Blog

Years ago, we built two stone cairns on our ridge that mark where the sun sets on the summer solstice to the north, and the winter solstice to the south. The distance between them represents the span the sun travels on the horizon as it sets each night throughout the year. The change in location from one night to the next is imperceptible, but in aggregate it becomes substantial. On the summer solstice, the sun sets in the center of our dining room window, and 6 months later it’s just shy of the

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I often refer to spring as our busy season, but really, we don’t have a non-busy season. Our life fluctuates between busy and extremely busy as we try to keep up with whatever each season has to offer - or throws at us. I’ve begrudgingly come to accept the fact that schedules are like closets – they just magically fill themselves up.
Wintertime, as marked by the first snow and consistently freezing temperatures, is always a bit of a relief as our life calms down to simply “less busy” and that

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If it were up to me, the first snow of the winter would be a national holiday. I’d be quite content to spend the whole day just wandering. A fresh pallet of snow which fell last night provided an instant story board of every animal that’s come along. It’s as if someone turned on the lights and we can finally see what’s been going on all around us.
The trail cameras we set up near our pastures are wonderful, but they only provide a tiny glimpse of the whole picture. We put the cameras up where I

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Oh, this rain!
It's barely made a dent in the drought we’ve had, but it’s still been good for this farmer’s parched soul. Our little brook is barely running, and the pond is still way too low, but it’s been enough to quench the fire hazard around us and for that I am deeply grateful.
Anne and I, and our nephew Dave, built a bridge this week on the old Clatter Valley Road which the Farmington Land Trust now owns. The previous bridge rotted away decades ago, and as our new bridge began to take

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Try explaining Daylight Saving Time to a dog - the fact that their dinner is suddenly delayed by an hour is a punishment they’ll never comprehend. I would think that of all the bewildering things that their human companions do - having clocks and changing them every 6 months must just about top the list.
Most people think Daylight Saving Time was implemented to help farmers, but don’t blame us, we are way too practical for that. Farmers plan their day around the sun- not the clock. It doesn’t

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When I head out to the barn each morning, I can’t help but take in the view from our ridgetop home. Farmington is blessed with so many trees that most of its houses are hidden under a canopy of leaves, so when I scan the valley, there is very little evidence of human “civilization.” That suits me just fine! The view is timeless, the feeling is tranquil, and I cherish the early morning solitude.
Once the weather turns cold though, there is always one sign of life that never fails to make me

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When we were kids, we were surrounded by aunts and uncles and 150 acres of pastures, old growth forest and a pond. The massive 200-year-old hemlock trees that dwelled in the forest, created a closed canopy and very little light ever reached the ground. There wasn’t much underbrush except for spring ephemerals, ferns and the occasional grape vine which somehow found its way up and through to the daylight above. The vines were as thick as a horse’s mane and if we held on

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Yes, the warm weather has been lovely, and the foliage was gorgeous - but we really need some rain! Lots and lots of gentle rain.
From the ridge we can see smoke from brushfires, some of which have been burning for days. And below the ridge, the brook which flows alongside our pasture is completely dry. We moved the sheep to a lower field which for now has a watering hole, but without rain, it’s just a matter of days before that dries up as well.
For years we’ve

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As the days become shorter, trees (like the rest of us) prepare for winter. They begin to seal off the veins that transport nutrients to and from the leaves. Like battening down the hatch on a submarine, they cut the leaves off from the rest of the tree. If they didn’t, the moisture in the leaves would freeze and leave the tree vulnerable to injury.
The leaves have pigmented enzymes which help the tree turn sunshine into sugar - a process known as photosynthesis. The green color of leaves comes

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Nothing draws people to our farmers’ market booth like a table filled with orange and yellow edible mushrooms. The brightly colored “Chicken of the Woods” fungi stops people in their tracks, and most can’t resist coming up and asking what it is. Some want to know “How do I know it’s not poisonous?” I explain that killing our customers is a very poor business model, so we only sell items we are quite sure are okay. It’s a conversation starter and even if I can’t convince them that not all

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