Big day here on the farm! As you may know, we’d taken steps to teach ourselves to shear, and even invested in some equipment, but were only able to take it so far — obstacles included our own time, energy, know-how, and the quality of the equipment. We got two lamb boys “sheared” back in …
Our life here revolves on three axes, roughly: transcription, which is our main source of income; “house & farm,” which is a huge category encompassing everything from daily chores to care for sheep, chickens, and a rabbit, to significant construction projects in the unfinished and ongoing renovation of the cottage; and finally, “creative,” which amongst …
The farm is alive and kicking. It’s been about 21 days since my first journal entry on the pandemic, more than two weeks since our last grocery shop, and more than 12 days since I was last off the property (except for a couple of walks up the road to stretch our legs). We do …
We’ve talked many, many times about using cloth towels and rags in place of paper towels, and despite sounding like a smart idea, it has never taken hold (with me). This time we (Marsh) bought like a 50-pack of towels, bar-mop style towels. When they arrived, they seemed smaller and flimsier than we’d been picturing, …
The aracaunas, pretending it’s time for a spring dustbath, even though they haven’t resumed laying yet. None of the chickens have, and they’re about a month delayed. Casting about for ways to kickstart them, though my inclination is ‘they’ll lay when they lay.’ We’re hoping there isn’t an underlying problem. They certainly seem healthy in …
In 2018 we had a lovely potato harvest (Kennebec), about 50 lbs. I let them cure 2-3 days, then stowed them in our basement, which keeps at 55% humidity and about 55 degrees F. Unfortunately, the basement is not completely dark, though I sealed them from the light as well as I could. But the …
The loft above the new upstairs office is structurally complete, including a soffit to elevate a small section of flooring so that it clears a plumbing vent stack pipe. Next in that space is some wiring and lighting, insulation, and drywall, at which point it can assume its duty as a storage space, hopefully clearing …
But loft! What sight through yonder window breaks? Read More »
By Patricia Van Pelt Guest post, first published in The Lathrop Nor’Easter, Summer 2017. “It was reported that the SAT (standardized college admissions test) was to remove unfamiliar and unused words” Each morning I walk up to the St. Mary cemetery and look out to the distant skyline of the Mt. Holyoke range. The flow of this range, …
Happy Adventureversary, indeed. A year after first seeing the house, almost halfway through our first winter here. A winter that began with an evacuation — “race for the hills! no, leave the goldfish!” — our mad dash out of a camper whose metal walls had begun to radiate cold with a fierce foreboding. Into an …
It should be clear by now that we are marching to our own drumbeat. We are the drummers. At a certain point, you stop worrying about whether you “should” unpack books before spackling or “should” play scrabble when there’s insulation still to do. You have to just … march. But there are things that are …