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!!!