Election Day

I'm thrilled to be able to again vote in a place where I will be represented in the U.S. Congress and though we live in an area where my vote may be outnumbered I'm psyched to get down to the little Stratham Town Hall and participate.
Please vote on Tuesday, November 2!
In the meantime, click the link below to jog your memory...

I Remember

Beekeeper's Brekky

Guy, originally from "across the pond" and now living in Boston, sent along this pic of his midnight brekky replete with Winnicut River Farm applesauce. Yummy, makes me hungry.

He's also been doing some research on beekeeping for the farm. He sent along a fascinating clip I highly recommend whether you're considering beekeeping or not .... click Beekeeping to learn more!

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.