week 16: the secret to great sleep

this week on the little dream farm

Can I share with you THE secret to the greatest sleep?!

It’s a whole day of farm projects and chores!

Haha…see what I did there?

As I’m sitting down to write this week’s Farm Note, Chris and I just completed a marathon day of some spring farm projects and chores and we’re feeling it—in our faces from the sun, in our hands from putting them to work all day, and in our backs and bodies from all the lifting, digging, lugging, shimmying, pulling, pushing, shoveling, shuttling, tamping, pounding, carting, and carrying we did today.

We reserve a steaming hot bath and some big mugs of tea for work days like this one…the perfect balm for our tired bones!

I shared via Instagram the list of chores we planned to tackle this weekend—we always overshoot and hope to get as much done as possible and then we readjust as needed. Here was that list, which we threw together in the morning while we were at the gym based off a “master” project list we keep for the year. I created it in a shared note we could both access from our phones throughout the day to check off the list as we went along.

The two biggest projects on our list for the one non-rainy day we’d get this weekend was to get the greenhouse frame re-assembled and to dig the posts and reset the fencing for the corral.

We arranged with our neighbor, Ted and his son, Ted. Jr. (also a neighbor), to bring one of their two tractors over with the post hole digger attachment to help us drill all the holes for both the greenhouse and the corral.

With projects like this, at least for me, there’s a ton of planning and then a whole lot of winging it. I like to get all our ducks in a row by understanding what we need, giving a good guess for how long it might take, doing as much prep work as we can to be ready, and then leaving room for the flexibility required.

Thankfully our neighbors are patient people and they always make time to help us with projects we can’t currently do on our own. In addition to both their full-time jobs, they run a bush hogging business (some call it “brush hogging”) and they mow our farm each year. They have the flatbed truck in order to transport the two tractors to their various bush hogging jobs, so they’ll simply add helping us move the greenhouse with the flatbed and digging the holes for us to our bush hogging bill for the year. I told Pop, as I call Ted Sr., to “put it on our tab!”

With each project we do here on the farm, we always learn a ton of new things in the process and this whole day was no exception!

In between some of the smaller projects we knocked out along the way, Chris and I got to work measuring out the greenhouse frame and marking where each of the holes needed to be dug. We did the same thing for the corral, too.

Ted Sr. backed the tractor up to the painted holes while Ted Jr. helped guide the post hole digger to the correct spot and called out directions to his dad - whether to move forward or backward, the drill up or down, when to stop, go, and when each hole was good to go!

Digging the holes for the greenhouse—10 holes total, took about 30 minutes, no big deal at all. With the corral, we needed help with things like measuring a few new gates we wanted to install (from some gates we already had available on the farm), changing the shape of the corral, and making use of the fence posts David left in the barn for us and the cattle panels that were already being used for the corral the way it was.

The holes for the greenhouse were dug a little more than two feet into the ground. The holes for the corral were about 4 feet deep. Thank goodness for tractors!

Once we had the corral holes dug—about another 10 holes, we sent our neighbors off to enjoy the rest of their day and Chris and I got to work on the manual labor parts of these two projects.

Molly-Max and Dominic had to stay in their pasture while we worked in the corral and they stood here very curiously the whole time we worked!

We started first with the corral in order to get the donkey’s area re-situated for the evening. That included setting the posts, leveling them, backfilling the holes, tamping them down, running the cattle panels and securing them to the posts. We did some makeshift work for now as we still have another section of the corral to complete and we’ll then go pick up all the hardware we need to complete the job and make it look nice.

We saved the greenhouse…the hardest part…for last. After running inside to scarf down some really yummy quick leftovers for dinner, we got back out there for the real challenge—could we re-assemble the rickety old greenhouse properly without killing each other in the process?!

The faces of two very happy, very dirty, very tired people. This was before we even got to the greenhouse!

I can provide proof of life for Chris and since I’m the one writing the Farm Note it can mean only one thing…we survived the greenhouse re-build! We’re not completely finished with it yet, but we made incredible progress and we’re really proud of how we put our heads together to figure that all out.

