Diversity on the Farm
Diversity on a Farm, well actually All lives and Living, are all about diversity. My diverse life is in no way special at all. Having said that here is what was on the bench when I awoke this morning.
Federico bakes too. Our John is happy about that. Later in the day yesterday – it warmed up.
Some cats like to sleep in the Pods.
Some in the asparagus basket.
Our John set to and drained the on-ground swimming pool, (in-ground would crack in our winters) scrubbed it and refilled it. Right at the beginning of this process (and as we speak the water is still running) he found the tiniest frog in the winter debris. Naturally he caught it and called to me to carry it out to the frog garden. If you cannot see it in the header here it is again. The tiniest frog. But had to be saved. 
I made more ice-cream yesterday. To make the icecream I first make a French Vanilla Custard then at the last minute before churning add the fruit. Yesterday I made a double batch. Sixteen egg yolks and I only broke one. Life is full of challenges. Recognise them. It makes life more fun.
I was making the custard for the strawberry and rhubarb icecream. This is my ice-cream making wooden spoon. ONLY used for ice-cream. Making ice-cream with a spoon that has stirred garlic is not a good idea.
And while it was cooling I was called in to help with the pool. This coming week we have three girls coming to help on the farm. It is going to be fantastic. I love to fill the rooms and gardens with young people. And I am happy to help with the pool cleaning so they have somewhere to cool down after a day in the kitchens and gardens. If the weather actually warms up!
Federico is looking forward to the first wave of volunteer gardeners too.
He made ravioli for dinner with pesto and cheeses!
When you pull your head up and look around your life/or my life – when my eyes are open – I see such good luck. My life has had its troubles (of course) but the predominant thread through-out the years is Good Luck and Good People. A diverse group for sure. But good. And you are part of that.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm,
celi
64 Comments on “Diversity on the Farm”
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thekitchensgarden 
He does farm work and he cooks and he bakes too!!! You need to keep that one! Sounds like things are shaping up for a wonderful summer!
When you have finished with him would he like to spend some time in Virginia? I have a spare bedroom and oh so much work he could help me with!
Could you possibly (or have you already) give us the recipe for the ice cream (the French Vanilla custard sounds wonderful).
Have a great Sunday my friend.
Good People. Thank goodness for good people.
thank you I appreciate being included in ‘good people’ it feels sorta nice!…We have cleaned out our pool house but so far the weather has not been warm enoughto even think about refilling…whatever has happened to the weather this year..it really is most peculiar….love the weeny frog….
Lets hope it warms up soon.. for both of us.. c
Wishing you all the very best of this growing season.
Oh I do hope so.. not a lot of sun yet but it is warming up a bit now..
Three girls! Federico will be married by the end of the week …. {sigh} 🙂 That is going to be a Full House, enjoy. Laura
Wish I could get my daughter out here for a holiday! c
Now momma, better be careful–she may read this. 🙂
and she gets cranky when I try to match make!
She would be wise to pay a little attention to this one 🙂 Laura
Pity she is as far away as you are..
Sound like a lot of fun at the farm!!
Lovely. And thanks for that last paragraph. Too often I forget to pull my head up (or in my case, maybe out…LOL) and look around to appreciate all the blessings in my life. Once again you’re inspirational. 🙂
oh my goodness, Melissa your book sounds so good!!!!
Karma Miss C. You are opening your life to others, both at your home and virtually. That equals attracting good people to learn about your world and share theirs.
I am very happy with the turn the farm has taken as far as opening the doors to young people.. they are very happy to rough it a bit and really get involved .. I am very much looking forward to the next girls.. I have quite the plan!. c
Hmm. My best guess on the frog is a very cold, rather large spring peeper. They tend to get dark when they are cold. I’m not satisfied with my answer, though. the head shape looks more like a narrow mouthed toad. I’ll see if I can get a better ID.
Wonderful. Peeper – what a splendid name for a frog. I keep forgetting how damn clever you are with these things. He was very sprightly. c
They can start calling in temperatures as low as 35 degrees, which blows my mind!
Mercy that is cold. Do you remember last year we had no frogs at all – well this year there is an explosion of frog life, the evenings are Loud with them. I need to you to come and sit on the banks of the creek (that is really a ditch) and identify them for me. As it is I just make up my own names for each different one.
I took a class a few years ago called Frog Watch, an ironic name given that we ID strictly from calls and rarely see a frog. I would LOVE to come sit on the porch and tell you what you’re hearing.
Naturally one must have a rhubarb bellini to go with the spring frog listening.. Speaking of which i had better get out and pick more rhubarb and the asparagus before it starts to rain.
I would love to come and sit and listen and learn also. We have very, very few frogs here. Which is sad to me.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
Okay, so my co-worker thinks it is a juvenile green frog, or a related lithobates species. Those are the “rubber band” frogs.
Rubber band frogs.. well thank you!
I always know spring is officially here when the Peepers start their songs. I’ve even heard my resident Leopard frogs calling to one another recently. My toads have crawled out of their winter holes as well.
I bet you hear a lot of these. http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=AR0155
Oh my, that sounds just like it does here! They have been calling for weeks now and have been incredibly loud. We have a marsh back beyond the barn. I have not yet heard the ‘rubber band’ frogs though. Yesterday I uncovered a little gray tree frog with the sticky feet while moving some rocks, he did not look pleased.
