On your marks....

I've been working on a new "website" for Two Mountain Farm---one that strikes the balance of a (free) functional website and a(n easy-to-use) blog.

It's a work in progress, and I'll likely keep this blogspot site for photos, but for Farm information and updates, you should now look to http://www.twomountainfarm.wordpress.com/ .

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Let. It. Snow.

For the past month, I've been living across town (in East Andover) with some friends. This has been a time of transition out of the mad-cap pace of market gardening that takes up my spring, summer, and fall. Generally I go over to the farm a few half days a week, finish up some projects and begin new ones for next spring. Other days I commute (ugh!) to Concord and put in hours for 'real money' at the EMS there, working as a seasonal/temporary employee. Still other days I spend entirely up here on Tucker Mountain, exploring the land and woods nearby, doing research on chickens, reworking my business plan, or taking care of my friends' four year old. And, I've been reading Harry Potter (finally! I'm in book 4...)

Right now I'm sitting at the desk of the guest room, in front of a 9-paned window that overlooks their sloping farmstead field. The most exciting thing in view are these tiny, moving pieces of white---generally falling towards the ground, but sometimes drifting sideways. Snow! At last! Even the horizon line of a nearby hill is being obsured by the flurries. After a very mellow and mild November ('twas 55 only 2 days ago), we finally seem to be making some progress towards the magical season of winter. They are even calling for a few inches to fall this afternoon and night. I am Ready, for winter! The garden beds are Ready,to be covered in an insulating blanket! Poe is Ready, to romp in the snow and mountains.But before I really get immersed in the winter season, I reckon it's time for a recap of late fall farm activity. We made lots of cider. The Swansons hosted a pressing party, we borrowed a wonderful grinder and press from neighbors down the hill, and we pressed a mountain of apples. I froze quite a few gallons and have been getting a new bottle out each week. This has been one of my favorite parts of this fall---the constant access to perfectly sweet-tart homemade juice. Drinking the cider leaves very little to be craved for.

I got a second floral cooler, which will be cool-bot retrofitted for post-harvest cold storage of veggies and flowers. Now that I have two, I can seperate types of produce, or veggies from flowers, since each react differently to ripening agents. Bottom line, though, is that now I have more space, since I maxed out on storage space last summer a number of time. It will allow more flexibility in my harvesting schedule.
The moving process of this 625 lb. monster was quite amusing. While I had sucessfully wrangled and moved the first cooler on my own and with friends' assistance, I was tired of the logisitcal nightmare of finding a truck, flatbed trailer, dollies, straps, enough hands, ramps, etc. etc. So I decided to hire a "professional" moving company to do it. HA! First of all, most companies didn't want to touch a floral cooler with a ten-foot pole. Then, the two companies that did take jobs of this sort wanted to charge an exorbant flat fee. So I grumbled and mumbled but stuck to my guns and paid the money and was looking forward to having a team of strong, ox-like men move the cooler. However, when I arrived at the pick-up sight and met the movers, it became disturbingly clear that they had sent only two guys, each no larger than myself. Great. To make a long story short, the process was very iffy and not at all the comfortable, hands-off deal I had imagined it, but the cooler got delivered safetly and without (too much) incident.
The lower field got limed. 10 tons went on. A big spreader truck came and broadcast $750 worth of 'dust' in about 15 minutes. Wow.
I have been working on a proposed "School Garden" for the local elementary/middle school. After meeting with the principal, the teachers, the PTO, and the school's groundsperson, I brought a fleshed out proposal to the School Board meeting last week and got approval to move forward with the project. Under the auspices of an Ag or Garden Club, the school garden will be a centrally located vegetable and flower garden for the entire school to use. Classes can utilize the garden as a learning lab, students can take on individual garden projects, there could be a K-to-8 legacy project, an inter-school pumpkin growing contest, a harvest meal, gardening workshops, and more! The possibilities are almost endless, but at the very least, children will be more exposed to growing food and the school kitchen will have the opportunity to supplement its salad bar with truely local food. I'm incredibly excited about this project, and so pleased to have recieved so much support for the concepts I am developing. Now the challenging task of gathering resources and funding looms ahead, but I have some good ideas up my sleeve. Ultimately, I see the school garden as the perfect way for me to give back to the segment of my community that I am most interested in --the children, and for me to get my foot in the door to do expanded school-to-farm and farm-to-school programs in the future. I mean, how great would it be for Two Mountain farm to be able to supply all of the school's fall Salad Greens, Potatoes, and Carrots?! I think it's a viable goal.

