Two birthdays, twelve pizzas!

To celebrate two birthdays (mine and Dad's) we worked hard and played even harder on a beautiful fall weekend in Vermont. For Dad's 60th birthday, he got a wood-fired outdoor oven, a.k.a. "the boob," and we christened it with some artisan birthday pizza making. It was beyond delicious! Kevin and Gerrit Pottmeyer also came over to enjoy the feast and celebration.

Andy mixing the pizza dough

Dad taking a pizza out of the "boob" oven. It gets to about 900 degrees, and pizzas take less than 2 minutes to cook! Faster than the microwave and WAY better!

Mom spared no expense with the array of toppings and we each made several small pizzas. This one is apple, maple sausage, cheddar, and carmelized onions.

And then on the work part of the weekend... we made at least a slight dent in the giant pile of wood outside the sugarhouse that needs to be split into very small pieces and stacked up before winter hits. That way, when sugaring season begins in March, everything is ready to go. We have to split an even mix of hardwood and softwood (the latter burns hotter and faster in the wood-fired evaporator). Time is of the essence as Dad's recovery from rotator cuff surgery will soon make it impossible for him to split wood for many months.

Me working at the pneumatic wood splitter; Andy splitting the old fashioned way

Gerritt and Aiden reading in the sun

No visit to VT is complete these days without an obligatory torture of the chickens. Percy, Reba, Dolly, Loretta, and ? (can't remember the last one's name) are pretty good sports after you catch one of them, but they don't like it if you enter their kingdom without bearing gifts. They love fresh greens, apple cores, and basically anything in the compost bucket. In return they are each laying an egg a day, and Gerritt and Aiden did the honors of collecting them on Saturday.

Andy trying to befriend a chicken

Squeeze!

Becky admitted to turning her head to the side in case the chicken mistook her eyeball for a grape.

Collecting eggs...

Later we went over to Shelburne Orchards and picked two huge bags of Cortlands and Macs... we had just about finished the bag of apples we picked two weekends ago, so I guess it was time to refill! We also could not resist cider donuts right out of the vat, and giant jugs of home-brewed apple cider vinegar. I love having a birthday in September :)

Apples and cider donuts