Finally some Mushrooms!

A dearth of fungi is part of the life of a forager. In terms of the shere amount of mushrooms to forage, process and eat, this summer was the opposite of last summer. Last summer the forests here were simply blanketed with black trumpets. They showed up everywhere with the wet soggy summer, in places I’d been for years and never seen them. They showed us that their mycelium is always there, just waiting for the rare perfect conditions.

Last Years Wreath of Maitaki

Last year, In October, every other old oak wore a wreath of Maitake at its base. Zoe and I went out with our ponies, backpacks and saddle bags and found so many that we had to leave some behind. We are still eating our dried Maitake from last year. But this summer has been sad, at least to the extent that happiness depends on finding mushrooms. This fall, all through October I rode out to check the oaks that gave us last year’s abundance and didn’t find a single flowering hen. The black trumpets only showed up in the small reliable areas we keep secret.

Angle Wing Oysters

Until this past week! Oh my. I’ve been out for hours this past week collecting both angle wing oysters and blue winter oysters. The blue oysters grow especially well on old logs over water. With the recent rain and cold weather, they are popping out all over. After so many treks that offered-up close nothing in terms of edible fungi, this sudden flush has been a joy.

Winter Oysters ready to freeze

The blue winter oysters are a meaty, moist mushroom that can survive and thrive in bitter cold weather. If you find them frozen, you can still cut them off and they are wonderfully fresh after thawing. Because of this quality, I decided to simply freeze the 30 plus pounds I’ve harvested so far. I put them in ziplock bags so we can simply pull a bag from the freezer when we want to cook with them.

Angle Wings in my Foraging Basket

The angle wing oysters are more delicate so I sautéed them in butter. They released their delicate yet earthy aroma as well as the water they held within them, making a thick buttery broth. We ate a big pot of this amazing mushroom soup last night with friends for Shabbat dinner and I froze the other 30 plus pounds of concentrated mushroom broth to use through the winter, spring and early summer. This, along with what I find in the next month, will last until we see what next season offers.

So, for now, I’m off on my pony with my dogs to see what I can find today!

Autumn Riding

A wonderful visit with awesome family
Nests become visible in Autumn

I almost never travel in the autumn, autumn meaning from early September through November, because autumn is perfect riding weather. How could I leave during this time?! In July and August, riders must contend with deer flies. In spite of spray, masks for the horses, and horsetail sticks to help sweep the flies off of the horses, the flies are always around. During these hot summer months the horses sleep all day in their stalls to avoid the bugs, going out to the pasture just after dusk to graze all night. The day we put the fly masks away for the season should be a homesteader’s holiday.

Riding through our forest while the leaves slowly turn color and fall away is peaceful after the buzzing of summer. It’s quiet. The horses relax. Both of our attention can now expand toward the beauty around us as we let go of the anti-fly vigilance.

Yesterday I rode out bareback on Jasper with him wearing his new Bosal and horse hair mescate, which he rode beautifully in. The maple leaves have mostly fallen, leaving just the butterscotch and yellow oak and ash leaves and an open feel. It was cold. I wore a wool sweatshirt and my down shell and I was still a bit chilled when I got home after three hours. I rode out a road that people here call The Middle Road, as it goes from Pratt Corner Road near our house, through the middle of a great tract of forest, all the way to Amethyst Brook Conservation Area. It’s a long, fairly straight trail that goes for about four miles.

Just before we got to Amethyst, I turned west on a trail I’d not been on. The trail became a rather steep rocky ledge so I led Jasper down it and then it opened up into a network of trails I’d never been on. I am always amazed, after having ridden hear so many years, that there are still new areas to explore! The trails were exquisite, wide, grassy.

We finally came out into some familiar old corn pastures. The fields had been harvested except for a few straggly stand of corn stalks. I gave some of the dried corn on the cob to Jasper who gnashed into it with gusto. Then we rode home in the sparkling light. In three hours of riding, we didn’t come across a single person.

Today, Zoe and I rode out to those corn fields again. Wanting to give Jasper a break, we took Evie and Spencer. You can see the tall stalks behind Evie, who is eyeing the corn. We had saddlebags which we filled with corn to make into tortillas. The horse enjoyed munching corn on the ground while we scavenged.

Max my nephew and my mom

Of course, my nephew Max likes to ride too. When he first mounted he was daunted by the movement of the horse. But, with some support from his great gramma he really got going until he was galloping everywhere. It was then hard to convince him too dismount. But, it was time to go home to Philladehlphia

Soap Making Workshop!

