Lilacs and Cows and May Day, Oh My!

It has been way too long since I've posted and a lot of water has gone under the bridge but suffice it to say that spring is definitely sprung here in Shepherdstown. Our lilac bush, which Vince and I bought at Monticello almost 15 year ago (!), is blooming non-stop and has gotten so big I can see the top of it from Laura's window on the second floor. Buddha in the living room has a lovely offering of flowers from JiaJia's school hike yesterday and a very small lilac bloom. He seems happy (although, being Buddha, he usually seems that way). I'm happy too, even with all the pollen and the sneezing, because it has been an unusually long and beautiful spring, unlike recent years when it has seem to shoot from winter to summer without us having much of a break in between.

The grass is also riz here and I'm reminded I need to nudge Carl, our lawn guy, to come and mow us out of our meadow. He's a great guy but a little casual when it comes to sticking to a schedule so we're not looking as manicured as I'd like.

The Wolfe Pack's most recent adventure? The Cow Caper at South Mountain Creamery. One of my foodie friends in town got me started getting milk delivered from South Mountain and it has been a great experience so far. We put a cooler out on Tuesday mornings and later that day it is filled with milk, cream and buttermilk. The buttermilk is like nothing I've ever used before - thick and rich and extremely buttery tasting. I've baked with it, made panne cotta (yum!) and also made cheese. I think it even improves the flavor and texture of Vince's mother's Hershey Bar Cake and that is saying a lot because I thought that cake was already perfect.

Anyway, forgive my food-induced rapture, the point of this discussion is that South Mountain has a festival every spring called the Cow Caper, where the community gets to come visit the farm, see the milk processing facility and basically get free run of the place. We arrived at milking time so the girls got to see where the milk actually comes from, then we visited the calves and baby goats. They have a chicken house and JiaJia got to hold a baby chick in her hand. It made a big impression, let me tell you, as she is still talking about it. Laura, fastidious little soul that she is, didn't care for the aroma in the barnyard (that's her grimacing at the smell in the milking parlor in the picture to the left) and REALLY didn't care for the mud so I don't believe I'll have to be concerned that she might turn to dairy farming as a future career.

The total hit of the day, even more than the calves and chicks, was making butter. We each got a little canister of heavy cream that we shook for what seemed like hours and ultimately ended up with about a tablespoon of butter. A miracle! We kept the canisters and have since made more butter. More miracles! It seems funny but what I loved about this was the fact that the girls made the connection between the foods we eat and where they come from. Seeing the cows being milked, talking to the guy who runs the dairy, making butter - it makes food something real as opposed to just stuff that we buy at the store. Now, if I didn't have to keep explaining how chickens lay eggs I'd be very happy indeed.

May promises to be a busy month for the Wolves. On May 3, JiaJia's school will be walking in the May Day parade, our town's own little pagan celebration. It is led by the Green Man and ends with a traditional Maypole dance, with intertwining ribbons and the whole shebang. From what I'm told, we have one of the only two Maypole celebrations left in the U.S. All in all it is a nerdishly jolly sort of event, with lots of tree-huggers in evidence, and the kids are happy because they dress up as fairies or gnomes.

May 4 is Vince's and my 17th anniversary. How we've managed to get to this point without killing each other is a mystery to me but there it is. What can I say? He can fix anything and has every tool known to mankind. A man like that is useful to have around the house.

I'll be taking lots of pictures at the parade so watch this space.

April showers are here, May flowers must be around the corner...

Here we are on another gloomy day here in the mountains of WV. The kids are at school and I'm recovering from a week walking on the political quicksand of my office in VA. I'm exhausted but nowhere near as tired as I was last week when I had both girls home from school plus Sophie here for the week. Three screaming children running around the house for a week had me wishing for a cocktail about noon every day. I wonder how our mothers did it (except maybe they did give in to the urge for a martini in the afternoon once in a while).


We had a nice quiet Easter with a visit from the bunny and much chocolate all around. Laura, in her typical way, has her candy still, organized in a box in her room to be doled out as she sees fit. I discovered, much to my chagrin, that she actually still had candy left over from LAST Easter tucked away. Thankfully that has been disposed of, to be replaced by this year's batch. Now that I know she's such a little hoarder I'll be sure to check in a month or two to be sure the mice haven't moved in for a feast.


JiaJia, on the other hand, had to be restrained from consuming ALL her candy at one sitting. I had to take hers away, put it up on top of a bookcase, and create rules for when a piece of candy can be earned. She tries to wheedle it out of me by promising, "Mommy, I won't be WILD" but she can't help herself. This is one candy-crazy child. She's also promising to be every bit as fashion conscious as her older sister. The photo at the left is her with her interpretation of how to wear a kid's dress as a pop star might. I think she is preparing to be the next Hannah Montana.


Looks like it will be a quiet weekend. Vince is working on Saturday and the big excitement will be a visit from the cable repair guy who has to replace our cable box. I can hardly wait!