Merry Yule; Bring the winter down

A bronze and pearl glass star. A cascade of rainbow lights, silver bows and ruby beads. Don't forget a opalescent unicorn with a wreath around his neck and a regal star with horns of moonstone, albeit the color and less the gem.  Throw it all a top of Frasier Fir and plug it in. Our prettiest clan tree yet, to celebrate both this very day of Yule and Christmas later on in this week. Traditionally, we would have a Yule log burning long into the night to bring fortune to our home. Today marks the first day of Winter marked by the Roman calender. For some of us clansmen the winter began at Samhain. This is a sweet moment, celebrated with much love and warmth. My day began early and in the gathering dawn I mentally ran down my lists of things to do. I rose, dressed and the first thing I do is go downstairs and vacuum. Picking up all those stray nettles, watering the tree and turning on the fireplace. I make sure the candles are lit and the room is already smelling good; pine and cider.

Then I run upstairs to get the ham ready. Into the big steel pan goes a shank ham, studded with cloves and drizzles in clover honey. Wine and whiskey get poured over the meat, a little sea salt and pepper. Add a little fresh basil, a generous handful of organic herb mix from our summer garden stores and a little more honey. I put the ham in at 260F for 4 hours; the tempting smell fills every corner of the house. Now I pull on my great house, emblazoned with my silver unicorn on the right shoulder, and drive to the store to get the last makings for my fancy hot chocolate. I make it every year around this time and at the end of this post, I will include the recipe for it. One by one, the clansmen and women slip out of there blankets. I throw sausage links on a hot, cast iron skillet and watch the smiles. Brown eyes, blue, hazel and green all sparkle with the pleasure of knowing breakfast is close at hand. The organic milk goes in the stockpot, the cream and the cocoa powder. Vanilla follows and then cinnamon. I add a generous tablespoon of honey to sweet the pot, literally! What I get is a seasonal favorite and everyone gathers close to have a cup.

Whether you celebrate Yule, Christmas or any other winter holiday, this is the time to let your family come close. Set aside the troubles and smile, dance, and give presents. Make good food and enjoy it with those you love. Remember that the winter is a hard time, a dying time and that these holy days are the time to create joy. Go forth and shine, though the cold wind blows.

Clan Hot Chocolate

6 cups of organic whole milk
2 cups of half and half
1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix (I use Kroger Brand)
3 TBSP of Hersey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
1 TBSP of clover Honey
1/2 TSP of cinnamon *Optional*
1 TSP of vanilla extract

Pour milk and half n half into stockpot and warm.
Then add cocoa mix, cocoa powder, and honey.
Stir well.
When warmed to a shimmer, take off heat and add cinnamon.
Stir continuously to avoid a skin forming on the milk mixture.
Pour and enjoy.

Hearth Bread; Hearth Magic

Sometimes it is the most basic of things that build the foundation for something grand. There is a ritual to be found in baking, something that has a rhythm like the sway of woman's hips. Kneading is done in a rocking, turning motion and in it I find the steps of a slow, romantic dance. With warm water, salt, sugar, yeast and flour I can make dough. With heat and time it rises. I knead before the rising process and after, form the loaves and slash them with the Gebo, the Futhark rune for the Gift. Bread is food but this food is also gift. From my hand and from the Gods, from my good work and the money from that work. It was my pleasure to place this on my baking counter this morning, the warm smell of wheat and butter filling the kitchen and sneaking into the nooks and crannies of the house. I wrapped them in tin foil to keep them warm and seal in their flavor. In the spring, I purchased chives still on the blossom and diced the stalks. The green and purple interplay was lovely; the very breath of a living season. 

Hearth bread to me is the simplest of Hearth magic, the spirit and power found in the bounds of our homesteads and long halls. Little prayers and rituals that strengthen the bones of our homes and gives as much warmth as a fire to our hearts. The year spends itself down to Winter, the dying season is near at hand. My clansfolk hold true to the warmth and the old way, finding love in the fate we weave together like a cloth. As I slice this fine loaf and spread sweet butter across it, I watch my daughter and my chosen niece chase each other around the kitchen while my chosen sister and younger chosen niece doze on the loveseat. There is strong magic laced in the bones of this place. It's name is love, honor and knowledge. Would that all people were as blessed as I am.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Heart

Happy Thanksgiving

From the Clansfolk at the Heart of Home. Please enjoy this Heart of Home recipe, posted for you pleasure during this Holiday season. 

