Happy Winter Solstice, First day of Winter

Yeah! the winter solstice! The earth is now tipping towards summer and the days are starting to get longer. If that isn't good news, I just don't know what is in my books.

The next pressing questions is will we have a white Christmas? At the moment the ground is bare and soft. There is a winter storm on the books for tonight, but Christmas day itself is supposed to be mild. Not that I mind I have to say. We are driving down to Marblehead, MA to have lunch with Steve's family, then back to Hancock to have dinner with my family and do farm chores. Having the roads clear of snow will just make everything so much easier. I will say that it is strange not having snow on the ground and the lakes open now. I do remember having warm Christmases in the past, but we aren't burning nearly the wood that we normally do by this time of year, and we have really only had to deal with frozen water buckets a few times versus every night and morning. Chores are, dare I say, pleasant.

I am finding the land beautiful right now. You really get to see the bones of the earth. Normally the leaves fall, the snow comes and everything is buried till spring, but not having any snow you can see through the woods and see the stone walls, waterfalls, old buildings and cars and of course rock formations. Not having tons of snow means now I can be out on the land clearing brush and trees, opening up more space and letting in more sun on the orchard. What started out as just opening up a little space has grown mightily. But I tackle a bit every day, cutting and hauling, building the berm and splitting firewood. As much as I would like to have the project done now, being the impatient person that I am, it is nice being able to slice and dice the fire wood, haul the brush as I go and not have a big mess to contend with when the snow does fly and the project is on hold till summer, when I don't have the time for such a project.

Winter will come, like the sun will rise in the morning. At the moment I am content with the warmish days, soon though, I will be hovering by the wood stove reading and waiting impatiently for spring. Merry Christmas to all, Happy holidays, be safe happy and healthy.

Just for fun, go to http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/b4_EdJ-XkUA?rel=0

.... they aren't our goats, but you will laugh like we do. Cheers

Thanksgiving

Last year, this is as close to turkey as we got!

Beauty before the snow

Our rush to get it all done in time before winter again came to a grinding halt with another snowstorm. Steve has been busy with building projects and I have been busy trying to get as much gardening done as possible. All of my new garden boxes that Steve built for me last week are set in place and mostly filled with soil. I would like to top them up with compost, but that task will have to wait until the newest snow melts, or spring, which ever comes first. The garden is looking very different now with the apple trees gone, one was removed my accident (oops, someone got carried away with the sawzall) and because the garden was now really out of balance, I took the other two out and replanted with blueberries, which won't shade the garden so much. The garden is also sporting a brand new fence to keep out the dogs and chooks, yeah!, so I am ready now for spring! I know, I just have to wait another 5 months.

I have been cooking all morning, making pies for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, this year spent down in Marblehead MA, with Steve's family, so I am bringing pies and possibly a side dish if I have time. I made two pumpkin pies with our own sugar pumpkins from the gardens. A far cry from the winter squash and sweet potato pie I made last year in Tasmania for Christmas. and a delicious sounding apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust. Sounded very interesting. we will see.

We have been walking Ribena (one of our milking does) every day down to the frat yard to frolic with Fred, hoping to get her in kid. Fred, our handsome boer buck wants nothing to do with her, so either she's not in heat, which is very possible, or he is just no interested, he'd rather frolic with the lawn machine goats. (John Deere, Toro, Snappa, and Lawn Boy) who are wethers. But when we bring Ribena down, the lawn boys are all over her. Go figure. Hopefully one of these days she will be in heat, Fred will get the idea and all will be happy. We will let you know.

Last week we dispatched the two turkeys we were raising to winter camp, a.k.a. the freezer. All of our food now is in storage for those long winter days, of which there will be plenty. We raise our animals kindly and with love, and they are dispatched kindly. We feed them through the summer so they will feed us and our families through the winter. Many people ask how can we do it, eat our own animals, but that is what they are raised for, they are not pets but they are well taken care of. We have an agreement.

May you all have a happy Thanksgiving, and if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, spend tonight's dinner or tomorrow night celebrating with family and friends just cause.

Busier than a one-armed paper hanger

The Frat House, Gamma Rho (Goats Rule)

The Marblehead Goats

Winter comes early

Gigi

Gigi and her new herd

We have had the scare of the season with 22 inches of snow last month. Now that it has melted, all of the preparation for winter is happening in overdrive. I finished the new Frat House, which is a larger year-round shelter for the male goats, just in time for the four new Marblehead Goats. No, that isn't a new breed, they are four goats my sister's family got to clear off a small island off Marblehead harbor. However, an island that is 100' by 500' is no place for any animal over winter, so they are boarding here for the season.

