Extract Obsessed!

One of my favorite things to do is make my own extracts. Unlocking the secrets, realizing what junk we are buying at the stores and just knowing they are mine is the best way. I recently bought these jars from a man selling them on MarketPlace. I collect these whenever I can and store all my herbs in them. I knew what I had planned for these and went to work filling them. I had already made the extracts over time, but wanted to expand and get them into bigger jars. I have always made my own vanilla extracts as well as others but I decided to expand as holiday baking is coming up, also some will go on as gifts. 

Also as I looked through my cupboards at the ingredients of some of my store bought extracts and there were things added especially water! What kind of extract is that?! 

The sources on line are unending and so many resources as well as Facebook pages to join. I have also found that some extract people are intense and sometimes rude! Nothing like a know it all extractor!

Almond extract gets a bit tricky. While the almonds can have a cyanide precursor, 

using raw skinless almonds is best, however using cherry pits crushed along with apricot pits gives it a real nice flavor too!

One of my absolute, totally, unbelievably favorite extracts is Anise Extract! Just adding vodka and Star Anise pods, soaking for 2 months was amazing! I tasted a bit on my tongue and tasted like anise all day! 

After soaking for two months, I strained the anise, placed all new pods in the jar and poured the already extracted liquid onto the pods. I will let this sit another few weeks and bottle it just in time for holiday gifting!

               I'm in love with this little funnel, I use it for everything. It's just small enough to put a

 small piece of cheesecloth to strain out anything that I don't want in the bottles. 

    I also made Lemon Extract...

                                       and Orange Extract which will be amazing in whipped cream!

Peppermint Extract, a mixture of peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, apple mint and even some mojito mint for good measure! This I also did a couple of strainings and re-adding fresh mint.

And of course, Cinnamon extract! Just cinnamon sticks and vodka soaked for a couple of months. I just love everything about cinnamon! There are so many things you can do with cinnamon extract, put in coffee, add to hot chocolate and my favorite, add it to french toast batter before you dip the bread in! It makes your french toast taste incredible! My shelves are full of extracts as this has been this years obsession! What's a year of a Pandemic without obsessing about something?!

 

It's as if they planned it

I was walking through the backyard and happened on this scene. Out of our 50 chickens, these 3 Buff Orphingtons were lined up as if they had planned it! It was as if they said, "shhhh her she comes, let's get her to stop and look."  

 And then of course this Welsummer chicken had to photobomb as these girls just hung out in unison. My life is so full with these crazy little dinosaurs, they always give me a smile or a moment to not believe what I'm seeing, like a chicken chasing a squirrel the other day or a rooster who believes in ladies first. It's just what brings a smile to my face in these hard times!

Item of the Week: Baking Vanilla Making Kit

                               I was so excited to roll this kit out! What a fun kit this was to design and make. It will make a great gift for the foodie in your life who loves to make everything from scratch. Also a very sustainable gift or a great gift for a co worker too!

 This kit includes: 1-4 oz Boston Round bottle, a complete instruction card and 2 Grade B Vanilla Beans for just $10.00! We are offering curbside pickup. Email us @ CoonHollowFarm@aol.com or call the farm line @ 203-881-1986 as well as through our Facebook page!

Rabbit! It's December!

This week all of our English Angoras got haircuts and shave downs. Our rabbits are kept indoors in a heated area so they get very warm in the winter. Today was shaving "Tawny" day. Our girl is 7 now and she is still as awnry as ever. This girl gives me the hardest time through her grooming and never gives me a break! 

If looks could kill, I would be in serious trouble. The grunting and carrying on is almost comical though. Stay tuned to our Etsy shop, we will be offering full rabbit fleeces with very little to no vegetable matter and super clean too! 

 

Item of the Week: Drop Spindle Kits

This week we are offering these Drop Spindle Kits at just $25! If you want to learn or have someone who has wanted to learn the art of spinning this is an excellent gift! I will throw in a free lesson as well! The kit includes the following:

A quality Drop Spindle complete with a leader line from handspun alpaca. The spindle has a wrap notch cut into it for easy stopping and wrapping your handspun.

A ball of 2 1/2 ounces of alpaca is included from our animals here on the farm. It is cleaned, put into roving and ready for spinning. You don't need to do anything to prepare it!

A complete instruction sheet on how to get it going and how to spin (of course we are only a call away).

 All of our information is on the bag too!

Happy Thanksgiving from Coon Hollow Farm

 Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Coon Hollow Farm! As we ride out this pandemic and stay home, give Thanks that we can!

Item of the Week: Punis/Rolags

This weeks item is Punis/Rolags. These are ready to be spun, made with different fibers and wools, like angora rabbit, alpaca, merino wool, Gotland and Lincoln. Some are natural colors while others are hand dyed. Each Puni/ Rolag is hand carded and hand made. They are $7.00 and ounce. Pick up or shipping is available. Email @ CoonHollowFarm@aol.com or message us here for info.

