Death of Cocky

Today marks the death of Cocky the rooster. He was just too cocky for his own good.

Yup. Today I witnessed my first chicken killing. Gulp. Let's just say, the
ax wasn't the sharpest and Cocky just couldn't let that head go.

Chickens are starting to enter the picture of my daily life. Yoko and
Renae leave in less then 2 weeks, which means that I can no longer
escape chicken duty. It will be my job to collect the eggs each day and
tuck the chickens into bed each night. Yoko informed me that they will
expect me to say "Nighty, Nighty" as well.

I'll be quite honest...I am very nervous about this new responsibility. As most of
you know, I am not an animal person. I don't like things that flap, and
I'm really not a fan of small feet. Yoko and Renae say this will change
and I will soon fall in love with the chickens as well. I'm not so sure.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night from a nightmare about the
chickens. They had all escaped their coops and were terrorizing the
farm. This probably wouldn't have been too scary...except for the fact
that they were giant sized...huge! Ahhhh! Luckily, the dream ended with Yoko saving the day. Aye! I'm still freaked.

Think of me when you eat your eggs and chicken legs.

I'm alive!

I'm back! Wow. It's been awhile, and a lot has happened.

For one...Lilli came for a visit! It was wonderful to have an old friend around to laugh, talk, and reminesce. She was put to work for the majority of her stay, but luckily she made it in time for Canadian Thanksgiving! My cousin Sadie, her husband Andrew, and their baby Kohen came for the celebrations. We planned and prepared a wonderful 100 mile Thanksgiving dinner. It was pretty cool to brainstorm how to do it, and it really brought to light how much we take for granted the transportation of the foods we eat.

Let's see other things that happened...hiking in East Sooke park...spending an evening listening to a wonderful jazz singer with Lilli and my new friend Tracey (she's the coolest girl ever! and my first urban friend!)...went to the Wailin Jenny's concert...and last but not least! CONTRA DANCING!!! That's right folks, I'm an addict and that was the first thing I looked into when I moved here.

Contra dancing is pretty new here...which is made apparent my the size (not even 1/4 the size of atlanta) and the very basic dances. But! It is a great place for beginners to learn, and I am very proud of the fact that 9 of the dancers there last Saturday were there through me. The first thing I ask each new person I meet is if they like to dance...then I get their email address so I can bug them about it later. My plan is to get tons of young people into it so that the dance will have to be moved to a bigger location. Then, I need to somehow lure contra dancers from the states over the border to really show these Canadians how it's done. Unfortunately, since most everyone is fairly new to it there is no one to advance the group to the next level of funness. Hopefully, it will come with time.

Other things...I moved into the trailer! I finished painting before Lilli came and this past weekend my wonderful aunt came and helped me cover the love seats with this awesome colorful fabric. It is nice to see it really become my place. There are still a few items I need to make it feel really comfortable...cookware...curtains..and such. But soon I will be as snug as a bug. Speaking of bugs...I have totally taken over this giant bug haven and turned it into a Natalie friendly habitat. There are still some persistant bugs that made it through the devestation, and I'm thinking I'll keep them. But they can't have babies! No. I already see a spider egg sac forming and I'm going to have to thwart that effort...mama can stay but she's gotta find a new home for her babies.

So, because all of this has been going on...and I've had to figure out the farm computer to where I can get my blog on...it has taken me a long time to get caught up. But I'm back! Thanks to Terez for keeping the blog alive in my absence...even if he did to it with greasy fingers.

(grrr...still having trouble uploading the photo...annoying old macs....)

Bloggers Block

Sorry all. I am currently experiencing a case of bloggers block. I have many thoughts rolling around in my head from the past week about the frustrations and joys of being on the farm. They are thoughts that require a good amount of energy to express with eloquence. It will come.

Friday Nights

Friday nights on the farm are quite different from Friday nights back home. Instead of going out for a drink or going dancing, I sit with Renae and Yoko (and now Mari, another Japanese girl visiting for a couple months) and knit. Keep in mind that Fridays are our longest days...harvest goes late, and then we have to wake up uber early for market on Saturday.

But this past Friday night...we reached a new level of entertainment with a grand game of "Who can put dry beans in the ice cube trey with chopsticks the fastest." Needless to say the Japanese girls kicked our American forking butts! So yeah...that's what I do now.

Just as a side note: I have realized that any man out there looking for a beautiful, intelligent woman should start farming right away. Seriously! Most of the organic farms on Vancouver Island are fairly well connected with each other....and all the apprentices I've met from various farms are amazingly beautiful women. Just a word of advice for you single men seeking single women.

Birthday Surprise!

