I have an unusual assortment of food in my house right now. Usually we eat a lot of local foods year round -- but right now I have tons of citrus and tropical fruit. I'm eating smoothies with nonfat yogurt and fresh berries for breakfast, mango and pineapple with cottage cheese for lunch, and salads with cukes, tomatoes, grated carrots and beets, sprouts, and beans for dinners. It's time for me

Getting life back to normal after the holidays

For the last couple weeks I've had kids home from school, and Bob took some time from work. Today, I'm on my own to sweep the crumbs from Christmas out the door, pack up the ornaments, and feed the animals. It was so nice having helpers to lug the heavy water buckets, but I'll be back to my pre-holiday routine today.

One thing that will be different from the last two weeks: we're going on a

Camping menu - Vegetable Cheddar Soup

Our winter camping trip to Merck Forest was lovely. The day before the hike, I made a vegetable cheese soup...and we carried that and the other foods in storage containers on our sleds. Dinner menu also included hot sausages with peppers and onions, with crusty bread.

Vegetable and Cabot Cheddar Soup -- this started off as broccoli cheddar a year ago...and I couldn't stop adding veggies to

the annual hike to the cabin in Merck Forest

We hiked in two days ago and hiked out yesterday. This year we went with two other families and it was so much fun!

Merry Christmas!

We're all hanging out at home-- it's beautiful and snowy. The dinner is going to be easy since each of us is taking a part -- it's a quirky, high cholesterol meal. We'll fast all day and take our lipitor!

Bernie -- Potatoes -- cheesy mashed potatoes with bacon -- his recipe
Rose -- Salad -- baby spinach with carrots, onions, roquefort, and bacon -- her recipe
Bob -- grilling beef tenderloin
Mary

I love this time of year. The cows aren't in the field as much, but are mainly in the barn and the barnyard. I can feed them more easily, by shoving hay out of the window from the second floor of the barn. Watering is a problem, but maybe this year carrying the heavy buckets of water will give me Michelle-Obama arms. I'm hoping anyway - she's got great arms.

Today I have back to back meetings

processing hogs

Our friends the Muenches have raised hogs and shared them with us the last few years. We've used a local processor, but with the crunch of the fall hunting processing, they've been unable to take us. Barb found another processor, but they can't smoke our hams and bacon. Soooo, I've been searching for a custom smokehouse.

It's funny that you never imagine how many steps there are between feeding