Allie has finally finished with her clients' gardens and is working like a mad chook to get ours in shape for winter. We have a new fence around it and I have to build a gate for it. That will be today's task.

And finally, we have a new permanent resident, Gigi. Gigi is a runt Dwarf Nigerian goat so she is tiny and won't be much larger full grown. She is all of 18 inches high and is smaller than our Jack Russell, Flynn. But she is adorable.

Cheers,

Steve

Test of the iPad

Okay, here is just a test. We are experimenting with using the iPads for mobile blogs.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trick or Treat

Snow halfway up the bathroom window!

Unhappy Fred and Jack

Still it was pretty

Windy Row Splendor

Sunshine was welcome

Yes, Mother Nature pulled a very mean Halloween trick on us. We had a small sample the other day of a couple of inches of snow, which freaked out the young goat kids, but that was nothing to last night's surprise, which was not a treat. Twenty four inches of heavy, wet snow.

We prepared as best we could, thinking that we could get 5 to 8 inches, but that was optimistic, to say the least. The new goat shelter was tarped, the greenhouse windows were fortified, and wood was stacked on the porch. We just did not realize the magnitude of the storm. Thankfully, it was full of wind, so the tree branches were not overwhelmed with snow, most of it blew off. So, unlike 3 million other people, we did not lose power. However, we did get the jackpot of snow amounts with Jaffrey, just south of us with the big prize of 31.5 inches. The roads were dreadful last night on an arduous drive from friends who we had dinner with, but 30 minutes to go 5 miles sure beats being in an accident or off the road - plenty of those.

The critters were not happy, but neither were we, and we had to wade through the snow to get to the barn (which is why the old-timers built their barns attached to their homes). We got the big goats out and kept the little ones in - except for Jack and Fred who, as their photo shows, were less than amused. However, they will have a new place, the Frat House - Gamma Rho (Goats Rule), as soon as the rough plank siding is finished this week and I can put it up.

Other than that, the scenery was beautiful, if off-puting.

Perhaps it will melt, but we aren't betting on it so Allie's gardening season looks over for the year.

Stay warm and safe!

A new Addition

Gigi with the herd

Gigi

Another goat! Don't we have enough? Well, we couldn't resist the price and we couldn't resist Gigi. Gigi (which we pronounce in a french fashion so as not to get her confused with Ginger, our boer goat) was at Alyson's Orchard in Westmoreland where we went on Sunday to get apples and see the sights. She was with her sister Chimchar and both were for sale, but Gigi was half the price (don't know why). And twice as cute, to boot.

So without further ado, here she is.

Color!

Willard Pond #1

Willard Pond #2

Willard Pond #3

Willard Pond #4

Willard Pond #5

Kabaam!

Here it is, the end of the Columbus Day long weekend. Normally the peak of color for this area is now. We’ve had spots of color here and there and a lot of the colors looking really washed out, might be because of all the rain we’ve had since September. Very disappointing for everyone who traveled far to see our normally magnificent colors. Then this morning we got up and Kabaam, amazing colors. We took the kayaks out for a morning paddle on Willard Pond, every turn was a wow, then we took the dogs for a walk up Pitcher Mt. Again, total wow. Enjoy Steve’s photos

First Frost

Frost Barrow

Lone Leaf

Pumpkin

Saved from the Frost

Hauled In

With forecasts of frost and freezing temperatures last night, I spent yesterday afternoon scurrying around the property setting up cold frames to protect the salad greens and starting to “winterize” the greenhouse. That done, I moved onto the vegetables that wouldn’t make the frost. I pulled all of the pepper plants, the last of the good tomatoes and the rest of the lima beans. The peppers and tomatoes will be hung by their roots in the office to continue ripening, and the lima beans will be dried for next year's seed, and the rest for winter soups. Then I harvested the last of the pumpkins and got them on the veranda to cure.

Then onto all the pots and tender plants. I had no idea I had so many plants that had to come in for the winter. My agapanthus, begonias, ferns, fuchsias, all came in along with a 30-plus year palm that barely fits in the house. I put the lemon trees on the veranda up tight against the house, leaving the olives and pomegranate in pace for the moment, knowing that somewhere I will have to find room for them inside before too long.

