mr. and Mrs. Weekendfarmer throw in the towel : ). This year was different - we were happy to have Hiromi-chan who weeded with a passion and the garden is much more manageable this year. Here are some late-comers : ) [this is our first luck at some sunflowers in this house.....we had much more flowers in our tiny lot of the town house] Peanuts!! Peanuts, you say? YES! Mes ami - these are peanuts in our backyard. I myself can't believe it : )
Snake beans and runner/broad beans (?)....
Watermelon : )
Kabocha - Pumpkin...
late season Okra
and a bonus view of the pasture : )

The gourd vines. These are not pumpkin but falls in the same class as bird house gourd, only bigger. Back home they would make an arbor or macha and the gourd would suspend from the arbor. They need a little bit more heat than what NJ providing - so lets see what we might get inshAllah. Then again the leaves are edible and extremely delicious so its a win-win situation : ).

From the "orchard".........

Not sure what happened this year - but alhamduliAllah - all our fruit trees went to overtime with production. Last year - we ate nothing from these trees. This year I did treat them with "Neem Oil" an herbal remedy to treat trees infected with bugs. We had a lot of tent caterpillar and so I was not looking forward to any fruit....but when God has decreed your sustenance - who is to stop : ). We humbly ate from the plum, peach and the now the pear tree. They look like "normal" pears but taste exactly like asian pears....Mrs. Weekendframer's favorite fruit.
Here is my first cooking intern. He helped with the pizza dough. He actually did a great job with the dough mashaAllah ...made it nice and round (better than I could have done). I am going to start a class soon teaching younger people on how to cook and appreciate natural ingredients. I do have some victims : ) on the waiting list.
and in went the tomatoes, basil, oregano, even the pesky basil seeds stems (they get nice and cruncy in the oven) from the garden and into the 500 degree oven for 7-10 minutes and out comes this - thin crust pizza ! We broke our fast with this and it was Yum alhamduliAllah - what a blessing!
Meet our new neighbor : ). She is an orphaned calf (her mother had more than one calf I think...and if I am not wrong they can only nurse one calf) and the neighbors (cattle farmers) are bottle feeding her until she is big enough to join the rest of the herd. This young lady feels closer to our sheep and spends her weekends sometimes on our section of the yard. She is a beauty. I wish I could have her - but - once you see how BIG they get - hmmmm - no: )

Ramadan Greetings!

Greetings to all on this month. Wish you much tranquility, peace and harmony!

Our first meal of Ramadan came from the backyard. Mutton soup with zucchini, Chicken with garden vegetables, salad - almost everything came from the backyard except for the rice : ) You will be amazed to see fellow blogger bastish who is actually growing his own rice !!!

Alhamdu li Allah - we had a nice harvest of peach this year. We ate so much peach this season. I am learning how to can (wish grandma Mabel was here)!

Here is a new comer to the farm. A little baby peacock. His name is hudhud.

Simply Saturday Dinner. 100% Homegrown Meal.

Roasted (homeraised) duck, salt cured homegrown cucumber, pickled (home grown) plum and plum sauce ....ALL from the back yard : ) Alhamdu li Allah.

I do have a confession. I actually am not liking the meat of animals I "know". I do prefer anonymous meat. This duck was a different story. Our meat customer came just after morning prayer at 6:00 am !!! He butchered and processed 4 ducks and one of the unproductive hens (eggs are too small). I picked a duck after it was processed and so I actually dont know which one it was and how it walked, ate, ran etc - so nothing haunted me while I ate it : ). Hope I get over it soon...we need to be off the grid for poultry meat this year.

100% home grown meal.

Here is the first meal with 100% main ingredient from the house. Home grown chicken and BLUE potatoes. ...even the onions are from the house. (sans the rice. I am not growing rice - and never will: )Here is another Benagli recipe: Have a lot of pumpkins leaves and dont know what to do? Try this - Pumpkin leaves with coconut milk and mustard seeds. This is an old Bengali recipe. I have never made it - only ate it when mom made it. So here it is with a twist.
Sautee the pumpkin leaves (watch it.....the leaves have thorns) with some olive oil and garlic.

Coarsley run it through a food processor.

In oil fry mustard seeds, red chilli, corriander seeds (paanch foran [5 different seeds] if you have it). Put the leaves back in the wok and stir fry. Add the coconut milk and simmer to moist - dry. Serve with Basmati rice.

Hiromi-chan

Here is our first summer farm intern - Hiromi chan : ) . She is Mrs. Weekendfarmer's highschool friend. When she sent an email that she will quit her nice job in Tokyo and be a framer for a month...we were pleasantly surprised. We were worried she would be bored to death. Thanks to her we can see the garden now. She did an amazing job with the weeds and the garden. Arigato!

Summer of flowers....and deaths.

The angel of death visited our land frequently this summer. He took the souls of some of our animals and left a huge hole in our hearts. Its so painful. AlhamduliAllah...we give thanks. He who has created them has destined a life span for them....there is nothing we could do.

(that's peanut flower folks )

our row of peanuts....
How do you like our garden decorations? - plastic bottles anyone : )? I got this from henboggle and wildside...amazing technique....keeps the bunnies out and gives the heat some plants needs. The straw is from the sheep and peacock bedding..infused with manure...watch it miracle grow : )

Late Okra seedlings...I would be a homeless farmer if that was my real job...I keep missing deadlines!!! Thou shall reap what thou soweth : ) I reap ....well...I am trying : )

====================================================================
Here is quick look of our deliveries to the farmers market. Produce picked the same day and eggs from the week.


Some of our plums with other local organic produce.

One fine day ....

The kids came along to help me at the farmers market. We sell our eggs and some produce there every Sat. I love the people there....such simplicity about them.

and then came the rain!!!
And gust of wind .....
and came thunder...some scared kids in the shed...

[a quick plug...if you are local - come and support the farmers market. They had a lot of loss from the strom damage. http://www.montgomeryfriends.org ]

Afternoon the kids spent time to clean up...prepare for a surprise for Mrs. Weekendfarmer. They made the cards...and the flowers came from the farmers market. Baba made cake and ice-cream ( I am terrible at making dessert - we survived : ) And we are all reday for mama to walk through the door.
and an evening of treats : ) Homemade rasberry cake and green tea ice-cream. AlhamduliAllah!!!

Bitter melon (Korolla) (Nigai Uri) and fish eggs.

Not sure how many of you have seen or used Bitter melon. Its a great vegetable...with medicinal properties aiding in hypertension, GI issues, diabetes etc etc ....Anyway - it taste great too and most possibly it will be an acquired taste for you. It is BITTER with a CAPITAL 'B'. I guess you can assume the recipe from the picture.

1. Cook the fish egg well with your favourite spices. Curry in this case. 2. Add the bitter melon and cook some more.
3. Have a faithful assitant close-by to listen to you and in this case be quiet and listen to her.
4. et voila .....Bismillah ....here is your main course. Serve with basmati rice. Yum!!!

My mother used to make this. She is no Madhur Jafrrey ...but she is the best when it comes to combining the wierdest raw-material and make an amazing dish : ).

Summer in Japan !!

Here is a pic from my mother-in-laws garden in Japan. Domo-Arigato Okaa-san. Sugoi - na?

Harvest time!!

The plums are doing well alhamduliAllah. Half of the plums had landed on the ground and given that last year we had zero fruit...I didnt think twice about any plums. The fruit-pickers helped me and we collected more than what we can eat. The pulp is sooooo sweet! For some reason the skin is bit tough and bitter. Not sure what kind these are. Any insights?
Thursday Harvest : plums, eggs, arugula.....

Friday harvest: Potatoes (blue and yellow) and eggs.

More chicks!!!

