I could post

I haven't been logged in to blogger in forever.  I thought I should post since I am here. :P

What should I post about?  The beautiful flatbread my daughter mixed and kneaded and rolled out-the falafel I made and served with the flatbread? The lettuce the Firebird picked out of the garden? The delicious spicy pepper relish that made up for the blandness of my falafel?

That I accidentally killed one of my six guinea hens/cocks moving them to a bigger pen, and have no idea what happened except maybe it had a heart attack?

The great fishing expedition the Willow had a couple nights ago or all the others she got skunked on?

Wondering why the three goats I put on the lawn in a light drizzle lost all their guard hair with in a week?

The parade of deformed vegetables I have come across in the food chain this summer?

Why the weathermen forecast heavy rain and thunderstorms for the day and evening and I have yet to see a raindrop or hear a grumble?

Why the clouds look so high and strange, information is scant on Ison and Fukushima, 100 meteors an hour from the Perseids worked out to be two in a half hour (for me)...

Actually, that was pretty cool, laying a thick fleece on the lawn last night, the grass (meadow) being so high I had to pat the top to find my coffee cup in the dark, but the stars were brilliant, the milky way trailing...the amount of stars visible with my "nocs was breathtaking...

The mosquitoes weren't even biting.

I saw more satellites than meteors.  I saw one satellite that was letting off little flashes and I wondered if it might have been the space station emptying the garbage chute.

Long time no post

My computer problems progressed to the point that if my modem was connected to the phone line, even with the computer disconnected from a power source, the land line had dead air.

So I gave my internet up for lost, relying on my cell phone for limited browser access. Try typing out an email on your cell phone when you are already exceeding 1000 texts a month!

And after my little power struggle with blogger and google over refusing to hand over a mobile number I wasn't going to log into this account on my cell phone, sorry! :D

Somehow, someway, I have been granted a reprieve from the malicious computer spirits and once again have my computer back online.

I really really want to go to New York this week for the film festival. Just to do something fun and glamourous. But that's not happening.

I am house sitting for a friend for the week, and the Firebird turns the big 14. He is really doing well in high school. His soccer team has been doing absolutely awful, but finally at an away game the Firebird scored one of three goals and was promoted up to the JV team. Now he is playing both Freshman and JV games.

I got lost in Waterville trying to find the last one to no avail. The games are a lot further away than in middle school. :)

I quit the farm. Over horse bedding. Seriously, I can't believe it either. The horses have a big concrete floored three sided shelter with a sand based paddock. The younger of the two has been diagnosed with wobbles, a neurological condition that affects the gait and hind end. The Older mare is grossly overweight and has notorious hoof trouble, mostly aggravated by inexperienced help digging between the sole and hoof wall with a pointed hoof pick.

The mare came down lame in the front end-I found an old wind splint but was fairy sure she was having trouble with a knee. This was duly reported to Boss who just shrugged.

The next day I put down a bit of extra shavings and felt satisfied. But there is more to this story. One of my co-workers, the apprentice, only wants a dusting of bedding on the concrete to make it easier for her to clean. So we tend to have this little silent power struggle over it. Because I know as I know horses that horses on concrete should have 12 inches of shavings plus a rubber mat, espcially if they have any kind of leg trouble.

And it should be banked against the walls so they don't cast themselves. (get stuck)

So years ago I was sort of shocked that at the farm they put 3 inches of shavings in the middle and bare on the edges. So when the horses walk in and turn around they spread it down to an inch.

The day I worked I had about an even five inches, which cushioned my feet but I knew it would still seem hard on the legs of those big Norwegian Fjords.

And I got "a note" from Boss Sunday morning.
"Please don't put so much bedding down in the horse barn."

And I returned the note with an explanation, that 5" inches was really the minimum given the overweight lame mare, and I didn't feel comfortable putting down 1-3 inches.

Oh boy. Well, it turns out even though I said I would do what she wanted, since I didn't feel comfortable maybe I should go...

and I thought and said, "so basically you don't want anyone working for you that does not agree with you?"

and that was a yes.

That hurt but I wasn't getting much job satisfaction except from all my animal friends anyhow.

I went right into freelancing at Common Ground Farm, sponsored by Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association. (MOFGA)

All week I helped a friend prep his food for CG. I ground hundreds of pounds of chickpeas, and ground garlic and hot peppers and made taziki with yogurts made right out of organic jersey milk, and can I tell you how good a cup of Starbuck's Italian roast tastes with the yellow cream skimmed off a five gallon bucket of Jersey milk ?

I just wanted to take a straw and sip it off the top, lol.

Then it was time to make the dough. Hundreds of pounds of flour. 10 pounds at a time in the mixer and the cutter turns out 30 doughballs. 5 or 6000 of them for the whole weekend.

I was out of retirement.

I 3/8 inch diced a five gallon bucket of cucumbers. I inch cubed 50 gallons of lettuce and spinach. I got to run the stove.

he he

The falafel mastermind's claim to fame are the wood cookstoves that get hauled to every show. The dough balls get run through a roller, formerly the rollers to old wringer washers, which was quite the show and threw flour across everyone working the stand.

once flattened, the dough gets put on the middle flattop of a hot kitchen stove, and once precooked, put over the open flame where they "poof" and char and are called"wood fired flatbread". Very yum.