Sure enough, we had a good frost last night. The pumpkin vines are black, as is the basil, beans, dahlias and everything else that is tender. Of course this morning I remembered about the lemon grass and lemon verbena, I hope that they will have limped through, and tonight I will get them potted up and inside because tonight we are to have a hard freeze. And that they say, will be the end of the official growing season although we will still have plenty of things in the vegetable garden to harvest.

This weekend will be Indian Summer, with warm nights and beautiful days. The foliage will pop now with color, and leaf peepers will be filling the roads, looking at the fall colors, and doing the wool tour and the Dublin Art Tour, where Steve’s studio will be open. Me, I’ll be slaving in the garden enjoying the few remaining summer like days.

Oct 2, The Foliage is a Changing!

Water Beech

Pond Red

Rock Color

Hancock Autumn

The autumn colors are slowly changing, the swamp maples are a brilliant red, the sugar maples are starting to turn gold, and the gardens are just glowing. The swan song of summer if how I look at it. The weather has been unusually warm and wet. We have had a number of stunning days, warm and sunny, but they get forgotten about when they get sandwiched between days of rain.

I have been toying with cutting out two of the apple trees in the vegetable garden, I need more light and space in there, especially this time of year when the light is getting so low in the sky, so the other day I pulled on my chapps, grabbed the chainsaw and “timber!” . Well it wasn’t quite a timber because the vegetable garden fence caught them and because the trees were good size, ( having been in the ground for the last ten years) it was quite a job to get them over the fence. I didn’t want to limb them up because of our friends that use them as sculptural pieces in their shop. We hauled a tree up to the goat pasture for them to work their magic, and it didn’t take them long to totally strip off all the foliage and bark. The trees will now start to get the beautiful sun bleached look, (that is if the sun ever comes out again)

I had a bumper crop of peach’s this year and am glad to see the last of them. I have been freezing and drying them like crazy, now I am drying grapes and apples to be used in my oatmeal this winter. The most of the beans have been harvested, and now I mostly just have the plants left that I am keeping for seed, I have pulled all the tomatoes except those in the little greenhouse, they are still producing quite well, and the garden is looking as though it is really at the end of its season. Yes, I still have salad greens, pumpkins, Brussel sprouts, turnips, carrots growing well, but that deep lushness of summer is gone.

Just got the five day forecast, yeah, showers for the next few days, the a week of high pressure, with the possibility of frost at the end of the week. That will certainly put a kibosh on the gardens.

I know I know, it has been awhile for a post! Honestly, I don't know how bloggers get a posting out a day and with photos. It is all we can get out what we can.

I'm very glad Steve is back from his photo trip to Ireland. Farm chores just automatically double in time when one has to do them on one's own. Of course the goats all knew that the substitute was in and they did everything possible to bollox things up.

The gardens have been producing like crazy, I've been freezing beans, edamame and tomato sauce, as well drying grapes, peaches and cherry tomatoes and just about everything else. yesterday the meat birds went to winter camp, in other words, the freezer. We processed 34 chickens all up in a matter of two hours, we have it down to a system now, and so our 18 chickens are all resting comfortably at camp. What a relief to have one less task in the morning and evening. The majority of them dressed out to between four and five lbs. perfect!

The last peach tree to be harvested is just laden with fruit. I check them a few times a day hoping that I will get them harvested before the racoons fine them. The tree has already been hit by a porcupine and looks worse for wear. It has survived Hurricane Irene that blew through last weekend so I am hoping for a bountiful harvest. The grapes are coming on now, the first two vines I have harvested, some were eaten and most were dried for museli making this winter.

Speaking of hurricane Irene, we fared much better than expected and are very grateful for that. We got a total of 6 3/4 inches of rain, but didn't suffer from flooding or loss of power. Vermont and northern NH took the brunt of the storm in New England with major flooding, roads and bridges washed out. And just think, another storm has formed and could be headed our way again. Joy.

A number of years ago a client gave me a piece of her waterlily which I planted down at the pond. I hadn't seen it since then, but the other day I was down talking to the goats Fred and Jack and noticed I had waterlilies blooming. they are beautiful!

The days are getting shorter and the trees are beginning to show color along the ponds. I better enjoy the good days while they last.

