Spring has sprung!

Thank goodness! I hate winter and each year decide it must be my last New England winter. I moved into my new cabin out in the woods and made it super cozy with my wood stove. I got a lovely cabin with a 5-minute hike as my daily commute. After 2 months I figured out how to hook up my little solar charger working so I can now have a little light shining.

But spring this year has arrived and the fields are already full of food - we planted peas March 18 in a bout of warm weather and despite the fact that their third night in the ground was a chilling 17, they have come up nicely. Our "lil' hoophouse" is jam packed with romaine lettuce that we'll harvest in just a couple weeks and we have already put kale and chard and kohlrabi out in the garden, and are trying to protect them from chicken nibbling with some holey remay. I got to use my Planet Junior seeder with the kids a couple weeks ago and after a successful flame weeding our spinach and beets are poking up.

Michael has been super busy up in New Hampshire, renting an excavator to clear out some of the trees we've taken down and to dig holes to put in his whole orchard - peaches, nectarines, apples, pears, and plums! And with all the prunings from the Farm School we're getting him set up with grapes, black raspberries and extra strawberries to be the fruit man.

Winter Roundup

I was back in North Adams and Williamstown over the winter. In early winter, Katie, Ellen, Anna and I got together a couple of times for "farmer re-inspiration nights". Whether it was Wendell Berry poems, hearing kind words from shareholders, spirited arm wrestling tournaments, or making Almond Joy ice cream (vanilla with coconut, chocolate chunks, and almonds...yum) we worked toward recovery from a long, often discouraging season. There is something so healing about knowing other young women off farming in different places who I can call and vent when the chickens un-plant all of my chard transplants or who can help me celebrate the first cilantro of the season, and who can help me shape my dream of my own farm.

I "farmsat" at Caretaker for the winter, taking care of the beef cows and running winter distributions while Don and Bridget and their kids spent a couple months in rural Chile. I kept busy baking at Cricket Creek Farm, making scones, cookies, crisps, and muffins. My family came up for Christmas on the farm and helped me throw hay to the cows, play with Mylie, the farm cat, and cooked up a ton of cookies, stews and generally relax on a winter farm. Michael and I made this great chocolate bark with pistachios, golden raisins, and a white chocolate swirl. I learned how to split kindling without cutting my finger, got swine flu and spent an entire week reading "living out loud" by anna quindlen, "the red tent" by anita diamant, and "their eyes were watching god" by zora neale hurston, and right when I finished "1491", I got to hear the author, Charles Mann, speak at Williams. Michael and I listened to Dar Williams sing and I proceeded to sing her song February for the rest of the winter, even after I moved back to the Farm School.