Mountain Musings

Fresh from the Farm

Nestled in the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley just 5 minutes from our home, the Cupp Farm is where I've begun purchasing goat's milk for my handmade soaps.

Welcome to T. Cupp Miniatures! Tammy showed me around the farm, where she and her husband raise Jersey cattle and Miniature Nubian goats, along with other animals and produce.

Obi is her newest Miniature Nubian goat who is providing milk until Tammy's other does give birth to kids in May, so I consider her "my" goat for now. :)

Miniature Nubians are a cross between the standard Nubian dairy goat and the Nigerian Dwarf.

You can see certain characteristics of the breeds manifested, particularly in their ears, as to whether they are floppy or sticking out.

Obi, Nutmeg, and the other goats were excited to see a new person and trotted up to check out my camera.

I have enjoyed using their fresh quality milk in several batches of soap so far. The goat's milk will lend an additional nourishing element to the soaps with its vitamin, mineral, and fatty acid content.

The Cupps' herd of Jerseys had recently given birth to several little calves (Faith, Grace, Patience, and Macintosh) which I got to see up close and personal. I'll be using the creamy Jersey milk in a new scent to be announced for May, created especially for T. Cupp Miniatures.

This cute calf (I think it was Faith) was curious about what I was doing in her field.

Umm, hi!

That concludes the farm tour. I'm thanking the Lord for the provision of this resource right around the corner!

~Hannah

Bloomin' Tuesday ~ 2012

It's the first Bloomin' Tuesday of the season over at MsGreen Thumb Jean's place! There's lots of blooming going on all across the country with this warmer weather we've had this year!

First flowers for this year: Grape Hyacinths! I love the tiny dainty grape hyacinths that pop up throughout the flower beds.

Hannah took this photo and got up close and personal lying down on the ground to get this bee among the flowers:

Some of our blooms have come and gone already...including these hyacinths blooming last week by the front sidewalk:

The weeping cherry was a Mother's Day gift a few years ago, and I've loved seeing it bloom each year. This picture was taken last week, and the lovely blooms lasted only five days:

The Yellow Rose of Texas is blooming again this spring! I love it...but it does send out lots of runners with little yellow rose babies all around the flower bed. You can also see the redbud blooming in the background:

Yellow roses were the first flowers that Tom ever sent to me, so they have a very special place in my heart. Here's a closeup of a branch from last year's Bloomin' Tuesday post:

Join MsGreen Thumb Jean each week for more Bloomin' Tuesday posts. I hope you've enjoyed the spring tour!

~Deb

Preparing for Market: Part 2

The second in the series is here! Since my first post, much has been done, although there is still much to do.

My mini refrigerator arrived, and I was very excited - until Mom pointed out the dent in the side. Ahhhh! After going through the rigamarole of reporting the damage, returning it, and reordering, I now have a non-dented refrigerator ready to go. It's big enough to fit 2 pies and at least 16 cheesecake slices, and it hopefully will be able to keep everything cold enough through the summer. 

Hannah and I also set up the tent and tables out on the back deck and figured out how everything would be set up and displayed. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of that whole process. Oh well.

With scraps left over from my apron and some from the scrap bag, I finished a quick little placemat/runner for my side of the table.

The majority of my week, though, has been spent on
the computer pricing my products. First I had to go through each recipe and figure out the ingredient and packaging costs, then I plugged that figure and other costs into my Excel spreadsheet that Dad so kindly set up for me. I'm almost done with that so I can set my final price for each product.

Stay tuned for next week's happenings!

~Sarah

The Place Where I Belong

I finally spent my Country Connections gift card from Christmas...there were so many country treasures in that store that I couldn't decide how to spend the money! Now the chore is finding a place to hang the plaque I picked out.

What I wonder is...where's #10 in the list about the South?

The South ~ the place where...

1) Tea is sweet and accents are sweeter.

2) Summer starts in April.

3) Macaroni and Cheese is a vegetable.

4) Front porches are wide and words are long.

5) Pecan pie is a staple.

6) Y'all is the only proper noun.

7) Chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy.

8) Everything is Darlin'.

9) Someone's heart is always being blessed.

10) ?

What would your suggestion be to fill in the last spot?

I think I'd say...the place where I belong.

~Deb

Top O' the Mornin'!

Edited to add the correct answers to the questions:

Dad's mom's maiden name was O'Connor, and her relatives came over from County Cork. So y'all picked the right place, but had trouble with the name. :) I also have other Irish ancestors - Dad's other side of the family (which I'm not sure what the name was or where in Ireland they came from...fill me in, Aunt Toots, if you know!) as well as in Mom's background. She had a great-grandmother named Virginia McSherry who came over with part of her family because of the Irish potato famine.

Three cheers for Ireland!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Around the Mountain Musings household, we're celebrating our Irish roots today! A few years ago on the blog, we posted about the story of the real St. Patrick, so go on over there to read more about him.

There's Irish music playing, the table is set with green checked placemats, the green shamrock plant is the centerpiece, there's a green key lime pie in the freezer for supper, and of COURSE - I'm wearing a green shirt and my new St. Patrick's Day socks. :)

Just as a fun little exercise, I have created a couple of polls here for all of our readers to guess where our Irish ancestors lived in the old country and what Dad's mom's maiden name was. :)

  

~Sarah

It Takes a Lot of Work...

...to go from a Winter Garden that looks like this right now:

...to a garden that's blooming (photo from last year):

This week we've had some wonderfully warm temps in the Valley, so I've started the big chore of cleaning out the flower beds. Here's my morning's assignment below: cleaning the first of six fence flower beds. The variegated ribbon grass is tough to cut down!