 These are my favorites! Autumn colors that remind me of spices!

The Geriatric Ward

 

One of the hardest things is when or animals get old. We have come to that sadly here. This week we made the decision to separate "Teddy"  back of picture) and "Winchester" ( front of  picture) from the herd and isolate them to the lower barn. It has become difficult for them to go up and down the hill and due to their aging conditions they are low men on the herd pecking order so I have been watching and noticing that they are being picked on. "Winchester" is 15 now who is suffering from arthritis,  while "Teddy" has some esophagus issues and has to eat with his food bowl elevated and has to eat often throughout the day.

They are so sad and sulking a bit about being separated from their herd brothers. It's so sad but before long the others will be joining them as this herd is aging and growing old sadly.

"Winchester" happily with his herd. I love this boy so much, he is the sweetest most kindest animal. Always patient with the others, and always patiently waits his turn. There is no other like this sweet kind boy.

And then there is "Helen", our blind chicken. She holds her own with the others but it's time to bring her in for the winter and allow her to live out her days. One again just the sweetest bird. I talk to her all the time and she has so much to say! Not many would think this of a chicken but they haven't met "Helen". She is the most personable bird and just talks and talks. Sadly I saw a rooster picking on her so that is how I have come to this decision. It's so sad to get to the end of the road with all these animals. Even old "Tawny" our Sr English Angora just turned 7, while "Autumn" our farm dog just turned 11! We grow them old here, that's for sure and have spent a lot of time with all these animals and their funny personalities. It's breaking my heart in so many ways but keeping them comfortable and allowing them to live out their final days with love.

It's the little things

 It's the little things these days that are getting us through these hard times. While the pandemic seems to be worsening we really need to embrace those little things that can distract us from everything and give us a bit of hope at this seemingly endless tunnel of despair, for me it is this, our first ever Black Copper Maran egg! This brought me so much joy! I have been working my flock towards this breed which I love and the color of their eggs are amazing. Lets all try to find that one thing every day that can bring us joy as we ride these times out. 

Honeybee's on the weather

The weather here in Connecticut has been truly spectacular! And I must say the honeybees approve! I made them some 3:1 sugar water (3 parts sugar to 1part water), and fed them. It was so thick that it took some time getting out of the container! This time of year you need every opportunity to feed them and prepare them for the cold winter ahead.  

The bees were quite interested and came right up to feed. 

This little girl is full proboscis out and was sucking up this droplet. Next month we will install candy boards and make sure they are fed throughout the winter.

 

Soap Making on a Dreary Day

What do you do on a dreay day in the fall? You make soap in summer scents! I have always found soap sets up much better on wet dreary days, It's not science but it does.  I have had a heck of a time finding lye to make my soap with. Apparently like many things in this time of Covid, this is scarce too! I finely found some at a small hardware store and set out this morning to get a batch made. I combine the above ingredients in certain weights to get a beautiful smooth soap.

Since all I can think about is getting through winter and getting back to Spring shows, I chose a Lavender-Mint to blend for my fragrance. I decided to do Essential Lavender with both Essential Peppermint and Spearmint combined to give it a smooth mint with a lavender scent. 

One of the greatest tools ever invented and discovered for soap making is the stick blender! It cuts down on so much time stirring. It cuts the process by about 10 times the time!

Once it was ready and I had the proper tracing, it was poured into a couple of molds. The batch I make is an 8 pound batch so you get quite a bit of soap! I will have bars as well as some soap to cut up for felted soap.

The finished soap! I wish I could have a scratch and sniff button on this blog! It smells amazing and so does my kitchen! I added some Lavender flowers for texture too!

 The molds are covered and the soap will be allowed to cure for a couple of days. I will the remove the soap from the molds and then it will be allowed to cure for a couple of months for a soap that brings you back to summer. 

Item of the Week: Alpaca Dryer balls

This weeks Item of the Week is: Alpaca Dryer Balls. These are made from our alpacas here on the farm. They are quite labor intensive but I do enjoy making them, the end result is just so amazing. We have packaged them in these nice eco-friendly bags which have a small window to see the alpaca dryer balls.

      Each bag contains 4 dryer balls, each a solid ball embellished with some alpaca. These are available to be shipped for an extra $5.

                       They are so soft and are amazing in the dryer. They leave your clothes soft and cut down on the time you have to dry your clothes. 

 Just an up close view of our soft and wonderful dryer balls!

The Poor Drones

While checking on the honeybees I saw this sad drone. He was walking on the landing board as if he was lost. That's probably because he was! This time of year, the female workers are preparing for winter. It's a painstaking process, they have to ready the hive, bring in enough food to get through the cold weather ahead and get rid of the free loaders. These are the Drones! A drones whole purpose in life is to reproduce. They do not forage, clean or work whatsoever in the hive. They are complete free loaders. If you don't do your work you get fired right? Well a little worse fate comes to the Drones, they are either starved out or they are carried out to their deaths! Many workers will darg a drone out, chew off his wings and drop him to his death. The hive can't afford this during the winter cluster so they must be eliminated.

