Once Was Lost...Now Found

Anyone who knows me knows that The Farm is my Tara, a magical place that can fill my family with wonder and restore my sanity in one short visit.

It's a place to find pieces of myself I've lost.

My dad experienced a bit of The Farm's magic today on a "long walk to forgotten magic places."

The heavy rains had washed this motorcycle man onto his trail.

So whose is it?

Dad says its his, a toy he lost about 55 years ago.

Just the Four of Us, Plus Two

The Great Egg Hunt

The other day, as I started making plans for Easter Sunday, prepping for the Easter Bunny and planning our menu, I found myself in a funk.

I'd realized it would just be the four of us this year. With soccer, gymnastics and family with their own plans, we'd found ourselves deciding to keep things simple and stay home. It was a good call, yet the decision just didn't sit right with me.

I'd started trying to figure out how we could do it all - make the soccer game (which ended up being canceled anyway because of soggy field conditions) and go visit family.

Then I got a call from a friend I hadn't seen in a while and discovered she'd be delighted to join us for Easter.

With that, one guest, my mood lifted. We added a second guest and extended another invite and soon I was in menu-planning heaven.

Here's what I discovered: I can cook for my family anytime. But it's not really a holiday unless I have guests to entertain (and feed).

Still, because we really do have so much going on, I didn't go overboard with the menu. I wanted time to enjoy church and our backyard egg hunt.

So I kept things simple, made a couple things in advance. And I more than happily ceded the dessert duty to my girlfriend. Good thing too - she brought a delish homemade layer cake.

Here's what we overate: 

Starters: 
Jumbo shrimp; olives; and goat-cheese stuffed peppers

Main course:
Fig & orange glazed spiral ham w/ mustard sauce; Goan black-eyed peas; skillet cornbread; garlic and shallot marinated carrots; and sugar snap peas

Cocktails:
Simeon's margaritas especial; mimosas; and Pellegrino 

Dessert: 
Strawberry layer cake w/ cream cheese frosting; filled ginger cookies; and assorted chocolates and treats

Piglet Update - Bad News

Bad news about piglet No. 2, aka Deuce.

I'd had high hopes he would survive. He was getting feisty, bottle feeding and starting to enjoy the great outdoors. But his little body never could recover from his birth wounds and he died.

Now my family has a third injured piglet: Trey.

I'm pulling for the little guy. 

Previously:

The Great Piglet Swap

Spring Break: New Baby Chicks & an Injured Piglet

The 101 Reason* to Love Irving: They Throw the Best Parties

"My tummy hurts."

That's the first thing Future Farmgirl said to me after we got home from the Taste of Irving Centennial celebration.

No doubt. There was enough food to feed a hungry Army, at least an army of elementary school kids, their parents, siblings and alumni visiting the old school.

My favorite thing was the warm strawberry-rhubarb pie. [Oh, I cannot wait to make that with fresh strawberries from The Farm and Farmers Market rhubarb.]

I brought meatballs, about a 150 of them, slow cooked in grape jelly and chili sauce (not a healthy appetizer).

I thought for sure we'd have some leftover. Not even one. Wish I could say the same about the sauce.

There was plenty of that leftover.

I'd planned for this. I had a crate and a towel (a piddly little, good-for-nothing dish towel) to wipe up any little spills. But the part about me tripping in the hallway and spilling several cups of sticky jellied sauce onto the floor...I didn't plan for that.

My daughter and I sopped up all the drips and finally secured a trash bag from the school's breakdancing engineer to get the whole sopping crate into the van.

I'll be hosing the whole thing off tomorrow.

*Actually, "Great Parties" is No. 4 on the "100 Reasons We Love Irving School" t-shirt. But it bears repeating.

Spring Chickens

Because I gave a piglet update, I thought I needed to give equal time to the spring chicks at The Farm.

They've doubled their size from this photo. And, like the runty piglet, they're starting to spend more and more time outside, where they'll eventually be free range (helping keep the bug population down while they fatten up and produce eggs).

They still come indoors in the evening to spend time under the heat lamp. But with weather warming, that probably won't be necessary too much longer.

Piglet Update

I'm happy to report that the baby piglet - the one from the great swap - is continuing to improve.

He's eating more and more. And with the weather improving, he's spending more and more time outside.

The ultimate goal, other than to fatten him up, is to re-introduce him to his momma, sisters and brothers.

But even though he's picked up his appetite and appears to be healing from his birth injuries, he's the runt of the bunch. He'll need to continue to build some strength to be able to fight his way to nurse.