Light & Snow

We now have a good snow pack of from 1 to 3 feet with drifts. 

Thanks to Don who took these pics of the Winnicut River on his cross-country ski trek.

We'll get down to -10 degrees tonight.  Maybe the Winnicut will freeze over.

Winter in New Hampshire

Wow! Winter so far has been spectacular. Aside from Saturday skiing with Art, the boys have been racing off the school bus to skate on our pond, and ski and snowboard on our "slopes" with the neighborhood kids. Our land is under conservation (and under a good foot of snow) and the neighborhood snowshoers and cross-country skiiers come through the front field on their way to the river. Bodhi jumps through the snow to welcome them. Another bonus is that these folks know how to handle snow so while everything's covered in the beautiful white stuff, you can actually get around town and park here! Lovin' it!

Ski Season Commences

Art's been taking the boys skiing on Saturdays

We've had no snow yet at home but they've had a few (natural) inches on the slopes

The boys are planning to hit as many NH ski resorts as possible this season.

Giving Thanks

It has been a very busy, fun few weeks at WRF. Much progress has been made on the wood-shop (more pics of that to come). Many thanks to Jeff, our intrepid lead-carpenter - and to Wendy, Ivy, and Reed for lending us their husband/daddy.

Here's one of my favorite pics of Jeff in Woods Hole with the boys

We also shared a beautiful Thanksgiving meal with my father and step-mother, my sister-in-law, Jocelyn, and her children, Lucas and Sydney. Our STAR guest was Alex, who came all the way from his new 'hood in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, everyone was charged with writing out something they were grateful for and when we anonymously read each other's cards at the Thanksgiving table, there were several that gave thanks for Alex's presence on the farm. Thank you, Jocelyn, for the photos!

Cousins on the couch. 

Now 2 of my boys are taller than me!

Cousins in the hay-field!

Jack is studying some serious magic tricks. Sydney and I like to watch them.

Thanks, Alex, for gettin' in there.

I ordered two heritage breed turkeys from Sugarmomma's Maple Farm, a wonderful family farm in Northwood. All reports were that they were dee-lish. My father recommends Adele Davis' slow roasting method which we used with great success. We put the birds in the night before for an hour at 350 and then brought the temp down to 180 and let them sit in the oven until just before dinner at 4. Alex saved my father and I from having to handle the birds too much.

I also collected some recipes from various magazines and blogs including two keeper recipes for home-made rustic herb stuffing and vegetarian mushroom thyme gravy. My step-mother, Elizabeth, made and brought from West Virginia 2 home-made pumpkin pies, using sweet, roasted Cushaw pumpkins. When I can, I will share some of these recipes on the new blog.

First holiday family meal at Winnicut River Farm!

Art and my dad brought in a tree the beaver's left by the river.
And much of the last few days were spent chopping it up for more fire-wood.

Sydney and Alex gave a hand too.

Thank You!

Many, many thanks to all my family and friends who got in touch about joining the "private" blog. I will be working on the transition here soon, pulling some of the more personal posts from the WRF blog and setting up the new one, hopefully by the new year. It was great hearing from all of you, especially those I haven't seen or chatted with in quite some time.
Love, Jean
p.s. If you didn't pass along your email when you called or wrote, please send it along to me care of winnicutriverfarm@gmail.com.

BIG Farm News

Noami. Rockin' the tractor.

Plowing in preparation for the 2011 Winnicut River Farm vegetable crop.

We are thrilled to announce that Noami Brautigam will be joining us here at Winnicut River Farm and growing, harvesting, and selling vegetables! Noami is Art's cousin and spent the last two years apprenticing and working on farms in England and state-side in Maine.  We are really excited to work with her. She plans to continue growing organically, as David & Paula did before us, and she has some great ideas to get us started. We hope to join a few local markets next season and to provide our seacoast neighbors with some wholesome, yummy veggies, sweet fruits, and cheerful farm flowers!

As we move forward there will be more updates on our growing plans and progress with some contributions from Noami on this blog as well. I will begin putting the more personal, family material that has appeared on this public blog on a new, private one. More details to follow. In the meantime, if you're interested in "joining" the private blog, send me an email, give me a call, or let me know in "comments" below. Thanks!

Renovations

November has brought days of rain and wind but also (and on the bright side) an extended visit with Jeff, Wendy, Ivy, and Reed. Jeff is helping to renovate the wood shop. We will have new space for farm & garden equipment and vegetable and flower prep as well as an upstairs loft for Noami. The renovation should take several weeks but we can't wait for the new space and for Noami to join us.

The carpenters.

The shop will have new doors, windows, and siding.

What you got there, Art?

The interior was stripped and will be drywalled after the insulation goes in.

Don is using concrete to fill in the nooks and crannies rodents love to nest in for the winter.