Jalapeño Cornbread

2 TBSP. Salted Sweet Cream Butter (softened)
2 TSP. Baking Powder
1 TSP. of salt

1  Egg

2 Cups of Hodgson Mill Yellow Corn Meal

1 TSP. Baking Soda
2 TBSP. fresh diced jalapeño peppers

1 3/4 cups buttermilk (or enough to moisten well)

Put butter in cast iron skillet in 400 F. Mix corn meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and peppers together; add egg and buttermilk.
Batter should be thick. Add heatened butter to batter and put batter into heated skillet and bake in 400 F oven 25-35 minutes or until brown.

You may also make corn sticks and muffins with this recipe.

Beloved Last Market of the Season

November 22nd 2014 at Market Square in Knoxville, Tennessee will be the place to be to catch the last Market Square Farmer's Market of this year. Over the summer I have enjoyed ice cream cones from Cruz Farms, rosemary lotion from Wild Hare and blue lotus scented goat's milk soap from a gentlemen who still hasn't given me his lovely name. I will find it out this weekend, so help me. The cold ushers in my desire to start my Christmas shopping, thinking about the gifts I have squirreled away and the cards I will be mailing out. I have already purchased my Thanksgiving cards and they will be mailed out soon.

If you want more information about MSFM, please go to http://marketsquarefarmersmarket.org/

Come down and celebrate the last market of the Season with me! This Saturday, November 22nd at Market Square, Knoxville, TN. The market opens at 9:00am and goes until 2:00pm. Thank you and have a great weekend!

Remembering October

Sitting by the campfire with friends, One Woman Farm in my hands. This picture was taken at the beginning of October this year, at a camp side shindig that was held in my good friends back yard to celebrate her 30th birthday. Snug inside my flannel shirt and embroidered jacket, I was well pleased after a night of drinking and warm music among friends.


Right now the temperature is dipping into the teens, my niece is making dinner and I am trying to push out this post before I cave and go take a shower. I am really enjoying Cold Antler Farm but I am far from the end. I really want to buy Barnheart soon; I'm am happily and unabashedly hooked on Jenna Woginrich's writing and admit readily she is my role model. Her words give me hope that is an attainable dream, that one may slip the film of urban living and truly merged into an authentic, sustainable life in agriculture. The hives getting here early this week have really filled me with tender hope that after the cold, harsh grip of winter this one acre of mine will have honeybees. That in summer there will be honey, candles and soap.

My husband asks me what I want for Christmas and my mind can't think of anything but "the homestead". We are a long way off from where we want to be. Patience is a virtue I need to cultivate as we work but Gods above and below how I want to be milking my goats and tending my bees. There is one other thing that comes to mind. My husband used to play the violin when he was younger and still has the one he used as a child. I think I will ask him to have it stringed so that I may learn to play the violin. I ache to play Carolan's Welcome for my family.

I leave you this cold, autumn night with a picture of another autumn, a dawning over stormy skies and black walnuts trees. This little shack used to be the safe haven of a family of feral cats that I would bring food and clean water. In turn this lovely creatures would keep the mice and rats near the creek at bay.

"With humble bargains struck, each end holding true to the other, we find grace and honor."
 
-A Heart of Home Proverb

Sunday Morning Pie Baking and other Treasures

The sweet perfume of cinnamon and organic cane sugar curls around the warm air of the kitchen here at home. The living room, the dinning area and the kitchen make up the mid level in the house, a path making a happy circle. There are two recessed, sliding doors that lead to the kitchen; in days gone past perhaps these doors were actually connected to their tracks and did just that to allow the mother or father cooking to relax while doing so. Now they sit always open; the kitchen is a hub of Clan activity and there is almost always someone in it doing something. This morning, I slipped downstairs to gaze across the one acre of our back yard. It is too chilly to go walking in the dew and dim. The kitchen is awash in gold light as Colin inspects our erring dishwasher.


Maybe a cup of coffee is in order. Soon, when the coffee maker is done brewing its lovely elixir. Less than a minute now until the pie is done and Colin playfully lectures me about some aside I have made to the background conversation gathered around the television. The house is growing toward warmer on a physical level but emotionally the warmth is complete and permeates every square inch of the home.

