Heart Holder

 I swear, you can't make this stuff up.

It all started as a typical morning with me heading out to milk the goats.  Typical until I grabbed their black food tray off the ground to discover a heart underneath.  Yes, you read that right - a heart.

My heart sunk. "For the love of God, whose heart am I holding?"  I looked up in panic for my goats and to my immense relief I saw all four alive and well, prancing towards me in anticipation of breakfast.  It was at that moment I realized that I was surrounded by a sea of beautiful pure white feathers.  Turkey feathers.  Uh oh.  Ava ate Betty.

I was initially shocked but in hindsight Betty has always been a rover.  In the last two days alone, I had to chase her out of the pig pen and then the garden, off the front gate and then the garden gate.  Unfortunately for her, exploring Ava's paddock was a very dangerous decision and thus, Betty's last great adventure.

Luckily the day improved after this.  Seamus and I made a run to both the grocery and feed stores.  The boys and I cleaned out our huge Long Island Cheese Squash, steamed it, pureed it with the food mill, and portioned it into 2 cup bags that went into the freezer.  We ended up with 18 cups of pumpkin puree in total.  We now have ample pumpkin pie in our future! 

The best part of the day was our first family outing of the year to Ian's deer hunting stand.  I love the short walk in through the woods.  It is a perfect distance for the boys.  

We were especially lucky today as the corn is still in the field and by a totally serendipitous break we happened to spot some cobs growing the Mexican delicacy huitlacoche. This pathogenic, yet deliciously edible, fungus, Ustilago maydis, forms galls on the corn kernels. These mushrooms are eaten as a filling in tacos, quesadillas, etc.

Ian and I have read all about huitlacoche but we have never come across it - until today.  Once we noticed it, it became a treasure hunt for the boys to find more.  They had a blast!  Most of what we found was a bit too mature to eat but we did get enough to eat for supper!  So yum.

So, even with a rough start to the day, we were able to turn it around and end on a high note.  Good thing every day isn't this exciting.  I am not sure my heart could handle it.  Geesh.