ROSEY RIDGE FARM NEWSLETTER #5 FEBRUARY 14, 2010

      SNOW! 11.2 inches in one day for Dallas is what I heard the official record is. That's up from the daily snow record of 1.4 inches. From the records, though, it isn't all that unheard of.....the total record snowfall in Dallas for February is 17.5 inches in 1978. From what I can see, it will be a WET Saturday....maybe most of you all will be out and about enjoying the pretty scenery and shopping at the Farmers Markets. It's a good place to go on a Saturday when you can browse the vendor displays and see what kind of bargains you can get. We'll be at Dallas and Firewheel.

      We have a lot of back country roads around where we live. In the more remote part of these hills, after the last house, the road will suddenly turn to dirt and snake through and come out on another road. I thought I knew where the gravel ended. On a snowy night, after dark, when the sun is about as hidden as it could be, very cloudy and still snowing, you would think it would be pitch black. Well, it isn't. All the white snow puts off light and you can see around very well. How would you like to walk 3 miles home after you took a drive and got stuck? It isn't so bad, actually, on a night like last night. Not very cold, snowing lightly, beautiful, and quiet. The snow crunches under your feet. Coyotes are howling on the next ridge over........you are out in hills where there were mountain lion seen last summer.......you walk right by your neighbors farm where these mountain lions got several of his calves. I would think they would be hungry on a night like last night but if they were around us, we missed them. A mountain lion is the same as a panther....we talked about stories of Pa Ingalls and how a panther screamed when it chased him and also stories about the Waldensiens walking.....fleeing over the mountains because they were being persecuted for their faith. Many of them, especially children, didn't make it as they weren't dressed warm like we were and it was bitter cold where they were. It's a great time to tell these stories as it make it more real. Well, that's what happens when either you are too daring with a big 4X4 truck or don't have enough sense to stop when it's time to. I thought I knew where the gravel ended. It suddenly ended and the dirt was soft and slimy right down a steep hill. I almost made it after creating ruts to get a run in but slipped out of them and that ended it. The truck is still on the road but it will have to stay there till it dries up a little. No one else will make it through anyway. A family of 8 with a little one to carry don't walk real fast in the snow. Maybe 2 mph. If it's 11:00 when you go down that hill and 11:45 by the time you've given up and 12:05 when you get everybody out of the truck and another 20 minutes to get on top the hill, what time do you think it was when we walked in our door? Your right!

     I don't know if you noticed it last week or not, but we have new 8oz jars. They are a smooth sided jar.......we had the ball jars with the two piece lid which looked old fashioned. We like that part of it as it reflects the kind of old fashioned quality we try for. The jars we have now are excellent quality and a one piece lid. The others are too hard to find for an economical price and the worse thing about them is how hard it is to put a label on them and make them look nice. We also have a new jar for the Granola. It's a 24oz jar instead of the 32oz and we will charge $5 instead of $6. This will help our pricing structure and keep it simpler. The previous styles and sizes are still available while we have them.

Here are the new items we've added this week.........

1. Tomato Basil Bread
2. Apricot Jam
3. Jalapeno Raspberry Jam (Smokin' Hot)

A verse to bless you....Psalms 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.