Sunday Afternoon with Mozz, Feta, Chevre, Cajeta and more

  • Post published:01/12/2012
  • Post comments:8 Comments

Actually my neighbor Sheila of Dell Farmstead started her cheesemaking workshop at 9 am! Fortunately, she included a beautiful lunch in the day's schedule. By the end of the day we had made: chevre, a goat cheese; 30 minute mozzarella; feta; cheddar; creme fraiche, soft goat cheese, and a Tomme unique to Dell Farmstead. We learned that all cheese begins with separating the curds from the whey - with the help of additives like citric acid, and starter…

Setting Wolf Moon

  • Post published:01/11/2012
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Do you have half your firewood supply left?  For more Wordlessness on Wednnesday click here.

Christmas Extended – For the Birds

  • Post published:01/10/2012
  • Post comments:1 Comment

Christmas celebrations end for us on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. The wise men have finally arrived, the last gifts have been given and the party is over. But maybe not quite. When I take the Christmas tree down, I put it outside and decorate it for the birds. The ornaments are simple, but tasty, peanut butter smeared into pine cones and then rolled in bird seed.  A tie can be ribbon, yarn or twine, no…

Agastache and Nepeta – Deer Repellents

  • Post published:01/09/2012
  • Post comments:5 Comments

Fine Gardening's photo of Agastache 'Cana' has got me all excited. Recently I read somewhere (I wish I could remember where) that some plants were not only deer resistant, they were deer repellent. Deer have a sensitive sense of smell and some plants have such a strong scent that deer are actually repelled and avoid them. I am thinking of strategically planting some attractive deer repellant plants among my garden beds in the hope this will discourage deer - and…

New Goals For the New Year

  • Post published:01/07/2012
  • Post comments:4 Comments

“What news? What news?” was often the cry when E. F. Benson’s delightfully pretentious Lucia met her neighbor Georgie coming across the Riseholm village green in “Queen Lucia,” the first of several books about the life in an English village before WWII. When I return from Saturday morning rounds in my own rural village my husband always wants to know what news I bring home. “What’s new?” is our inevitable query of neighbors at local gatherings. The desire…

Look At My Loot

  • Post published:01/05/2012
  • Post comments:4 Comments

As Christmas drew near a  friend asked if I his Christmas gift had been delivered. I said no deliveries and then waited every day for my treat to arrive. I did get a Package Too Big notice from the Post Office and picked up this bag of compost that had a mailing label right on the bag. I assumed it was some sort of sample from the Seven Years Gold company, although it did seem an odd time…

2012: Year of the Herbs

  • Post published:01/03/2012
  • Post comments:7 Comments

Every year the National Garden Bureau chooses a flower, a vegetable and an herb to showcase, but they have declared 2012 The Year of the Herbs and are showcasing all herbs, not just one. I have a long herb bed right in front of my piazza and the entry walk. Because it face south and is protected by the house it is the first garden I can work in in the spring and the last garden to be…

Views from the Bedroom Window

  • Post published:01/02/2012
  • Post comments:0 Comments

I open the bedroom window to the southeast breezes on this, the first day of the new year. The weather continues its unseasonable habit. There is a bit of ice but at noon the temperature is 44 degrees. These two photos almost make a panorama. Green lawn, brown fields and gray skies. Often at this time of the year I wonder if spring will ever come. This year I am wondering if winter will ever come. What does…

Our Christmas Trees

  • Post published:12/31/2011
  • Post comments:0 Comments

Many family Christmas memories revolve around the Christmas tree. These stories rarely have to do with the magnificence of the tree. In fact, Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree may be our culture’s most famous Christmas tree, standing for the true meaning of the season. We have many family stories about our Christmas trees beginning with our first Christmas in Greenfield in 1971.  I was a single mother of five children when I came to town. Our life had changed…