The good news I might have mentioned is that come spring we shall be getting our first bees. One hive complete without frames, with queen excluder and a full size top feeder will be arriving any day now. The frames will come in the weeks later and when the weather warms, bees!

Carolans's Welcome by Orla Fallon is one of my favorite instrumental pieces when the air turns cold and the nights become full of velvet shadows and diamond stars. In the crisp, mountain air the stars burn icy shades of pewter and cyan when the sun sets. My mind turns back to the pie as the timer goes off and I wander over to turn off the heating elements and let it linger in the oven. I turn on the light and the clan gathers near to admire its height and the shinning, deep orange filling in the center. I wish I had heavy cream for whip cream but the pie itself is a blessing. To have my husband safe and asleep upstairs is a miracle giving last night's car accident that put the final nail in my Malibu's coffin. While turning onto Westland avenue, a car blind sided him and dug a trench I could have laid down in down the driver's side from headlight to back wheel well. Today one of the things on the to do list is to push the old Geo out of the garage and give her a full make over. After which the three working adults will still be able to go to work, a constant that is the life's blood of this household.

I will not ask for money or assistance from people. Only that you remember the Heart of Home Clan in the days to come when families and clans alike gather to comfort and give thanks at having each other close. These are holy days, these pewter grey morning's where the sky is as fluffy thick with clouds as a clean kitten. These are blessing, this velvet black nights with burning icy stars...to have our family whole and safe under the eyes of our Gods and the love in our hearts.

I am half way through Cold Antler Farm. I will have a lovely review for you all when I am done with it. Be safe and vigilant as you travel to your hearth sites and clan halls this season

Two proverbs from the Heart of Home.

Not the ones we know from the Holy Bible or any documented religious text. These proverbs come from the stitches in a patchwork quilt, the warm glow of a beeswax candle, the clean break in fresh cheese and the summer sweet perfume of homemade raspberry preserves. The first and best loved proverb of the Heart of Home is the very first words written on the top of the blog...

I bend my head and shoulders into the yoke of work, for I have miles to go and miles on my heart. These words are a promise, an oath and a hope as bright as a wildfire burning in my heart with the smell of woodsmoke, cinnamon and truth. The truth of a heart full of a love for something, someone that is just around the corner. We have another proverb, one I have used time and time again when faced with the unpleasant but necessary task of a hard lesson to be learned.

A hard telling for a hard truth.

Sometimes we cannot couch our words and sugar must be left off the meal of hard truth. We are kind when we can be, hard when we must be. It has always been the way of my Clan.



And so I have shared some of our words with you. There will be more as they spin themselves into being, dancing in my head like so many leaves on the wind.

Finally! Kiko Fest and Bees!

Firstly and foremost, I apologize for how long it has taken me to get this post out. Life has bounded away from me like the cagy buck and I have been dodging, running through fog, fen and bills to close the distance. So without any more adieu, I give you the IKGA 11th  Kiko Fest 2014.  

There were not many bucks at Kiko Fest but this one took the cake. Hoss, as he was named on the docket, was a beautiful 100% New Zealand buck with horns a foot and a half long easy. His hair was cream chased in dark chocolate, dark stout with just the right amount of foam. From a romantic view, he was like some fell and dark unicorn and he had a magnificent beard.  I wish I had taken a picture of his docket, for it held a good story of his fine breeding. Alas, there was so much to cover at Kiko fest and I only had a handful of hours to get it done. Below I took pictures of two more 100% New Zealand bucks and one buck whom I believe was  50% NZ Kiko and 50% Saanen. He is the one who is nearly cream white throughout his body.

Above- The buck on the left was my favorite out of the entire lot. He was very personable and his cinnamon and cream coloring was beautiful.

Right- 50% NZ Kiko and 50% Saanen. Lovely.







Then we get to the heart of the matter...Does.  Its all about the ladies.

 Does, be they meat or milk breeds, are the driving force behind the practice of raising goats. Their blood lines, if excellent, and performance, if fertile, are remarked upon with great fervor among the breeders that I spoke with . It was amazing to be there among those people, all very nearly cut from the same cloth I have been searching for. I wish I could say my research was a little more scientific but I went there with a great love in my heart and on the wings of my dreams. Thank the gods that I did not go with money in my pocket. I would have easily come back with two does and if I had cash, a buck service, for kids in the spring. My Clan would have been a little overwhelm.

