Well it has been over two months since my last post. My how time flies. Well the hiatus is over. I have a lot of great things to share both personally and professionally, and hope to bring everyone up to date on what has been happening around Fleming Portrait Design.
I had a fantastic E-session this weekend in NYC. The weather was just perfect Saturday afternoon for walking around the city.
I just wanted to post one of my favorite images from the day. The evening light was just hitting the Brooklyn Bridge just right. More images will be posted shortly.
So we decided to start our own small mini farm. We have had vegetable and flower gardens for several years that we have enjoyed cultivating. But we decided to take it a step forward and bring in the chickens. We started our new venture last week with 6 Buff Orphington chicks which we purchased from Benedicts in Monroe. The chickens are an old fashioned breed that is known for their friendly disposition. Hopefully, they will be producing some delicious eggs by the middle of summer. There is lots of benefits in having Chickens. They provide manure which naturally fertilizes your lawn. They eat grubs and other types of bugs. They make great pets!
Here are some pictures I took late last week. It is amazing how fast they grow.
The kids are loving the experience.
If you are looking for some great farm and garden ideas (how to make garden beds, small livestock and other fun sustainable stuff) check out http://www.gardengirltv.com. She does a great job of showing in a step by step process what we can all do with limited space in our backyards from a garden perspective.
This is an Inspiring story about courage and perseverance. Please take the time to watch the video. Lynn Damon is a Past President of CPPA. Two years ago, her husband, Joe, was in a serious car accident in Italy and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
This was intended to be posted on the official St. Patty's Day, but our blog provider was having access issues yesterday.
There is nothing like homemade bread baking in your oven. The best is a slice right out of the oven with a little butter that just melts right away. This is a fairly easy recipe, and just a minimal amount of kneading. We ran out of raisins, but thankfully our next door neighbor did the neighborly gesture and shared their raisins with us.
Irish Soda Bread Two-Quart Baker
- Sift together 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon of baking powder; add caraway seeds - Cut in butter (1/4 cup of butter) with pastry blender and add raisins (2 cups of raisins) - Mix buttermilk (1 1/3 cups of buttermilk), 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Stir into flour mixture until moistened. - Turn dough onto lightly floured board and knead lightly until smooth. Shape into ball - Place in well-greased two-quart baker. With sharp knife, make 5" cross, a half inch deep in center - Brush with fork-beaten yolk and bake in a preheated 375F oven for 65 minutes or until done - Cool in baker for 15 minutes; remove and cool before slicing
Lesson learned - When it is in a ball and you put it into the 2 quart baker flatten it out a bit to make sure it does not stay in the ball shape or you will end up like my first loaf which was ball shaped and took 2 hours to cook and let's just say everyone politely tasted it and was like --- hmmm --- interesting...
Here is a shot of Declan last Sunday having fun in the puddles. As adults, we look at puddles as avoidance but from a kids perspective it is an opportunity to be able to run through it, jump around and just have an excuse to be able to wear your rain boots. One year, we found a bullfrog in a temporary puddle at the bottom of our driveway. Lesson learned - next time its raining out and you see a puddle - what is the rush to get out from the rain? Go find your rain boots (if you don't have a fun pair you should get one) and go find a puddle to jump in and have some fun.
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