Someone from the craigslist had found our ad and bought 3 fertile eggs from us few weeks back. His incubator only holds 3 eggs. He got 2 out of the 3 eggs hatch and look. I am so excited for them!

Update: As the novelty of hatching is over they had brought the chicks back to us : ) Their by-laws prohibit them from having chickens. I felt bad for him. He seemed like he has the chicken fever but cant really realize it fully....too many obstacle his way. Hopefully one day he gets a place where he can have some chickens.

Farmers Market....

This has been our second week at selling our eggs at the 'local eating table' at the local farmers market. It is so much FUN!!! I sell the eggs and will in return buy something local from a local farmer. It makes me feel good to be a part of this 'farmer' community. Its fun to be able to sell eggs and buy local blueberries! We are selling very little now as the ladies have stopped laying so we are at 2-3 dozens a week. I have allowed them to be purely free-range...staying outside ALL day - doing what chickens do. I was told that the geese would help to keep the hawks off the field. I am not sure......

Here we are with our weekly merchandise off to the town 2 miles down the road.

Project Broiler.

Quick update on the broiler project. So far I have lost 4 and I don't know why. We sold 12 and made up for the whole cost of buying 50 of them : ) So, we are on a zero base plan.

This is their 2-3 week and they are already in the barn. For 'usual' chicks - they would still be in our living room. But these had to go to the barn. I think they look at me as a walking vending machine. They are lean, mean eating and pooping machine : ) I have limited their food intake. I don't want any supernatural looking animals in 4 weeks. I am praying for some natural looking birds. Mother-in-law has sent in her objections from Japan on eating these babies : ). Father-in-law doesn't eat any chicken and now she might join him.

I have stolen the idea from El on this tractor. I am just waiting for my daughter to stop playing with her bike and I will steal her wheels and we will be mobile : ). I will make one more tractor and maybe divide the flock if we all survive the next few weeks inshAllah and they can spend their days outside on the grass.

"Enemy" at the gate -

After a long moral battle I reluctantly had put down an animal trap for the invader who had been eating EVERYTHING we were trying to grow and thus causing a big hole in our dream of being self-sustained (to a certain degree).

Not sure if you can see, but it has been following the same path coming to the veg patch every day !!!! How did I miss that?? After I found that out - we placed the trap just on the mark and after a week WITHOUT any boiled egg or other incentive I find him stuck in the trap! I didn't put any bait as I really didn't want to relocate and take it away from its surrounding. But - I guess this is what was meant to be. So - Sunday night I am scrambling to call Uncle Jay who helps me with these situations : ). It looked in good health ....snatching at me from inside...scaring the living daylights out of me as I was tyring to feed it some watermelon and the very radish leaves that had triggered me to such drastic actions. I didn't want it to starve to death. Anyway - it ate the watermelon and the green and I poured some water in the cage. I gave him breakfast again the next morning and it was still doing great. And AlhamduliAllah...Thanks God - it was gone to its new location by the afternoon. Uncle Jay has taken care of the relo and hopefully its enjoying its time next to some fancy golf course somewhere.I must admit - seeing it there in the trap made me feel bad and that he has been ruining me didn't occur to me. It was just another animal needing to be fed. What can I say ? : )

Simple Sunday Sardine!

These are not local - but one of the fishmongers bring them in from Portugal every Thursday. Here is a quick twist on a Japanese way of preaparing.

1. Use a Sashimi knife ...remove the head (dont throw them away - boil them and give to the chickens...great source of nutrients and they LOVE it) clean the organs and open up the fillet. Use your knife and score the flesh in a criss-cross fashion to crush the bones. This is a critical step.

Dust with corn flour and salt and fry.Serve with sticky rice, pickled plum, and soy sauce (in this case - grated ginger, rice vinegar, sesame oil mixed with dark soy sauce.) ...... Ita-daki-mas!

Summer 2008!

It was the Summer of 2008...we spent long days working in the garden and with the animals. You two enjoyed crushed ice with sweet syrup grounded by Kero-chan. Kero-chan was your mother's favorite when she was growing up and so when Grandma kindly offered it to you - we brought him with us several thousand miles to Eastern shore of America. He wiggles his eyes in amazement of the new land as he crushes the ice.

It was a summer of wild things. Baba found some wild blackberry bushes and look at the harvest. Silly man was standing in the rain and thunder to collect the berries. His face lit up like a child as he showed your mom the new discovery. Your mother was secretly pleased : ) A Look at the bountiful harvest. Fresh eggs, plums, blackberries, amarnath (wild), onions and potatoes. The cabbage, mustard green, soybeans, peanuts have all been destroyed by the groundhogs and bunnies. You two had plenty to eat just from the land.

It was a summer of fire-flies where life was simple and at its best. A treat was to go see Kongfu Panda at the theater (a rarity in this household) and going out for halal pizza after Jumuah. You two were very excited to know that there would be a trip to a place called Sesame Place!

It was a Summer of mint and sage tea -

a Summer of friendly visits .....
and expolaration ....and of funny looking pancakes : )

Hope you remember those simple days and create your own summers with your children. I will be there in spirit just like the fireflies : ).

Love,

Baba.

.....memed???!

Ha? I have been memed/memmed? : ) Henbogle tagged me for a meme. Oh no......six random things ??? I am a very boring person...so not sure about this...

• I grew up in a high-rise in Asia and had no connection to the land apart from 2 weeks (a year) in my grandmother's village. And village it was! No electricity - no running water - no indoor kitchen- but a HUGE life experience. I try to replicate cooking outside sometimes to get the same flavour of food. I miss it!
• I sold milk (cows from Grandma) at the local village market in South Asia at age 11. Boy - they were tough customers : )
• I love my day job. I work on a product for cancer patients.
• I pinch myself and thank God everyday that I have been allowed to live such a dream life, of being able to live close to the land and that Mrs. WeekendFarmer is being such a generous co-traveler in this journey.
• I am a father of 2 and I feel guilty everyday that I am not taking care of some of the human projects that I set out to do. i.e. helping the orphan children in impoverished countries. I will get started on it this summer. Sorry children - I will get on it. I just don't know where to start!
• My fellow country men think I am crazy that I am trying to be a pseudo farmer : ). That's okay - I love my little island of peace and tranquility! I hope they don't think I am like Monsieur de Saint Colombe in Tous Les Matins du Monde. By the way - that's my favourite movie and sometimes I can relate to the recluse* sans the ego : ) *I am not a recluse - I LOVE people and can have hours of discussion with the waiter, the toll collector, the postman, or any random person at a bus stop. Scary hah?

That's it folks! Now Henbogle - let me think whom to tag. Give me a few days : ) Thanks for your visit and looking forward to be a fellow blogger.

Drowning in Chicks................!

The blackberry voicemail 7:15 in the morning - "Hi this is Rose from the post office..." what? whats happening? My brain cant process why I have a voicemail from the post office of all things!!! "......its is 7:05 and your chicks have arrived. Please pick them up at ....................." Still at a shock I collect my brain cells together...oh the meat birds are here...they are early by a week!!! I have been working outside in the barn since 5:30 and came in to get ready for a 9:30 meeting at the office. I start running...I havent set anything up, no chick food - NOTHING!!! I dont even know where the post office is : ) Well...by 8:15 - everything is under control and we have these tiny parcels of joy at the house.

Potatoes...

Blue potatoes have blue flowers....who knew : ) !

First of the potato harvest. These 'seeds' were donated by Mrs. WF from the kitchen. Worked just fine.

The 3 EEsketeers.

These are the 3 EEsketeers (easter eggers). In terms of chicks ...I don't think I ever had chicks this monkey-ish! They are terrible. You cant catch 'em. They run around as they please. When they were babies ...they trampled 4 of their own kind (including the rooster!) and then drowned themselves (one of them) in the duck water bucket. Something about them....very wild, very untamed. BUT they are CUTE : ) !!!