It goes like this:

1. Chris Rockett's mother offers to fly Natalie home to surprise him on his birthday.

2. Natalie feels it is too soon to go home.

3. Chris Rockett is bummed.

4. Chris thinks his birthday can pass like any other day.

5. Natalie plans to surprise the scrooge right out of him and organizes a surprise party to be attended by all of Chris' friends.

6. Back in Atlanta, Chris comes to the realization that now is the best time to visit Natalie and immediately purchases a ticket for September 11th.

7. Upon learning of Chris's British Columbia plans, Chris's loyal friend alerts him to Natalie's evil birthday party schemes.

8. Chris thinks it will be a big hit to give Natalie a little surprise of her own - the old switcheroo.

9. Chris convinces all his friends to play along with Natalie's birthday party plans.

10. Natalie is really excited that almost 20 people are going to show up at Chris's birthday bash...including Daniel from Florida!

11. September 11 - Long harvest day and farm errands for Natalie to run. She returns home around 7. Where is everyone?

12. Natalie begins to cook some dinner.

13. Natalie's uncle, Doug, comes home from work (mighty late for Doug).

14. Natalie continues cooking.

15. The doorbell rings.

16. Doug goes to answer the door. "Nat, you have visitor!"

17. Natalie goes downstairs. No one is there.

18. Boo! Chris jumps out of the dark hallway!!!

19. "I hate you!" yells Natalie. "I knew you were gonna do that! I hate you!!!"

20. Natalie proceeds to hit Chris repeatedly.

21. Natalie starts crying.

22. Natalie sits down and stares.

23. Natalie smiles.

Farmer Tans

This is the new-age, hip, organic farmer girl tan!

Notice the nice strip of brown above the buttocks. This makes it quite apparent that the majority of our time in the sun is spent bending over!

Recent Recipes

Apple pudding

This recipe is on the farm website. It is from Mabel Barton (Mary Alice's mother)

Cream together:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter

Add:
1 egg
3 shredded apples

Sift together:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together dry and wet ingredients. You can add nuts or raisins to dress up this pudding. Bake in square 8"x 8" pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the center is firm. Serve warm with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce or lemon sauce.

Pizza Dough

4 cups sifted flour

1 pkg. yeast

1 1/3 cups water

2 TBS olive oil

1 tsp salt

Add yeast to warm water. Mix everything together. Knead for 10 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise about 2 hours. Preheat oven 400 degrees. I usually spread the dough out on an oiled cookie sheet and back for around 10 minutes. Then put the toppings on and bake for 25 minutes.

Sesame Baked Tofu

1 block extra firm tofu
1 TBS sesame oil*

2 TBS soy sauce

1/4 tsp cracked pepper

1 TBS sesame seeds

Cut tofu into 1/2" cubes. Toss with remaining ingredients, spread on an oiled backing sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. I toasted the sesame seeds in a pan so that they turned a slightly darker brown and sprinkled them on top afterwards.

* I highly recommend purchasing authentic sesame oil from an asian market and go for a dark brown color. The generic kind I've purchased from grocery stores and health food stores is just not the same...it really lacks the yummy flavor. Plus, if you get it in an asian market it will most definitely be cheaper.

Rosemary Focaccia

5 1/2 cup white flour

1 pkg yeast

2 TBS fresh rosemary

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups warm water

4 TBS olive oil

1 tsp coarse salt

In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, rosemary, and salt. Stir in water and 3 TBS olive oil and beat well for 5 minutes or until well mixed. Cover and let rise in warm place for 40 minutes. Knead gently for 1 minute on floured surface. Roll out onto 2-3 10 inch pans or 1 big baking sheet. Cover, and let rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400. Indent top of focaccia with fingertips and brush with rest of olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Arroz con Pollo

1 tablespoon Vegetable oil

1 pound Boneless, Skinless, Chicken breasts cut into thick strips

1 medium Onion; chopped

1 medium Green pepper; chopped

1 medium Red pepper; chopped

1 Garlic clove; minced

1 teaspoon Chili powder

1/2 teaspoon Ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Turmeric

1 cup Uncooked rice

1 medium Tomato; seeded & chopped

2 cups Chicken broth

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken 8 to 10 minutes or until brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Add onion, green pepper, red pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and turmeric. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add rice and tomatoes; stir until rice is lightly browned. Add broth; bring mixture to a boil, place chicken pieces on top of mixture. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. To serve, fluff with fork stirring in chicken pieces.

I've also made a pasta with savoy cabbage, onions, carrots, tons of garlic, balsamic vinegar, roasted crushed almonds, and browned butter. It was delicious! But the recipe is too long to type, and I'd feel too bad about copying it. I also made really really simple strawberry muffins with a recipe out of the Joy of Cooking. You can do it with any fruit and it's mega easy.