Our Handmade Lavender, Lemon Verbena, and Oat Goat's Milk SoapThe first visitor on the farm from my family was Gram. My Gram has always been the "cool Grandma"... Her seemingly uncanny understanding of what was "in" with the kids (she taught High School English) was bolstered in my awkwardly bespectacled eyes by the fact that she had been a model (which my 10 year old self would have died to be). The voracious reader who always had the right books for me at the ready, was also a curious and creative person (with a great eye) from whom I inherited my interest in (ok, obsession with) minerals and exquisite details from exotic cultures.
Whenever I would visit her growing up, Gram always had a pile of good books (usually tucked into a basket with some chocolate) waiting for me and fun projects in store for us. We made Ukrainian Easter eggs, we baked, we made jewelry... Oh, she also introduced me to pine nuts! Visits to Gram's were always a treat and now as an adult (well, almost), I hoped to return the favor. I had been looking forward to her visit for weeks and trying to think of some fun things we could do together while she was here.
I had cheesemaking, soapmaking, and a visit to The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's Plantation, in the cards for her 3 day visit. Obviously, I had once again failed to add the "unexpected element" of farm life into my time calculations for the weekend. When Gram arrived, our first goat shelter had just been trampled and pooped on by The Herd, and a whole day would be needed to plan and build a new one.
There have been many nights on the farm, where we have guests and I want to cook something delicious for dinner, but I'm sweaty, dirty, tired, and didn't finish chores until after a time when most people would already be eating dessert. Luckily, I have a go-to recipe for just that kind of night - Pasta alla Carbonara. It's so delicious though that I'll make it a few times a month, regardless of timing or situation. It's fast, unique, drool worthy, and does the special trick of highlighting the amazing eggs our chickens have laid fresh that day. In fact, I'm not so sure I'd make this recipe if I didn't have my own eggs or couldn't get my eggs from a source I trusted. You see, the key to this dish is that the eggs are practically raw. The raw eggs in the sauce are only ever so delicately cooked by the heat of the hot pasta fresh out of the colander. Just enough to give real density, but not so much that someone squeamish about raw eggs wouldn't be a bit weirded out. 
