Harvest, July 28

Snapdragon, Zinnia, Rudbeckia, Salvia  

zucchini

The Brotman Family

Jack, Carly, Eli with their cousin Liza, Shooter (the dog), and our own Jack

Eli picked me a bouquet, including some pretty daylily blossoms

The Jacks tried tandem bow-drilling (fire-starting) on the kitchen porch.

Bodhi with his "girlfriend" Shooter

Our friends, the Brotmans, came by the farm for a visit after we returned from the Stratham Fair on Sunday. They are staying at a beach house in Rye (about a 7 minute drive from our place). Heidi grew up in Exeter and she's giving me all the inside skinny on the area. Afterward, we headed to the beach for pizza and to watch the full moon rising over the North Atlantic.

Stratham Fair 2010

Go-cart smile.

Check out Art's grip on the "Freak Out"

Haunted Mansion "Ride." 

Ta-da!

63,000 pounds and it's one of the first rounds in the ox-pull! These animals are HUGE!

Dude, your breath stinks.

Woodsplitting

Art and Jack spent much of Sunday morning splitting this load of old stumps Art had cleared from around the old goat shed. The hay wagon bed was empty when they were done. We'll use the pine for fire-starting and in the double-barreled wood stove in the old wood shop.

Crooning at Chewonki

Found another great pic on the Chewonki website!

You're comin' in too!

Here's a pic of Naish I downloaded from the Camp Chewonki web-site. He's to the left of the boy with the red sweatshirt. And he's clearly putting his heart into the song. I can't wait for his next letter. The last one listed his activity electives including archery, wood-shop, and art.

First Winnicut River Farm Bouquet

O.k. not ALL of these flowers are from seeds or transplants I sowed. But most are, including the snapdragons, rudbeckia, celosia, and gomphrema. Zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, and (a few) dahlias are about to bloom.
My hope is to prepare the farm for growing and selling cut flowers. And the goal for next year is to produce flowers from May through November in preparation for selling the following year. It's fascinating hard-work but being surrounded by beautiful blossoms is clearly a huge perk!

Flying Cloud Friends Say Goodbye

See you next summer!

Good-bye Stone Turtle Shines

We traveled to Plymouth, Vermont yesterday to pick Jack up from camp. As each camper prepares to leave, a conch shell is blown and all campers and counselors holler out from wherever they happen to be, "Good-bye Stone Turtle Shines." But the most beautiful part is when they all come running and hug the departing camper good-bye. The brotherhood that develops at this challenging, reflective, and remote wilderness camp is really astounding to witness and I think is quite profound for these early adolescent boys as they face and share life in connection with the earth, sky, land, trees, and wildlife.