There was nothing photogenic about our chores this glorious autumn weekend – mowing, weeding, cutting back – so I’ll concentrate on an exploration of another Heath henhouse.  Joey built, overbuilt he said, this 10×12 foot henhouse for his ten hens. You can see he has a lot of help! He read a lot and looked at a lot of henhouses, and talked to a lot of people before he built his. The forethought shows. His luck shows too. He found the little stairway at the town dump. He said it is attached to the henhouse with only three or  four screws.  The building itself is built on skids, much like Bob’s, which I wrote about here. Joey said he built it on skids because he wasn’t sure where he wanted to put it permanently.

Joey wanted the children to be able to collect the eggs without going into the chicken space so he set aside this part of the chicken house for storage and copied Sheila’s system which I wrote about here.

The front of the egg boxes looks like a cabinet with a slanted top that keeps the chickens from roosting on it. The chickens enter this space from the opening on the left.

The flat part of the cabinet can be lifted and hooked up to make it easy to clean the egg boxes. The row of boxes is not nailed down. The row can be removed entirely making it very easy to shake out and clean. This is a great idea.

Joey thought a lot about the cleaning out process. This clean out door with a latch near the floor on the inside opens  to a door on the outside.

The reason for the second door is too keep out critters who have been known to open latches.  When this door opens all any critter will see is a blank wall.  On clean out day, Joey is outside with the cart and the kids sweep out all the bedding. They do a terrific job, Joey said. He then vacuums out all the cobwebs and they all put down more shavings.

One of the most unique elements of Joey’s henhouse, and one I am  going to add to mine, is this oystershell dispenser. It is made of two lengths of PVC pipe with a cut back PVC elbow on the end and fastened to the wall with ordinary brackets. He just pours crushed oyster shell into the pipe and the chickens take it as they wish. And Joey says they really like it and it goes very fast. He uses these in the winter when the chickens do not get the necessary grit from pecking around in the  soil. The oystershell provides grit all winter long, in addition to providing calcium for strong eggshells.

Fortunately Joey has a good crew of chicken wranglers. Only one more henhouse in my series. Keep watching.

The Authors Tent

The Conway Festival of the Hills is a grand autumnal event in our region. This year I got to share tent space with other authors like Marie Betts Bartlett (left in blue) who brought her book The (true) Story of The Little Yellow Trolley Car and Heidi Stemple (right oogling the baby. Heidi is the daughter of and co-author with Jane Yolen of many books, true, mysterious and delicious.  In the center is Jessica, owner of The World Eye Bookstore who was running the cash register.

David Costello, author and illustrator

David Costello was at the table too, with his new book Little Pig, and his ink and brush. Because of the constant rain we did have a few quieter moments which gave David time to make special drawings, in consultation with some younger readers. This area is so rich in fine authors and illustrators that a whole new roster took the afternoon signing session: Holly Hobbie, John Crowley, Peter Jeswald, and editor of Morning Song, Susan Todd.

Holly Hobbie is well known for her Toot and Puddle series of books, but I love her new books about Fanny. John and Peter write for adults. Crowley takes us to worlds fantastic and real in his novels, while Jeswald is a good man to have a round the house and garden with non-fiction books from Taunton Press and Storey Publishing.

Susan Todd, along with Carol Purington, edited the poetry anthology Morning Song: Poems for New Parents that I wrote about here.

The Little Yellow Trolley Car

I’ve even given a copy of this to my great-granddaughter Bella so she’ll know a little piece of our local history. The book is a delight.

I Can Help

I bought this for my younger great granddaughter, Lola, because even at two she must be learning that there are ways she can help.

Barefoot Book of Dance Stories

I got this signed for Bella but I might wait a year or two before giving it to her. She is always twirling and dancing, but the stories of other cultures and their dances might be even more entrancing for a slightly older girl.

Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep

This is a charming bedtime book with whimsical illustrations of all kinds of animals that hibernate in winter.

I was thrilled that so many people came to have books signed for their children, making sure we knew that they were already reading to them, every day, even if they were only three months old. That is the perfect time to begin, and contemplate years of happy Reading Aloud.

Crops of writers help us grow crops of readers. Very important.

