American Bittersweet

We have several old bittersweet plants tucked away in the back fields of the farm. These are deciduous flowering and fruiting vines that can take over a tree or an old parked car. I took Bodhi down to the back fields on Saturday and snipped some for the house as well as other unidentified red berry branches I'm researching. 

The Maine (mostly organic) tree nursery and seed source we like begins taking fruit and flowering tree orders in December for Spring delivery. These include blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry bushes, strawberry plants, and "woody ornamentals" like hydrangea and viburnum. I am considering growing some bittersweet on heavy trellis for fall "flower" sales. The colors are incredible and the delicate orange berry pods are perfect with pumpkins.  

Art planted next year's garlic crop which is larger than last year's and includes several "hard-neck" and "soft-neck" varieties. We look forward to tasting the differences. 

(de)construction

We had a lot of machinery working on the farm this weekend. Our great new neighbors, Matt and Jenn, who own and run a local landscaping business called "Fat Cod," delivered and planted three, 20 foot sugar maple trees. We had planned on adding some to the farm but thought we'd have to start with smaller saplings when Matt mentioned that he had some larger specimens available. It'll take a few years before we can tap the trees but we can enjoy the shade and the fall foliage in the meantime.

Matt and his crew also began work on clearing the understory and brush along Barker Lane which included quite a lot of poison ivy. We retained many of the beautiful older trees, including the forked cherry in the pic with Bodhi. 

And lastly, in addition to the chainsaws and backhoes, two different backhoes worked on repairing the northern corner of the barn foundation. The southern corner and back portion of the foundation was completed this summer and once we finish this last section, we can move onto windows and siding and finish refurbishing this 100-year-old beauty.

First Annual WRF Apple Festival!

This will be a multi-entry post as we had a VERY full weekend of fun and apples. Art drove from the airport on Thursday evening to Massachusetts and picked up numerous bushels of organic tasting and cider apples. Naomi, Shana, and Hallel arrived Friday evening to kick-start the weekend festivities and help me finish planting all the bulbs. There's Shana planting and the finished bulb rows. For dinner I made two new delicious recipes - a savory lentil "stew" and pumpkin feta muffins - both found on a cooking blog I've fallen in love with and highly recommend at 101cookbooks.com

Saturday brought much of the rest of the New England family for dinner and Apple festival prep. A big thank you to Bob who took many of the pictures in these posts. I asked him to be our "event photographer" as I was having fun in the kitchen much of the time. I love this picture of the wall in our tractor and tool garage. Naomi's friend, Alex, arrived from Boston Saturday as well and they started off our tasting and helped Art set up.

Apple festivities began in earnest on Sunday morning with many, many gallons of cider pressed. I think everyone had a turn pitching apples into the "slusher" and cranking the press. Most of the early batches were labeled with the varieties mixed. There is really nothing like fresh, pressed cider. Our neighbor, Joan, said it tastes "like sunshine."

We also had "tasting tables." One table for the conventionally grown apple varieties and one with organic. We are still perusing the comments left on taste, texture, and over-all ratings. We have a good sense of which varieties we'd like to plant in the orchard with some outliers still under discussion.

There were a lot of apple activities in the kitchen as well including soup prep and pumpkin pie and apple galette baking. Many thanks to Nan, Beth, Misa, and Noami for making and bringing their VERY yummy soups. We had Hungarian Mushroom Dill, Parsnip and Apple, Lentil Miso, Butternut Squash and Apple, Beef Chili, and Thai Pumpkin soups for the 30+ apple-partiers.

Cooking applesauce in the fire-pit was Art's idea and it was incredibly delicious. 

Many of our new neighbors came by for the festivities as well as friends of Noami and Allie. There was soccer, golf in the hay field, baseball, horseshoes, a "tea party" with the little ones, visiting, and walks with the dogs. That's Adam who absconded with my new mandolin (!!) and of course pulled out a few ditties and Lisa running with her dog Rafa in the hay field. It was all such fun and we are so glad so many could make it and hope others will be able to join us next year for more of the same and then some....!

Hike to Winnicut River

After the official festivities ended a group of us took a hike down to the Winnicut River. That's Guy with Rafa-dog in the area we've named "Beaver Armageddon." I think the beavers might have left some time this summer as there is so much growth and no new beaver-cut wood. Those of us who ventured down in this area came away with many burrs and one of us slipped in the mud by the mini-rapids but the hike was a beautiful end to a glorious fall weekend.

First Frost

The kids and I woke to a fine film of frost on the farm this morning. 

Now we have an initial marker to work with for planting and growing.

Fall foliage is almost at peak here. We're watching whether a Nor'easter develops 

by Friday. Winds could effect the length of the colorful tree season.

Took this pic on Monday night. We ate dinner (and roasted marshmallows) around the fire by the wood shop.

Fall Planting & Winter Prep

It's bulb planting time here and we're in full swing. Art plowed me these five  rows that are 100 feet long and about 4 feet wide. These "raised rows" have grass aisles which will presumably be kinder on the feet and back when harvesting and should aid in reducing the dreaded weeds-in-aisles issue.

I ordered this fabulous bulb augur from Johnny's Seeds in Maine. This reasonably priced tool fits in your cordless power drill and makes neat bulb holes with a minimum of effort. Love it! (Those are a variety of Darwin Hybrid Tulip bulbs on the right, and a mix of mostly pastel long-stemmed hybrid tulip bulbs on the left. Can't wait to see how they grow and bloom!).

I have planted 400 tulips, 200 Dutch Irises, 200 Allium Spaerocephalons, 24 Liatris bare-root plants, 9 phlox plants (3 varieties), and 2 spectacular daisy plants. I have narcissus, lilies, and a mix of giant Alliums left to plant. I am still deciding whether to try seeding the larkspur which needs a good stretch of cold and dark to germinate. We straddle the 6a and 6b planting zones and according to local growers and gardeners our longer, warmer seasons over the past four or five years have enabled some to successfully grow for zone 7!

We are also preparing for winter weather. While working on the three wood stoves we may use in the house, Art has been diligently adding to our wood supply which is stacked in the barn. Jack helped stack the recent load we received from our neighbor Dave.