The rest of their siblings have been adopted by Rosie. On a question of nature vs. nurture ....the EE chicks with Rosie seemed to have a head-start on life. They are bigger, however now these 3 seems to have caught on in growth with their siblings.

These 3 sleeps close to Rosie and the kids at night and in the middle of the night they ALL (all 8 of them) sleep under Rosie : )

On Butchering ...........

*****Caution: The topic of this post is on butchering. This post contains language that might not be suitable for all readers. Please come back in a few days. *****

Ah Wildside – on Butchering – yes – to just come out and say it – it is TOUGH! I don’t like it! The major difficult part of a self-sustaining life from my point of view is slaughtering and also the loss of animals and crops to pests/predators and natural causes. In this journey – we had only processed 2 of our extra roosters. I might have avoided it altogether if one of my friends was not with me. I keep thinking about how the animal had fun running around on the land, how they ate, played etc and it becomes harder for me to bring an end to such happy lives. To this point on happy lives – the animals live a happy life here on the land. They are not stuck in a warehouse or in a pen all their lives. The animals live here with respect and their end is with respect as well. My friend A.R slaughtered the roosters for me. He gave them drinks of water and calmed them down. I sharpened our sharpest sashimi knife. The blade is paper thin. The slaughtering is done in a Halal (“similar” to Kosher) way, with a lot of preparation in the process – where we make the sacrifice of this animal in the name of God who has created it. The life is not in vain - it is a humane and respectful way to thank who created us all to seek permission to consume one of His creations.

I have been thinking about this topic and worrying a lot as I lead my family to a "self-sustained" life-style. I will have to process the meat birds that will come next week and also a sheep in the fall for Eid. The female sheep will stay with us….only the males will be processed. [I wish Ms. Bardot knew that the animals slaughtered in Eid – a third of the meat goes to the poor, a third goes to the family and friends and a third stays with the family to consume. It is not a random barbaric act of brutality ……it is an Abrahamic tradition.]

Just to close on this as I said – it is not one of the activities that I like to do. That is why we don’t name animals that might be part of the food chain. It is a heart wrenching and difficult exercise…however, I accept it as part of life and as a way of living. It makes it easier to reconcile when you see how the commercial meat processors handle their animals.

BUSY!!!!

I have never been so busy in my life ! I dont know how the real farmers do it. Just some pictures for you all........

These are the WILD berries. Almost done. Yum!

More cherries than last year...but most of the them have some kind of a bug bite. We can get a handful maybe that we can bring for the table.

& here are the fruit pickers : ). Thats the cherry tree. I am not sure how old it is...but it needs some kind of intervention to get some healthy cherries maybe.

Hey there wildside...here is a photo for you. They are doing well so far. One of them was limping a little and now seems to be fine after a breif intervention of hoof trimming, hoof & heal and blukote. Slowly they are getting to "like" me. I LOVE the smell of their pen. They are a lot of fun!

Here is the "flock" of ducks. I let them be all day outside while I am gone. I pray that they dont get attacked by a hawk. Hopefully they know to run and take cover.

We are here : ) !

We made our trip to this new place. There are 2 others who came here the night before. Its noisy here...The peacocks, the ducks, the chickens, the geese....oh Boy!! We couldn't sleep well the first night. We love the pasture the 2 legged one lets us out to every morning : ) He seems scared and doesnt know we are nervous about him too. The pasture is nice with walnut trees that gives us shade and nice tall grass and tasty weeds hidden underneath. Hey ...do I hear the grain bucket....ooops...gotta go !!!

Local Eating!

More and more, I am realizing the beauty of local and seasonal eating. The difference is obvious. We ate oranges in winter only in South Asia. It wasn't available rest of the season. It was something to look forward to! Mangoes, Watermelons, Lichis were only available in Summer. The thinking that you should eat whats in season makes sense! The food, even flowers have their seasonal flavor/taste as it is natural. Importing fruits, fish, flowers from a different part of the world adds burden to the infrastructure and you pay for something that lacks the taste/flavor/originality of lets say a Strawberry, a Salmon of the right season. Talking about fish ~ a friend caught these from a local canal. These were so beautiful!!! I "had to" make a fish curry with them : ) I am sure you can make out the recipe.

How about food for the soul? These are from the weekendfarm: ) These smell amazing! (sunhanAllah) Reminds me of a simpler time. These Peonies are from the shaded section from the back of the house. They smell much nicer than the ones that are at the front of the house which are under full sun. I am not sure if the sun or the soil (pH) that is making this difference!

Food or Flower : ) ? This is our favourite sage bush (MashAllah). The flowers are amzing. I am like Matron ... I proactively dont do flowers as veggies are more functional. These flowers do serve a dual purpose - food for the soul and for the stomach : ).

Promises !

Its BUSY here!!! We have so much to do : ) I am working in the nights now to be on top of all the farm activities & loving it!

The vegetable garden is doing well MashAllah. We had a LOT of damages (wild rabbits, groundhogs) but I am thankful to have whatever we still have. Currently growing: Potatoes, Leeks, Carrots, Soybeans, Peanuts, Bokchoy, Celery and many kinds of herbs. I still don't have any tomatoes in the ground!!!!. The potato flowers are already in bloom. Poatoes soon? (inshAllhah) !!!I must announce our new visitor. I am not a snake person...but thought leave this little guy alone. The way he was heating up under the sun had a peaceful way about it. [enlarge the photo to see the full size]

The "orchard" (only 5 trees: ) seems to be going okay so far. There seems to be a lot of promise from the peach, pear and almond (not sure what this is ??) trees.

l'été sera chaud.....

Close your eyes and think of summer! What do you see?? I see watermelon and HOT afternoons. I see the inside of a ripe mango, blistered earth, dried out pond and long evenings. I remember summers in south of Spain and south of France. Those were the days. It was so HOT in the south of Spain that I remember dipping my head in the fountains at the Alhambra Palace : ) COLD mountain water quenched my thirst....

I am getting used to summer here. It has its own magic. It is quiet , yet you know its only a few more days till the earth awakes its summer soldiers. I love the evening songs of bugs, sleepy chics in unseen bird nests high up in the maples and walnut trees. We have a lot of catterpillers now. They are everywhere. This wekend we had a brave visitor who seems to have a natural connection with them : ) He not only stopped there...he had a race of catterpillers on the clothesline.

You think the children are enjoying watermelon? They are just eating so they can feed the rest of the skins to the chickens : ) Jr. Weekendfarmer was leading them into this mischief. It was a competition on who can finish first and run to the barn (I think)
Here is a view of the 2008 egg army. (inshallah - God willing). I went to check on the animals in the barn and they had all ran away from their enclosure and roosting happily on the edge of the duck enclosure. They are Rhode Island Reds and Black Sex Links.
Here is a surprise for the season. From far I kept seeing these bushes on white fire. I thought they were the wild rose bushes. It is on the far end of the property and usually beyond my daily jurisdiction. However, to my amazement....they seem to be blackberries. Anyone want to correct me? I could be wrong.

If they are berries...I am not sure if they were there last year. I guess we will have to share with the resident bear ( we havent seen him yet - Thanks God). Yes! This summer will be hot inshAllah...

Cooking with waste : )

Various cultures around the world use various parts of the same plants. Some places they are considered waste and other places they are a delicacy. For example...the pumpkin skin. I havent had any preparation yet with a pumpkin skin so far in all my travels around the western part of the world. So here it goes - a Bengali (bharta - dip) recipe for you:

Peel the pumpkin skin and keep aside

In a pan sautee garlic, one red chilli and add some salt (to taste)

Add the pumpin skins to the pan and stir fry for 5 minutes
Take the mixture and set aside in a bowl to cool
Using a smaller blender - grind the mixture into a paste
You can add some lemon juice, bit of sugar, extra olive oil as per tatse

Serve with white rice, bread as a dip.

