Vermont Community Dinner

The other evening I took a bit of a drive to a neighboring town.  Church members were having a fund raising community dinner for the local food shelf and their Deacons Fund.

There is a big need for food in our area. With the poor economy up here in the North Country, so many people are out of work and having a difficult time stretching their dollars. Most churches have a food pantry and are now running low on many items, so a community dinner, done by donation, is one good way of raising some money to keep the food shelf stocked for another month or two.

The sun was just getting ready to say good night when I headed down the rural back roads of my village.  The mountains were purple and glowing from the setting sun.

The words "purple mountains majesties" came to mind.

 

As usual, per my Virgo personality, I arrived early and helped greet the other early arriving guests.

The tables and chairs were all up and the place settings had been meticulously done by the local high school students who were cooking the entire meal.

The local high school teacher was supervising the students and helping to cook the 4 giant turkeys required to feed several dozen hungry farmers and local citizens.

As the kitchen and the vestry got busier and busier, we were entertained with some very lively music from our favorite very animated piano player.

Selinda plays a lot like Joanne Castle from the old Lawrence Welk show. Anyone remember her ?
She can really make that piano rock!

Selinda is the choir director at her church and loves to play the church organ barefoot.   Her voice is amazing and I love to sit next to her when she sings.  She is also an incredible gardener and a wonderful cook.

Some people have all the talent!

Lots of hot, local food started hitting the table and the lines started to form.

I got excited when the mashed potatoes came out.

"A potato a day" that's what I say!

 

Some of the kitchen crew turned into incredible musicians after we ate.

Elvis songs, country music and Irish tunes filled the air. 

Foot stomping music, the place was alive with everyone participating.

I love these community dinners.  I had not seen most of the guests since last November.

With spring just around the corner, more people are venturing out at night and going to all the unusual events that are being held all over our area.   I personally want to go to as many as possible before mud season sucks me off the road.

 

There is also another very busy holiday coming, very soon, for us dedicated potato eaters.

Been to a community dinner in your area ?

Are you supporting your local food pantry, food shelf or soup kitchen ?

Just an idea;  If you have a surplus of eggs, please consider donating them to your local food shelf, pantry or kitchen. Every donation makes a difference!
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Mule Monday

Often as I drive up Route 5, on the Connecticut River side of the state, I glimpse this unusual odd couple.

 

 The small white Arabian pony and the giant draft mule are a well known landmark in the village.

I frequently visit and photograph them.

I just can't help myself. 

 

Let me introduce you to Pearl, the Mule and her sidekick Charlie the pony.

If you ever visit Vermont you will probably see them and smile.

Make sure you have horse treats in your pocket because they greet you and ask......

 

Got apples ?

So I ask you:

Got MULE ?

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Happy 250th

Last Tuesday was Town Meeting Day in all of Vermont.
It is a holiday. Everyone puts down their work for the day to attend their respective town meeting in their own towns and villages.

 There is all kinds of voting going on. But the most important are the discussions to pass the town budget, and resolve problems and things that have come up during the year.    Like the bridge that collapsed and needs repair, a landlocked 20 acre parcel of woodland that the town owns and wants to sell, agreeing to spend $10,000 to paint the local church in time for the Founders Day reenactments and many more items to decide inorder to keep the town moving forward..
The road crew got a standing ovation for their extraordinary care of the roads in the worst of weather.
They amaze me every winter how they travel these hazardous areas and keep the roads open for travelers and school buses.

 

As I usually do, I went to the meeting an hour early to get a good parking space and a good seat. Mostly to scope out where the best baked goods were being sold and to buy a few raffle tickets before it got too busy.

As I was scouting out a place to sit with my coffee, the side doors opened and 2 big men were bringing in a giant cake.  I thought it was a raffle item.

Not.

 Its my towns Birthday cake.  250 historical years old.

 It was chartered March 18th, 1763.

Many other towns in Vermont and New Hampshire were chartered on the same day.

So this year is full of events and activities in many rural towns.

 This magnificent cake was made by Marilyn. Her family were early settlers in this town in 1763.

The cake was put in a place of honor at the front of the room under the flag.

 

 Then the meeting was called to order in a very unusual way.

