Two approaches to Merrymeeting Bay

Yesterday would have been a great day to get the garlic in. Instead I took the boat out on the Cathance River. It was a beautiful, sunny November 1st and the tide was running in, so I was paddling against a current as I approached Merrymeeting Bay. I got as far as the transmission lines before my instinct for self-preservation overruled. Saw some light chop upstream on the way back to Bowdoinham.

Warm and dry, and with time to kill before the pasture walk at Crystal Springs Farm, I drove the drive I always do to get fleeting looks at Merrymeeting Bay: Route 24. This time with a kayak strapped on top, my attention was a little different. I remembered seeing duck hunters putting in one time on the Foreside Road. So I parked down there and tried the Muddy River approach.

Check this out:


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The wind was really refreshing. Reminiscent of March in MA when it is time to fly kites. However it is actually freaking NOVEMBER in ME and were there a mishap, no one would miss me for days, so I turned around before I got to the Bay.

Then I went to to the Maine Grass Farmers Network Fall Pasture Walk at Crystal Springs Community Farm, and met Tom Settlemire. The Northeast Katahdin Hair Sheep Project, and the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust will have to be a topic of another post.

Pleasant Pond

Finally! Only today, after nearly 5 years here, did I finally get a kayak onto Upper Pleasant Pond. I have snowshoed on the pond, and have launched from/landed on it in a seaplane piloted by Paul Harvey. Today was my first boating excursion. A lovely fall day: 60 degrees, sunny, with foliage still brilliant. I discovered that lily pads have their own kind of fall color.

I purposefully paddled south, toward Route 197, because I have heard that it is a good birding place. One Bald Eagle and one Great Blue Heron obliged. Lots of ducks flew up, but I have no idea what kind, and was not carrying binoculars.

Nothing but rave reviews for the 12' LLB Calypso! On and off the Forester all by myself! Very responsive and maneuverable, yet tracks like a kayak costing many times the price!

October 2009

Taking a vay-kay day from the Elder Care Contingency Reserve. Elders have been fine lately, so I can do it.

Had a blast at the Common Ground Fair. Amy came up on Friday; Esme and Karen followed us to Unity in the Prius on Saturday morning as I drove and yakked with Amy, while foolishly choosing to follow the "Shortest Distance" route directed by Gertrude (the GPS.) We caught the early sheepdog demo, a "Co-existing with Predators" presentation by the Coyote Project, and a talk by Linda Cortright, editor of Wild Fibers magazine. Appreciated Will Bonsall's talk about legumes. Purchased yarn, seed garlic, dulse, sausages and quail eggs.

Ate deep-fried shiitake mushrooms, "Give Peas a Chance" soup, great potstickers, and an eye-opening Peekytoe crab roll. Coffee was available at the fair for the first time this year. I think I enjoyed my decaf all the more because it felt so illicit!

Fast forward to October. The long-awaited, Nose-to-Tail Pork Processing Workshop was everything I had hoped for, and more. I'm still processing my notes and recipes. Three Days of Hog Heaven. Many, many thanks to instructors Eric Rector and Clayton Carter! Thanks also to MOFGA for organizing, and to all the workshop participants!

What does it say about modern life that, I am so ignorant that I have to sign up a year in advance for a course on such an essential, cooperative, human activity as pork processing?

So cold so early! Getting my knit on with some nice Pygora fiber.

Washout

It rains and rains. I can't really complain. I work indoors; it's not been hot, and I prefer this to a drought. Had I prepared better last fall I would have had more raised bed space, and drainage would not be such an issue.

This year is not for tomatoes. And to think I had grand eggplant plans! I do have garlic, onions, shallots, podding radishes, peas and favas, and lots of happy slugs. And enough dried '08 chiles to hold me over.

You may have heard about my woodchuck hunting exploits. After 6 weeks in Hunter Safety class with a bunch of twelve-year-old boys, I finally obtained Madre's .22, and shot one little woodchuck from this year's litter. Compared to birds and fish, this herbivore mammal had a very high ratio of entrails to meat. I feel terrible about shooting her, and even worse that I wasted her flesh. (I fell asleep during the braising part of a rillettes recipe; the pan boiled dry.)

Often, things don't work out how we would like.

This is the last year for the Cuckoo Marans flock. I was hoping to get 4-5 years out of them, but in their third year, they have essentially stopped laying. Time to think about poule au vin.

Small Farm Field Day, Fiber Frolic

It's 3:10am. I am only aware that Handsome Dan is crowing because I am already awake. May as well get some events down.

Garlic is going strong; shallots, onions, and potatoes are in; peas and favas were planted late. This has turned out to be a tricky year for transplants for me. Mice got some, and I ruined a bunch by trying to harden them off too early; after acquiring replacements from a variety of sources I finally got a few in on Sunday, 6/7.

The workshops at the MOFGA Small Farm Field Day were exceptional this year. I got a chance to work on my milking technique at Grace Keown's Dairy Goat Demo, and learned about "What to Do When the Vet's Not There" from Dr. Beth McEvoy, Assistant State Veterinarian. After a talk on Homestead Metalworking by Alan Clemence, Gabe Clark of the Maine Grass Farmer's Network demonstrated a method for re-seeding pastures using a No-till Drill.

At lunch on Saturday I met Julie, a very cool gal from Vermont who is interested in draft-horse-powered farming, and is looking to relocate to Maine. Of course I am always ready to proselytize for rural Maine, so after recommending certain towns and scribbling a map on a back of an envelope, I invited her to stop by Richmond on her way home the next day.

A local RE agent pounced on Julie at the breakfast place in Richmond before I even got there. After breakfast, I showed her around a bit, and introduced her to the Visellis. On Joe's recommendation she checked out a foreclosure up the road -- interesting, but more disaster than Julie is looking for. Last weekend Julie was back in Maine, checking out a bunch of properties recommended by the Realtor. I suggested that she also take a drive through Bowdoin and Bowdoinham, and my oh my did she ever find a good one on the River Road! I do hope this one works out; no need to dwell on it unless the deal makes progress!

While driving Julie around to take in the splendor of Locally Known's laser-leveled fields, the fleeting, oblique vistas of Merrymeeting Bay, and the deceptively good condition of Route 24 in June, I explained that the farmland on either side of Merrymeeting Bay is very unique and very much worth protecting from development. A lot of land in Maine is pretty marginal for farming. This is not the Central Valley of CA, after all. If we want local food, we should protect the best farmland we have close by.

