Life at Homeland Farm

      I will admit I am a pretty good cook. Growing up, I spent long hours at Nanny's side, learning how to make good, old fashioned farm food. Nothing fancy, just plain, wholesome food, much of it raised right here on the farm. So tonight I thought I would try a new dessert. It is a "S'more Pie", and has a rich chocolate layer on a graham cracker crust, with broiled marshmallows on top. The filling came out perfectly, so I spread the layer of marshmallows on it and popped it into the oven to lightly brown the top and melt the marshmallows.        It wasn't long at all when I heard the stove start a continual beep. I thought, " Huh, I must have hit the timer when I set it to broil." As I got up from the table to go check and see if it was done yet,  I noticed the stove's panel read "F1" and it kept blinking. "Huh," I said again. "What do you think that means, Cliffy?" I asked as I opened the door. Well, apparently it...

     I have always loved living in the country, and was outside playing, riding horses, and fishing all my life. I really can't imagine growing up anywhere else but here. I am quite thankful I never had "Gameboys" or "Xboxs" to waste endless hours playing. I love nature, with all it's flora and fauna. Here in Maine, we have always had a vast array of wildlife, and still do to this day.       Which brings me to a problem I have had to handle for years, and frankly, I have not done a very good job. As a "gentle-woman" farmer, I have always owned chickens. We have never NOT had hens actually. I have eaten farm fresh eggs for so many years I think I would probably have an allergic reaction to store bought eggs. I love my biddies, and even though we  have had as many as 120 at once, we still have favorites and names for some of them. We like to let our hens "free range", meaning they are loose to roam and eat delicious grass, worms...

Baking (and sampling) can also be done in a granny..      I love my granny nightgowns. I am sure there are lots of people that do. Mine are a lot more then nightwear however. They serve several purposes for me. They are casual wear, lounge wear, even business wear. They are mostly plaid, and when they are all clean and stacked up on my shelf where I keep them, they look like a "Gathering of the Clans" in Scotland. I do have a few flowered models, as well . I also have a wide variety to choose from. I have some that are floor length, mid calf, and some knee length. All, very sexy.       I can usually be found in a granny nightie from 7pm until 10-11 am, and perhaps on a Sunday, all day. I think I inherited my love of flannel from my Aunt Dorothea. She could often be found running the vacuum around in the afternoon, still granny clad. I know I didn't inherit it from my mother, who, A) doesn't wear granny nighties, and B) cringes every time she...

       Howdy from Homeland Farm. Tonight, I thought I would share a few photos from us here on the farm. I thought it would be a good way to introduce you to the animals and people that call this place home. We have 5 horses, 4 cats, 2 dogs, and approximately 50 laying hens. Plus, Mr and Mrs Guinea, our pair of guinea fowl. We love Mr and Mrs Guinea. They answer me when I call them and come running for food. They actually listen better then my children, come to think of it.        This is a picture of some of the turkeys we raised last year, in their new Turkey Hotel. The animals live pretty well here at Homeland Farm. We raised Giant White and Bourbon Red turkeys. This is a giant black turkey...no, no..wait..This is actually my oldest son Cameron, chilling with the birds after we moved them into their new grassy pen. This is our Thoroughbred Amira, and a pal last winter. We got way too many "free...

      I have had horses in my life since I was a kid with a cranky pony. Like I mentioned in an earlier blog, I have fallen off a horse every way possible. Some ways, I didn't even think were possible, but I managed to pull it off. I think everyone that rides has their share of stories about being bucked off, or scraped off, or knocked off. Which is exactly what happened to my sister Kim one day when I tried to be the "kind, older sister" and take my younger siblings for a ride. I got in trouble. It was the last time I played "kind, older sister."        My brother Zak, the youngest in our family, had gotten a cranky pony of his own. Her name was "Duchess" and she was as wide as she was tall. Zak didn't really want a mare pony..he was hoping for a gelding so he could name it the name he wanted, and when it didn't quite work out like that, he went ahead and named his fat little female pony "THUNDER BOY" anyway. So, my sister Ki...

      I'm not going to write much of a blog tonight, or as I should call my writings a "Blob". It was a very busy day here at Homeland Farm. Cliffy had his 70th birthday today, so I was a cooking and cleaning fiend all day. Hey, you don't turn 70 everyday. We had a Scottish themed dinner, as I love Scotland. My grandfather ( Poppa) came from Scotland as a youngster and worked hard here in the "New Country" to make a life for himself. He saw my grandmother and told his pal, "That's the girl I am going to marry", and he did.         I have been lucky enough to travel to Scotland a couple times, but Cliffy, who has traveled alot in his life, has never been to Scotland. So, I am hoping that when we tie the "proverbial knot" later this year, maybe we can manage a trip to Scotland for a honeymoon. I am not sure what Cliffy's plan is.... Maybe I should ask him if he even wants to go to Scotland? He might be happy with a tri...

