This is embarrassing. I haven't posted since April? Really? Where has the time gone? In my own defense, it's been pretty busy. As a matter of fact, I reached a point in June when I didn't think I was going to make it. The harvest season has proven to be pretty intense, and I found myself feeling physically exhausted and beat up every day. But, I made the decision to take better care of myself with good sleep, yoga, meditation, and nutritious food; between that and generally getting accustomed to the work, I feel much better and have been handling the workload just fine. You're in luck...I've been seized with a sudden burst of blogging energy, and I will now attempt to make up for a four month absence in one fell swoop.
The last of the lambs was born in early May. They're now out on pasture, munching away on fresh grass and almost full-grown. We had three sets of twins!
The cows are also out on pasture, and we have nine very cute calves.
We road-tripped to Vermont to pick up our piglets, sixty in all.
Transplanting into the fields began in earnest in the spring. Harvest days are Mondays and Wednesdays, and market days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each one of us has gotten the chance to work both the CSA drop-off in Cambridge and the Belmont market. New this year: Athol started a farmers' market, and we were invited to be the flagship vendor. The growers let us fly solo for that market on Saturdays...it's a great chance to get more experience.
Although the drought didn't affect us nearly as much as other parts of
the country, we had to buy some irrigation equipment in July. The soils up here hold their moisture extremely well; this is the first time that the school has had to irrigate. The dry weather has definitely affected crop yields.
Strawberries were harvested in June. Next came blueberries in July. Watermelons went to market this week. Raspberries and peaches are making an appearance, and the apples look like they'll be ready in a few weeks. Tomato season is starting to wind down; we had an excellent year in spite of some issues with blight.
Stephen and Tyson have been thrilled with the quality of the onions and garlic this year. They've been harvested and are curing in the barn.
We've been canning our hearts out. Strawberry jam. Frozen blueberries. Eighteen gallons of tomato sauce. Twenty-eight dozen ears of corn reduced to forty pounds of frozen corn. Dill pickles and sour kraut out the wazoo.
And this week we picked squash and pumpkins! Carlen says that she's never seen such an early harvest. We'll dry them in the sun for two weeks, which makes them store much better.
The timber frame, which we worked so hard on this winter, is slowly going up. Maybe it'll be complete by the time we graduate? Which, by the way, is in two weeks. That's right, you heard me - two weeks. Unbelievable.