When I lived in California I was mystified as to why tourists seemed to enjoy sitting in a traffic jam on Route 29 through the Napa valley, just to gaze at dusty vineyards. Well, this is not a grape-growing region, but I am just as excited about the farmland on either side of Merrymeeting Bay -- and there is no traffic! Maybe I should start a tour bus company that drives people up Route 128 from Woolwich through the Dresden Farmlands, then down Route 24 back to Topsham. We could cover Greek Revival architecture in Richmond, with a final stop at Bisson Farm, for a raw-milk tasting.

Then the Fiber Frolic on Sunday: I was on a mission to get me another Cashmere Goat pelt. Yvonne from Black Locust Farm was there, and I felt up all the pelts. None were of the caliber of the one I sent home with Dmitri, so Yvonne offered that I stop by the farm sometime to look at more. I also petted all kinds of Pygora and Pycazz goats, and some agreeable sheep, but not the llamas or alpacas, who don't like to be pawed by random people at fairs. One of the cashmere exhibitors let me hold a tiny goat triplet. Yes, someday I do want this kind of kid.

I am not really a dog person, but for the second year in a row I attended David Kennard's Border Collie demonstration at the Frolic. It is fascinating what they do, the shepherd, dog, sheep and goats. The dogs move a flock around an open space using their EYES. They respond obediently to 40 auditory commands, all whistles and calls. David Kennard explains what he is doing, with wit and humor, and throws goats in the mix to make things interesting.

Next opportunity to see David Kennard and his dogs in action will be the Common Ground Fair. Show up to one of the early demos, when the sheep will be rested, and really spirited.

Rainy May

These last few days have been THE sweet spot of spring for me. Last chance to drive around and see my favorite trees naked; tiny leaves coming in all chartreuse and reddish; lawns and fields fully greened up and loaded with dandelions. The Bobolinks have arrived to complete the perfect RWB/Tree swallow/Bobolink sonic trio. A couple of male RTH's spotted in the last few days; no Orioles yet.

Of course it rains quite a bit and that presents a problem for people who neglected to do much soil prep last fall. This is the time of year where timing is so, so important. Seed potatoes are chitting in the kitchen. Onion sets, shallots, fava and pea seeds are ready to go. However, I am stymied by garden soil that is the consistency of uncooked brownie batter.

On May 3rd I dared to loosen up a potato area and the two new raised beds with the broadfork. This past weekend, I stared at the muddy clay and decided that my best bet was to mulch the heck out of it, to avoid ceding it to weeds. The plan is to transplant my tomatoes and chiles into the mulched area later, and make hills of compost for squash and cukes. Though I haven't yet gotten the chance to dig at all, I had a grand time yesterday dismantling a couple of round bales and hauling rotten hay around.

The garlic looks great. I hit it with seaweed/fish and mulched it too. My strategy for the potatoes and favas and everything else I should be doing right now is to wait and hope that things dry out enough in time.

Woodchucks live under my house. They cavort openly in the yard, even up on the terrace. I am fortunate to know people who are qualified and eager to help me with this problem. This spring, three separate hunting parties have convened in my kitchen during brunch hours, without getting even a glimpse of a woodchuck. Brunch is fun, yet somehow woodchucks sense the danger. Does this mean when I finally borrow Madre's .22 that they will just stay away?

Started tomatoes, eggplant and chiles very late this year. The coop is clean; egg production is WAY down from last year; Handsome Dan continues to behave like a gentleman.

Perrin and Sharon and Dmitri arrive today, hooray!

Six months ago, or six months from now

It's March. It's snowy. I'm getting tired of Facebook.

Just found this picture on my desktop from haying time, six months ago now. It is really past time to order seeds.

Handsome Dan speaks

Dan the Barred Rock cockerel at 8 weeks, back in October:


Today at 16 weeks, having grown some nice hackle and saddle feathers. Still working on the tail, though:



This morning I heard him crow for the first time.

'09 Garlic is in

I am trying a configuration of 20' long, 2 1/2' wide beds in the newly tilled area. Prepped the easternmost one for garlic last weekend with compost and amendments per Steve Solomon's COF recipe. The following varieties went in yesterday, all home-grown:


Species Allium sativuum; Subspecies ophioscorodon (hardneck)

Brown Rose
Chesnok Red
Lavigna

Species Allium sativuum; Subspecies sativuum (softneck)

Kettle River Giant
Inchelium Red

Species Allium ampeloprasum (technically a leek)

Elephant

Alberta

Alberta the cat of Richmond, ME died Saturday, October 11th at Androscoggin Animal Hospital in Topsham.

Born in 1990 in Bronx, NY, Alberta was adopted from the 96th Street Animal Shelter in Manhattan in 1991. She began her hunting career in a small apartment on Mott Street, where she innovated a technique of trapping the American Cockroach in human footwear. Traveling widely by car, train, boat and plane, Alberta fiercely defended territories in Vashon Island, WA, Berkeley, CA, and Richmond, ME.

Her hunting prowess, proven in urban, suburban, and rural environments, brought her many rodent trophies, including the House Mouse, Deer Mouse, and Field Mouse or Meadow Vole. She also enjoyed bird-watching.

Alberta was a great lap cat, and a true party-animal who loved being the center of human attention. She is survived by her companion-human, Sandra York, and the other cat, Edith.

CABIN FOUR!!!!

The BOW weekend was a blast. Very fun, educational, and I met a bunch of amazing women. The best things I learned at "Finishing School" were the trucker's hitch, and that I actually can sweat a pipe. Couldn't start the chain saw by myself, though.

Picture above is from my first time ever firing a .22 rifle. We tried skeet shooting later. I will need a lot more practice at that.

Let's hope that the BOW weekend doesn't conflict with the Common Ground Fair next year.

http://www.mainebow.com/id61.html

Agricultural Processing

Finally got a chance to do some harvesting and processing this weekend. First I made sauce from the Banana, Speckled Roman, Amish, and Hog Heart paste tomatoes. A bunch of Principe Borgheses got in there as well. I think Hog Heart is my favorite variety, but I would grow them all again. Four quarts in the freezer.

I brought two Hubbard squash up. They are nice specimens, but not enormous. There are some great big leeks and kale and parsley still. Weeds are completely out of control, to the point where I think I will have to call Tony to till up a different garden spot for garlic planting this fall.

The chile bed did very well despite the encroaching pasture. I harvested a bunch of Hot Paper Lantern, Limon, Red Rocket, Matchbox, Fish and Czech Black peppers, pictured. As of mid-September there are plenty of green fruits still out there. As an experiment I yanked a few of the pepper plants, roots and all, and hung them upside down under the ell porch roof. Maybe I will get more ripe chiles before frost this way. If not, at least I maintain my weirdo reputation in the neighborhood.