It’s been a long, fruitful, delicious and DIRTY summer so far.  I’ve been covered in everything from goat milk to potato beetle guts and regularly smeared with what seems like over fifty shades of brown.  The smells I’ve proudly carried around on my body have been equally varied.   Animal excrement ranging from the mild, nutty horse mounds I muck out daily from the stalls to the wet, rancid chicken shit that covers the soles of my shoes when I reach into the nesting boxes to collect the eggs.  This, mixed together with soil scents from the garden and my own sweat has made for quite the nasal experience for anyone who has the pleasure to be within whiffing distance.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being dirty.  Sometimes, though, there comes a time in every farmer’s life for a nice thorough scrub down.  

Enter Melissa Probst! Melissa is a community-based soapmaking enthusiast who is coming to our farm at the beginning of next month!  She will be teaching a four hour workshop on the basics of soapmaking using the traditional cold press method. Participants will learn about different carrier oils, essential oils and other soap ingredients, along with safety guidelines for working with lye.  As a class we will work together to make a fresh batch of soap.  Each student will also be able to take home close to a pound of their own, individually flavored, natural, homemade soap, with simple instructions for cutting and curing at home.  Come join me in my quest to get clean!  We provide all the materials and equipment.  Dress for mess, preferably with long sleeves and closed shoes.  

DETAILS

When: 9/1 from 12:30-4:30

Where: 712 Pratt Corner Rd. Amherst, MA

Cost: $65 but work exchange or barter can be arranged!

Registration: www.ancientponiesfarm.org

An Announcement

Caldo Gallego. A robust soup that is a specialty in the Galician region of Spain. Perfect for cold winter evenings and warming up after a day spent walking in the rain.

Hola todas! Zoe Weizenbaum here. I have just returned from a six-week adventure in Spain! For the first two weeks I worked on a farm in Andalucia and for the month after I hiked one of the many famous pilgrimage routes that culminate in Santiago De Compostela.

A farmer spreads a rich mixture of cow manure and hay mulch on top of his garden in Galicia

In my final days of walking, crossing through the green pastures of Galicia, I came across many small farmers preparing their personal gardens for the coming season. Unlike our garden, which is full of all types of vegetables, they mostly grow greens for a specific soup called ‘Caldo Galego’. Similar to what I’ve learned to do back home however, they also prepare the soil with a healthy layer of ‘poopy mulch’. The smell of sheep and goat manure mixed with decomposing hay that followed me in the last stretch to Santiago made me feel right at home in the Galician countryside. It also inspired an extra quickness in my step as I thought about getting back home to the states and starting to work on our garden.

My neighbor, Julio, and I walked the last two weeks of El Camino together. Here we are in front of the giant Cathedral in Santiago, Julio with his two Eucalyptus walking sticks and me with my certificate of completion in hand.

And now I’m home. I write this blog post staring out the window of my mom’s office. Our very pregnant goats are waddling around the chicken coop sniffing around for bits of bird feed left behind. The horses are close to the barn, using the structure as a windbreak as they take their mid-morning standing nap. The ducks and sheep are mostly out of sight, each busy getting their needs met in further off parts of the pasture and the chickens are taking advantage of the dust bath areas and laying boxes inside the barn. It’s a busy family we’re growing here and I’m happy to return to my place in it.

But what exactly is my place here on the farm? Since coming home from Taiwan in the summer of 2017 I’ve thought about this question a lot. I’ve been inspired by the potential I see here and have put in a lot of work in the past year a half. At the same time, I’ve also felt hesitant to fully commit myself. I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of work this place requires but also haven’t even been clear on what direction to take that work. My time walking the Camino has given me plenty of time to consider this and some clear direction is starting to form. And….here comes the announcement!

In my journey to learn more about homesteading over the past year and a half, I have accumulated a hefty contact list of local farmers/guerilla gardeners/permaculturalists/DIY professionals. They have offered their mentorship to me with such enthusiasm and… now they’re offering it to you! Starting in April and continuing all the way into November, Ancient Ponies Farm is hosting a series of workshops on permaculture and homesteading skills. Learn how to build a clay oven with Northampton based bread maker, Sam Coates-Finke. Dive into the world of tree identification and care with naturalist Walker Korby! Visit www.ancientponiesfarm.org for more information on our offerings and to sign up for classes! I’m so excited for this and the many other new beginning that come with this season. Stay tuned for pictures of goat babies. We’re expecting to “kid out” at the end of this month!

Lumi

Lumi!

