Fruit Pruning time!

These are photos of our granny smith apple tree blossoms from last spring.  It won't be long before the warm sun will bring new blooms again. Today Steve and I worked for several hours pruning all our fruit trees.  Our Jonagold trees in Jim's yard were the worst.  They haven't been pruned in 10 years or so, much needed cutting took place and as we left the trees you could almost hear a sigh of relief.  They certainly looked taller too.
So, inventory, we have two granny smith trees,  two Jonagold, two pear,  two Alberta Peach, one mission fig an olive tree and three areas with grapevines.  Defintiely enough to keep us hopping!  Now we have a nice big pile of apple wood for smoking. Bring on the pork butt!

It may be winter but we are still busy!

Over the holiday break from work, we are still keeping busy at the farm.

Here are photos of the mushroom starter we recieved as a gift for Christmas and the first harvest of mushrooms we picked on January 5th.  Yummy lobster mushrooms.  We made chinese stirfry veggies with them and teryiaki chicken for dinner!

Also, I had some pureed pumpkin left from the summer batch, which I had frozen.  I made Pumpkin Bread with marbled chocolate and then tried a recipe adapted from Martha Stewart for pumpkin cream pasta.  It was outstanding!  It will become one of my regular recipes for sure.  Just make sure you go for a good run the next day.  It's not light!

Pumpkin Cream Pasta:

1 lb fettucine, cooked  as instructed

1 medium onion diced

1 tsp fennel seed

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp cooked bacon bits

1 cup heavy cream

1 pinch of mace

1 cup pureed pumpkin

Combine onion, fennel seed, butter and oil in a saute pan until the onion is tender.  Add the bacon, mace, cream and pumpkin until warmed thoroughly.  Stir frequently and keep at a low temp.  Add cooked pasta and adjust with salt & pepper.  Serve immediately with fresh grated parmesean cheese.