In addition to drying chiles I thought I'd try to make a batch of hot sauce. Lacto-fermented, of course! I chopped up a mixture and packed them in a jar with sea salt and a drizzle of kimchi juice to get things started. Since I don't expect that the types of chiles I grew, with the intent of making ristras, to have enough moisture content on their own to make a brine, I topped the jar off with water, then crammed a ziploc bag full of water in the mouth of the jar to weigh them down.

Terry Johnson cut the fields late this year, understandably due to the rains. I was surprised at how eager I was, beyond any practical reason, to see the pasture mowed.

Garlic over goats

Much as I predicted when I began it as an experiment, this blog is becoming repetitive. There will be a Garlic Harvest entry every July. That is how it should be. This year, the garlic was ready about a week before I expected it. That is not all the excitement I have to share today, however!

Harvest on Lila's birthday, plant on Max's birthday...even though the party's not until Thursday, I found the garlic ready to go yesterday. So, instead of touring goat farms on Open Farm Day I dug the garlic in a soft, cool rain. Heavier rain fell last night and we are in for a wet week, so I guess I was just in time.

Last year I hosed the garlic off and dried it in the sun for a few hours. Since then I have read that I should not do that. This year I strung up the bulbs in the tractor shed with the dirt still clinging to them. After they cure for a bit, I will strip off the outer leaves and hang them in attractive bunches from the banister in the upstairs hall, like normal people do. Like I will do every year as long as I am still breathing.

The main exciting news is about the Lavignas. Though I have yet to conduct taste tests this year, Lavigna is again the outstanding variety in terms of size, beauty and vigor. I have left several in the bed to ripen bulbils; I plan to propagate Lavigna as my main hardneck variety.

But the news! ONE of the Lavignas is a freak!! Since it did not send up a scape, I thought it was damaged, and considered harvesting it early. Really what it was doing was forming topsets like a walking onion! One of the topsets is sprouting already. I have left the plant in the ground for now, and look forward to propagating both ends of it! Was this just a fluke, or is there such thing as topsetting garlic?

This year was my first year trying softneck varieties, and they all seemed to do great. My first taste was Kettle River Giant, which I was pleased to find nice and hot, both raw and cooked in some scrambled eggs.

June things

Late May in Richmond smelled wonderful. Short pasture, no obvious flowers, maybe some trees blooming that would torture allergy sufferers, but whatever was going on, it more than made up for the skunks of February and April.

To walk into late June pasture is like inhaling atomized clover honey. The vetch is waist-high, mixed with red clover, Dutch white clover, and daisies. These fantastic daisies seem to favor the ground that I have disturbed since moving here. Thunderstorms roll through at almost perfect watering intervals. I finally cleaned the chicken coop last weekend.

I have already harvested some garlic scapes. The tomatoes are all jungley, and Glacier is setting fruit. My one Purple Tomatillo plant is magnificent, and is attracting all the Three-Lined Potato Beetles in the vicinity. The Negreta favas are already beset with aphids and chocolate spot, but somehow seem to be doing better than the Broad Windsor favas did at this point. Enough cucumber and squash seedlings survived the slug pressure in th North bed, along with one sunflower plant.

My one concern is that I may have planted my hot peppers out too early. I set them out about a month ago, and still the plants look stunted. There were a few nights that dipped into the 40s in late May and early June. Fortunately I gave a couple of the seedlings from this batch to my friend Anne, who is raising them in her sunroom. If they do well there and not here, I will know that the cold spring nights were the problem.

Turkey, doors, seedlings, frost, chickens, deer, woodchuck.

It was a cold, rainy weekend and I did not get a thing done outside. I did put up some recent pictures, though. http://www.pleasantpondfarm.com/08lateApril.html

Mary E. York

Friday, April 18, 2008

FARMINGTON - Mary Elizabeth York, 95, of Wilton, died Tuesday, April 15, at the Sandy River Center for Health Care and Rehabilitation.

She was born Nov. 2, 1912, in Wilton, in the house on Main Street which she called home for all of her 95 years of life. Her father, Albert Isaiah York, M.D., delivered her. Her mother, Maude Feader York, was in the second class of nurses to graduate from the Central Maine General Hospital School of Nursing. There were two in the class.

She grew up in a time of many changes, from the horse and buggy era to the present with all its marvels. She graduated from Wilton Academy as valedictorian of her class in 1930. She graduated from Bates College in 1934, with a degree in English and languages and subsequently taught at the high school level for all of her working life.

She held positions at Flagstaff High School, Weld High School, Wilton Academy and Jay High School, teaching English, Latin, French and then guidance. She coached girls field hockey at Wilton Academy with consistently winning teams despite playing against larger and private schools.

To aid her teaching career, she took advanced courses at the University of Southern California, Auburn University in Alabama, Indiana University and the University of Maine, where she received her master's degree. Some of these courses required traveling, including a trip to pre-Castro Cuba. She visited every state with the exception of Alaska, most of the National Parks and made trips to Western Europe, the British Isles (England, Scotland and Wales), and Hawaii. She attended the Passion Play at Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps and kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland.

She was elected delegate to national teachers' conventions in St. Louis and Miami, and was a member of the Maine Teachers' Association, the National Teachers' Association and the American Association of University Women. She joined Eastern Star in 1937, and was secretary for its local chapter for 47 years. She was a charter member of the Weld Historical Society and has been a long-time member of the Wilton Historical Society and the Wilton Congregational Church, where she taught Sunday school for high school students and served on the church committee.

She is survived by her devoted sister, Ruth E. York of Wilton; Bruce's wife, Nancy York of Mattapoisett, Mass.; grandnieces, Sandra York of Richmond and Megan York and her husband, Brad Adams, of Montclair, N.J.; great-grandnephews, Lincoln and Gibson Adams; her niece, Priscilla York Dowd and her husband, Joseph, of Mattapoisett, Mass.; grandniece, Amy Dowd of Massachusetts; and grandnephew, Dr. Peter Dowd of Wisconsin.

She was predeceased by her brother, Albert Isaiah York Jr., M.D.; and her nephew, Bruce York.

favas and tomatoes

Raised beds raised beds raised beds raised beds!

After a rainy Saturday, it was nice enough to get busy down in the clay today. Working up last year's potato patch yielded a nice hod-full of previously-missed, holdover potatoes. I mixed a slurry of fava beans and Rhizobium inoculant, and planted the whole bed to favas.

This year I am trying a medium-sized, purple variety from Territorial Seed Company called Negreta. After planting the whole bed thickly, I had some beans left over so I rinsed off the inoculant and cooked up a nice ful medames. Ah the single life! Standing over the stove, eating mashed beans, and loving it.