Oh yeah, my second hoophouse blew down (the one in the picture). In the nasty windstorm we had at the beginning of last weekend. I guess that's what I get for trying to grow greens into December. There was/is lots still to be harvested; I've been eating from my garden each day of November because of my season-extending capabilities. And while I pulled (rolled up to the peak) the plastic off the first hoophouse at the beginning of November, I decided to leave the other one up until all things inside winter-killed. I knew it was a risky maneuver, what with November winds that can whip up that hillside like no other, especially without tree canopies, which buffer winds significantly up there.

And so, one day I went up to do some work and was greeted by a mangled, tangled bent of hoops and purlins, and a flapping mess of plastic. Luckily, no pieces went sailing into my neighbors' houses, and only one purlin was bent beyond hope of salvage. Now I just get to spend two days reconstructing the sucker.

But it could've been worse. But I'm still not going to post any pictures, because I'll start crying again.

In the coming weeks, leading up to Solstice and those other holidays:

-More chicken tractors for the herd of chickybockers that will be coming on board next spring

-A new website platform and layout, TBA. There will still be a link to this one, too.

-The yearly revised draft of my business plan

-Attending a few farm-related workshops

-Planning, thinking, musing, dreaming.

Gettin' ready for winter. I haven't been home this time of year for 7 yrs, so I'm also just going to marinate in good ole New Englandness.

Until next time---LET IT SNOW!!!

Uncommonly Good Times

What better way to begin the first real weekend since May than to SAIL into it. On Friday M, T, and I went for a scoot around Portland's waters in the pretty little schooner Bagheera. Fine winds and a splendid sunset over the city skyline made for a magical evening. Memories came flooding back from ocean classroom.

The stop in Portland was made en route to Unity, Maine, where The Common Ground Fair takes place. The fair weekend serves as the gateway to deep autumn for me, as well as the celebratory finish-line of the main season of my market farming. I get to actually relax, be a participant "shopper" at the farmers' market, eat wickedly good food, and smile a lot.

I get great inspiration from other farmers' work and produce, their ideas and varieties. There are also hours upon hours of workshops and demonstrations to take part in; speakers to hear; amazing music to enjoy or dance to; smells to savor; crafts to buy....

Prize leeks and peppers in the ag hall; apples and grapes to taste and talk about; demonstration gardens and tools.

I learned how to use the european scythe, and also got to try herding sheep/goats/ducks in a 'competition' against the border collie pros.

'Twas fun, and it went by too fast. Saturday they had a record-breaking 25,000 visitors at the fair! A testament to the vitality of rural life, agriculture, and the growing community of people invested in the progress towards a sustainable society.

Phew! I think I'm going to make it through the season...though I still feel at times like assuming such a poes (pose=poes=Poe, get it?). Two more CSA pickups, and two weeks of markets. Of course, I give myself a bit of a hard time for not planting another 1/4 acre in winter squashes, another 1/4 acre in everlastings for dried arrangements, another 1/4 in garlic, etc etc. to last me into the early winter along with the lettuces, kale, tatsoi, chard and mustards that are coming along.
But a girl can only do so much. Next year!



Things are looking very much like fall in the garden. Lots of cover-cropped areas, both established buckwheat, and last-chance oats.