     As I mentioned in an earlier blog, and do NOT need to mention to those who know me, I am not exactly graceful. My Uncle Billy always said.."Your worse then a bull in a china closet", and it was true. I was always falling, tripping, banging around, or falling off a horse. It wasn't just accidents like that either. It has always seemed like if something had the remotest possibility of going wrong, screwing up, or backfiring, I was, and still am, somehow involved. It usually turns out OK, and more often then not, funny. Which is good, because frankly, it happens..often. These are just a very small sample of some "Carmen" Bloopers.      Back when Liam was a baby, we got two new kittens. Our older cat, Stink E. Lewis did not like them at all. We tried to gradually introduce them to each other, but one day, Stink chased one of the kittens outside and down across the lawn toward the woods. Brogan who was around 15, Cameron who was 8 and I...

     I have lived on this farm for most of my almost 50 years. It has been in our family for 5 generations, and in this day and age, that is not all that common any more. My sister Kim, Brother Zak and I were very fortunate to not only have this nice house to grow up in, but were also able to grow up surrounded by family. We lived next door to my grandparents Bill and Althea Crook, and my Uncle Billy.My cousins Zenya and Natasha lived on the other side of us, and my Aunt Dorothea and Uncle David lived a little farther down the road past them. We were always having many great aunts and uncles, and loads of cousins stop by to visit almost daily.Summers were filled with cook outs, and holidays and birthdays were big family affairs.      My grandparents and Uncle Billy were so much fun to be around, I am not even sure I will ever be able to put into words how much they meant to all of us. My sister, brother and I spent a...

     In case you don't already know, I have three children. Brogan, my daughter is 25, Cameron my oldest son is 19 and Liam is 11.  They are all great kids-well adjusted, smart and independent...despite their mother. I of course contributed heartily to their DNA, and made sure to cover important childhood events, like birthday parties, a happy Christmas, and a good number of sleepovers for each of them. They haven't been expelled, robbed a bank, or gotten in any trouble with drinking or drugs. So, when they start recounting some childhood "incidents", I just smile, because I don't care what they say..I did good.      Brogan had a crazy scare when she was in high school. She was driving home from a town about 20 minutes from home, when she was pulled over by a cop. Trouble was, he wasn't a real cop. She had the good common sense to feel something wasn't right with the guy, so she didn't open her window when he walked up to he...

     As a busy farmgal, mom, and fledgling blogger, or should I just say farmomlogger, I sometimes get a bit behind on my least favorite job..cleaning. I am usually pretty tidy, but stuff sort of ...ends up places. Now I am not talking about filth, or even  really bad dirt ( except maybe the laundry room/barn boot drop off/frozen pail and hose thawing room/egg basket drop off location. THAT room is in rough shape, 90 percent of the time. I was admiring Ree Drummond's house while watching her debut on the cooking channel the other day. Have you heard of her? She blogs as the "Pioneer Woman" and now has a cooking show. My Gosh..her home is SPOTLESS! Now, I am sure it isn't quite like that all the time, but wow, what a house. She is the "Martha Stewart" of country bloggers, and I think I must be the "Roseanne" of country bloggers! Night and day, except we both like kids and animals and food. Alright, we have a lot in common, but  I guess I would hav...

     With yet another birthday pending in the next couple weeks, I have been thinking about being yet  another year closer to age 50. That's when it occurred to me..like Toby Keith, I ain't as good as I once was. Now, I will admit, I was never what you'd call particularly athletic. I was lucky to stay on my feet just walking home from school, after the bus dropped us off. My cousins that walked with me used to find great joy in watching me roll an ankle and trip, or perhaps slip on ice jumping off the bus and end up underneath it, thankfully while it was in parked position. I swear they still talk about that 30 plus years later. The big difference now however, is that I don't "bounce back" quite like I used to.        I was always accident prone, and I guess it was because I was always running around like "a bull in a china shop", as my Uncle Billy used to say. He also had another phrase he used liberally w...

Hello from Homeland Farm. After much debate and some very crazy ideas, I decided to name my blog "Life at Homeland Farm". I did enjoy the suggestions I received from everyone on Facebook, but decided to go with the simple. ( Not that MAINE MAMMA FARMA didn't apply, mind you..and the MENOPAUSAL MAINER suggestions were indeed correct), but I thought short and sweet would apply too, as I am indeed, short and sweet! So, here we are on the very first post to LIFE AT HOMELAND FARM. I suspect a lot of people that read this will be friends and relatives and you all are probably familiar with me and my family and life. Should anyone be reading this, and not know us, you soon will. I am part of the "lay it all out there" crowd, so you will be hearing stories and seeing pictures from the farm- the good, bad and the ugly (the latter of which might show me rounding up horses in my granny night gown or calling crows for breakfast, also in my nightgown. (or blogging in my n...