I caught this guy on the landing board (center bee is the drone) going from bee to bee begging for food. Every time he approached the entrance a guard bee would block him. 
 

Here he is trying to convince this bee to feed him but quickly got the cold shoulder. So in conclusion, while it's wonderful to be born in the Spring, get fed, never have to work for it, hang out with other drones all day, get fed again, go to sleep and repeat the process everyday, all good things must come to an end!

Happy October!!! Homemade Vanilla: Item of the Week

As we dust ourselves off here after learning the rest of our shows for the year are cancelled, we are going to be featuring an Item of the Week. This week our homemade Vanillas are ready after curing for 6 months! We have 5 flavors to choose from, however this item is pick only.

We also have 3 sizes to choose from: 8 oz, 4 oz and 2 oz. These will make a wonderful gift for a foody or baker on your holiday list!

  We have many bottles in stock too! All three sizes!

Our selection of 5 different flavors and price list is above. These are made from fine cured bourbon and Madagascar Vanilla Beans. The Vanilla Vanilla is made from Vanilla Vodka which is also cured.

 We have 3 sizes available too! Give our farm line a call @ 203-881-1986 or email us @ CoonHollowFarm@aol.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram! These smell and taste divine!

Fooled by a Kiss

Just look at that face! Only a face a mother could love, right? Wrong! Today during second feeding, Teddy comes up to me as he often does for just a kiss, looks at me with those sweet loving eyes, bends his head down in a loving way and places his lips upon mine and then, whamo!!!! Spit in the face! That's right! A big old loogie right in my face! Thank goodness he had not started eating or it could have been worse! Well that will teach me to trust his nonsense again! I must not look in those eyes!

 

Oh the stress of the molt

With the loss of daylight, it's time for the chickens to molt. They need to loose those summer feathers and bring in those cold weather feathers and reserve some nutrients to grow new feathers in. They slow down on egg production which is not good for this farmer and her customers.  As they loose their feathers they begin to look very sad like this girl above! 

This poor girl only has this last spike of a tail feather left.

This poor girl! I'm ready to knit her a sweater! She almost looks naked! Her neck is half bald, but she is already showing some regrowth.

The good thing about this time of year is the beautiful feathers you will find. This was a wing feather but the unique thing about it is it has a double shaft and two feathers coming out. Contact us if you're looking for feathers, we have plenty!

 Looking at this girl, it's like she's channeling her inner Turkey Vulture! AS she was standing there, she was literally plucking her feathers off of her body.

So to our egg customers, this is the real reason why our supply of eggs is low right now! It should get better in the next couple of weeks!

Welcome Mr. Copper

Welcome Mr. Copper! He is a Black Copper Maran rooster that we have added to our flock. Sadly the one we raised from a chick met an accidental death. I was on the look out for another one and happened on one that was literally a mile away! When we added him to our flock, within a few minutes he challenged old Henry and learned very fast that was a big mistake. He has realized the pecking order, settled in well and is a very sweet boy.

He has been with us now a couple of weeks and has integrated into the flock quite well. Next Spring I hope to hatch some chicks with the 3 hens we raised this year. The exciting thing about this breed is the amazing color of their eggs, a deep red/brown egg. I'm thinking this may be my new favorite breed of chicken!
 

Well here we go...

Well here we go, after the initial shock that the New England Fiber Festival has been cancelled, it's time to dust ourselves off and reinvent the wheel. The farm can't run itself so I decided we need to re-open the Etsy shop and list all the work I have done preparing for the big show. We have lots of yarns that I have begun listing. I will begin to list each day as I go here.

This is such a hard time for everyone, so hang in there, this too shall pass!

The link to our Etsy shop is:

https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/CoonHollowFarm/tools/listings?ref=seller-platform-mcnav 

You can also click the link on the side bar that will take you to our shop!

Welcome Another Generation

 We welcomed 7 new English Angora bunnies on September 1st! Our CoCo and Frankie are the parents to this beautiful bundle. They are jumping and popping out of the nest already. I usually don"t post new babies so early but these guys are so strong and mom is doing an amazing job! Visit our Coon Hollow Farm Facebook page to see a video of them! (I can't figure out how to get it on here!)

Sad but moving on!

" After careful consideration, we regretfully announce The Fiber Festival of New England has been cancelled for 2020. Current COVID-19 restrictions do not allow for an event of the size, scope and passion that our Fiber Festival brings to the Mallary Complex every year."

 This was the message we got yesterday, completely devastating an already hard year for us as well as a lot of other small farms and businesses that depend on this Festival. From here we are moving on and are looking at other ways to sell our products. Please bear with us as we may participate in a virtual version which the Fiber Festival may offer as well as doing some on line here. We have worked hard all year getting our products ready and have a lot of handspun yarns in stock. All I keep saying to myself is this too shall pass. Stay strong everyone and stay tuned!