You may or may not know that I have been struggling with favas since I moved here. So far, it has seemed that the spring season that favas like is just too short. When the proper, summer, tomato-growing weather hits, bugs and blights move in and make the favas miserable. This is the first time I am using Rhizobium in this garden, though, so maybe they will have leg up this year.

Seeded the tomatoes to soil blocks on the heat mat and moved the peppers up to 4" pots this past week.

MRD Port Authorities beat the Rhode Island Riveters in the first bout of the '08 season last night.

Wild weekend

I am almost done with the '07 garlic. Some of it has started to sprout, but overall I would say that it has kept very well. I have not had a cold all winter.

Megan caught a ride up from NJ last weekend for a brief, but great visit. We hit Gritty's, the A1 Diner, and an art show in downtown Richmond. Then things got really wild - we visited a plant store, a nursing home, and watched a knitting video, in which Elizabeth Zimmerman expresses very strong opinions about yarn. Crazy.

There was also this soup.

Golden Delicious

Skunks have been active under and around the house since early February, a development that I choose to think of as auspicious even though I can smell skunk on my parka even after I get to work. This past weekend was beautiful, with plenty of snow left upon which to snowshoe around. Critter tracks are everywhere. I should be able to report on the specifics but by the time I go out, things are melted and vague.

Garlic and dried chiles have really kept me going this winter. For 2008 I have two beds of hard- and soft- neck garlic waiting under the snow. Eager to get farmy and convinced that certain chiles need a long time to germinate, I planted a few Limon and Hot Paper Lantern seeds in soil blocks on a heat mat in the cellar last week. I think these two are C. chinese. The other peppers I am going for are Fish, Czech Black, Matchbox, Red Rocket, and an Ancho hybrid called 211 -- waiting for early March. I assume that they are all C. annuum, but the catalogs don't say for sure. It will be educational to try to ID them. I am finding all kinds of info on the Gardenweb Hot Pepper Forum. I am also finding that the online Chile Freak world is not unlike or unrelated to BBQ culture.

Just so you don't think that I am distracted from tomatoes, these are the packets I am sitting on for April: Speckled Roman, Orange Banana, Amish Paste, Hog Heart (yes, I like the paste tomatoes.) Also Garden Peach for a novelty, Principe Borghese just in case I get it together to try drying them, and Glacier in hopes of ripening something a little earlier. I also want to squeeze in some purple tomatillos and ground cherries. All this under four fluorescent tubes?

Mike Doughty has a new album out and that makes me very happy. It is Golden Delicious.

Bruce A. York

Bruce A. York
BOSTON — Bruce A. York, 69, of Mattapoisett died November 10, 2007 at Beth Israel Hospital. Mr. York lived a healthy life before being diagnosed with lymphoma two years ago. He was the husband of Nancy (Bower) York. Born in Farmington, ME, the son of the late Dr. Albert I. York, Jr. and Margaret (Anthony) York, he lived in Mattapoisett all of his life. Mr. York was a member of the Mattapoisett Congregational Church. He sailed as chief engineer for 30 years in the shipping industry and ended his career with American Overseas Marine in Quincy in 2000. Mr. York was a graduate of Center School, Fairhaven High School and Mass Maritime Academy. He was a beloved husband, father and grandfather who enjoyed gardening and technical challenges. Survivors include his wife; two daughters, Sandra York, and her husband Kavi Montanaro, of Richmond, ME and Megan York, and her husband Bradley Adams, of Montclair, NJ; a sister, Priscilla Dowd, and her husband Joseph, of Mattapoisett; and two grandchildren, Lincoln and Gibson. Visiting hours Monday 4-7 PM in the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home For Funerals, 50 County Rd. (Rt. 6) Mattapoisett. Burial will be private. For directions and guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com. Published in the Standard-Times on 11/11/2007.

First frost

We had our first real frost just this morning. I harvested ripe chiles and winter squash last weekend, and I swear there was no sign of any frost damage in the garden yet - even the lone eggplant plant was still looking good.

I did not blog about the Common Ground Fair last month but I took a bunch of pictures: http://www.pleasantpondfarm.com/07CGF.html

Major progress on the ell - pictures to come. Have started prepping two beds for garlic.

grilled summer squash recipe

I didn't succession-plant salad this summer, so for green veggies we have been relying on Swiss chard, handfuls of green beans here and there, and summer squash.

My priorities for summer squash are: 1. Freshness. 2. Ratio of Skin to Meat. 3. Low Effort. 4. No Guilt.

Freshness: why gardening would STILL be better than shopping, even if it wasn't more fun.

Ratio: I say "Ratio of Skin to Meat" rather than"Size" because zucchini, crooknecks, pattypans etc. all get away from all of us at all times. Small and Fresh is best. If not small, Medium-sized and Fresh is also very good. My suggestion is to cut up the medium-to-large ones in such a way that a high Skin-to-Meat ratio is obtained.

Low Effort: Given full sun and a nice hill of compost, one summer squash bush goes and goes and goes long after you do anything for it.

No Guilt: The really big ones go to the chickens.

Now that you are absolved of all Effort and Guilt, I will tell you how to enjoy summer squash for dinner every other day from mid-July to late-Powdery-Mildew:

Step one: Remove all conventional cooking facilities from your dwelling, as well as doors, ceiling, floors, plumbing and electricity.

Step two: Install a convenient gas grill (or hardwood charcoal grill) in a convenient spot somewhere between your dwelling and where the squash are at.

Step three: Dice a bunch of garlic, whatever herbs you have, and judicious amounts of the hot-hot-hot peppers your Mom grew by mistake when all she wanted was sweet green peppers.

Step four: Harvest summer squash, and cut up in shapes that maintain a high Skin-to-Meat-Ratio, yet are too large to fall through the grates of your grill.

Step five: Toss squash pieces with olive oil, the garlic, herbs, peppers and spices if you like.

Step Six: Wait & Marinate briefly. Or for a couple of hours. Or not at all.

Step Seven: Grill until stripes are formed on the squash pieces, and the insides of each piece have given up some moisture. This will require turning once or twice, but the timing of the operation is not nearly as critical as when animal meat is being grilled.

Step eight: Enjoy hot off the grill, or cold later.

Step nine: Compost any leftovers, then resume at Step Three, until frost or powdery-mildew ends production.

"There's more to life than plants!!"

But is there, really? Maybe not, according to enthusiasts for the Macrobiotic food-way, one of whom blogged about a visit to my dear, separated-at-birth-twin-brother Mark's awesome central Maine woodland garden recently.

http://www.becomingwhole.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/marks-enchanted.html

http://www.becomingwhole.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/where-the-wild-.html

Mark stopped by recently for the early August 2007, decadent mid-summer PPF tour. All I can say is that Mark needs to get more documentation of HIS garden up on the internets, and I need to keep up on my in-person connection with him.

