Sarah put on her dandelioned best for Bea’s party on Sunday

There isn’t a weekend that goes by now that I don’t wish had at least one extra day in it, and really two extra days: one to get a little bit more stuff done around the farm, and one just to recover. This past weekend was jam packed with parties and cakes, and we were able to squeeze some farm work in there as well.

Brooke’s amazing bridal shower cake/cupcake creation

On Saturday, Margaret and the girls headed down to Massachusetts for a bridal shower. If we ever open that bakery we’ve been talking about, our 11-year-old cousin Brooke will be our first hire for sure. Check out the cake and cupcakes she cooked up and decorated!

While the girls were in Mass., I headed North to the Fedco tree sale, where I picked up 3 new pear saplings, two apple saplings, and four high bush blueberries. I love the Fedco Tree Sale, but what I loved about it especially this year was picking up our pre-ordered trees seeing “Ten Apple Farm” written on the six foot tall paper bags containing the saplings, next to dozens of other bags with the names of other small farms and homesteads, each one clever, or sweet, or poignant. It was a great reminder that we are a small part of a greater movement taking place, with many people striving to make new (and old) connections to the land, to their food, and find a better way to live. The trees are sitting in our basement, roots wrapped in wet newspaper and sawdust, waiting to get put in the ground. We’ll write more about the trees and planting when we do get them in, later this week if all goes well.

The big event of the weekend was Bea’s 2nd birthday party. If there’s one thing we do well, it’s throw a kid’s birthday party. With birthdays in April and June, Charlotte and Bea will always be blessed to have some number of baby farm animals around for their parties, and so will never be wanting for a petting zoo. Between the baby goats romping around the yard, the the baby chicks in the backhouse, and all the kids taking it all in, with cupcakes no less, it was a day overflowing with cuteness.

Bea and Connor feed Lily and Nadine

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Events, Family, cute kids birthday, cake, cupcakes, garland, Goats, kids, party

Karl's Birthday Spread

Karl turned 40 this week, and though he spent his actual birthday pruning the apple trees, on Saturday night we celebrated in style. Karl’s undergraduate degree is in Soviet Studies, and he spent some of his early twenties living in Russia, so we revisited his youth with delights that ranged from black bread and salo (cured pork fat, think Solzhenitsyn in the gulag) to caviar and blini. The boldest among us toasted him with vodka or kvass (thanks Pam!), and we all rocked out to the strains of Kino and Leningrad (thanks Robb!). A fine way to start his fifth decade!

I’ve had several requests for the recipe for his chocolate birthday cake. It’s one of my favorite desserts, from one of my favorite all-purpose cookbooks, New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant. The cake is dense, moist, and richly flavored. We’re still savoring the last few slices….

Events, Food, Recipes birthday, blini, cake, caviar, russian food, salo

Charlotte examines a special guest at the birthday party who is taking a rest on the top of her fairy princess strawberry cake.

It was beautiful sack race weather, but the sack races never actually happened. We discovered that when you put little kids and baby goats together in a field on a beautiful day- it’s a recipe for fun all by itself. The kids didn’t need any additional entertainment. They were happy to just run around in the sun. And eat cake. Read more…

Events 3, birthday, cake, party, strawberries