C, I try every day, on my walk with the dogs to list the things I’m thankful for. I find it helps to kind of reset my mind set, especially as I am somewhat, um, cranky in the mornings!
The rubber band frogs are green frogs. And bullfrogs sound like light sabers. I love them!
Your diversity sounds like a slice of heaven. Those cats are surely of soft toy cuddly quality, they are so flexible!
love,
ViV
Isn’t that a great shot. I had to stand on a chair to get that picture and they never woke..
There’s a weekly TV programme waiting to be made about the farmy, though I say that with caution, because it would change the farmy forever…
Great food today – how nice to have a guest who cooks for you 😉
Not that it would ever happen – but yes, just imagine the director with his script for that week!
Ha ha – you can’t script it, unless the animals are going to be talking to camera… 😉
exactly but every doco director I have worked with has a list of what he wants to shoot.. c
With an ongoing project you have to sit down and write a list of what you want and expect …and then improvise. But whilst I think the farmy would be a great success, it would be changed considerably by an interfering film crew and TV exposure. So IMHO the current, organic nature of the project might be for the best 🙂
Totally agree!
We have been hearing frogs here as well, with all the rain. They sit under the deck and peep away. Sometimes, I go out there and peep at them and they peep back. Bill calls me the Frog Whisperer….silly man. It is raining right now, great sheets of water and thunder booming in the distance. Great pics today…as always, but cats are one of my favorites.
I get so lost in your kitten pictures. When they envelope one another and you can’t tell whose tail is whose.
you are a wise woman! Have a very lovely week!
That’s the good thing about from farming, having different people around. Our farm in Germany was always full of people from all over the world . It was so much fun. Have a wonderful week.
On first glance, until I read your posting, I thought that John’s peeper was a cricket. That is a tiny frog… and I bet, in comparison, has a booming voice. The kitties are lovely and that overhead shot of them is darling, all wound round each other. And Federico! Baking flans (is that a flan? don’t think I ever knew but that’s the term that came to mind when I saw it), indeed! When your house fills with young ladies, pls send him up here to me…. I will go out and buy a farm, far away, in the Canadian wilderness, 150 miles from another soul — up in the tundra, if necessary……..hehehehehe And you call that good luck. Good luck? Federico is beyond good luck, more like serendipity. But whoever, above, said it was karma is right, I think…. kindliness is like a magnet and it’s coming back to you. Thank you for letting us join you and perhaps a little will rub off on me too. Have a great day! ~ Mame 🙂
What a fun morning visit. So much to comment on but words fail me. Love all the kitties in the baskets.
Thanks for this post. I’m usually quite good at looking around and for some reason have had my head down lately.
I am about to make an afternoon cup of coffee, a slice of that french apple tart would go down a treat. I might do what my granny did when reading to us as very young children. She would ask if we would like a slice of cake, then turn over a page in a magazine to share the cake pictured there! No calories that way!!
Federico sounds like a wonderful young man. How long will he be at the farm? Our pool is up and running (we cover ours in the winter and it is above ground too because of varmint problems), but with so much rain it’s been overflowing and isn’t warming up much. Your photographs are very “Sunday-ish” if that can be said. Relaxing, lovely, and warm. Those cats have it made in the shade!
I am not sure how long he is staying – definitely another couple of weeks – he wants to meet Tima’s babies – if in fact she is pregnant which I find hard to believe sometimes..
I think the best best thing coming your way besides new piggies is the water trough system so you don’t have to drag one big hose everywhere. I can identify with that as I have to drag a long hose too. But not every day! Big difference.
Love the hand photos today. Together. Hands. Working.
Wonderfully diverse, colorful, flavorsome, generous and inspiring….I’m happy to be part of that too 😊
What is that delectable item Frederico baked? It’s beautiful! Yay for more help coming!
I really have no idea, he made a pastry and layered the apple..Very tasty though and all gone.. c
Oh and I adore that tiny tiny frog. The Frog and Toad books so charmed me.
So so glad you have another person there to share the strains and stresses . . . So happy for you Federico has almost become ‘family’ and is able to stay another little while . . . well, he can be the ‘second boss cockie’ when the girls arrive 🙂 !! I can hear the laughter now . . .
Federico looks like a great help to have around! Waking up to apple pie is the best way to wake up 🙂 Any progress with your watering system you can show us? Or has he been too busy cooking delectable things?
Where do I begin…cats in a barrel…dorbs..tiny frog hello! Tima having babies weird, she’s a baby! So gosh darn cute…everything! I love your farmy!
Robin🐥
Oh my goodness, we ALL need a Fredrico! LOL What a gorgeous tart. I’m going to have to play catch up on your blog this week. I have no idea what’s going on and i hate to miss out! 🙂
Agree with the comments that we could all do with a Federico in our lives! Must be like having your own professional chef and gardener.
Aah, how lovely!
🙂 Mandy xo
Lovely post .. Fancy waking up to that! Delish! I’m lucky I found your blog Celi .. That’s for sure 😀
Omg, tiny frog! Well, Celia, you haven’t slowed down one bit! The farmy is hopping with creatures and good food, as ever! Blessings! Bela
Yes! Not as many babies now though!