I was happy to be a part of the Food Fest at the Charlemont Federated Church this summer. Various cooks chose a topic, beans, eggs, chicken, and set up a table with assorted dishes.  I chose the chicken table and talked about taking a chicken from the roasting pan, and then then through other iterations in my famous chicken salad with Moroccan spices to chicken with pasta and peanut sauce and even chicken soup.  Recipes complete with nutritional information were available, as well as conversations with excellent cooks. Although we couldn’t eat the samples on the tables (health rules) samples from the church kitchen were passed around all day.

There were cooking demonstrations. I filled in at the last minute to make corn chowder – and ruined it when the top fell off the salt shaker and over over salted the chowder. People got the idea though. Jason Velasquez of Pen and Plow Farm demonstrated making potato pancakes, a great dish in many cuisines.

His potato pancakes were perfect and delicious. We all got a taste.

The goal of the program was to remind us all that a good, economical, nutritious home cooked meal does not need to take hours and certainly doesn’t take more money that a trip to McDonald’s. We are all of a mind with Mark Bittman, and our program proved unequivocally that Junk Food is Not Really Cheaper.

Franklin County Community Development Corporation

There are often news stories in our local press about the business incubator at the Franklin County Community Development Corporation located in Greenfield. Last Friday I had my first opportunity to visit and see some of the work that goes on there.

John Waite

John Waite, the Executive Director of the FCCDC, welcomed me and members of the Herb Society of America to the commercial kitchens of the CDC and introduced us to some of the people who use this important facility which has helped fledgling businesses reach a point where they can fly off to their own spaces. I can’t fit all that we saw in one posting, but I am going to take you on a weeklong tour of what what I saw and learned last Friday.

Fresh horseradish roots

Terry Grinnan of Saw Mill Site Farm uses the commercial kitchen a few times a year to bottle his horseradish products. He buys most of hishigh quality horseradish roots from a Mennonite Farm in Illinois and processes and bottles them here. He gave us a demonstration of the whole process beginning with the fresh roots.

The roots are hand peeled and then washed to USDA specifications before putting into an amazing commercial kind of food processor.

It takes a sharp blade to cut up those roots. They get three minutes to do the job.

None of us were allowed to get too close when Terry Grinnan opened the machine to add some high grade vinegar for a little more processing. Even so, eyes and noses were watering.

After a couple more minutes of grinding, the horseradish was removed from the machine, all ready for adding final flavors like mustard or beets, and then bottling, and refrigeration.  Terry says it takes about four hours to process 1000 jars of his horseradish.

Saw Mill Site Farm Horseradish

Earlier this year I wrote about growing horseradish here, which is how I got to meet Terry and get invited to a wonderful day with Herb Society members.

Governor Patrick with Heath officials

It has been exactly a week since I wrote about our experience of Irene here. Since then towns across the region have been busy picking up the pieces. Governor Deval Patrick made his third trip to Heath (the first governor in history to pay so much attention to Heath) and on Wednesday he met with town officials. Here he is looking at a map of damaged road with Mike Smith in his Fire Chief uniform, but he is also our beloved road crew boss who has worked so hard to get enough roads fixed so we can all make our way into the greater world of grocery stores. To the left of the photo are Tom Lively, Brian deVries and Sheila Litchfield, our selectboard, who have also put in a lot of time this week with the Emergency Response Committee.

The governor arrived by helicopter, but  local TV station reporters and reporters from multiple print outlets had to drive to the town common. Fortunately for us we didn’t need to have helicopters from FEMA drop water and MREs down to us, as they did in Hawley, the town of 300 across Route 2. My friend Tinky Weisblat wrote about her experiences with MREs on her blog In Our Grandmother’s Kitchens.

Deerfield River in Shelburne Falls

We did not have too much clearing up to do around our house, and the road crew did a great job of repairing our road, so I was able to go out and see what else was happening in the neighborhood. They were not happy sights with bridges destroyed and streams carving out new beds with trees that were carried in the rushing water. I went down to help clean up the Bridge of Flowers on Friday and the Deerfield River was looking muddy but so quiet and innocent. It didn’t seem possible that it had washed away Ann Brauer’s Quilt Studio (which has already found a new home on Bridge Street) and done all manner of damage to riverside shops.

The Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls

At the same time there was so much damage in The Falls, the Bridge of Flowers was relatively unscathed. Roaring waters splashed over the Bridge, but did not overwhelm it. I was part of a crew that helped clean the path of a layer of silt while marvelling at how  wonderful the flowers looked.

Bridge of Flowers path resurfacing

A crew of men came in to help us women with the heavy work of wheelbarrowing in loads of stone dust to resurface the path. More members of the Blossom Brigade went in for a final tweak and deadheading before the Bridge reopened on Friday evening. Hooray  for the Bridge of Flowers volunteers!

It is raining again this Monday morning and we’ll enter a new week, an autumnal week, with children back to school, though not necessarily their usual schools because of flooding damage, and commuters become more familiar with necessary detours that will be in place for some time.

Signing The Roses at the End of the Road at World Eye Books

The weekend started out happily with my book signing at World Eye Books. I got to meet new readers, and chat with old friends like Bob and Sue Gruen who gave a wonderful talk last night for the Heath Historical Society about weaving in colonial times – and now.

But, by the time we left their talk around 9, Irene’s rains had arrived. Heavy rains on and off  all night continued until noon, then let up somewhat. We didn’t get heavy wind which was a blessing. I thought we had escaped all damage until a friend called to say that Rowe Road, which leads to Knott Road and our house ,was washed out. She said there was no way Henry would get to work on Monday. Later in the afternoon, when the rain was light we set off to survey the damage.  Our bit of road looked fine, but the drainage ditches were tumbling streams. This freshet was bubbling off the hill from our field, into the ditch.

Knott Road

Towards the end of Knott Road where it joins Rowe Road we saw the first washout, and a tree hung up on the power lines. Fortunately, we still have power and phone service.

Rowe Road

The was the first major washout we came to, just before the turn onto Knott Road.

Looking at that same washout from below you can get some sense of the water rushing over a newly revealed giant boulder in the road bed.

Rowe Road

Just a few yards further down the road this is what we saw.  We decided to end our travels in that direction.

This stream on the other side of Rowe Road is usually a sleepy trickle, but not today. My husband was able to check an on-line record of the flow of the Deerfield in Charlemont. The readings there are almost unbelievable.  The river depth is measured at over 16 feet, instead of the normal 4 feet, and the cubic feet per second flow is 20,000 or possibly more, where the usual flow is 600 cubic feet per second.

When we got home from our walk we checked our very informal rain gauge – 7 -3/4 inches since last night.

Over the afternoon we have heard stories about terrible damage in the area, and do indeed count our blessings that End of the Road Farm came through relatively unscathed.

The Book Tent is a good place to read, and eat homemade pie a la mode, and to visit. But there is a lot to see at the Fair.

Food preservation is a hot topic in the general culture these days, but canning is a traditional Heath skill.

The Exhibit Hall is full of wonderful entries, artistic, agricultural,  and natural history. This ball gown made of egg crates welcomed visitors to the Hall.

There was only one entry is the perfect breakfast category, but no question that it would be a prize winner any time.

My garlic guru naturally won first prize. Mine looked almost as good.

The Heath School was only one of several organizations that put up big exhibits. The garden is doing beautifully.

Of course, we wanted to see the grandsons’ exhibits.  Anthony won a First for his duct tape mosaic.

His brother Drew won Third for his Not So Perfect House Sculpture. I think he’s been taking notes while staying at our house.

There are lots of things to DO at the Fair. Blueberry and whipped cream eating contests, Firemen’s BBQ to eat, a ladies skillet toss, gymkanas, ox  and horse pulls, tractor pull, too.  Tricia went down to the new barn building. This year they had a goat show for the first time. This goat was not entered.

At the Historical Society’s barn master weaver Sue Gruen was showing us all how to weave. Rory caught on fast.

His brother Tynan was equally quick to learn.

I took a turn, too.

There are several parades over the course of the Fair including the  Oxen Parade, and an antique tractor parade. This was the final ‘big’ parade which included a couple of floats, fancy old cars, fire engines and more tractors. Most of these tractors are still in use and remind us that although the dairy farms are gone, fields are being tended for hay, sunflowers, and corn. We treasure our agricultural history . . .

and look forward to a new generation carrying on.