Lumi is now 6 months old. Check out that face and the black eyeliner with white eyelashes…oh my! Yesterday I brought her to the bank with me. She is by far the most polite and calm dog of our bunch. She has started to live in the barn now and, in spite of the fact that she smells like sheep and horses, people love to come up to her and snuggle up. Her fur is still the softest since angora rabbits. It has been suggested that she would make a good therapy dog because she is so gentle. She did not even need to be trained not to jump up on people. She has seemed to intuit proper and respectful behavior. It is sort of a shame that she has to live in the barn.

Lumi and Mary Agnes

One difficulty came up a few days ago: She was playing with the chickens. She does not seem to intuit good behavior in relation to them! I saw out my window that she had the white Araucana prostate and almost dead. I ran down to the barn and the poor bird seemed barely alive. Lumi’s saliva was all over the bird and had frozen, so picking her up, she was limp yet stiff and crunchy. I brought her into the house and made a place for her with some food and water. Meanwhile, I got out my e-collar and put it on Lumi. For the rest of the day, I did work at the window looking out into the paddock. Luckily the signal from the window to her collar worked from that distance. Whenever Lumi went near a chicken, she received a mild shock. She seemed so confused about the new electric forcefield the chickens seemed to have! It took her a while but soon she gave up harrassing them.

On her way out with the sheep

Then Lumi began playing with the sheep, which is exactly what we want and what it is in her nature to do. The sheep then wandered in their adorable little row down to the lower pasture. I am always nervous about the sheep leaving the safety of the barn area because of coyotes. If they are out there alone it seems inevitable that they will get picked off. But this time Lumi followed them! She stayed with them while they foraged for dry grasses beneath the snow. Yay! We got her just for this 4 months ago and it is so exciting to see this coming to fruition!

And meanwhile, in the house, I started to hear clucking and skittering noises. Our chicken, who happens to be a good layer of the prettiest blue eggs, was up and about and wanting to get out of the little vestibule she was in! I brought her back out to the barn and she has seemed good as new since.

I’ve seen this over and over….chickens can survive being stuck under a haybale for three days, being stepped on by a giant horse, and being intensely mouthed by an over playful dog. They are creatures of grit and gristle for sure.

Goat Drama

Elka’s Obsession

We love our three goats, Jasmine, Jade and Jessica. They are extremely sweet goats, enjoying being scratched and pet, coming to us eagerly when they are called. However, there is another side to goats. They are PUSHY! Horses can be trained to respect the boundaries one set, waiting patiently while I bring out the hay without crowding me, waiting until I set the grain down before going for it. But goats cannot be trained this way. If you come into their stall with grain they’ll jump up on you, ram each other out of the way and do whatever they can to get at that grain. They will try to bolt out of the stall or into a stall if they think there is something in there for them.

Jasmine, Jade and Jessica

We were pleased to invite Joshua over for a two-week sleepover with dreams of baby goats in the spring. We are confident now that he did the deed with all three girls. After a few days his randy behavior settled down and the girls stopped shaking their tails at him.

Mary Agnes, Whisper and Arlo

We got our three Gotland sheep 2 weeks ago. Arlo, Whisper and Mary Agnes are truly sweet, through and through. They also don’t have horns to use as weapons. We noticed immediately that Jasmine, our milker goat, was hostile to the sheep. When she came into a stall where they were passively standing, she attacked them agressively until she got them out of the stall. We thought she was simply establishing her dominance and that all would settle down soon. However, two days ago I observed her attacking Whisper with incredible violence. She jammed her horn into Whisper’s side and kept pushing it in and pushing her around. I was so glad I observed this and separated Jasmine from the sheep immediately. Whisper was quite hurt. The wonderful vet, Dr. Schmidt came over right away and examined the wound. There was a round hole on her lower abdomen near her utters. She was having difficulty walking. He shaved around it, washed it and gave her a 5-day injection of antibiotics. He could not be sure it had not penetrated through the muscles into the abdominal cavity so he advised me to keep an eye on her temperature, attitude, and appetite. This morning her temperature was normal and she is eating well. Phew.

In the mean time, Jasmine is having to spend her days in a stall now. She’s content there with her very own hay and no one to compete with. She can see everyone through the slats of the other stalls.

Then this morning I noticed what you see in this picture on Jade’s left upper and lower lips. I sent the picture to Dr. Schmidt and he said it was a virus that would most likely clear on its own. I asked about why she seems so much rounder than her sister, Jessica. He predicted that she is probably pregnant with triplets or quadruplets. Oh my!