 Later this week I will have my interview with the president of the International Kiko Goat Association typed up and will share that with you all. More pictures will be posted on request.

This morning finds the Clan warm, well shielded from the cold that has settled in the Valley. The wind has picked up and while the mountains got much in the way of snow...not so much us. The chill was bone deep and yesterday proved a valuable lesson in doing things early. Putting up the greenhouse in the cold rain, high wind and near darkness was more than the three of us every want to relive.  The Clan was happy this morning to know that we shall be getting bees in the springs. Honey, candles and soap know are more than just dreams. They are well on their way to being parts of our living, breathing life. I fill my heart with plans for lemon and orange water soap and beeswax candles.

Here's looking at you, Crossville.

I am headed out to Crossville, Tn today in hopes of getting in on the last day of seminars and the auction at Kikofest 2014. One of my best friends will be joining me today on this adventure, which makes me very excited. I meant to allow myself one more hour of rest but as if the goats were calling me from all the way in Crossville, I got up at my normal, workweek time. I allowed myself the luxury that is a hot shower without feeling rushed. Let my black hair wind dry by the cool breeze in the window, accentuated by the fast moving fan. Now to get ready and get out the door why the day is still young.

Out of the Farm and Into the Frolic

Saturday, September 27th, I ventured with a portion of my Clan to Dragonshire to see S.J Tucker preform at Fall Frolic. A long time lover of Sooj's music since being introduced to her in 2009 by my dear friend April Montgomery, I had seen her in Nashville and was delighted at the opportunity to see her again so close to home. So we journeyed to Crossville and found our way to a place called Valley of the Dragon. Upon our arrival my Clan sister was surrounded by friends but I pealed off with Colin to survey our new surrounds. The first marvel we encountered was a swing bed.

This amazing thing had Colin and I enchanted and we fawned on it quite a bit. Many pictures were taken in hopes we could recreate the thing for the homestead one day. It was strong and comfortable; in fact it was many moments before we could be coaxed to move from it once allowed to curl up on its softness and warmth.




But the paths twisting into the forest caught my attention and my longing. Soon I was off wandering the rope light guided trails into the wood, a bubbling brook flowing under a couple of bridges. I could not resist finding a log near the water to sit and cool my feet. I snapped a shot of the creek around me as I did so. I tarried far long than I meant to in that place but I have a love and adoration for fresh water ways. So cold and clear was the water, I sat for nearly two hours watching the people going back and forth over the bridge. I felt like some mermaid or undine sitting on the log near the rocks; some ancient water guardian greeted by travels so that they might have a blessing in the passing.

There were many merchants at Fall Frolic but one caught my eye in particular. Sock Zen, purveyor of knee and thigh high socks. Colin purchased as a gift for me a pair of over the knee black and red striped ones. As a UGA fan and as UGA was playing UT that weekend, I was delighted to be wearing these colors. Even more so when I heart that Uga beat Old Smokey. I asked the owner if I could take pictures for my blog and generally make happy about her socks. She was happy for me to do so. Check her out at http://www.sockzen.com/ and get a pair of your own. They even have Organic Socks! Here is a few pictures...

 I wanted to get the rainbow thigh highs but I was luck to get the black and red pair that you can just see above the rainbow pair. These socks kept me warm through the chilly September mountain air but as they are made of 80% recycled cotton, they breath like a dream. They even come in a variety of college football colors, vertical stripes and diamond patterns.

I love the Organic Spa collection, for Organic products please me. I am very invested in products that are made with the use of pesticides and artificial ingredients. I grow my herbs here

on my acre with poisons, relying on sun, water,
and the occasional buttermilk tincture to urge my
plants to grow to their magnificent bounty. I wait in eager anticipation to get a pair of Organic Spa socks in a pattern called "Cake Sprinkles". They are currently out of such a lovely pattern but I will keep checking back in hopes I may have these lovelies soon.

Pirates and Pixies was the theme of Fall Frolic this year and so they hoist a great ship atop the bonfire. I apologize for not yet having the videos of the fire. I had only my phone with me and no video camera. Still, I caught an essence of our dancers that stirred my soul. Check out Dragonshire and Sock Zen on Facebook, buy some socks or come down to the Gather. These are good people, many of which make their live by the skill of their hands. Of S.J herself I did not take any pictures but I will be sharing some of her songs here.

http://music.sjtucker.com/album/mischief