Signature Quilt

The Ladies Aid exhibit in the Hall featured another important historical artifact.  One of the ladies found a half made signature quilt in the back of a closet. Not her closet. The signature quilt had been started many years ago, and included the signatures of a generation that has passed. They decided to finish the quilt adding their own signatures. What a treasure this quilt is.  A treasure that reflects the richness of our life here in Heath. We are blessed.

The weather has been hot and dry. Our Texas grandsons Anthony and Drew were glad to take a dip in Rowe Pond near-by this past week. They are excellent swimmers after several years on their local swim teams. We left the Pond when we heard thunder, but we never did get the longed for rain.

When Kate returned to Heath after tending to other family responsibilities in the eastern part of the state she did a little touring with the  boys. We made sure they signed the guest book at the Bridge of Flowers. They all loved those fabulous Crocosmia.

We had a good visit with this branch of the family, but Dad was waiting impatiently back in Texas. Before they left yesterday the boys did a good job of stacking winter firewood.  Maybe we’ll get some more help from visitors to the Heath Fair. Only two more weeks.

You can see the other big project that we have been working on over the past few weeks – getting my book The Roses at the End of the Road ready for publication. We sent the electronic files off to lulu.com and now we wait for a proof. Do you think we will have copies for sale at the Heath Fair? We hope so!  Click on the button to the right for more information.

Daylily Bank

I have not done with posts about my great trip to Seattle to tour amazing gardens with 70+ garden writers  and bloggers, but I am so happy to be home and to see the glories of lily season.  Our Daylily Bank is now in full bloom and it got a lot of attention when the Heath Gourmet Club was here on Saturday night to enjoy a delicieux dinner a la Francais.

Black Beauty lilies

The Black Beauty lilies have been blooming in the Herb Bed right in front of the house for several years, along with a crimson bee balm. A great, but unintentional combo.

Last year I got a little bloom from Lilium henryi (gold) and the White Henry lilies, but this year they are putting on quite a show. There is another white lily with a deep red throat in this group. I don’t know what it is, but I think it was a bonus that came along with a big order I sent Old House Gardens that does have wonderful bulbs.

Seattle skyline

If you do want to see some of  the wonderful sights of Seattle log on to my friend Layanee de Merchant’s post.

Japanese Garden at the Bloedel Reserve

Or see what Francis at Fairegarden had to say about other damp scenes at the Bloedel Reserve.

Pearl Fryar

Then, yesterday while ‘The Major’ organized the boys to set up the blueberry frame, mow the lawn, and relax in the Cottage Ornee, a friend and I drove over to The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home, in Lenox. It is always a pleasure to visit this beautiful house and restored gardens, but the draw this time was the appearance of Pearl Fryar, the man who sculpts trees. He gave a talk which was not only about how how he creates topiary, but about the advice he give to young people: “Success is work. . . . Use what you’ve got. . . what you were given . . . your talent . . . and contribute that to the community.” I wrote about Pearl earlier here.

A big crowd came to watch Pearl turn four trees into topiary over the course of the day. Those trees and many other items were to be auctioned off to raise money for scholarships.

Pearl did explain that working with a tree this size was different from working with a small tree and pruning it for five years, but he said he would do what he could.

He gave a lecture about using a good chain saw with reciprocating blades. And said that the blade had to be kept at an angle while he tried to make swirl.

Topiary finished

Ta-da!  All done in about 15 minutes.  You can see the beginning of the swirl reveals the multiple stems. This would not happen if he had started with a young tree.

Lilies at The Mount

Of course my friend Cheryl and I had to take a turn around the gardens.  Lots of bloom. Lily season is just starting.

The Secret Garden at the Mount

After touring the house and the wonderful exhibit about Wharton and WWI we cooled ourselves in the shady Secret Garden. And then it was off to our next stop, Chesterwood with its outdoor sculpture exhibit.

Bear Walking 2009 by Richard Rothschild

This sculpture of Walking Bear 2009 by Richard Rothschild was one of my favorites.

When I got home I did cook up a mess of pasta, peas and bacon, ‘The Best Meal Ever’ for the birthday boy.

We closed the evening with a few hands of Hearts, my new favorite game.  That’s Drew with an ace. Both boys are aces with me.