[Typical Bengali recipe calls for Mustard oil as you blend. Usually served with Rice, Daal (lentil soup) and fish curry!]

Have fun!!!

A day of rest -

I was gone for business for a few days and got a day off today to unwind and take care of the falling apart "farm." Took Mrs. Weekendfarmer and went for a stroll in Princeton. Look at the bread selection. We love walking and window shopping. Such a fun little town!
Back in the 'farm' the cherries are here! This is the best you will see them. In a few days, by the time they ripen - they will be gone with the wind : ) I dont know what happens but the birds and the bugs will get them. This is a huge tree ...but the yield is zero for human consumtion.
I wanted to show you Dora's eggs. Gerda & Hans love these eggs. I cracked one today and behold it had double yolks! These eggs are HUGE ...she only lays them once in a while

AdoptR'US.....

Bunch of adoption happened in the last few weeks. These are the new babies who will share the house with us. Thats Sakura and Softy : ) [I had nothing to do with the name ceremony - they were already named by the time I got home] Oh by the way - before you send me a letter : ) they are just part of the family and will not join the livestock category. Here they are enjoying some branches from the pear tree.

Rosie was sitting on a dozen egg and she broke some...(not sure why?) and hatched 2 chicks . I had some easter eggers from the hatcheries and in the middle of the night I brought 4 of the chics one at a time. It was one of the most amazing experience! The little chics jumped right under Rosie and hid under Rosie's generous feathers and warmth. Rosie looked up and made some soothing sound and made space as one by one 4 easter eggers declared her as their mother. Here she is ...teaching them how to find food.
Princess (peahen) gave us one decoy egg! & after all that anticipation she left the egg sitting there lonely and cold and now is just hanging out with L.T : ) No more eggs and no sign of going broody...I love her free spirits...On the garden front - it is a disaster! A groundhog/wild bunnies have slowly devoured all our cabbage, broccoli, peas and I have been in touch with an animal trapper....however considering other alternatives so that we dont have to send him/her few miles down the road.

Chics Ahoy!!!

Behold ....alhamduliAllah (ALL thanks to God) "Rosie" had 2 chics so far!!! The duck eggs I had given her didnt make it and also some other chicken eggs met untimely cracks....so I wasnt so hopeful. But - today afternoon visit revealed these 2 fur balls : ). Mrs Weekendfarmer and I tried to lift her in the middle of the night to bring the hen and the chics to the garage. As I lifted her - we saw there were 6 more eggs waiting.....so we let her be and brought this snap instead. "beginning of life" is always such a spiritual experience. "Rosie" - thats what junior weekendfarmer T named her! Every Friday he has to show and tell at school. For tomorrow's show & tell - he will do a presentation on Rosie : ) With tonight's update I have to paste another picture of Rosie with the chics. (my attempt to keep him off video games) Here he is this afternoon. He got in the car as I went to the barn to collect the eggs, feed the peacocks, the ducks and then I hear him shouting ....he got stuck : ) didnt know how to come out.

Peacock Dance....

Gundi - this is for you! (all this beauty in our little barn) Thought I leave you with a little video from today. SubhanAllah [all Glory to God] - it is an amazing experience. Turn on your 'volume' so you can hear him shake his tail-feather like a fan. I am sure you have seen him do this a lot in the last 8 years. You were right...his feathers go almost 6 ft across. Thanks for the gift of such beauty! [fellow bloggers - Gundi is the human mother of L.T the male peacock and Princess the white peahen : ) L.T showed up at Gundi's house in the middle of Princeton one morning! Jon, her husband told her - "there was a peacock at the door" and guess what Gundi said ...... : ) ]

Under the Persimmon tree.....

Raku-shisha, the hut of the fallen kaki (persimmon) fruit.
Last month in Japan, it was such a fortunate moment to be at the hermitage of 18th century Haiku poet Kyorai....a disciple of poet Basho. Kyorai lived in the Arashiyama in Kyoto. The small hut is under the persimmon tree that was an inspiration for the poet who named it Raku-shisha. One of the famous haiku is about the ripe persimmon fruits falling from its branches. I heard about this house 10 years ago and I got to at last stand under the persimmon tree and think back. Alhamdu li Allah ( Thanks God) that I get to see such things that is in far, far land!

A small water fountain in the Japanese garden in the courtyard .... a very common fixture in a Japanese Zen garden.

The sitting area over-looking the courtyard and yes the persimmon trees!!! Spring is not the season for Kaki....it ripens in Fall. All the leaves fall off from the tree and the only thing left on the barren branches are beautiful, huge, bright red/orange persimmon. A straw rain-hat and a rain-coat. This is a sign that the poet is at home......

I invite you to visit Kyoto and visit this hut. Hope you are inspired! : )

Busy, busy, busy : )

Cold day today after some beautiful warm spring days. We are waiting for the rain....so much to get done before the rain came...(new grass seed, mow the grass that was neglected last year, plant some of the vegetables that could use some rain, dig for a pond, fix the outdoor run for the peacocks, make an enclosure for the lambs....etc etc etc)

I managed to till the vegetable garden and make a few beds. Seeds and roots of peas, carrots, elephant ears went down today. The onions are coming already and Mrs. Weekendfarmer's potato donations from her kitchen made a nice row as well. I didnt know we were to plant potatoes so early in the year - thanks for sharing slowcook.
We are officially overwhelmed....so much to do...we cant afford to hire help and so its between Mr and Mrs weekendfarmers with 2 toddlers to manage the "farm". Talk about multitasking : )

The ducklings and the chicks are doing well. Mrs. WF took them out for a stroll on the grass. If you remember the tulip project ...Mrs. WF's precision work paid off....these are beautiful! I have never seen tulips in clusters. (several from the same stem)

On self-suffeciency 101 - we are still on eggs and asaparagus diet. The asparagus grow like weeds. MashAllah - nothing like being able to eat from what you grow. I must admit - we will never be able to be totally self-reliant on food from our backyard. It is a full-time job. I admire the REAL Farmers who depended on the land for their sustenance. There are so many variables in this equation!!! Weather, pests, water, price of seed, land ownership, taxes....I am sure farmers in South Asia and Africa still suffer from the same sense helplessness of not having the resources and not being in control of their fate and economics.

Life begins ........

Flower arrangement courtesy of Mrs. Weekendfarmer....last of the cherry blossom.... One of the hen has gone broody!!! Can you belive this? I cant believe it. I needed to heat up the study the other morning...it was that cold. How can she go broody now? I am letting her. She is a great mother. She hatched one kid last year. I offered her one of the duck eggs from today and she accepted it with a HUGE peck! Look at this face....do you see a hormonal, angry hen? look again :). Our egg business came to a grinding halt! She was so mad when we tried to get some eggs today :).....all 12 hens are laying in the same spot!
This morning...I found this nest looking outside the kitchen window. Is this a Robin?? I have never seen such a beautiful location for a nest! in the midst of the sakura blossom...Mr and Mrs peacock are doing well. I am not sure if Mrs. Peacock will lay any egg anytime soon. I gave them fresh straw, cleaned the old straw out, giving them some extra peanuts, sunflower seeds etc.

Land on fire.........

The rain came down like mercy from the sky, the spring breeze called the birds, the birds came and sang to the tress, bushes and grasses across the yard. From a cold, life-less earth bloomed the most beautiful flowers.... The bushes of yellow, pink, white, red, purple flowers make it seem like the land is on fire. Alahmadu LiAllah - what a mercy!