Farewell Ireland

Geokaun Dawn

Valencia Island Light

A Lonely House

St. Finian's Church

Gougane Barra Sunrise

It has been an amazing ten day journey through the southwest corner of Ireland. 3238 photographs later (and the majority of those fair to middlin' and not worth printing), I have come away with a much different take on this country than I had previously. For all its economic woes, Ireland is vibrant, upbeat, and full of genuinely friendly people.

It is also confusing for non-Irish speaking visitors. To promote the language, all signs (with the exception of STOP signs) are in Irish, a form of gaelic, with english subtitles below. Thankfully, Peter Cox, our tour leader, is fluent and was able to navigate quite easily through this word maze.

The weather has been far wetter than normal for this time of year, but as there was not much we could do about it, we forged ahead. Only three out of ten days were sunny, whereas it should have been the reverse. At least everything was green as expected.

It was an interesting group, quite amiable and amicable, with two glaring exceptions, a couple from Los Angeles (actually the wife really wasn't too bad) who, as Peter so politely put it "some people are simply self-absorbed." Demanding, oblivious to all needs but their own, and indeed blind to much of the scenery passing by the bus as we traveled from one beautiful destination to another, they were highly unpleasant. Oh well, the rest of us got on famously!

So back to my wonderful wife and the comforts of home. I'm sorry to not have posted more images, however high speed internet has been quite rare and getting a slew of photos out was more than the system usually could bear.

Cheers,

Steve

Greetings from Portmagee

Portmagee

The Skelligs (Michael is the one on the right)

Torc Falls, Killarney

Lough Leane Twilight

View from the Lake Hotel

Hi Everyone!

I'm in Portmagee, down on the southwest coast and it is 4:12 am. I woke up a bit early for a dawn shoot and decided to use the time efficiently instead of trying to get back to sleep only to be woken in a few minutes by the alarm.

We haven't had much in the way of blue skies, perhaps 6 hours total, in the last week, but there IS a reason Ireland is so green and there has been plenty of that. We were scheduled to take the ferry out to Skellig Michael, this massive rock with an 8th century monastery ruin on top 9 miles out to sea, but the swells are too big so we are going to see other wild and wooly bits of Ireland.

Here's a few images to date. Enjoy!

More from Ireland

Great Blasket Island Vista

View towards Dun Quinn

Blasket Island Ruin (for sale!)

Dingle Fishing Boat Abstract

Hi folks!

The weather has been a bit hard for photography but that doesn't stop us, so here's some more for you to enjoy. We are in Killarney for a couple of days and today it is very low overcast with rain. Hopefully tomorrow will be more advantageous for seeing this countryside.

Cheers,

Steve

Greetings from Ireland

Minard Castle

Blasket Island Trio

Hi everyone!

I am here in Dingle, Ireland (down in the southwest corner of the country) enjoying a bit of photography in this wild country. Yes, Ireland is far wilder than most folks realize, seeing as how most of them stay close to meticulously groomed golf courses or Dublin.

Allie is tending the farm and dealing with all the critters, along with her gardening clients, who sometimes are more challenging than the animals.

So without further ado, here are some photos for you. Sorry they are small but the availability of internet is a bit limited so I had to keep the file size down.

Bonnie off for greener Pastures

Bonnie

Shelburne Window scene

Adirondacks from Lake Champlain

Shelburne Barn

Summer is here full tilt and we have been flat out in the gardens harvesting beans, cucumbers, beans and yet more beans. The raspberries have finished up and the currants are also done. Phew. Now I can concentrate a little bit more on putting up the vegetables, at least until the peaches and apples start up.

Yesterday we drove to Shelburne VT to go to the Shelburne Museum. It was a beautiful clear day and Lake Champlain was just beautiful and the Adirondack Mountains in NY were clear in the distance. If nothing else, it was a beautiful day for a drive across the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Champlain Valley. The Shelburne Museum has 37 historic structures that all house Electra Webb's eclectic collection, and lets just say that it was one very fascinating eclectic collection.

It was a sad night last night when our old faithful pygmy goat passed away. Bonnie was at least 13 years old and the leader of the herd dispite her size. Nothing phased 'ole Bonnie, no matter how much snow was on the ground, she was always the first goat out into the paddock, she had an infallible internal clock that would go off at 6:30 each night telling us that it was time to go in for the evening. She will be sorely missed. Truffle will have very big shoes to fill.