It has been a couple weeks since I was able to write a post . . . and it has been a little chaotic to say the least. As we said in the last blog, we celebrated Mother’s Day at the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival in Lake Elmo MN. A couple days of selling our goods and visiting other vendors that we see a few times throughout the year. We love this event as it is only a few hours from home and most people actually know where our little town of Ladysmith WI is located.
After returning home, we spent a day unpacking and getting ready for our next adventure . . . a high school graduation. Yep, our youngest is graduating Memorial Weekend. Let’s hope for warm weather . . . and no rain. We have had enough rain over the past week and we are still cleaning up from the Tuesday storm that left many devastated. It started out like any other afternoon but upon my return home from work, we noticed the skies were turning an eery color of green. As we watched the nightly news before milking, it appeared that we were right in its path. As the wind started to whip, we decided to head to the basement. Even Brian, who usually likes to watch the storm, sat in the corner of the basement with us. Hearing what sounded like a train and strong winds pass, we went upstairs. We were definitely the lucky ones. Power was out, several trees missing our milking parlor by inches, and our hoop barn had the side walls blown out. Again, we were the lucky ones. Total devastation in Chetek which is to the west of us and major damage in Weyerhauser, Bruce, and Conrath. First storm of the season was definitely one we don’t want to relive.
Back to the graduation – we are busy cleaning up the yard, a few gardens, and making the list of food for the celebration. Planning on a down home picnic – chicken (raised right here), coleslaw, deviled eggs (cause the girls have given us too many to keep up), fruit salad, beans, and homemade cupcakes from Blue Hills Café in Bruce. YUM!
Have we ever told you how we make hard boiled eggs from fresh farm eggs? Well it is simple – we steam them. Yes, steam! If you have ever tried to peel a farm fresh egg after boiling them, you may find that the peel sticks and it is not a fun process. We read somewhere to steam the eggs so we put our eggs in a steamer basket above boiling water and let them go for about 12 minutes. From there, we put them in cold water and they are a breeze to peel. Our deviled eggs are simple: Beautiful yolks, mayo, brown mustard, vinegar, and a little salt. Always a family favorite.
Well off to cleaning up the herb garden from the long winter and rainy spring. Until next time, Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.