Many of you may know that Circle M isn’t just about vegetables and meat. Fiber is actually a quite large part of our sustainable farming endeavor, and as the growing season comes to a close, wool season starts to get rolling. This weekend actually kicks off the first fiber event we’ll be participating in this fall, with the Driftless Area Fiber Arts Faire in Mineral Point. continued »
Everyone is invited to this little homestead open house. Celebrate spring with us! Bring lawn chairs or picnic blankets, drinks for the day and a potluck dish to share for dinner. In addition to the events listed on the next page, there will also be Homestead Meats for purchase at 10% off (bring a cooler), as well as Maidmarion Cottage Industry wool products and other locally made foods and crafts for sale. continued »
Just about four years ago now we picked up our family and moved from a crowded two-flat in Chicago to this big place in the country. The first thing our pre-teen girls wanted to do when we got here was find a puppy. We got the puppy before we even moved, actually, at the Bargain Nook thrift store in Darlington on a weekend trip to clean up the new house. But that’s another story. The second thing they wanted was a horse, of course. continued »
What have we been up to here at Circle M? Well, September and October flew by in a rush of harvest tasks and celebrations. In our extended rural neighborhood, farms throw parties for hope in spring and gratefulness in fall. These open house festivals are lovely quotation marks on either side of “The Growing Season” and we threw our own this fall as well as attended those of friends. Many of you joined us here around the fires, both inside and out, and we very much enjoyed the shared meals, music and merriment of craft and conversation that closed out our garden year. We hope you’ll come back again in spring when the whole circle starts again. In the meantime, we’ve shifted gears as the outdoor work of sowing and tending is supplanted by indoor tasks of woolcraft and bookkeeping. continued »
Well, in the spring we’d planned for The Pumpkin Pick on October 27. We even planted a bumper crop of squash and pumpkins in various locations around the farm so we’d have a fun hunt to host in the fall. But as we’re learning, you’ve got to be flexible in farming. Most of our pumpkins succumbed to the late summer flood and early killing frost, so we’ll be focusing on some of the many other joys of homestead life in autumn. Plan on colorful kids’ horse rides along cultivated fields and old oak forests; playful goat combing and gentle horse grooming; chicken chasing; bonfires all day and into the night; leaf piles for jumping in; lively old-time bluegrass music and lots of time to explore the cozy, cool-weather pursuits of wool dyeing, hand spinning, needle felting and knitting. There will be a pick-up Soccer Game running most of the day in the sheep paddock. continued »
Yippee! We had a wonderful time this weekend at The Lambs and Lettuces Festival, our first ever farm open house. We owe a huge thanks to the many terrific folks who came out to play and the talented friends who kept things running. continued »
Rhubarb is so fabulous, because it comes ripe in spring when you have no other fruit. Of course, it’s truly a vegetable. But it sure behaves like a fruit when you add some sugar. And the color! It’s like eating rubies. This recipe came to me from the lovely and vivacious Bonnie Isaacson-Miller, head mom/Foodways Director at Folklore Village in Ridgeway. (see folklorevillage.org) This is a big hit at their Scandinavian Festivals, and I’m pretty sure it will be a big hit at our Lambs and Lettuces Festival today. continued »
Holy cow, we’ve got our Lambs and Lettuces Festival today and it’s done nothing but rain since last night, when we had a tornado warning. Thank goodness the predicted hail never showed up. That would be pretty tough on the lettuces! Of course, the rain and lightning have combined to give all the plants that special green that happens after a storm, and the farm could not be more gorgeous. But, it looks like we’ll be moving most of the scheduled activities inside, and food might be more of a focal point than I expected. So I’m doing some quick improvising here in the kitchen while surfing the web. I wanted to use a lamb shoulder and some turnips from the garden, and voila, I hit upon an Irish Stew from a 1963 House and Garden. Author was Betty Wason and I’ve adapted it to what I’ve got on hand.
Crazy Farmgirl’s Irish Stew continued »
Dear Readers – You are all invited to our first ever farm open house, next weekend, Saturday, June 2, 1 to 7 pm, here at Circle M Market Farm. Read on for a rough schedule of events. continued »