Land on fire -- Part II

A plum tree in bloom...
view of the orchard...pear, plum, and peach. Sorry folks...I have to spray them this year. It is painful to see the bug infested fruits : (

Got some sunflower mix for the wild birds while I was at the feed store yesterday. I was humbled to see that this small fellow had accepted my dinner invitation. We have a lot of red cardinals about as well...a wonder to watch them. Who needs television : )?

Spring activities..........

What a surprise the asparagus bed revealed this week! Beautiful purple and green asparagus ready to harvest. Mrs. weekendfarmer has been so kind to clean up the weeds. We have been eating them as we pick them...a blended taste of mustard and green peas. Behold - Dinner from your own backyard (mashAllah). Asparagus from the yard and eggs from the barn. This would make a wholesome meal ...maybe a fritata or omlet with asapagus. Yum!

The babies for this year. We have picked RIRs and Black Sexlinks. Half of them will be for meat and the other half will join our egg-laying army : )
And I couldnt resist these ducklings!!! look at them : ) [Mrs. Weekendfarmer loves them]

Thought I also give an update on Dora : ) she has been laying everyday and these are HUGE! We dont know what to do with these huge ones. Our egg customers do not prefer the duck eggs...too exotic for them. So - we are eating them boiled, fried, egg salad : ) Mrs. weekendfarmer tells me they have double yolks.

Spa day : )

Our friends invited us for a Sunday shearing day. It was fun! I have never seen one live and it was quite an experience. The layer of wool with its deep shine...a joy to see. Your hands get a nice film of lanolin.....from touching all the wool. I got a good turtorial on how to clip their toes, and give them shots. fyi - I grew up in a high-rise building my whole life. My only exposure to nature and animals were when I visited my grandmother in the village and my Jesuit school that had many different trees and shrubs....so I am bit anxious as to how this sheep business will take on : )

We will get these babies in a few weeks and one of the black ones. These were just too adorable to pass on.

Oh and check this out! Look at the center left of the basket. Thats a duck egg people!!!! I am not sure if Dora thinks she is a clown or she didnt attend her egglaying class yet ....duck eggs are bigger than that of chickens ...not the size of jumbo quail eggs :) I might have to put the confit de canard recipe in her cage so she gets some inspiration to produce better soon.

Spring 2008!

It is officially spring! alhaduliAllah.....It feels like forever that we were stuck with the snow, cold, fog etc etc. Flower arrangement ...courtesy of Mrs. Weekendfarmer.

Thanks to our kind friends the animals did well while we were away for 2 weeks. Egg production is between 10-12 eggs for the 12 hens we have. Dora lays eggs before sunrise almost and so she is the first one to lay in the egg nest and then the chickens follow. Quite a schedule. I was so humbled to hear that some of our egg-customers were very unhappy that during our absense they had to go to the supermarket to buy eggs : ) they missed our all natural, brown eggs. Look at the picture...the furthest on the upper left is a duck egg...the rest is chickens. I guess the chickens 'kicked' out the white, big thing!

I picked up some dandillion leaves and flowers and thought I give it to the peacocks and ducks. The Mr. Peacock gave me such a shock as soon as he saw me. I have never seen so much beauty in my life! SubhanAllah (all glory to God)....it was a beautiful show of color, might and enigma....Luckily I had the camera with me...Mrs. Peacock didnt even bother looking at him...usual married couple I guess : )

I am still not ready with the garden bed!!! I am going to be late for Spring gardeing. I have picked up these 'exotic' seeds in Japan. Rather than on-line shopping in the US - this is a much cheaper option - however - their seed price is double than ours. We are planning on a simple, frugal life by eating what we grow on our land i.e vegetable, meat, eggs etc. Every single item that I buy at the farm store has gone up in price! A bag of corn is $3 more, hay $2 more, Chicken feed $3 more. It is simply amazing. Anyway - lets not talk about price and recession. ...one can lose their mind : ) So - I am planning on some peanuts, soybeans, bitter melon (korolla for my bengali readers, Uri (niga) for the Japanese readers). I also have few more varities of Japanese daikon (mula), greens, Salad, Sisho etc. [now only I need to keep the bambi family off the patch]

We took advantage of the sun and put the laundry out. I love the Amish look of this. Life simply at its best....a simpler way of living.

1st day of vacation : )

Lunch came on a conveyor belt : ) ha ha ha...it was a fun experience! See this local "horse mackarel" " aji" from Kamakura. It was so delicate and simple.

See this vegetable garden on the edge of the hill. Space is a big issue and so this creative allocation for greens under the sun.

The children brought flowers over to great grandmother. When she was alive - I got her flowers on the way back from work. She always used to say ...."wow...what a surprise...the first time ever someone did this for me : ) " where has that soul gone to ?

Dinner was Bouillabaisse. My father-in-law is a diver and catches them in Tokyo Bay. He catches them by hand. It was Bouillabaisse, french bread (from Paris) and 3 different cheeses (from Paris).

日本に到着！

Hope you all are doing well. Sorry - there were no new post. The weekendfarmer had to travel a bit.... between various timezones, various airplane food - my system is in a state of shock : ) after hours of travel with 2 restless kids we landed in a warm and nice Tokyo! ...enough of the cold gust of NJ and Paris and hopefully 2 weeks of family time. Just 2 pictures to show how the views from the room changed in the last few day ...from Paris to Kamakura.

Dora laying eggs !!!

Dora is laying : ) got a text from Mrs. weekendfarmer, while I was in the middle of a business dinner. Funny that Mrs. weekendfarmer.

I was almost about to invite Dora to the dinner table as she didnt lay even when she was old enough. I guess we will have to wait to make confit de canard from some male babies we get next year. The white egg on the right is from Dora. Click here for a look at duck confit or confit de canard

I am not a big fan of french cuisine (too refined for my rustic taste except for crepes and bread of course : ) but this I can eat everyday!!!

back at the weekendfarm....

What beautiful colors...subhanAllah (all Glory to God)...look at this! It could be me...but I smell honey in the air when I pass by the crocus. It seems this year we have more than double from last year.
These clouds reminded me of meghduta by the 5th century (A.D) poet Kalidaas. Its an interesting plot where a man urges the clouds to convey his love for his beloved far away in the Himalayas. Megh - cloud, duta - envoy, messenger = cloud messenger. The man gives direction to the cloud on what it will see on the way to the mountains where his beloved is...valleys, fields, rivers. He goes on to instruct the clouds on what to tell his soul mate when it meets her and how to find her.

Look under this black walnut tree. Its packed with walnuts...I wish I could harvest it. We have 8-9 of these trees all through out the property..a project for next year inshAllah.
Here is kuro-chan with his fan club...eating a tasty spring grass dinner. Nothing like watching the birds in the grass....eating, poking and having fun under the sun. He was born here in our barn. I will share his story some other day.
The rain came down like mercy from the sky....growing up in south Asia...we are genetically connected to rain. Nothing like a downpour with no visible end : ) it rained for days and days and you can see the creek flooded its bank. An afternoon rain meant that the green mangoes would fall from the high branches and all of us neighborhood kids would attack the neighbor's trees...under the tree to be exact. What a delight that was!

weekend update....

Crocus everywhere....they leave a smell of honey in the air as they bloom. subhanAllah! what a simple joy!

I found these canned peaches in the pantry ....great for rainy days...Thanks to Grandma Mabel!!

Y had brought these great looking mackerel. With the help of my sashimi knife - I was able to debone and dress the fish into flat fillets. My Cajun and Bengali influences kicked in...and did a fusion version of an old fashion Bengali fish curry*.

1. Dust the fillets with Cajun spices and flour. Pan fry in Olive oil. The smaller pieces you see there are the central bone cut into smaller, manageable pieces. Great appetizers : )

2. After the frying is over ...discard the oil and wipe the pan with a paper towel. Return to the fire and saute onion, curry paste and tomatoes. Let simmer and add coriander.