Picture by Kavi.

What is Kavi up to?

Garlic harvest

Harvested hardneck garlic, elephant garlic and shallots today. I've got them all rinsed and curing on the picnic table, but have not had any taste tests yet. By looks alone, Lavigna seems to be the most successful, with the largest cloves.

The tomato plants look great, all with green fruits. I have one little egglplant on the egg plant plant. Mysteriously, all potato bugs have vacated - for the remainder of the season, I hope. The corn looked a little peckish, so I gave it a hit of seaweed/fish foliar feed.

My more liberal open-coop-door policy of late has led to more chickens voluntarily free-ranging. I am glad for them because this is the time of year when grasshoppers are abundant. I know I am gambling with the foxes, though. There will come a time this late summer or fall when chicken appeals to them again, and hopefully I will have shut the door that day. We have had an outbreak of feather-picking recently, and I think that the last remaining Speckled Sussex is the perpetrator. In a perfect world we would still have Olivia, and the feather-picker would have gone to this year's litter of foxes.

The last Sussex is my main free-ranging buddy.

Lazy summer day

After many sessions of hand-picking the ugly grubs, I should temper my recommendation of DE for potato bugs. The DE works great when they just hatch out, but does not seem to bother the larger ones. It's effectiveness is also reduced by rain or heavy dew. I keep picking and picking, yet the Rose Finn Apple fingerling plants have sustained pretty heavy damage. The Green Mountains have fared better. I am sure I will get some potatoes, but I wonder how much the yield will have been reduced. The MOFGA pest report said that short-season varieties planted after late June can escape the notice of adult potato bugs in the Spring. I may try that next year.

Other than potato bug picking, watering, and harvesting things to eat, I have not done much to the garden for several weeks. With the rain we've had recently I haven't even had to water, and everything has shot up about 2' - including the weeds. Shallots and garlic should be ready to harvest soon, but are not quite ready yet. We are looking forward to summer squash and cukes soon. Amazingly, the salad greens have not bolted yet, but the quality is down a bit. Still, what an amazing amount of greens that planting has produced!

The first little green tomatoes sighted are Hog Hearts. It is nice to see so many bumblbees on the borage. The corn is coming along, even with the competition of the nasturtiums.

New potatoes, elephant garlic and fava beans

I decided to "rob" the Green Mountain plants and found a few nice small potatoes for dinner last night. As bad as the fava patch looks with all the sooty mildew and aphids, there are a few pods coming along, so I picked the most mature of them and was pleased to find perfect beans inside the ugly exterior. I also yanked an elephant garlic and snipped some rosemary, thyme and parsley.

Potatoes were roasted with the elephant garlic, rosemary, thyme, olive oil, salt and a little balsamic vinegar. The favas I first shelled, boiled one minute, drained, and then slipped out of their tough outer jackets. With four eggs, the parsley, a little parmesan and salt I made a nice short frittata or tortilla. Favas are great with eggs!

All this was very nice with some Gruner Veltliner.

Garlic Scape Pesto, Diatomaceous Earth

The flint corn germinated in five warm days under the fabric cover. I uncovered it a couple of days ago when I was home for the day, and have since convinced myself that the wadded up aluminum foil festooning the area will deter crows long enough. I am very excited to be growing corn, even a tiny amount as an experiment, since reading about its unique qualities in the Omnivore's Dilemma.

You will be excited too after you read this Fedco catalog hype!

Abenaki Calais Flint Corn OG (88 days) Open-pollinated. An improved strain of Roy’s Calais Flint. The frigid summer of 1816 (“Eighteen hundred and froze to death”) bestowed frosts, snow and sleet every month of the year. In the remote northern valley village of Calais, VT, only one kind of corn survived. Grown by the local Abenaki Native American tribe for generations and given to settlers, it was the sole sustenance for many families. Kept by the Fair family since that time, the corn was saved from extinction when Native Americans in this generation rescued a 10-year-old jar of seed in Roy Fair’s basement, grew it out and shared it again with local farmers. Later, Calais farmers gave some of the seed to Vermont seedsman Tom Stearns who shared it with us. Stearns calls it “the most exciting heirloom that I’ve ever been handed. Incredibly early and able to grow well under cold conditions, it has made mature and dry ears in as few as 80 days.” Most of the 7-9" ears are golden yellow but a minority are a beautiful dark maroon. Although the original strain had 8 rows of kernels, Vermont seed grower Jack Lazor has been selecting 10-row ears for higher yield, strong feeder roots for better standability, and roguing out the sweet corn kernels.

When I hold the wizened little kernels in my hand, I think about how much intrinsic value they hold beyond the $1.60 for a packet. Of course I mean according to MY values - botanic curiosity, human history, culture and technology, and foodcrop genetic diversity. If all goes well in the next 80 days, I will be able to tell you whether the flint corn that kept Vermonters alive in 1816-1817 has culinary merit. In the meantime I am captivated by the little C-4 plants, ankle-high-by-the-fourth-of-July, and ask Kavi why these seeds are worth less than diamonds. Kavi replied something to this effect: people are willing to cut off other people's limbs to get diamonds, or at least pay way too much for them in order to make a point.

This year I cut the garlic scapes before they got woody, and made some nice "pesto" in Madre's Cuisinart. A scape is a flower stalk, which the garlic plant grows after making nine leaves. Not eight, not ten -- I counted. Cutting this stalk before the flower opens supposedly directs the plant's energy into making bigger garlic cloves. The scapes grow in a crazy spiral, and are used in expensive flower arrangements. By "pesto" in this context I mean that I ground them up with olive oil, with salt and lemon juice to taste. So far we have employed the scape pesto on pasta, in scrambled eggs, as a marinade, and when mixed with balsamic vinegar, as a salad dressing.

I have been hitting everything with foliar feeds of seaweed/fish emulsion. Labor intensive, yes, but more fun than weeding! The tomato plants are magnificent, the Swiss chard and mangles are coming along, the salad is going strong, and we are really enjoying the Rat Tail Radish seed pods. The rattlesnake pole beans are growing very slowly, and can't seem to find the poles. I have ceded the favas to the aphids, or rather to the cause of supporting aphid predators. The final test will be to grow favas with the benefit of legume inoculant - if they don't do well with that, than it is just too hot here too soon, for favas.

Squash is doing well, though the "Confection" winter squash is quite a draw for squash bugs, and appears to be stunted from this pressure already. Squash bugs, and their eggs, are easy to hand pick.