We got the bulk of this work done in one shot. Next is adding the front panel, the side wood boards and a top board that secures everything together, and then installing the fan, landscape fabric, and running new plastic over the greenhouse. Still a ways to go but this was the hardest part!

In terms of how we fared with our weekend project list? Take a look at the below—we got a decent way through it! We’ve got a rainy day in the forecast for Sunday so we’ll tackle the rest of what we can with the weather and the remainder of the projects will get moved to the next-available good weather/free time day.

For those of you who caught our IG Stories on Saturday and wondered what Matzo Brei is or wanted the recipe to make it…you’re in luck!

You can make it lots of different ways with lots of different mix-ins and fixins, but here’s exactly how we made it yesterday for a quick, delicious breakfast before we headed out the door for a day of projects.

If there’s one thing Chris and I never skimp on, it’s a good meal. And Matzo Brei is something my dad (whose side of the family is Jewish) used to make for my family when my siblings and I were kids. It was our favorite weekend breakfast and one of his favorites to whip up for the family. He’s no longer with us, but he’d be so happy and excited for me to share this with all of you.

Didn’t have time for pretty food photos yesterday but doesn’t mean it wasn’t deeelish!

Sarah & Chris’ Busy Day Matzo Brei

Ingredients:

- 1 package matzo (we used Manischewitz brand Rye matzo)
- 6 whole eggs, whisked
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 3 tablespoons ricotta
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- salted butter for cooking, about 1-2 tablespoons
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh or dried chives, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- hot sauce for a kick! (we use Frank’s Red Hot)
- optional: sour cream or applesauce (which is typically served with savory or sweet matzo brei)

*Note: this made enough for us each to have a decent-sized plate with leftovers to re-heat (recommend using a toaster oven or re-heating in the oven or in a pan over the stove). If you’d like to make a smaller portion or smaller servings, half the ingredient list above.

*Note: you can make it with cheese or without, with more veggies or less (I’d avoid tomato unless you pull out the seeds since that makes it watery) but otherwise peppers, spinach, mushrooms, jalapeños…really any topping you’d use in an omelette would be great. You can also add chopped breakfast meat like ham, bacon, or sausage, but we prefer to serve that on the side!

Instructions:

1. Run the pieces of matzo under the faucet with warm water until both sides are wet. Gently shake off extra water and set aside on a plate.

2. Heat butter over medium-high heat and once melted, add diced onion, stirring until onions become translucent and taking care not to burn them.

3. While onions cook, break the matzo up into smaller pieces—you want to make them large enough that you could cut into them or small enough that they’re bite-sized. Try not to make the pieces too small, as they’ll also fall apart some while cooking. I usually break the pieces in half, then in half again, then those smaller pieces in half once or twice more.

4. Reduce heat on the stove and stir in all the broken up matzo. Give that a good stir in the pan and then, making sure you’ve already lowered the heat, add the eggs and ricotta.

5. Using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, stir everything until combined, ensuring to scrape along the bottom of the pan to keep the eggs moving. If they’re sticking, turn the heat down so as not to burn the eggs.

6. Continue turning matzo until the eggs firm up, about 5-8 minutes depending on your heat level. You can turn the heat back up once the eggs are incorporated to give everything a nice little crisp. Stir in chives, salt and pepper, and top with Parmesan, giving everything another good stir to incorporate.

7. Serve hot and top with hot sauce, sour cream, or applesauce (or even a combo of all of the above for the truly daring!).

You could run and grab these few quick things this morning and have brunch in no time today! Would love to hear if you make it and what you think of this easy, awesome Jewish breakfast. Every time I’ve made it as an adult I always sent a photo to my dad and family to make them all jealous! Today when I make it, the smell and the taste takes me back to my childhood house having breakfast with the whole fam…Dad’s Matzo Brei. I think he would have loved this rendition of it, and I have a feeling you will, too.

And that, my friends, is the 16th week of 2023 here on the Little Dream Farm! We hope you had a wonderful week and are enjoying your weekend activities or relaxation, too. Want to tell us how your week went? What you’re up to? We always love hearing from you, too!

P.S. We slept like logs after the marathon day of farm projects and chores! I’m telling you, it’s THE secret to the greatest sleep!