The fresh bread is then filled with falafel, fried ground chicpeas, or gyro..ground beef , lamb, goat..

Well, they have a lot of stuff they put on there, obviously including lettuce and cucumbers, but I was in the bakery end of things for the weekend.

Phish blasted through the speakers, the owner's son being a fan and he also grew up at the stove and bread end himself- since the family has been doing this for almost 20 years now.

I found my groove with the stove while he put the new electric roller through its paces. Boom boom bread! boom boom bread! hahah

These sorts of jobs are transitional; I am considering going back to cooking now that the saplings are a little older.

still august?

Well went dry Tuesday. Hauling water. Rained some yesterday, but it takes a lot of rain and awhile so we'll see how long I'm camping, lol.

I'm working this weekend with my friend K at one of her family's falafel/gyro mobile stands. Hubby and two middle boys are working the Bangor folk festival. Oldest son, wonderful D; K, and I are working a minor venue locally.

D and I are working the cook part, he rolling out the middle eastern flatbread dough and throwing it on the stove for me to bake and flip and then scorch and poof over the open wood fire. Good, I don't need to worry about that hair on the back of my fingers anymore. :D

We are also covering the fryers; falafel and sweet potato fries. and the gyro cookers, with a lamb beef mix on one, and chicken breasts marinated in Italian dressing in the other.

We are also manning last minute prep for the topping station...lettuce, tomato, hummus, cucumber, onion, pickled veggies, pickles, feta or black olives? Shit, the Tahini's empty...or was that Taziki? LOL.

There were a passle of folks running about with wonderful, gut wrenching, OMG I want it, cameras!! You name it, top of the line... I knew Rockport photography must be running an assignment-it's a wonderful photography school.

I caught a couple of the students trying to sneak shots of me running the bread on the woodstove, but it wasn't until the end of the night following a brief rainshower, when I was winding down and sitting on the wheel of the trailer that holds the prep station and walk-in cooler, with Willow in a comfortable embrace, that one photographer candidly took shot after shot. Willow and I, Top Model wannabees that we are,*snickers* obliged.

She stepped closer and closer, finally showing us the last shot, awesome! She said the light was great where we were, and I looked over and agreed. We exchanged email addresses, and she said she would send me some pix. She is in a class at the school, and from Spain! Cool.

Earlier I had a double take when I saw a scruffy looking fellow with a nice cam. I told D it looked like Viggo Mortensen incognito. He looked at me sideways and chuckled. Uh-oh busted! LOL I quickly started talking about bumping into another celebrity to cover THAT infatuation...hehe

So, I am sitting here covered in gritty flour from the dough, and full of woodsmoke from the stove. And wishing I had some pics, but I didn't dare pull out my camera due to peer pressure, lol! I did see a Japanese looking fellow with a top of the line Sony...still, that Canon looked pretty good compared to my ancient Sony!

Hmmm I like the idea of using my earnings this weekend for upgrading my cam-but practical matters should come first. *wrinkles nose*

Tuesday

I received word from Boss-combing is finished. But she is looking forward to having assistance with the young bucks at the fiber frolic Saturday. I know she is at least taking Bibbles and Rue. She took four yearling bucks last year. Willow had watched from the bench last year, but she was very excited to hear the news-she wants to show Bibbles for Boss if possible.

My friends run a falafel/Gyro stand. Mouse had inquired about Gyros, perhaps I have misspelled them. The way I understand it, the Gyro is greek in origin. It is customarily ground goat meat packed and then cooked on a spindle, and then sliced in long bits as it is cooked. Sometimes my friends use lamb and sometimes mix it with beef. My friends then serve it on wood-stove cooked mid-eastern flatbread. That is an adventure in itself, they haul two woodcookstoves to fairs and the make doughballs, which get rolled like a pizza crust and then are cooked over the open flame til they puff up.

This bread is then filled with the sliced gyro meat, or falafel (fried ground soybean balls) and lettuce and a variety of toppings tomato, etc., and sauces, dang I forgot the name of them all, at least salsa, and the one with yogurt and dill..(long pause, still forget...)

If we pass on that feast, there is still the ice cream stand or hand cut french fries (chips).

On the homefront, another busy day. Dropped some more trees in the goat pen. Yesterday we took the goats for a long pig out in the marsh-for them eating the alders, etc, and the mozzies eating us...

Today I undid a big section of fencing and rebuilt the old outhouse pen for the returned rooster. That took all afternoon. :(

Weeding the garden this am-a never ending chore. So glad I can do it this year since last year I was in screaming agonies with piriformis syndrome. So far so good this year, *knock on wood* The back is a little twangy on uneven ground and occasionally when I sneeze, but all things considered I am enjoying this early summer IMMENSELY! Ya-hoo. Be glad for your health and life!

I took one look at the pics Boss took of us holding pelts and started chopping my hair. I looked like a wild witch in the pix! Just too thick. Layering helps for the time being, but when it grows out I am wild again! We'll see what happens when I wash and condition later-I might be kicking myself in the arse over the chop job. Curly hair, anyone?