The big success story recently has been DIATOMACEOUS EARTH on potato bug larvae. I have been picking potato bugs and smashing their eggs all along, but inevitably many larvae appear. This is not a matter of live-and-let-live -- they can really strip a potato plant. I haven't yet used pesticides in this garden, organic-approved or otherwise, and my research led me to be pessimistic about the effectiveness of either Bt or pyrethrin-based products on potato bugs. So I decided to try a dusting of DE. (This is a long enough posting already so I will let you Google diatomaceous earth.) When I came back two days later, what had been teeming masses of little brown grubs had been reduced to dessicated specks. For this purpose DE should be sprinkled thickly, as soon as the grubs appear, and reapplied periodically.

Did you know that Rose Breasted Grosbeaks are known as "the Potato Bug Bird"? We have 'em. I don't like the idea of a Rose Breasted Grosbeak ingesting any toxin, organic or otherwise. I am happy to know that DE is an ingredient in chicken feed, so if by chance a Grosbeak ingests some while snacking on a Potato Bug, it should be OK.

I wish I could say the same for any predator insects that may be drawn to my potato patch. I am afraid that if they wander into a drift of DE, they are collateral damage.

Lean soil

We're expecting our first real heat wave today. All the salad greens look wonderful right now, so I should probably harvest a bunch in case the heat causes them to bolt. I am afraid that I missed out on the cilantro. I guess I'll let the plants flower to get the home-grown coriander seed, which is stronger than most store-bought.

Just as the spinach was a bit yellowish, I am not seeing a deep, dark green color in the chard or chicory either. I know that these beds are lean on Nitrogen, so I will keep hitting them with the fish emulsion. The Tuscan Lacinato ("Dinosaur") Kale looks like a textbook picture of phosphorus deficiency: small, purplish leaves on stunted plants. The wild kale right next to it looks OK, but clearly could be better. I suspect that low pH could be the limiting factor for the availability of both N and P.

I got a few Abenaki Calais Flint Corn kernels into the S border the other day, in space freed up by the woodchuck. Supposedly only 88 days to maturity. It will only be a few stalks, so I could even haul them inside to dry in early September if I am worried about frost. The area is draped with Agribon fabric against crows.

Bolting

This spring I planted a bunch of things for salad and greens, knowing that some would probably bolt by mid-summer. By the second week of June, I was seeing seed stalks on the following:

Arugula
Daikon radish
Rat-Tail radish (Purple, yellow and white flowers on different plants!)
Wild mustard
Spinach

In the case of the Daikon, I planted it in spring even though the seed packet clearly says for late summer and fall. It has grown right in step with the Rat-Tail radish, which makes sense since the Rat Tail is intended to make seed pods for stir-frying. I got a couple of salads out of the arugula before it went, but what surprised me was the spinach. I don't think I will try spinach again in the spring unless it is advertised as a slow-bolting variety.

Oddly enough, the other mustard (Mispoona) isn't bolting yet, though I should expect it to soon. Either there is a very broad continuum in the brassica family when it comes to growth rates, or some are distinctly biennial. Basically the spectrum is from wild to civilized - at one extreme is the vigorous daikon and arugula, which are ready to flower and set seed before midsummer, and at the other is the highly-bred lacinato (Tuscan) kale and Brussels sprouts, which are still very tiny seedlings. But then again, the Wild Garden kales, another fall variety I planted this spring, are growing well but show no signs of bolting.

The pole beans seem to be pausing for a while at the seed leaf stage before they grow a stalk. I have hilled both types of potatoes again, and the Green Mountains are about to flower already. I have been cutting flower buds off the shallots, but no sign of garlic scapes yet.

There is at least one woodchuck still around. All but three of the Brussels Sprouts replacements have been eaten. I am thinking of trying some dent corn in their place, even though it's getting late.

Ate a fantastic baby chard and Forellenschluss lettuce salad last night from thinnings. Nice and photogenic - no sign of any bugs on either the chard or the lettuce.

Fetilizing: I have been hitting the garlic and shallots pretty consistently with a fish emulsion soil drench, but last night I brought out the pressure sprayer and gave everything but the ready-to-eat-lettuce a foliar feeding: Liquified seaweed for all solanums (tomato/potato/pepper/eggplant) beans and favas. Everything else (Sunflowers/Brussels sprouts survivors/squash/chard/kale/parsley/carrots/garlic/shallots) got seaweed with fish emulsion.

Tomatoes, and another 'chuck

Padre warned me to watch for young ones moving in once our resident woodchuck relocated to other pastures. Tonight I disturbed a little one grazing right by the tractor shed. Maybe I should say "Marmot Shed", since there is no tractor in there but apparently a first class woodchuck residence underneath. I baited the trap with a red cabbage seedling from the same set that lured his uncle the other day.

In my last post I neglected to report last weekend's solanum plantings. This is the problem with blogging on the internets: worrying about sounding intelligent and how to summarize information that few care about distracts one from recording the real events. We have one each of Speckled Roman paste, Hog Heart paste, Black Cherry, Cosmonaut Volkov, and Pirirform. Five tomato plants seems like enough. I am palming off the extra seedlings onto my co-workers.

Also installed is a mixture of sweet and hot peppers, two "Dusky" eggplant starts, and a variety of purple, lemon, Large Leaf Italian, and sweet basils. The sunflowers, squash, cukes and beans are up in force.

I should also mention that we heard loons tonight.

First salad harvest, Small Farm Field Day

How long does it take to grow your own salad greens? Thirty days from sowing? Try three years of soil preparation, experiments, waiting and false starts.

We enjoyed a nice salad last night of lettuce, arugula, spinach, kale and mustard greens. It was heavy on the mustard because those plants are growing so fast. Kavi usually doesn't like hot, spicy or bitter greens, but these were nice and young and mild. Mustard and arugula especially stand up really well to balsamic vinegar.

I like to imagine that the woodchuck who ate my Brussels sprouts and red cabbage last week is settling in nicely at his new home in Litchfield. In other wildlife news, the ducklings were delivered safely to a wildlife rehabilitator.

At the MOFGA Small Farm Field day last weekend I attended sessions on pasture species ID and management, and moveable greenhouses. The pasture talk was not a comprehensive presentation, but I did pick up pointers on what parts of a grass plant to look at when trying to ID it.

The greenhouse talk took place at MOFGA's 30' x 70' unheated greenhouse, and was informative to those of us who think much smaller scale. Primarily we learned that such a high structure is not necessary, or even preferable. Theirs was donated - a former hog farrowing house - and retrofitted to be moveable back and forth over two garden areas. Eric Sideman and the other presenters traded opposing views as to whether a moveable or fixed greenhouse is preferable, with all agreeing that the soil underneath needs periods of time uncovered so that rain can was away salt buildup.