And hopefully before too long it will look like this:

Our huge spring chore this year is painting the fence before the beds get mulched and the flowers start growing.

As beautiful as it is today, it's hard to work outside when some new Flower Sugar fabric just arrived in the mail. I haven't told you what I'm working on? Maybe you'll see it in one of the girls' Farmer's Market updates. :)

Okay, I've rested enough...gotta get back outside and do some gardening!

~Deb

Preparing for Market: Part 1

This past month has been a busy time around the Girotti house! Hannah and I have been accepted into the local farmers' market for the upcoming season. There is much preparation to be done before the start date of April 7.

One of my first tasks was to research and order packaging supplies at a good price. Large boxes have been delivered, unpacked, and stacked on our ping-pong table. You can get a little glimpse below of some of the cake boxes, cake boards, fudge containers, pie plates, pie wedge containers, and muffin liners that are all ready to go. I think I'm all set in that department for awhile now! :)

Hannah and I are splitting a booth, with her half being soaps, and my half being baked goods and candy. We want to try to set each half apart, so it will be obvious that there are two different businesses. My business cards are black and pink with some gold swirls, so I want to go with that color theme in my whole presentation - the table, the product packaging, and the way I'm dressed. I decided to make myself an apron to wear that would bring in those colors. A quick trip to Wal-Mart for the main fabric and bias binding, and I was ready to go.

 

I used a pattern that was bought at a yard sale and added a cupcake applique to the center to emphasize the sweets aspect. My scraps from past quilting classes came in handy for that - they even had swirls! A flower and leaves replaced the cherry in the applique pattern.

There's lots more to do - setting pricing, figuring out the table layout, receiving more orders, testing recipes, planning what to bring the first day, and of course...the actual baking every Friday. :)

More updates to come over the next month!

~Sarah

Home from Houston!

Today the Lord answered our prayers and brought Jonathan home safely from his trip last week to Houston, TX. Whew! Now I can relax.

I know, I know...people come and go and fly all the time! But Jonathan's avionics work doesn't often take him away from his home airport. So we were eagerly looking forward to his safe return.

Take a look at what Sarah baked up to welcome him home...quite the appropriate gift for our very own resident Cookie Monster!

Actually, Hannah found a picture on my sister's Pinterest and passed the idea on to Sarah. I'm not sure who to credit for the original clever idea. 

First, Sarah found a copycat recipe for Chips Ahoy cookies at the Food.com site. Then she baked the cookies that she put in Cookie Monster's mouth.

The cupcakes were made with a Duncan Hines Chocolate Fudge cake mix, and then she piped on blue icing for the body and white icing and chocolate chips for the eyes. She made a pretty convincing Cookie Monster, don't you think?

And Jonathan wanted to gobble up all the deliciousness! Welcome home, Cookie Monster!

~Deb

Love Adventure--Will Travel

I'm not sure if Day Trip Adventure Lover is written as part of my profile or not, but it should be! I love outings that include friends or family, crafts, little shops, antiques, and food.

This week my friend, Dorothy, emailed to say she was in Lynchburg visiting her daughter at Liberty University and what would I think of driving there to have lunch with her.

Okay!...when and where do I meet you?

Here's Dorothy at Olive Garden with her birthday cake and candle the waitress brought when she found out we were celebrating Dorothy's birthday this week--Black Tie Mousse Cake. (You can find the recipe here at Food.com if you'd like to make this four-layer delicacy.)

And here the two of us are just before leaving. We had a very enjoyable time together, and I'm so glad I didn't already have plans on Thursday...such an unexpected treat!

On the way home I stopped at this little antique shop that I've seen many times but never had time to check out--Bittersweet Branch Primitives. It's located at 7 River Road in Faber, Virginia, and that picket fence has always called my name, especially when the shop used to be a nursery located there years ago!

Bittersweet specializes in folkart, garden items, and antiques. You can see some of their outdoor display here. This is the right side of the courtyard with lots of ironware and an antique birdhouse:

And this is the left side with lots of enamel pots and jugs on display:

So if you're ever traveling Route 29 between Charlottesville and Lynchburg and if you like primitives, stop in at Bittersweet Branch Primitives.

This was a "just looking" adventure...nothing came home with me...except the calories from the Black Tie Mousse Cake!

~Deb

MillHouse Inn ~ Wallflower Quilt

There's not much to report this week on any UFO Progress...but here's what I've been doing instead.

Last weekend I started working on a new quilt with one of the older jelly rolls I've had in my stash for awhile now--Millhouse Inn by Fig Tree Quilts. The more subdued colors in this fabric line perfectly fit the friend I'm gifting it to.

First, I needed to order some border and background fabric and some extra pieces to go along with the jelly roll I already had. Those oranges don't really look subdued though, do they?My next step was laying out the 40 jelly roll strips and picking 9 of them to use on the front of the quilt:

And here are more strips over on the cutting table:

I'm using Camille Roskelley's Wallflower pattern for this quilt and am familiar with it already because I made two of these quilts for friends three years ago. You can see one of them completed in my Flickr photos here. And now I'm making a third for another friend...I must like this pattern!

Here's the front, and I'm just beginning the flower stem applique. That's a jelly roll strip laid out for the stem, but I'll make it slimmer than that. It really takes shape once the flower petals are attached.

Hopefully, I can work on this quilt some in the coming week. I'll show you more completed portions another time. I don't want to ruin the surprise just in case my friend happens upon this post.

To see other participants in the UFO Challenge, visit Susan over at Blackberry Creek.

~Deb