You sell chickens?

The fall season and the threat of excessive priced heating oil prompted us to look at measures we could take to mitigate some of our excessive energy usage. The windows on the north side of our early 1800’s small farm house became this year’s project.

Well it is now mid November and the windows we ordered in September just arrived. The good news is that the price of fuel has dropped significantly so if, and we hope this is not the case, we can’t finish the window installations this fall we won’t be completely crushed by the oppressive heating bills.

The interesting part of what I have described is the delivery portion of our story. The windows came to us Read more

Late season finds

Preparing the farm for winter is a continuous process of tilling, raking, digging and transplanting as well as major league pick-up and storage. Odd items that had been dropped as markers begin to emerge from the dense cover as the annual foliage begins to disappear in the field and the decomposition of organics begins in earnest. The once beautiful mosaic of colorful tomatoes slowly is being reduced to a grey and then nearly colorless mass. The cycle of the season that held so much promise in the early spring has come to its normal fitting conclusion. Read more

Re-tooling for the Fall

Re-tooling the schedule for the school day has its own special challenges. The days of free wheeling out the door off to the bean patch and tomato field consumed in thoughts related to agriculture and the harvest Read more

Sporetaneous

The sunny perfect days of August have been a little less plentiful then in years past, and the days leading up to the first day of school are quickly being reduced to a handful. Read more

Rubber Boots & Flip Flops

Ordinarily the knee high rubber boots have long been stored away in exchange for flips flops and clogs, but then began the great rains of 2008. A significant pile of mud covered boots Read more

Tribulations

The air and soil were so dry and compacted in June 2008 that the rototiller simply bounced off the ground and refused to break the surface. A shovel was equally challenged to penetrate the rock harden earth Read more

Stealing sunshine

The Northeast is blessed with numerous natural assets; our ample supply of clean water, the mile upon mile of green lush forests, acres of corn, wheat, apples and those big fields of healthy livestock. Read more

Color me purple!

For the Schoolhouse farmers and farmers in training one of summer’s biggest delights is blackberry season. Blackberries one of Mother Nature’s power fruits, Read more

Borodino Mets Return to Osborne Field

The old backstop is rusted and covered with vines and one of the main support posts is listing heavily. Read more

Power of the Chard

This year Swiss chard is doing extremely well. Swiss chard is a relative, of sorts, of spinach and beets. Read more