A small hoophouse structure can be homemade out of metal conduit, wood, or PVC pipe, and just has to be strong enough to resist wind and snow load. We were advised that the place to spend our money is on real greenhouse plastic, which is UV stabilized and has anti-condensation coating. There was a lot of "Eliot says, Eliot says" on the topic of season-extension, understandable since Eliot Coleman literally wrote the book(s) on it. One of the session attendees offered this piece of information, which seems to confirm the lower-is-better thesis: in his experience, very young, short plants, covered with fabric row cover, overwinter more successfully than larger, older plants because the young ones are in a smaller volume of air space under the row cover. What little heat the earth radiates on winter nights is therefore concentrated in a smaller space.

Of course the people-watching at Small Farm Field Day was excellent.

Memorial Day Weekend

Lots of updates to get down here, after lacking time and a working internet connection over the last couple of weeks. The highlights:

- This May was FAR LESS RAINY than last year. Still, it is too wet to till, and I would not have been able to plant had I not constructed the raised beds last fall.

- Everything planted in the raised beds in April is up and going like (tiny) gangbusters, with the exception of the Golden Purslane. Not bad for a batch of year-old seeds, and kind of ironic considering purslane is actually a weed, and should be easiest of all to grow.

- The chestnuts are in and have funny names. They have already put on a bunch of new leaves.

- Bird action has been non-stop and furious, all the usual: hummingbirds, orioles, bobolinks, goldfinches, tree swallows, red-breasted grosbeak, red-winged blackbirds, woodcock, crows, and eagles. Actually I missed the last eagle sighting. Sharon tried to yell and wave her arms to get my attention from her garden on the other side of the field, but I was too absorbed in digging to notice her or the eagles circling.

- Wild ducklings: captured by Jessie, brooded in plastic box outfitted with chick accessories here since Saturday. Eating, drinking, doing well. I am concerned that they need supervised, protected outdoors time to develop properly, so am working on transfer to a wildlife rehabilitator. If not otherwise employed, would not mind sitting in a lawn chair all day guarding them from foxes.

- Big gardening weekend #2: squash, beans, sunflowers, herbs, cukes. Details to come.

- Chicken coop has not been cleaned yet.

- CSI Richmond: Seems like a long time ago now, but back maybe three weeks ago when Paul Harvey was finishing up fiddlehead season he came upon a fox hole in the woods with a pile of feathers outside. He didn't think they looked like wild turkey feathers. I was able to ID them conclusively as Cuckoo Marans feathers. There was also a pair of Speckled Sussex wings on the ground near the entrance to the burrow.

To wrap up May: The weather guy on the radio pointed out that spring foliage in early to mid-May rivals the fall foliage display. I certainly agree. The new leaves of many trees are reddish when they come out, and the others have that glowing chartreuse quality. It happens fast though, and now everything is fully leafed out and deep green. The lilacs appear just before Memorial Day and smell great. We mow a lot.

1st Hummingbird sighting today

What a difference a year makes. I recall May 2006 to have been constant rain, and here we are this year in the midst of a long, sunny warm stretch. It is forecast to reach 80 degrees in Richmond tomorrow. That is less than a month since we had significant snow cover! I am beginning to think that favas, or any other crop that likes extended mild & cool periods, is NOT for Richmond.

The favas are up and going strong, as are the Brussels Sprouts, radishes, mustards, arugula, spinach, chicory and lettuce. I forgot how strange spinach seedlings look - like grass.

Obtained two horse chestnut seedlings last weekend from Dad's nursery for the offspring of Horatio. They are parked in the shade behind the barn until we get a moment to make up our minds and dig the holes where they will go.

Some peppers are up in the basement.

Big gardening weeekend

Lots of springtime planting action this fine overcast (but not raining!) last Saturday the 28th. Abbreviations: F = Fedco, J = Johnnys, K = Kitazawa, N = Nichols:

Long South Bed
Brussels Sprouts - Oliver (F)
Rhubarb (transplanted from LY)
Borage (F)

In the two NS SE beds (got to get a better naming system for this...)
Chinese Leeks (K)
Bunching Onion - Red Beard (K)
Kale - Tuscan (N), Wild Garden (N)
Mustard - Mispoona (F), Wild Garden (N)
Radish - Korean Tae Baek (K) and Rat-Tail (N)
Swiss Chard - Argentata, Golden, Ruby Red
Beet - Giant Mangold (N)
Spinach - Giant (N)
Forellenschluss lettuce (F)
Chicory - Wild Garden (N)
Mache, Arugula, Purslane, Parsley, Chervil, Dill, Cilantro (mainly F)
Carrot - Tonda Di Parigi (F)

Crows methodically removed all but two of the germinating peas in the pea/fava bed. Rather than re-plant peas this year, I put the Dutch Shallots (F) and All Star Salad Mix (J) on either side of the favas, which are just emerging now. This and the other newly planted beds are now protected from birds by deer netting draped over stakes.

Green Mountain and Rose Finn Apple split the potato bed. (Fedco/Moose Tubers)

And don't forget the whole 4' x 16' garlic bed planted last fall, growing strong since being uncovered weeks ago!

Sunday was misty/rainy, and Kavi helped me hang the deer netting on the fence. Kavi remarked that the activity of stomping around in the mud on a rainy 45 degree day was "very English." Of course the Red Winged Blackbirds and Tree Swallows were out in force, the swale was running high and everything was green and smelled wonderful. Kavi is a very good sport, and I enjoyed myself immensely.

The tomatoes in the cellar were up as of yesterday - only five days to germination. No peppers yet.

We saw a bluebird yesterday and begged him to move into the white house. I hung the hummingbird and oriole feeders, but no sightings yet. The first dandelions are out today, forsythia has been blooming for a couple of days.

Going to MA this WE and will return with some Horse Chestnut trees. Happy hatch day to the chicks tomorrow! Ten survivors out of seventeen...and people ask me why I don't have kids.

Two Flats on the New Mat

After the initial basement sowing of peppers crapped out, I shelled out for a heat mat with thermostat. Tonight's sowings, by four block row:

Pineapple Ground Cherry - Territorial 2006
Joe's Long Cayenne Pepper - Johnny's 2007
Joe's Long Cayenne Pepper - Johnny's 2007
Joe's Long Cayenne Pepper - Johnny's 2007
Carmen F1 Sweet Pepper - Johnny's 2006
Carmen F1 Sweet Pepper - Johnny's 2006
Carmen F1 Sweet Pepper - Johnny's 2006
Pineapple Ground Cherry - Territorial 2006

Black Cherry Tomato - Fedco 2007
Black Cherry Tomato - Fedco 2007
Peacevine Cherry Tomato - Fedco 2006
Speckled Roman Paste Tomato - Fedco 2006
Hog Heart Paste Tomato - Fedco 2006
Cosmonaut Volkov Slicing Tomato - Fedco 2006
Piriform Slicing Tomato - Johnny's 2007
Piriform Slicing Tomato - Johnny's 2007

My hope is that this yields at least one strong seedling per four block row sown. Thermostat is set to achieve a soil temp of 78 degrees for now.

