Early Morning Rewards

A cup of coffee on the porch this brisk morning before farm chores was rewarded with this sight.  A lovely start to the day!

Morning Farm Work, Before Heading To Work

We are early risers, we like to have our coffee, read and listen to the news and just have some quiet time to ourselves.  There is another motive.  Once lunches are packed and just prior to waking the kids up, there are a few little items to be taken care of on any given day.  The animals need to be tended to, the garden (when it's warm and dry as we have been) needs to be watered, and something is always in need of harvesting, even this early in the season.

This morning, I harvested a fraction of our blooming chive flowers.  It is going to be very warm today and I was concerned that by the time we got home, they would be past their peak.

Once picked, rinsed and spun, I load them into quart canning jars 2/3 of the way to the top.

Then, I pour white wine vinegar over the top of them, turn them upside down once and let them sit in a dark cool place for two weeks.

When they're done the vinegar will be a beautiful pink and perfect for dressing salads or marinading any number of things.  A little taste of early summer to keep!

When I went to buy the vinegar last night, I was struck by this mislabeling of the bottles.  In fact, I needed to stare at the bottles for a second to figure out what was going on, was I seeing  the color properly?   This made me marvel at our brains and how they work as they register things that aren't as they should be.  It put a little smile on my face.

Oh yes, and then I try to get a blog post in before the kids come down to breakfast!  Good Morning!

Snow Moon

Some days I get a spark of energy by the glow that begins to illuminate the window shade.  Other mornings, I go about my business and catch a glimpse.  This was the bleary eyed glimpse kind of morning.  I got the sick girl some toast and took her temp, made Charles' lunch and then went to feed the cat.  As I turned to head downstairs I looked up and caught the tail end of the snow moon setting with wisps of clouds all around.  Then with a sens of urgency I ran downstairs, changed lenses and hoped that I could get back upstairs before it set completely.  I didn't have time to grab and set up my tripod, but not too bad for holding my breath and as still as possible.  Happy Wednesday!