Prelude to Spring......

Yippeee!!!! After a gloomy gray week, we finally have sunshine!  We need all of the sunshiny days we can get since  we are now creeping up on the full peak of lambing season! It may not look look like  it outside, but spring is doing it's best to emerge here at LoveTree!

We currently have a   couple dozen lambs on the ground, tough little critters that were born at near zero!  Soon they will be accompanied by a couple of hundred wooly bouncy buddies to keep them company. 

This is a GREAT time to enjoy  LoveTree's  "Pizza By the Pond" ...cross country skiing, snow shoeing, or even just walking about enjoying the prelude to the change of seasons while visiting with the lambs, goat kids and puppies!!!!  And , of course, dont forget about the delicious and unique pizza and cheese!

 

Every Saturday you can find me OUTSIDE at the winter version of the St. Paul Farmers Market (on the west side of the market on Wall Street)...alongside of the various meat, honey and bread vendors. Come enjoy the vigorous weather with us, after all a fresh  cup of coffee  never tastes as good as it does on a brisk winter morning :-)   If your cold weather endurance  just isnt what  it used to be, you can take comfort in knowing that Golden's Deli is directly across the street from us,  a great place to sit down and take the chill off. Of course, you can also purchase our cheese while visiting the farm during Pizza By The Pond!

The cheese that I currently  have available are:

The Big Holmes( in goat)a young soft herbal goat cheese

The  Black and Sassy: (aged version)a 4 month old aged soft goat cheese dusted with maple blossom ash, amazingly complex 

Sweet Young Thang: a firm pasted goat cheese that in this youthful stage has a very milky/grassy finish.

That Funky Thang: an more aged frim pasted goat cheese with a robust  beefy and pungent profile with a sharp nutty finish

Gabrielson Lake: A rich buttery raw jersey cow milk cheese aged since October. Very buttery with a mushroomy finish.

Ancient Blue Cedar: a limited edition of the native blue raw sheep milk cheese , the paste is hard and flinty, very grate-able .This cheese is simply loaded with native blue molds but the dry ness of the paste allows for a more "back seat " flavor  profile allowing you  to taste the complexity without being overblown by sharpness. A subtle tartness in the background  highlights the complexity of the various blues.

It's Going to Be A GREAT Day!!!!!!

The sheep are FAT! They arent getting fat, they ARE  FAT!!!! We are in the final countdown to lambing which  should start in the next week or so. All available fingers are crossed as we  pray that the warming trend continues through  lambing...temperatures above 20F can make ALL the difference in the world for the creatures.


We are definitely OPEN for Pizza By The Pond today!!!!!'
The cross country ski trail and sledding hill are freshly groomed and the weather is actually  going to
co operate!!! The long term weather forecast is calling for a thaw for the rest of the week, this may be the last time we are able to ski the trails for the year! Take advantage of it while you can, but please remember,   the use of the trails for       x country ski ing  and snowshoeing  are for Pizza By The Pond customers only!


Every Saturday you can find me OUTSIDE at the winter version of the St. Paul Farmers Market (on the west side of the market on Wall Street)...alongside of the various meat, honey and bread vendors. Come enjoy the vigorous weather with us, after all a fresh  cup of coffee  never tastes as good as it does on a brisk winter morning :-)   If your cold weather endurance  just isnt what  it used to be, you can take comfort in knowing that Golden's Deli is directly across the street from us,  a great place to sit down and take the chill off. Of course, you can also purchase our cheese while visiting the farm during Pizza By The Pond!

The cheese that I currently  have available are:

The Big Holmes( in goat)a young soft herbal goat cheese

The  Black and Sassy: (aged version)a 4 month old aged soft goat cheese dusted with maple blossom ash, amazingly complex 

Sweet Young Thang: a firm pasted goat cheese that in this youthful stage has a very milky/grassy finish.

That Funky Thang: an more aged frim pasted goat cheese with a robust  beefy and pungent profile with a sharp nutty finish

Gabrielson Lake: A rich buttery raw jersey cow milk cheese aged since October. Very buttery with a mushroomy finish.

Ancient Blue Cedar: a limited edition of the native blue raw sheep milk cheese , the paste is hard and flinty, very grate-able .This cheese is simply loaded with native blue molds but the dry ness of the paste allows for a more "back seat " flavor  profile allowing you  to taste the complexity without being overblown by sharpness. A subtle tartness in the background  highlights the complexity of the various blues.

End of Winter? I dont think so..........

It's been quite while since I updated this blog, I have plenty of excuses but no real good reason. I suppose  succumbed to the mid winter BLAHHHHHSSSSSS.