3. Serve over steaming basmati with a wedge of lemon.

* calling it fusion as the fish curry would have been where the fish would be simmered in the sauce...however..I didn't want to lose the crunch of the skin.

A great dinner by the fire on a Sat night. Hope you try and enjoy!!

voila ....bread!

I am horrible at copying recipes and esp at baking anything. I get confused following directions and measurements : ) I have been drooling over this bread from El for a couple of days and this weekend Mrs.Weekendfarmer brought some yeast and so I thought I give it a try......et voila....look at this.....

It was one of the best bread I have ever tasted. El - Thank you!!!! We served it with roasted Cajun/Tandoori chicken, Brie cheese marinated in basil pesto. Our friends of the weekendfarm were here and we had sunday brunch with them. This was the menu....followed by moroccan mint tea and ice-cream. Simply delicious - alhamdu li Allah!!

....Hinamatsuri.

My okaa-san (mother-in-law) sent me this picture last night of her preparation for Hinamatsuri - Doll Festival. I didn't know anything about it and so did a bit of research.
Doll festival is a traditional Japanese event observed on March 3rd to wish girl's growth and happiness, and it is also called Momo no sekku, or peach festival. This came from the reason that hinamatsuri is an annual event during the season of peach blossoms, and a peach tree has long been regarded as one of the spiritual trees, symbolizing the power of life, agelessness and peace. In modern hinamatsuri, many families with girl members display hina dolls (a set of dolls representing emperor, empress, attendants, and musicians in ancient court dress), along with peach blossoms, hina-arare(traditional Japanese crackers), hishimochi(a set of diamond shaped rice cakes), and shirozake(made with rice malt and sake), and wish good health of the family's girls.

Interesting idea......This is my favourite room in the house. This is where she does her tea-ceremony. It overlooks the back of a mountain packed with hydrangea, chestnut trees and beautiful insects that play their symphony transporting one's soul to a valley of peace and tranquility. I can sit there all day and look at the mountain and the moss on the ground and listen to the crickets.

this and that......

Y's arugula came out almost overnight! We are so excited to have some greens in the middle of a snowstorm : ) We will grow these indoors until the land wakes up outdoors. The earth is sleeping, resting before all the activities of spring gets here.


Here is my spring canvas inshAllah (God willing.) I am sure there are still some potatoes hidden under the snow. We had so much potatoes last year!

Egg laying is somewhat normal. (mashAllah) I am just humbled that we didnt have to go to the store for eggs this winter. [we havent bought store eggs since April 2007]

It helped to intoduce the young RIRs in the middle of last year. This month's sale so far: $ 24! We use these cartons from mcmurray where we can sell a dozen or half a dozen. Here is the flock this morning enjoying a peanut snack.

Thought I post a picture of L.T with his long feathers. They always attack the grapes before anything : ) Mama peahen is doing okay so far. I worry about her if she will get over the loss of Mocha soon.

Snow Day!

It was 73 degrees last weekend and this weekend ...this!! We hired "Husky" the snow-man to clean up the drive-way, so I can get out...He is still working on it : )

Mocha!

Mocha left us. We tried so many things...nothing seemed to have worked. I saw him resting quietly in peace right before morning prayer. I thought we might be over the worst...but by the time I came down to make breakfast he was gone. The shock of losing him was tremendous...something about a little life not living to its full potential..But we give thanks to God for all the issues, and trials that come our way..(alhamduliAllah).
Y lovingly called him Mocha because of his baby colors. I was sad for Gundi (his human mother) and also his peahen mother. It was one of the toughest thing for me to call Gundi early in the morning to tell her the news. It was healing being able to talk to her in person. Mama peahen seems to be doing okay. This is I would say the worst part of having any animals...be it 6 months or 7 years...the loss shakes you to the core and reminds you of the inevitable end that we all face. Also reminds me that this is one chance to make a difference before its time to go : ). What a great opportunity we all have been given - the gift of life!

We will miss you mocha.

Sunshine and snow ..............

Rewinding back to last week - Here are some pictures from my morning walk last week.







What a joy to be able to shop in the morning from your neighborhood street market. There was the fish-monger, the butcher, the vegetable peddler, the ethnic chef (I think Moroccan) all on the busy side streets in between busy avenues! Check out the breads that I brought for the kids and Y. The palmier is my favorite food in the world : ) I am not a city person...I avoid for days if I have to go to NY city from home...but I think I could live in Paris. It has a nice balance of a city and the suburb. I could be wrong...just my inner thoughts.

Well, fast forward to today - What can I say about the weather : )? Its pretty bad - but, AlhamduliAllah - All thanks to God. I take the snow with the sun-shine. The snow actually washes away the grey-ness from the sky and gives hope of a greener pasture. Its a blessing.

Mocha is not well. He worried me this morning as he was too quiet and inactive in the barn. After a day of worrying - I decided to move him to the living room. I was worried about separating mother from the son. I feel bad....but its too cold for the poor baby. He is resting now on some fresh hay in a toasty 70 degrees. The barn was 22!! I hope he does well. I will be very heartbroken if something happens to him - he is a trust/responisbility our peacock friends had given us...I pray for his recovery and in His hands lies all our affairs. Mocha was born too late into the year (in Oct'07) and not sure if he is strong enough to be outdoors in the barn. Well..will go down to check on him.

Thanks for all your visits...what a wonderful community of friends from across the world!

Come on Phil!!!

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — Brace yourself for more wintry weather. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Saturday, leading the groundhog to forecast six more weeks of winter. The rodent was pulled from his stump by members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, top hat- and tuxedo-wearing businessmen who carry out the tradition. Come on Phil! 6 more weeks of winter??? Somebody take care of this rodent...I can't take this winter anymore : ) To the readers in South Asia and places where you dont get snow...click the play button below. This was my morning!!!

Spring in Paris...a walk under the sun....

Alhamdu Li Allah (All thanks to God) - I was so happy to have a few minutes of green threapy this week. I had exactly 27 minutes to cross the river, cross the busy avenues and make it to jardin des plantes. ..before I had to get on a 8 hour flight back to NJ. What a joy! A few places gives me such serenity.....a lonely walk in the Balda gardens in the old city of Dhaka, a 3 a.m walk in the city of Medina, and this garden......the gravel path, the ancient trees, the vegetable gardens......I am so humbled.

ah....Spring..............!!!

: ) yeah right ...its freezing outside. These poor flowers are trying to announce an early spring. Not sure...if these are snowdrops or lilly of the valley? anyone?



I love these garlics Y is trying to grow in the dining room. It gives me hope of a green garden one day inshAllah. I think I have the green fever...itching to grow things and the ground is FROZEN!

Here a quick look at the frozen bank of the creek.

Okay - now a question for my expert readers....what is happening to this tree? I am thinking its a wood-pecker...but never see him/her! Y thinks its a bear : )

Spring Lamb ...

Y and I went to see a couple who raises sheep. What a kind and generous couple! We had a great time visiting and meeting the lambs. We will have some of the lambs in the spring after they are weaned off from their mother. It was simply a joy! (alhamdu li Allah).

We are planning on having them in the pasture for the spring and summer and processing them for meat in the winter and also for Eid. (to my vegan readers..I am sorry..hope you understand!)

all in a days work....

(click the "play" >> button to play)


What a great day alhamdu Li Allah!