Bed prep, RIP Olivia

Did final prep on two beds last night. Need to plant greens ASAP as well as tomatoes indoors. Seed potatoes are "chitting" in the kitchen - growing sprouts before planting. Peas are just up, red maples are blooming and lilac leaves are coming out.

One of the Marans laid a deformed egg yesterday, presumably due to the stress of the fox incident. I am afraid that Olivia was one of the victims. Definitely Goldie and Runty. The strange thing about Olivia is that I could never tell which one she was for sure by looking at her - I had to watch her behavior. I have been looking at the combs of the survivors to try to see if any of them look like they could be her, but I don't think so. Chickens' combs change shape over time, and these Marans hens don't have big floppy combs like the RIRs did.

In any case, Goldie, Olivia and the Sussexes were the always the first ones out the coop door and would have been the first fox targets. I imagine that a den of little fox pups ate well on Monday.

Fox attack, return to Maine, Spring IS here

We went away for six days and came back to a different Richmond. When we left on April 17th during the tail end of the big North Easter, there was snow on the ground (not to mention a few roofing shingles.) Upon our return the evening of April 22, it was warm and glorious, and the peepers were out in force! I am told that they started peeping some the night before.

I made a fatal mistake with the chickens yesterday. Since they had been cooped up for a week, and yesterday was predicted to be so nice, I decided to let them before I left for work. I opened the coop door at about 6:15 and got in the shower. At roughly 7:00 I looked out the window and saw a fox in the side yard, quite close to the house, with a Sussex in its mouth!

The fox was not too scared of me, so I got several pictures of it trotting away with the Sussex. I ran around in my work clothes looking for other chickens, caught and returned two to the coop, closed the door and went to work - my first day at the new job. Kavi found two more outside when he got home, leaving our total flock count at 10: nine Marans and one last Sussex. The only traces of the missing ones are a couple of piles of feathers in the yard.

Other animals: Tree sawllows have arrived, loons were heard, bats are flying, mosquitos are biting, a woodcock is back in the swale on this side of the road.

I uncovered the garlic bed. A deer tromped across the pea/fava bed, but nothing is up yet. Kavi did some roof repair last night and is stiff today.

More April Snow

Wednesday was gorgeous and melted the last of the snow, giving us a brief window to enjoy the crocus (croci?) before receiving 4-6" of heavy wet stuff yesterday afternoon and evening. Hope to see significant melting today.

The NEXT storm is predicted for Sunday/Monday/Tuesday. That one may have rain in the mix.

White Easter

After a white Easter, we finally had some snowmelt yesterday. Chickens are outside today doing their thing in the snow-free areas.

Over 1' of snow yesterday

I guess it is not unheard of for mid-April. We woke up yesterday morning to over 1' accumulation of wet snow, and no power. The house being a little chilly and no coffee/tea available, we crossed the road to the Viselli's to find Joe in the driveway, trying to shovel out his Aunt Cindy's Corolla.

Aunt Cindy was determined to be on her way even though the road was a mess and it was still snowing. Kavi had the day off, so he used the snowblower to clear the Viselli's driveway, then joined me inside to enjoy the Viselli's woodstove and company. Electricity came back on about 11am.

I don't know what the robins are doing for food right now. It has been really strange to see and hear the red-winged blackbirds doing their spring thing in a snowy scene.

Spring break

Thirty degrees and snowing, with about 1/2" of snow on the ground from last night. This whole week is going to be a Wintry Mix.

The robins were out looking for worms this morning before the snow picked up again. Crocus are up but not open.

Peent

Kavi heard the first woodcock of the season tonight, in the Lillys' field across the street. I heard the twittering flight routine when I came out, but no peents. We hope to hear woodcocks often in the coming weeks.

2007 Gardening Season Begins

With less than 5% snow cover and the next several days predicted to be sunny, I decided to check out the raised beds I prepared last fall. While the rest of the garden is cold, sucking mud, the raised beds are well-drained and workable.

Planted peas and favas in one bed today, will start to think about getting chard and other greens going soon. Cleaned my boots and tools in a snowbank.

Crocus are sprouting, and the yard is mobbed with robins.

Foggy morning

Only 20% snow cover after a warm few days. The girls have been enthusiastically free ranging since 9am. In hopes of deterring any alleged foxes, I put Henry's old radio in the sheep shed tuned to the only station that came in strongly, a God Talk station. The girls are all over the yard today though, out in the open and sticking to the perimeter of the house. I should not assume that they would not venture to an area where a fox would be able to nab one, though.

Lots of robins in the fields here, just like on the lawn in MA last weekend. Apparently this is good maple sugaring weather - days in the 40s, nights in the high 20s.

Wintry Mix

This 10" or so of ice pellets should be the last big storm of the season. I picture some little flurries in early April to give people something to talk about, but otherwise some right quick melting, thawing and springtime action. That is what I picture.

Saw a flock of Juncos in the big maple tree this morning while the ice pellets were still coming down in force.

When does spring arrive in Maine?

1st Spring thaw. Yesterday's cold front felt like a tropical breeze. Lots of snowmelt - the swale is swollen, and the raised garden beds are visible. I saw a swarm of honeybeees high in a tree on Upper Pond Road the other day, and a "wooly bear" catepillar on the porch. Today I hear Red Winged Blackbirds in the ashes along Pleasant Pond Farm Lane.

Chickens have been free-ranging since 3/12, one week after Daryl #2's untimely demise. I would say that the first sign of spring that I noticed was the night of 3/2, when I saw a skunk ambling across Brunswick Road near Pleasant Pond Orchard. In subsequent days the skunks have dug up and stunk up around our place as well as the Viselli's, which I consider to be a good omen for job hunting. I did put out a number of rags soaked with red fox urine to discourage skunks from making dens under the ell -- hopefully this does not discourage Hiring Decision Makers.

Though it was forecast to be rainy today I opened the coop door for the eager free-rangers in the morning. By the time I got back from the (failed) truck inspection it was raining steadlily, so I thought I'd close the door. 1,2,3...14. No Daryl #1. Wandered around outside in the rain saying chickie chickie, no result. Crap. After the rain let up in the afternoon the usual free-ranging group made an excursion, but still no Daryl. Crap.