EASY-PEASY HOME-MADE GRANOLA - Simple and Fast!

This is great as a cereal or on yogurt! Ya gotta try it!

Granola

* 3 cups dry oatmeal
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/2 cup honey
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup wheat germ

First melt the butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the honey and salt and briefly heat with the butter. Turn off the heat and add the oatmeal and wheat germ. Stir. Pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet. Spread the mixture out evenly and bake it at 375° for 10 minutes. It will be a golden brown color. Remove from the oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

AND...if you're in the Rochester, NY area, get your ORGANIC HONEY from TONY of Toscano Farms, one of the CSA's we help supply! You can get his CSA newsletter and EMAIL him at: toscanofarm@gmail.com

"The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be your medicine."
- Hippocrates

Many people seen at S.E.E.N. event! GO local foods!

WOW! There was a HUGE turnout last night at the SEEN's workshop, "Taking Back Our Local Food System". It's VERY encouraging to see the community support for local farmers and their products. There's a wonderful customer base here in the Ithaca area, and ever-growing demands by local consumers for FRESH, LOCAL FOOD!
If you're a newer farm like we are, there are so many opportunities. Four speakers covered a variety of local food topics, including how they got started as a business, channels they use to market their products, and new ways they see the market they're in expanding. The "meet and greet" time was a super way to let all of us mingle, chat and connect. LOVED IT!
If you're in the Ithaca area, stop by the famous Ithaca Farmers Market, and check out the little local food farms! Your tummy will thank you, and we farmers will too!

Chicken Pot Not-Pie » Flamingo Toes

(RECIPE WITH PICTURES AND DIRECTIONS:)
"As for those grapefruit and buttermilk diets, I'll take roast chicken and dumplings."
-Hattie McDaniel


Chicken Pot Not-Pie » Flamingo Toes

TA DA! Here they are...

Did you know chickens liked crossword puzzles? I didn't! Yep, they're the latest additions to our FOWL family. At long last! We hatched out 24 of OUR OWN cross chicks - almost all of them on Valentine's Day. SO cute I wanna squeeze 'em! We filled up the incubator again yesterday, this time with Khaki Campbell ducks (from our girls), Ameraucanas, SL Wyandottes, GL Wyandottes, Leghorns and more of our cross chicks. By mid-April, they'll be everywhere! Let the PECKING BEGIN!

"Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets."
Henry Ford

SEED SHOPPING! And 136 different kinds...

One of my favorite times of the year - browsing all the new spring catalogs. I can waste an entire afternoon "window shopping" and circling choices! I'll be dreaming about the rainbow of veggies for my garden, and imagining all the flower possibilities! There will always be my tried-and-true, time-tested standbys, but aren't the new options exciting? And the "OLD" heirlooms are even more fascinating. Try a few in your garden this year, you'll love them! Don't forget to visit the Slow Foods website, and look up their "Ark of Taste" vegetables and fruits. They're all winners, and by picking from among them, you'll be preserving a true piece of American History. It's so fun to get that package of seeds in the mail!

www.slowfoodusa.org

Warm weather is coming...again! Cold, freezing cold, snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, snow with lightning, hail, windstorms, and now a balmy warm spell! Mother Nature is definitely a woman...she can't make up her mind!
*************************************************
"In the spring I have counted ONE-HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours." ~Mark Twain

Chickens agree with the Groundhog...

...spring is on the way! Yep, my chickens definitely think it's time for winter to say goodbye. One warm day and they all start laying like mad! We've been averaging about 4 eggs a day, but yesterday my girls gave me a FULL DOZEN! Way to go biddies! Another cold blast of weather is headed here, so we'll see how long THAT lasts. After all the snow last night, the only spots of color out there today are the cardinals and blue jays. But at least there's sunshine!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
"Wood you cut yourself warms you twice." -Henry David Thoreau
(Once in the chopping, then in the burning!)

Secret Santas....

I LOVE SURPRISES!
Which is why I joined a new Secret Santa swap on MaryJanesFarm...
Is it just me or is mail delivery exciting to everyone? And now my Swap will make it feel like Christmas everyday! Sometimes little things can mean so much, it's so important to have things to look forward to...like my trip to the PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW with my mom! We decided to just schedule it and do it...we've talked for years about doing a weekend trip, but never scheduled one. I've ALWAYS wanted to go to the Philly Flower Show, so this year IT'S OFFICIAL! The theme is "Springtime in Paris"...Les fleurs pour autant que je puisse en juger! (translation: Flowers as far as I can see!)
I've never been on a bus trip, so it will be a new experience. I'm sure the show will be beautiful, and full of inspiring ideas, and I'm so excited I can't wait!

How about you? What are you putting off that you'd enjoy? Just get out there and DO IT! Take the trip, eat the dessert, try a class, call the friend, see the movie, go out dancing, have the chocolate! (Did I mention eating twice? Freudian slip!) You'll be so glad that you did! SEIZE THE DAY! Have a great week y'all!