Woke up at 3:30 am...got a lot of work done for Paris and after Fajr (morning prayer) went to the barn to take care of the animals. It was COOOOOOOLD! Whatever metal I touched I was getting stuck : ) The ground was frozen inside the barn....I dont know how these poor animals survive subhanAllah (All glory to God)! I made a very small controlled fire inside the barn just to take the chill out. It helped!
Hans came with another batch of beautiful lettuce and cabbage clippings. What a blessing alhamduliAllah (Thanks God) to have such kind friends.
Had another set of meetings over the phone...data, reserach, forecast, negotiation, contracts.......fun stuff!

Went for Jumuah ... the khutba was on the human heart. Imam reminded us of something nice of the prophet's (pbuh) saying....."He who does not thank people, does not thank God- Allah".

Went to the public library on the way home and to HomeDepot to pick up a deep enough container for the ducks to bathe in. Their pool is frozen :( and it takes too much water. (waste?)

Had another set of phone meetings...organized meetings for next week....travel plans etc.

Gave the ducks a bath...literally! : ) Filled the little tub with 3 buckets of water. I had to go and chase the ducks and lift them into the container one by one. Diego is a fiesty one !! The container is a part of the HomeDepot closet week sale (?) Did the job. You should have seen Diego & Dora with their orange beak and heavenly white feather...pure, holy in the 12 inch of water...what a joy to watch them as the sun arranged to meet the lord after a full day's work.
Then ...it was turn to 'rescue' this 2nd kiddie pool from the creek! I cant use it anymore...however..every night I go to bed..I remember I am polluting the creek by letting this stay there. It blew away last week and I saw it moving from the driveway to under the lilac bushes to the bank of the creek and then one day it vanished! The strong wind and current (due to the rain) drove the pool into the water. I was reluctant to get in there myself....(me no like snakes: ) and the wild rose bushes are painful! So ... today was the day to clear up my conscience and rescue this man-made pollutant from the little creek. There were rose bushes everywheeeeere! It was painful getting pricked from all directions...I could change my name to scarface: ) I have never seen rosebushes so high...climibing high on maples, oaks etc. Well...it was a lot of work..pushing, pulling, riding it like a boat and finally it de-anchored itself. Now I can die with a clean conscience : )

spent the evening with the monkeys at home...oven 'fried' chicken and homemade dumpling (Hans made me think of it) and salad by the fire Y made..... Alhamdu li Allah!! I am truly blessed.

Egg-Business...

AlhamduLiAllah...we are stil in production. I am humbled by the fact that atleast I dont have to go back to the stores to buy eggs!! Sell so far this month: $9+$5+$12 = $26. Feed cost = $16 (crumbles, & corn) Profit = $10 : ) PLUS free eggs given to neighbors, members of the freecycle.org PLUS our daily consumtion of 3 eggs on average. What else can we want? : ) [I 'bribe' the mail-lady, the terminix man, the cable guy (he declined - vegetarian - poor guy: ), the company limo driver with all natural eggs : ) ] I enjoy the look on their faces...disbelieve, amazement, thought of 'this dude is crazy', to pure converts to natural living. On my way to the airport for a business trip I had to answer all sorts of question to the limo guy. It was fun!

Gundi- if you are reading - here is a pic of your baby Mocha and mom. Baby is growing well alhmadu li Allah (Thanks God) and L.T and Princess are fine as well. No heater in the barn yet...I am almost tempted to cut the heat in the house as well..The heating bill was $500 this month. I dont think I can barter eggs with PSE&G : ) anyway ...its not cold where they are tucked in nicely 12 feet above ground. They pick the highest lumber in the barn and roost in peace. You and Jon must visit on the next trip up. I am sure the animals miss you. We do too : ) I am planning on introducing a new female to L.T and a new male to Princess to avoid in-breeding (sp?) and I guess mocha can wait a bit for a partner. It will be a pure India Blue couple from a farm in South Jersey.

Gerda & Hans - Thanks for the photo!!

Fuji-san.

Here is a view of Mount Fuji with Shugo-kun and his parents. Shugo is my nephew in Japan. Japanese have a unique emotional relationship with this mountain...its very romantic : )

Steamed Buns...

You might think this is funny...but I have been craving for these Chinese steamed buns for days. So, I decided to make it at home. I read the recipe in a book while having coffee with 'Y' at Barnes & Noble. It was very difficult to understand. I couldn’t visualize it : ) Well....gave it a shot and it turned out DELICIOUS alhamdu li Allah!!

1. Basic Yeast Dough (plus a secret: ) >> 2. Brush ‘sesame’ oil generously
3. Roll ‘em up in swiss jelly roll (don’t know what that means…I am just saying)
4. Cut them up like so >> 5. Press in the center with a chopstick ( for visual?)
6. Steam in a bamboo steamer >> 7. Eat WARM (MUST) …cold/re-heated taste like paper : )

"Friends of the WeekendFarm"

A special thanks to the friends of the weekendfarm for their kind help in collecting leftover/clippings greens from WholeFoods in Princeton as treats for the animals. This is a great savings as we are heading towards a recession. We get all kinds of goodies...lettuce, purple cabbage, dandilion, parsley...great for the animals...they all Love it! We get these HUGE bags full of green that lasts us a whole week. THANK YOU Gerda & Hans!

a home in paradise...

.....on my way to a friend's mom's funeral. She passed away last night after months of battle with cancer. The saga began in 2006! I meant to go visit her during the holiday breaks ...but never made it. I was so sad to hear that she wanted to come see our house and the animals and the woods ...... but she could never make it. I pray that she gets a permamnent home in paradise much better than what we have on earth...........

"(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water incorruptible: rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them all kinds of fruits and Grace from their Lord. " Surah: 47. " .....In them will be Fruits and dates and pomegranates: " Surah: 55.

Updates ....

Grandpa made it safe from Medina to Dhaka. Alhamdu Li Allah!

A Japanese beginning "Osiruko" (new year's breakfast) [red beans and mochi]

Our new member Shugo-kun is growing up fast : )

No greens in the whole of 2 acre. Nothing is growing. I wish I had such a long resting time like the earth. I am sure all the tulips, poppies, daffodils are getting ready for their Spring 2008 catwalk inshAllah. It is simply a miracle that from all the seemingly dead branched such beauty of lilacs, plums, apricots, apples, pears, cherries will bloom - subhanAllah!

Egg production is not bad MashAllah. We are up now and getting on average of 8 eggs a day which is quite good given they are cooped up all day in the somewhat dark barn [my day time job had a crazy start and I am having to spend a lot of evening hours there - so not much time to let them out in the afternoon] with no light bulb to stimulate their brain to lay more eggs.

Egg business update: Some of our regular customers are travelling and so we only sold 3 dozens this year. Sales $9.00.

Here is my little 4 year old farm-hand in training ; )

Special Day!!

We had a special day for a special friend : ) It was a pure surprise and I love this picture....he kept saying , " what a bunch of sneaky people!!" but I am sure he loved it.

The menu was pumpkin soup with pomegranate seed, calamari, broiled Sanma (Mackerel) with caramelized onion and rissotto with shitake mushroom. He is one of my very special friend...

Some of the guests came all the way from Austria : )

busy day ....part ii............

I wanted to convert this shed into a Japanese tea house - where my mother-in-law can teach tea ceremony one day. Y was kind enough to help me with the Tulips today. Y planted them with Japanese precision. I love her organisation skill : ) I admire her patience and diligence. I bought these bulbs loooong time ago and then the weather turned on me. I couldn't get a clear day to plant them - the ground was frozen..... Today 'was' the day. I had to do it. The soil was full of clay, old roots (had to get the axe out).

Between fighting the hawks away and fighting with each other the children had a lot of fun.

busy day....part i

we had a good day alhamdu li Allah...we all got to spend some time outside.....i 'chased' the pekins out under the sun. They have never been on grass before....so they were very confused : )

and there were hawks....man...one, two, three, four...I was even afraid for the children : )

T was my hawk patrol. ....he chased them with his "transformer" --- I dont know what that is!!. One of the hawks flew so close I could see his shiny chest. .... its wing spanned 3 feet at a minimum.

