Today part of our dream came true...

When Mike and I started this farming adventure, our vision of the future looked something like this:

A group of people who care about the food they eat and who want to experience nature will join our CSA and buy our wonderful eggs and meat and eat great food and love the experience so much that they'll volunteer to come do some daily chores and also come and just sit in our pasture and watch the chickens or other animals playing in the fields.  We said we wanted our farm to not only be about the quality of the food but about the experience.

Today we had a CSA family come and help pick tomatoes.  They picked and picked.  They probably picked 60 lbs of tomatoes.  They also took the time to enjoy the view and Frank helping me move the lambs to a nice lush area of grass.  They learned how to ride the Mule (a red golfcart type vehicle) and took a ride around the farm.  They offered advice on what they'd like to see us do for posting prices for meat and they left with some of the nice juicy tomatoes that split open due to the crazy weather but that were still perfect to eat today.  They fed the chickens some tomatoes and made a few hundred new friends.  It was so cool to have them at our farm for the day-- they rejuvenated my spirit to keep going.  This farm is definitely hard work- but to see them enjoy the day made it all worthwhile.

At the same time, we are welcoming a new Egg share member who I'm sure will soon be addicted to fresh eggs.  Her little boy was the cutest baby with these blue, blue eyes and a smile that just made me melt.  He of course loved our dog Dougie who is old and wise and knows that he wants no part of babies.  Unless they are in a high chair and he is under it.

And to top it off we had friends who were traveling across the country stop at our farm for a visit.  They've been to all sorts of national parks and really cool places and WE made the list!  Green Akeys Family Farm is right up there with National Parks and Ellis Island which is on the list for tomorrow.  I'm truly honored.

Now to top it off..... Grandma has been here and being totally adventurous with cooking.  We have so many eggs that we started out by saying, "what can we make that needs lots of eggs".  She's made quiche, deviled eggs and today was the grand finale.  We had chicken (our chickens of course), zucchini and tomato and shallot ratatouille, cucumbers with onion and dill, bean salad and then for desert, Lemon Meringue pie.  

Oh my goodness- if you've never had a lemon meringue pie made with farm fresh eggs then you are missing out on one of the wonders of the world.  If your food doesn't taste this good, it might be because you aren't using high quality ingredients.  Good inputs = good outputs.  

mmmm...good food, good company, good times.....  life is good.