The newest 1/2 acre plot recently got it's summer peas,vetch,oats crop disced in and reseeded with winter rye (or wheat---I can't remember which).

A new row of raspberries got transplanted in. And speaking of raspberries, we may get a last-hurrah bumper crop of fall rapsberries! Keep those fingers crossed! Today I picked a handful of ripe ones, and the cane-tips are just laden with them, nodding under the weight. The bees are happy too. One more week of this great sunny weather and then we'll see.

Start......................Finish.

And at market, a lovely mix of things and colors: Chard and Cantaloupe and Radishes and Potatoes (you must try making purple mashed potatoes).

Sweet Summer, Not Yet Done

Anticipating these sweet things, soon to be ready:

Musk melons and cantaloups. Some harvested for tomorrow's CSA pickup.

Moon and Stars watermelon, Sugar babies, and others...

Peaches that sit fully in the palm of my hand. Mary Anne had me plant two of these trees the first summer I was here, and so I can't but help tracking my growth with theirs.

The pears that have always been. Not a great bearing year for them, but they'll be tasty enough once we get a frost or two--but I can wait a while for that!

This is not the Ocean

But I didn't have my camera when I was there on Sunday. However, the effect of this sort of watery scene is very much the same. Restful. Replenishing. Calming. Even my mid-afternoon swims in the Blackwater River can make me feel like a new person.

I like thinking about the farm when at the seashore, contemplating the waves and long stretch of water. It's good to have a day off.

Summer Soiree, Farm Style

Sunday afternoon, with sweltering heat-haze fading our two mountains into monochromes of grey, friends of the farm came together to celebrate summer, good food, and a strengthening community of folks who appreciate things that come from our local soil! The annual "open gardens and barn potluck" has been growing steadily each year, with over 50 people showing up this time! I certainly can't overstate my feeling that, at this point in the season (especially this one...) there's nothing more rejuvinating and reaffirming for a young grower than to be surrounded by those people who support the farm, and who are excited to come out to visit the gardens and meet new friends. A huge thanks to all those who attended, and who contributed to the fantastic potluck spread.

Part of the "open gardens" is the farm tour, which allowed me to showcase (gulp) my vegetable-plot-formerly-known-as-Tomatoes, which have fully succumbed to Late Blight. It's not a pretty sight, but I have plans to replant in fall crops such as spinach, salad mixes and such, to salvage something from the soil. Below left are the former tomato rows--plants all pulled and disposed of-- with composted sheep manure recently added; they'll be tilled in tomorrow. Below right are beds already in motion with fall successions of salad mix and radishes.

Though people asked many good questions and I tried to give a broad overview of farm operations, it's darn hard to talk about everything that I want to in one short tour. For instance, I didn't mention my intentions of bringing animals into the farm system over the next few years, beginning with laying hens next summer. They will be pasture grazed in chicken tractors and will contribute significantly to soil fertility. Another thing I didn't highlight in our tour around the property was the presence of 12 high-bush blueberries that got transplanted in last fall. They have blessed me with a few pints of blueberries---which is more than I expected considering the substantial stresses they've endured in transport and transplant. It also helps to have a motivated picker.

In the true spirit of summer, the youngsters played in the sprinkler and on the hammock while the adults relaxed in the shade. Some wandered through the gardens, perhaps taking a picture of the lime-green zinnias in my cut-flower beds.

After admiring flowers and corn, head lettuce and bean successions, the gang mosied down to the barn where they endured a line for the potluck buffet of middle-school-cafeteria proportions. Luckily, the food was about a million times better than anything I remember from those days.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the barn interior, which was all decked out with long tables, lights, and flower bouquets. There were so many people, though, that the tables and chairs outdoors were occupied as well. New aquaintances were made; laughs were shared; neighbors reconnected....

CSA members and extended family, young farmers from Sun Hill Farm, "wise" farmers from across the street...

dear friends from across the country, and new young friends filled up on chocolate cake!

Three cheers for summer! Keep it comin'!