Saffron man

True to his Pennsylvania Dutch roots, Dan grows saffron in the fall for local favorites, like Chicken Pot Pie, prepared with saffron the same way his grandmother made it years ago. It's an obsession that occupies his evenings this time of year as he daily harvests the flowers and collects the stigmas to dry them. He records the daily number of picks and maintains that the growth cycle creates a bell-shaped curve (this is the scientist in the man). Today he picked 86 blossoms. Some days the number is over a hundred.

Saffron is one of the world’s most expensive spices since it is hand picked and handled very delicately. It requires over 80,000 individual flowers to produce a full pound of saffron!
You can learn more about saffron at http://www.chefdepot.net/saffronfacts.htm.

Precious Baby!

Every proud grandma loves to share pictures of her grandbabies and I am no exception...here's little Miss Cuteness herself at 14 months - Ellie Rea.

Halloween on the Farm

Spiders and Jack-o-Lanterns

set the mood.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Fall at the Farm

It has been a long summer with no news from the farm posted on the blog. I returned to full-time work the end of June. A "day job" to be sure, but time-consuming nonethless. I was asked to come back by a former employer, Childcraft Education Corp (www.childcraft.com ) to reinstate the inside sales department at their new Mt Joy office. I had been absent for 4 years, but after a few days, it seemed like I had only been off for an extended vacation. In the meantime, Dan was hospitalized in early July for a very serious bacterial blood infection. The infection went to his aortic heart valve causing endocarditis. After a week in the hospital and 4 weeks of daily visits to the hospital for intravenous antibiotic therapy, I am happy to report that he is more or less normal (those who know him understand the "more or less"!!). The source of his infection was never determined but he is now a heart patient and may eventually need a valve replacement.

The picture with this entry is a recent visitor to the farm who seems to be enjoying our stream. Since neither of us is well schooled in bird watching, we think it is a crane (perhaps an egret). He shows no fear and allows us to observe his survey of the water. Ain't life grand!!