Today the east wind is hammering away at us, screaming that it is going to make good on it's threat to dump snow on our partially  thawed out pastures. Good bye green grass!
I had to make the decision of whether or not to close today, which is VERY hard to do when there is still no snow flying, but I finally did it. The wind alone is making it near impossible to keep the temperature up in the warming hut and in  the pizza oven.  Normally the wind isnt that big of a deal here  since we are tucked into the hillside, but this east wind is tenacious and  pummeling us with no mercy. So today, we are closed for Pizza By The Pond.


Our more recent farm updates have included  a long term loan  of a wood burning heater from friends who were tired of eating pizza with blue fingers! This heater is a HUGE improvement over my poor old kitchen cook stove, which  just couldn't muscle up to the task of keeping us warm and toasty during those  frigid single digit  Sundays.  Now the warming hut is much more comfortable and pink fingers have returned!


We also have a  new litter of puppies and three goat kids, all of which were born the first week of February.
The puppies are down right adorable, and the goat kids are very cute...mischief makers, but still cute ..for
now anyway!


Every Saturday you can find me OUTSIDE at the winter version of the St. Paul Farmers Market (on the west side of the market on Wall Street)...alongside of the various meat, honey and bread vendors. Come enjoy the vigorous weather with us, after all a fresh  cup of coffee  never tastes as good as it does on a brisk winter morning :-)   If your cold weather endurance  just isnt what  it used to be, you can take comfort in knowing that Golden's Deli is directly across the street from us,  a great place to sit down and take the chill off. Of course, you can also purchase our cheese while visiting the farm during Pizza By The Pond!


The cheese that I currently  have available are:


The Big Holmes( in goat)a young soft herbal goat cheese


The  Black and Sassy: (aged version)a 4 month old aged soft goat cheese dusted with maple blossom ash, amazingly complex


Sweet Young Thang: a firm pasted goat cheese that in this youthful stage has a very milky/grassy finish.


That Funky Thang: an more aged frim pasted goat cheese with a robust  beefy and pungent profile with a sharp nutty finish


Gabrielson Lake: A rich buttery raw jersey cow milk cheese aged since October. Very buttery with a mushroomy finish.


Ancient Blue Cedar: a limited edition of the native blue raw sheep milk cheese , the paste is hard and flinty, very grate-able .This cheese is simply loaded with native blue molds but the dry ness of the paste allows for a more "back seat " flavor  profile allowing you  to taste the complexity without being overblown by sharpness. A subtle tartness in the background  highlights the complexity of the various blues.


The Trade Lake Cedar is currently sold out for the season but will  reappear late this spring.

We Are Getting Warmer!!!

Just a few quick updates before I scoot out the door...
The   wood cookstove is  now in the warming  hut as supplemental heat, we will do the trial run this morning but since it is the same stove that I used to actually cook on in my farm house kitchen I have total faith that it will  be just great. 
The ski trails and sledding hill are groomed! We are starting with just a little less than 4 miles of trails and we will add a bit more every week as  the weather allows.
Remember, we supply  the atmosphere  but everyone needs to bring their own equipment. We dont rent iceskates or skis or snow shoes, (maybe someday).
Dont forget suntan lotion for your face and sunglasses!!!!! It is  a bright and beautiful day!!!!!
Time to play!

Winter Time Updates!

It's been WAYYYYYYY too  long since  my last post, so much for the fantasy that winter brings extra time for playing "catch up" on the farm.HAH!
We are scurrying along readying the "Grotto" for winter fun. We've been able to get the temperature inside the Grotto ( warming shelter) up to 28F when the outside temp was at -10F, and this we did  by capturing the heat from the Pizza oven and sealing up the tarps better. Our goal for this week is to add a 1930s wood cookstove to the middle of the "Grotto",  adding not only additional  heat but also a place to dry mittens and heat up cider and cocoa yummmmmmmmmm! Once we add the cook stove I have total faith that we will be able to bring the temps up into the 60 degree (or something near)range...perhaps ;-)
We also have a friend that has promised to come out this week to groom cross country ski trails for this weekend....I am keeping my fingers  crossed!  Since the weather has been cold to the bone, the sledding hill has not seen too much activity, but I bet this weekend that will change, we are supposed to warm up to 15F for Sunday and that is the PERFECT temp for sledding activity. We will have a bonfire going at the base of the sled hill for toasting marshmallows and warming up.
Dont forget to check out our Pizza By The Pond on Facebook for photos of the farm and of the social activity!