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We had a rather subdued Christmas this year. We arrived Christmas Eve, scrambled to find one of the few remaining trees (a $20 clearance special from Lowe’s in Kingston), and decorated it before sundown. We were joined by Erica and Geoff, and then by Lew and Lewis, fresh from confiding Rinda to the care of […]

Those close to me know I am in a years-long battle with invasive vines. Here’s a particularly gratifying before-and-after image of a monster I cut a couple of weeks ago.

On Sunday we had a “microburst” — a/k/a a personal tornado — which set down on our farm and laid waste to our population of elderly trees. Poor Jen was out picking berries at the time. The storm came very suddenly and was over in just a few minutes. We tried to return to New […]

The oak tree in front of the barn has been completely denuded by spongy moth caterpillars. They favor oaks but also seem to enjoy willows. When you go into the woods, it sounds like it is raining — but it is instead these caterpillars munching away. Apparently these outbreaks are cyclical and at some point […]

We have planted a series of rather substantial Norway Spruce trees in an effort to screen out the hated solar collector of our neighbor to the west which, owing to its odious nature, has not previously been featured on this web site. Nine trees have been installed so far, and we may keep going.

Daisy enjoyed what has become an unusual event: a foot of snow. She remains pretty energetic at ten years old.

We had despaired of having any hay this year, given how rainy it’s been — but lo, here is some late October hay. A pair of bluebirds presided over the tedder. The round bales are handsome in the afternoon sun.

The frost has held off, so we’ve been able to harvest plenty of peppers with which to make hot sauce. In the background you can see a colander full of Bogmere Pippins, gathered by Jen. They are tasty, if perhaps unsightly. In less cheery news, marauding deer laid waste to our new donut peach tree, […]

Skies are blue and the grass is high – it must be summertime. Jen inspected our nano-orchard, which appears poised to produce as many as four apples this season. Rather than rely on our domestic fruit production, she set out to pick wild black raspberries. The brambles provided, ensuring we will have jam this summer.

Here’s a before-and-after look at our back yard from the PondCam. I’m glad no one was using the tree swing! This is after the after picture. Sigh.