Blog
The Scruffiest Tree
December 10, 2021
When we were kids, we were fortunate enough to be able to cut our own Christmas trees, and of all our holiday traditions, getting the tree was definitely my favorite.
We’d head out the back door and climb up the quarter mile path through the ravine to a grove of spruce trees that my Grandmother had tasked my uncles with planting years before.
Our Christmas tree lot was deeply magical. The trees, by then, were magnificently tall, perfectly formed, and densely packed. We'd wander about and look
The Bellwether
December 3, 2021
Breeding season for our sheep is coming to an end, and I for one will be deliriously happy to be done with this ram. He is conniving, aggressive, and I never seem to hear him coming. He innocently eats his hay as I walk past him, and only when I have my back to him does he run at me, leaping into the air and hitting me full speed in the middle of my back.
Since I can’t trust him, I spend all my time in the pasture either walking backwards, which is extremely challenging, or constantly looking
Lion's Mane
November 26, 2021
We finally put our shiitake logs to rest for the winter, restacking the piles and chasing away the leaves.
It took over a year for the oyster mushroom logs we experimented with last year to really start producing. I had given up on them and their sporadic and unpredictable ways - but I’ve grown to really love them, and as long as I have them set up correctly, they are in fact easier than the shiitakes.
Most of our shiitakes are varieties that are strong producers but require soaking in order
Running Out of Light
November 19, 2021
It seems like a cruel joke that the closer it gets to winter, the less daylight there is to prepare. We have so much to do and too little daylight in which to get it done. And whoever came up with the idea of setting clocks back clearly never owned a dog, I waste precious time each day trying to convince our dogs that 5pm is now 4 pm and they have to wait another hour to be fed.
We have firewood to cut and split, fences to repair, trees to plant, and miles of hoses that are getting lost in the
The Luckiest Squirrel
November 13, 2021
Halfway up the path through our ravine is a shagbark hickory tree that never seems to grow. It appears happy enough, but it’s been the same size since I was a kid. Presumably the limited nutrients from the rocky talus slope and the struggle of living in the shade of larger oaks has taken its toll.
Not only does the tree itself never seem to age but the hole in its trunk never seems to change either. It’s neither healed, nor deteriorated, in all of the years that I’ve known it. Waist high and
Signs of Life
October 29, 2021
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. The result being that 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
The Redwood of the East
October 22, 2021
There is a chestnut tree, nestled among the cedars in our sheep pasture, that has been raining down nuts as fast as we can collect them. I suspect it’s an early experimental hybrid that my Dad planted 40 or more years ago. It clearly has a strong American Chestnut influence, so I sent a sample off to the American Chestnut Foundation to see if they want any of the nuts. I’m sure it will be a while before we hear back from them, but just on the off chance that they do want them, we’ve been
Living with Coyotes
October 15, 2021
There has been a significant uptick in the coyote activity around us lately, which isn’t a surprise as the pressure from four-legged predators is always at its greatest in the fall. (Two-legged predators definitely prefer spring.)
From chipmunks hoarding nuts, to bears trying to find 20,000 calories a day, our wild neighbors are all trying to pack on the pounds needed to carry them through the winter. By keeping up with the fencing and making sure the coyotes and bears smell me and hear me
Naked Sheep
October 8, 2021
I am officially a Fall shearing convert! Not because of all the fiber related reasons we were originally thinking of, but way more importantly- it’s a great way to evaluate each ewe’s condition before heading into breeding season.
Without shearing, there are clues about how each ewe is doing. We can tell a lot by how content, anxious, or lethargic they seem.
Do they hop up to great us when we walk through the gate?
Are they constantly bellowing for more food, even with plenty of lush
Becoming Autumn
October 1, 2021
It’s starting to look, and feel, like Autumn around here! We picked up a load of leftover pumpkins and scattered them about for the sheep to eat - and nothing says Autumn like a field filled with pumpkins.
Tree crews have been on our road all summer, clearing along the power lines, and today they happily delivered all the wood to our house. We now have eight cords of sixteen-foot logs just waiting for us to cut and split. -It might be a long wait.
This Sunday will be the first time we’ve