As a town criers bell rang out, the town clerk, moderator and selectmen appeared in modified period clothing

 

Many women in the audience donned womens bonnets from that same time period. 

It was a nice surprise.

We then all sang Happy Birthday to each other.

It was a joyous occasion.

 

 After the 4 hours of discussions and voting were finished, the cake was cut and everyone came up to get some.

Even the folks on diets got some!

 

 My dear 97 year old friend was unable to attend the festivities so I brought her a chunk of cake with 4 flags on it. 

And then I sang Happy Birthday to her the same way we had sung it at the town meeting.

She was at the 200th Birthday Celebration and is the oldest resident in town.

                         She witnessed the 1927 floods and met Charles Lindbergh.

Her real life stories are amazing.

Yet she loves to hear my stories about the cows and my comical hens too.

She has imparted great wisdom on me and I have told her some pretty funny jokes.

The town has asked her to give a few speeches during the year long festivities here.

She has agreed to do it. Now we have to find ways to get her into some of the ancient buildings that are not handicap accessible.  The plan is to have her in a chair and then 4 men will carry her in the chair up the stairs. They did it before when the church elevator broke. She looked like the Queen of Sheba going up the 15 front steps, on the shoulders of men.

Never a dull moment here.

Happy Birthday to you and your towns.

~

Double Trouble

All the rain of the past few days has turned the barnyard into a muddy quagmire.

I am greeted each morning now with GlenNora  inside the hay ring.  Even though it irritates me because I have to get her OUT of it before I can drop a bale to the herd, I do realize she seems to be the smartest heifer in the bunch.   She has found an easy way to stay out of the mud the past few days.

 

She has finally found the special opening in the hayring by which to exit (and enter) from.

Glennie doesn't seem fond of exiting.

 

She at least stands up when she sees me coming, which is an improvement over the past 2 weeks when I have to entice her to wake up, get up and get out of the hay ring amidst the herd chaos of waiting to get fed.

This is a good sized girl. She won't be a year old until May.

 

The rest of the herd seems to delight in my tongue lashing of this red lass each and every time I find her in the hay rack.

 

If this group could talk I often wonder what they would say in response to my morning frustrations with Miss Glennie.

 

Smudgie and Shorty say the same thing every morning and evening;

Feed us, I want that box of treats, got an apple ?

 

Yeah, that dog cookie looks good too, is that a carrot in your vest pocket ?

 

Just when I think i have seen it all.....

I return in the evening to again water the herd and tuck them in for the night and I see this.....

Maybe I need glasses.     I was seeing double.


Nap time IN the hay ring.    The Heifer Clubhouse

Glennie on the right and her sister, Gouda Giggles on the left.

 

The rest of the herd was eating the hay around them and bumping the heifers as they pulled out the good hay pieces they lay on. 

The girls didn't bother to get up as I walked over.  I think I surprised them. They actually look a little embarrassed.

I assume they will be out by morning when the next roll comes in.

At least I hope so.

 

Smudgie says:  Its my birthday today, yesterday and tomorrow...can I have that carrot ?

Sure Smudgie.  Just stay OUT of the hay ring, OK ?
~

Milk Storm

Every darn time I go get a gallon of raw milk, it starts snowing like crazy.

So far, since November, each time I make the long drive to my favorite Jersey cow farm Mother Nature has to throw down some white stuff at me.  Why ?

 Today was no different.  As I sat up on the hill looking at this barn down in the valley, I could see the snow moving in my direction.

I went into the farm store and they were out of raw milk. The refrigerator was totally empty. All the fresh eggs were sold out too. Not that I need any eggs. My girls are laying well.  I think they heard me ordering spring chicks last week and decided to double their output.

I drove all this way and have no good, fresh raw milk for my efforts.   
Guess I will not be making kefir this week.

 

 As I lamented about going home empty handed, the big puffy flakes of snow did a double dive and quickened the pace.

The weather vanes were getting difficult to see.

The cow was facing East towards New Hampshire.

The gaggle of geese weren't sure where to face and have no intention of goosing the cow.

Might be time to get my own milk cow.
I am favoring a Jersey or a Brown Swiss/Jersey cross.

