Introducing Stella and Marilyn, our new Saanen dairy goats.  We feel so fortunate to have purchased our new animal additions from the granddaughter of the former owners of our beautiful farmhouse, Amelia Aznive.  She is an experienced goat breeder and will help us as we discover raising dairy goats and milking.  We should have kids next spring and will being offering goat milk and cheese for sale in our shop.  

Goats are adorable and clever.  Stella and Marilyn are friendly, curious and love to be around people.  They follow us around the farm, play with our dog and happily munch on poison ivy.   They love to have their ears scratched and will stretch their faces up whenever we pass by.  

I bought this book when I was first decorating Old Story Farm.  I loved that it was about creating a place for people to stay that was a more about celebrating the history of the place than catering to current trends.  I loved that the place and the people who bought it valued old things, and that those very old things became the centerpieces of the decor and atmosphere of the resort.  And, I loved that the people who created the place and who stayed embraced the idea of experiencing the camp and lake as it was in the 1930's.  

Many of the 1930's details in the book are just like the architecture and items found at Old Story Farm in the 1930's wing of the house.  Their process of discovering, uncovering, and revering the old, odd, and precious parts of their camp reminds me of the process that we went through.  

The place is called Camp Wandawega Resort.  And you can really stay there!   Below is just one of their many adorable cabins.  

Another gem of an article from NYTimes T Magazine shows us the latest trend in flower arranging - Natural, loose, foraged.  These wonderful florists are using "real" flowers (as opposed to mass produced perfect - read boring - typical blooms), foraged materials like seed pods, greens, branches, berries.  I love the originality and the natural look.  Of course, the above photo caught my eye in particular because it looks just like our barn and our flower pails.

     "All eggs all the time."  A restaurant in NYC, called The Egg Shop, has elevated eggs to a culinary star.  They have now also produced a cookbook.  As seen here in today's New York Times T Magazine, the cookbook includes both recipes from the restaurant and a complete "and funny" guide to the egg as an ingredient.  

Our chickens have been resting this fall.  Between molting and the shortening days, we were down to 4 to 6 eggs per day.  Now the girls are back in production mode and we have eggs available for sale in our barn.  Stay tuned for even more production when our pullets start laying in about a month.  We look forward to getting some blue eggs from our new Easter Egger hens.

Our shipment of wheat berries has arrived direct from Marias River Farms!

I am excited to be on a journey to create more nutritional and flavorful bread on site at Old Story Farm.  I have been inspired by Dan Barber's book, The Third Plate.  In fact, my dream is to turn Old Story Farm into a miniature Stone Barns Center, but that's another story.  

The journey for more nutritional and flavorful bread begins with the grain.  As Dan Barber described his discoveries of sustainably grown heirloom breeds of wheat, I have also been searching for a source for myself.  I wanted to obtain wheat directly from a farm that uses sustainable farming practices. 

The next step is to make bread with fresh ground wheat berries and homegrown starter - no commercial yeast, no "dead" flour.   I bought a grain mill, and I began a sourdough starter.  Now that the wheat berries have arrived, I can start making our very own bread.  

We have been so fortunate to have developed a loyal following for our fresh eggs.  They are a popular feature in our breakfasts.  We also sell them out as soon as we put them in our shop.  So, we decided to double our flock.  Here are our new chicks - I HOPE they are all girls this time!  If these are all hens, then we will have 40 hens in total.  These chicks will start laying eggs in January or February.  We will have enough to supply our guests and our shop, too.  

Our guests rave about our farm-made granola.  We wanted to make it available to our community.  Great for breakfast with our fresh, organic eggs!

  Normal, extra large size eggs on the left.  I hope this did't hurt my chicken.