I spent half a day the other day to fill the kiddie pool for diego and dora. They made a mess in it in 10 minutes : )

a day in the woods.....

....... we took a quick walk to the back of the property to the creek...here are some interesting finds...(a) an old birdhouse (b) the creek (c) wild black walnuts - I am too lazy to harvest them (d) not sure how old...but a face of a child hidden in leaves and old branches (e) guess what?? free dozen eggs to the 1st one with the correct answer : )

it is such a peaceful place...if I was not scared of snakes....I would spend more time here. I need to get over my snake phobia.. : )

A day in pictures....

Y bought me a new camera for Eid as Mr. Canon just died on me. I really badly wanted another camera but wasnt sure if I should afford one ....but she helped me in that dilemma : ) such a kind person!! I thought I would thank her by doing a photo post today -

Here is T as we wait for the Eid prayer outside a Marriott parking lot whith toes freezing : )

H with her playmate F .... the only other girl in the family : )

Time for new toys. I couldnt find a same size Dora for H...and so was glad when uncle FS brought her the Emlo.

A shot of Mr. Rooster. He is very difficult to get a snap of. You should see him in person. He reminds me of the young Marin Marais character in Tous les matins du monde with his red comb. He is a great rooster - very regal, very gentle. He always feeds the ladies before he attempts to eat himself. We love him : )

shhhhh....Can I have some quiet please...egg in production.

Eid Mubarak!!

Grandpa is at Hajj this week. It was great to hear his voice today on the phone as he waits on the mountain of Arafat. He managed to find his sister - our youngest aunt in the midst of 1.5 million people!!! subhanAllah.

I wish you all a happy Eid inshAllah with your loved ones! May there be peace, prosperity and tranquility in your lives and of those you hold dear. I close the blog for today with a prayer for justice, tolerance & peace on earth.

Meet Diego & Dora : )

Meet our resident Pekins Diego & Dora. They are beautiful Pekins about 3 months old. They are HUGE! My friend the Canon SureShot decided to pass away last week and so you have to wait for a picture : ) They are from a flock of 14. Unfortunately - the rest of them had to become hoilday dinners. I wish I could bring them all home, however, feeding a flock of 14 ducks (4/10 -f/m) with no eggs for the winter will surely put any weekend farmer to bankruptcy. I am planning to get a flock of females so we can have duck eggs as well for our loyal egg customers.

I never "owned" any ducks and so I wasnt aware they needed water so bad! hello?? waterfowl: ) They not only drink the water - but they seem to spend a lot of time 'poking' around in the water. I found our son's baby bathtub and brought it to them. They were thrilled...It is just amazing to see how happy they are with water. In Spring - I will try to make them a little pond InshAllah.

first snow...

Dawn unveiled a whole white canvass all around.

I was very worried if all the animals will be okay in the barn. They survived well. Their waterer were all frozen so I had to take care of the that. The peacocks are doing well. It was the funniest thing - the little baby saw me and ran away to the roost with mom and from their he fanned his tail feathers just like an adult!! I couldn't snap the camera fast enough. I don't know much about peacock behaviour. I wonder if the females also fan their tail feathers? That would mean "mocha" is a boy!

I am struggling to make sure that peacocks are getting enough protein. I am giving them small amount of Japanese dried fish each they. They love it! I guess the chickens will stop laying soon due to the shortening of the day. These are today's harvest. Not all of them are molting and so we still get 6-8 eggs a day. Our egg customers are happy to get the nice brown eggs with dazzling orange yolk. It is different than the store brought ones.

Y made some nice pancakes and we are all comfy by the fire now - so I can do some blogging and the kids are "reviewing" sales in the weekly sales circulars...Big companies sure know how to position their toys to all ages : )

Winter Gardening (??)

well.. one of my genius ideas was to put carrots and bokchoy in the ground in the middle of October. I thought with the global warming maybe winter will come late! hello it is the NE and winter is here : ( batches of carrotts, chinese radish, bok choy sprouted and became expensive deer meal. Rows of carrots have been reduced to abject shame...only a few stems left here and there. The deer family visited us regularly this last few days and enjoyed the exotic batch of salads! We did get some bokchoy that made it to the table for some Japanese dishes!

dato horribilis.....

The great week of the thanksgiving break ended with a heart-breaking event...

Y wanted to go window shopping, so I let the flock out early in the morning so they could get some sun before getting cooped up again. In the middle of the duhr prayer I hear Mr. Rooster screaming, crying under the lilac bushes behind the house. The barn is a good 150 feet away from the house...so it was very puzzling. I finished prayer and rushed down to find that he is all alone with a barred rock under the lilac bushes and half the flock is missing...all my brand new - just started laying RIRs!!!!! InnaliAllah....

I look up and I see these huge hawks...resting on the naked maple tree...their white breast feather glistening in the sunlight like pieces of sliver. I got hold of the rake and started running towards them. I was able to manage to scare them off from the property.

As we came back from the mall (my heart sunk like lead from the horror of losing 1/2 of the young pullets) - we see this HUGE hawk flying away from the corner of the fruit trees and flying back to the maple tree....horror, horror...it was eating one of the RIR...poor thing was hunted and devoured while we were away!! : ( It was difficult to see the lifeless body like that....wish I could change that...but that is life. I have never seen such a HUGE hawk on the property before either.

Now - with a clue that I have only lost one chicken I looked around the house...difficult with 2 acres...ran all the way to the creek and one-by-one alhamduliAllah - 'Y' and I found 5 more chickens hidden in dirt, bushes, garage etc. By the time I tucked them back in the coop - I heard a noise and looked out to see one RIR running for its life towards the open barn door. What a pretty sight : )!

You should have seen Y and I running and chasing the chickens inwards so that they don't run to the creek or the highway.........chicken run anyone: )

I am so glad I have the best wife in the world. She helps me in the most difficult times. I am blessed : )

and there were LEAVES!!

I have never in my life seen so many leaves, fallen, dead, composted around the house. During the Thanksgiving break - Y, me and the child laborers : ) all spent a good amount of time tackling the leaves and persuading them to go towards their final resting spot - the banks around the creek. I dont think I could finish bagging them in this lifetime : )

I tried to rake, blow with a blower, run the tractor over them.....nothing worked. So, it was back to raking and piling them up on a plastic and dragging the flying plastic carpet to the creek. I was driving around the Princeton campus and saw this gentleman using this trick and it actually works! The yard looked much better for a few hours before the trees started to shed again. I wish they all lost their leaves at once!

They are here ....

Our kind friends brought over their babies to live with us. L.T, Princess and baby arrived in the afternoon. I had cleaned out their section with nice new straw. They are soooo timid ! I am surprised. Unlike chicken - they seem to be very calm animals. When we get new chickens they make an mess within minutes...they explore everywhere, boss each other around, and establish the totem pole order. The peacocks were so calm and composed. The mother is very regal in her ways...she sits with her feathers like a Japanese woman with a white kimono. They enjoyed their treats of grapes, lettuce and didnt care for the cracked corn or the egg-layer crumbles. The chickens next door were so excited with the new visitors...it was like a rock concert in the barn .............[as if I ever went to a rock concert: )]

I will ask our friend 'G' to give us the story of L.T (little turkey) the male on the left who showed up at their house one day in Princeton...right in town !!

L.T is a mixed (Black Shoulder /India Blue). The female is a Black shoulder female.

The little people on the farm.....

'H' fell asleep the other day while waiting on me. She is the funniest little 'woman' I have ever met. She has a very hot temper and then she is so sweet and lovely. She bosses T around the house and poor T tries to negotiate with her even though he is older by 2 years : )