Hello all,

Just another weekend update from Mountain Hollow Farm over in Tazewell, Tennessee.

This week I spent hours and hours shovelling shit. It was good.

And I finished burning that wood pile…see before and after…(Notice the giant pile of sticks and logs behind the burning pile of wood),

…and now its pretty close to all gone. See?

I also spent many hours shelling beans, picked from the LMU Garden Club in Harrogate, the next town over.

…and made soup beans, nutritious and delicious (click here for recipe)

A note about beans, which I learned from a sort-of strange homesteader girl with a wonky eye: most commercially grown beans (think-canned beans) are artificially ripened by spraying Roundup (or something like that) on the crop, which ultimately kills the plants, but has the benefit of encouraging the plant to make a last-ditch effort at spreading its seed, i.e. ripening the beans. So, the chemicals make the crop ripen all at once, which makes it easier to harvest, since everything ripens at the same time (cost-effective). But, mo’ money, mo’ problems, I say, since the soils and groundwater become contaminated and ain’t no fixin’ that down the line without a pretty penny for clean-up.

Beans grown without chemical additives ripen more slowly, making it more complicated and time-intensive to harvest (more expensive), but I say the trade-offs for human and environmental health much outweigh the extra cost of organically grown beans. Buy organic.

Phew, getting off my soap box meow…

What else, well, the horse started engaging with me more than just eating the hay I bring to her on a daily basis. Its happened two times, where I fake run and then she actually runs and kicks her back legs up…and farts a little bit as she runs off. Its hilarious and I try not to be embarrassed for her since farting is natural.

Also, here is a cute picture of Fiona, an exceptionally friendly 6 month old Cashmere goat, eating watermelon.

That’s all for now folks, sorry I forgot to write about the Yarn Store. More on that later. That, and Poke Berry natural dye.

Thanks for reading!

xo

Kelly