I should have went right back to bed this morning after I fumbled my toothbrush, sending it ricocheting off the sink and into the toilet. Instead, I stumbled through one debacle after another. After I fished out my toothbrush, I incinerated a bagel in the toaster because I was trying to kill a bee that…
Most doctors will say that there is no connection between a full moon and the onset of labor. Talk to a farmer, and they will most likely disagree. The old timer up the road is a firm believer – he says that if the moon can effect the tides of the ocean, then it can…
Shallots can be planted in the spring or fall. They require a dormant period of about 4 weeks right after planting with temperatures between 32 – 50 degrees. The the cool ground helps the formation of good bulbs. Fall planting should be done 4-6 weeks before the first freeze of the season. Fall planting yields…
In my neck of the woods, February thru April is maple syrup time. During these months, the sap will start to flow only with the perfect mix of temperatures. Somewhere between the icy grip of winter and the warm breezes of early spring. A hundred years ago, the woods would be dotted with wooden or…
Picture it. Thursday night, 2016. There I was, busy chopping and slicing and dicing. Trying my best to get supper made before everyone came into the kitchen whining about being hungry. When suddenly, my daughter came bursting through the backdoor and shouted… COW IN THE LAWN!!! Those of you that live on a farm with…
My goats are not the most cooperative animals. Most of the time, they act like a three year old having a temper tantrum. Except, they’re stronger, quicker and much more sure-footed, which makes them an extremely worthy opponent. Normally, this time of year, they would already be tucked away in the warm barn for the…
One of the most peaceful places I know, is in the barn, late at night. Away from the rest of the world, the only sounds that are heard is the slow, methodical chewing of hay… The clanging of the stanchions as the cows jockey for position, trying to find the spot and the soft, low…
Around here, autumn is heralded with the making of hard cider. The apples are pressed. The top secret ingredients are mixed in with the apple juice. Then, barrels upon barrels of cider are buried in the ground to work their magic over a year or more. If you are a hard cider master brewer, the…
“Is it hot in here or is it just me?” I ask my daughter, hoping she’s going to tell me that it is, in fact, NOT me and it is actually 279 degrees in the house. “Nooooo, it’s YOU!” she whines back, without ever looking up from her phone to make sure that I’m not…
I am happy among the cows… In the fields surrounded by the old stone walls… Listening to the calves beller for their mothers… Looking over the mountaintops… Watching the cows silently graze their way across the pasture. Our farm is my happy place.
Ugh. It’s been one of those days. I awoke at 4am to an overpowering smell of skunk. “NO, no, no, no, nah no!” my brain was screaming. “Too late,” my nose was saying. Now, if you’ve never smelled skunk close up, than you’re lucky. It smells nothing like the skunk smell you are used to when…
Fall is just around the corner and the trees on the farm are heavy with apples. A gluten for punishment, I picked 4-5 bushels and got down to canning applesauce. After chopping and slicing and dicing, I filled a 22 quart pot with apples and began my first batch of sauce. Making applesauce is quite…
I had just walked outside with a basket full of laundry to hang on the clothesline, when the old timer from up the road came roaring up the driveway. He needed baler twine because he was making some sort of trap to catch the “damn varmint” that was getting into his corn. I pointed him…
The Farmers in the Dell 