Any other suggestions ?
~

Blue Monday PEEPS !

I picked up my chicks yesterday.

I used a lot of self control and only came home with 4 instead of 20.

You have 60 seconds to guess the breeds.

Starting ...right now......!

Here is a hint;

The word Blue is included with the breeds.

Second hint;

Here are some of the parents.

Can you guess these breeds ?

 

 Last hint;

Here is the mother of two of them.

 

My chicks had a harrowing ride home.   We saw a blue car that went of the road and crashed into a snow covered guardrail. The family was trying to dig themselves out of the mess with their hands. I had a shovel so I pulled over to help and put my emergency flashers on.  The peeps stayed in my front seat looking at my cow magazines while I helped with the rescue mission.

I took the peeps to my local library so I could show my librarian and get them their very own library card.

I also had them blessed by an ex priest so they would all be pullets.... and stay pullets!

For you new comers, my poultry tends to begin as females and then turns into males.... 

Really. So even though the hatcher of the chicks said these are sure to be females, I feel even better now that a former priest-turned-handman has blessed my new baby flock.

Then we slid home and I put them in their new brooder.

 

 They ate and drank and walked around for 15 minutes and then collapsed into a heap and fell fast asleep.

Have you guessed the breeds yet ?

Want to know ?


Blue Laced Red  Wyandottes and Blue Copper Marans. 2 of each.
The black ones are the Blue Marans

A real Blue Monday !

What do you have in your brooder?!

Snow Geese

I went to pick up 4 newly hatched chicks today and had quite the adventure going to get them

The directions were hazy, there were no street signs anywhere on the mountains in the town I was driving in and the weather turned from bad to worse the higher in elevation I went. The snow came down thicker and faster with every mile and minute.

Trying to find a yellow cape with an attached barn was as confusing as looking for grey Tacoma's....they were everywhere!   Plenty of capes, in various shades of yellow and all with some sort of attached shed, coop, lean to or barn, all 5 miles apart on the worst winter roads as the snow was covering the giant potholes in the dirt roads.  I even came upon a car accident, a family had missed the curve in the downhill slope of the road and gone off the road and up against a guardrail. They vehicle was packed in snow underneath and the wheels were stuck deep.
 I had a shovel.
The son, who just had a hernia operation, dug around the car and dug underneath it to free it. He found their headlight and a fog light while shoveling. There was a bumper in the road ...it was not theirs.
15 minutes of solid digging and pushing and the car was free.  I often wonder why people do not carry shovels, blankets and socks in their vehicles in the winter.

Anyhow,  I drove for 3 times longer than I should of had to, but I knew I was at the right place when I looked up on a hill and saw the geese.  In a really cool Long Trail/Appalachian Trail type shed.

 

I met the owner and got a great tour and introduction to his Pilgrim Geese.

Here is what I learned:

The girls are gray and the boys are white.

Just about everybody, that has animals, has at least one Subaru.

There are many areas in Vermont that do not have DSL or even dial up, but everyone has an incubator!

A goose can stare at you for hours without blinking.

 

 Richard buys lots of greens for his honking family.

They are very gentle with him.  Of course the big male goose eats first.

 

The head honcho goose tells the rest of his family that I am a stranger and he will interrogate me, goose style.

  He did.  

I can't help thinking that he looks SO much like Jimmy Durante.

 

After I passed muster the beautiful goose family posed for me and gave me a private tour of their digs.

Of course I had to ask about racoons, coyotes and fox and why the geese have not been bothered in this minimal, open sided shelter.         Richard said he has seen fox walk right along the fence with the geese chasing and swearing at them the entire way.

These Geese are tough.

 

Once you get a clean "bill" of acceptance with this flock, you are recognized as a friend.

 

But every so often the head goose has to get in your face to make sure you are cool.

 

 

Size 18 feet, as big as a medium sized watermelon. 6 times bigger than my ducks feet.  Wicked bright orange and will squash anything and everything those toes come in contact with.

Its funny how the boss of any group always tries to look like they are large and in charge..

And all I can think of is:  Don't honk with your mouth full!

 

But those baby blues get me every time.

What kind of goose are you driving ?
~