Christmas Tree, Blizzard and Woodrow

Hello everyone, it is our first real blizzard of 2012. Please enjoy the day... we have been, and have a look at our tree (our largest gray birch yet), and the mounting snow outside the window. Woodrow has the right idea on a day like this.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL...

Last Days of Logging

Bob, the 25 year old Belgian horse I have mentioned earlier, came back to our winter woods to help Marc finish up with the last of the trees for the winter.  John waits for Marc to load the logs onto the carrier in the video below.

When we arrived home on the day after Christmas, all the logs that Marc had cut and we had piled, were being loaded onto a 10 wheeler bound for market. We are done for this year, but there are plenty more trees for Bob and Brumby to help with next year.

Peaceful Holiday Greetings from Brownington

As of December 21, our lives seem to be continuing and Bob the 25 yr old Belgian has been hard at work in our woods. So I guess we made it.... !

Horse Logging with Brumby

Brumby named for his resemblance to the Australian feral horse,  is a 12 year old traditional Belgian work horse owned by Marc Farrow of Holland, Vermont. Mark has been working in our woods for several weeks with Brumby by his side, ready to pull down trees, or haul them through the woods.Brumby stands still in the woods as Marc moves around him with a chain saw or small excavator. At the end of the day, Marc rides Brumby as John carries the logs from the woods to the driveway where Marc will load them onto his trailer to take to market. 

 

BRUMBY WATCHES MARC WORK

 

BRUMBY HAULS A LOG THROUGH THE WOODS

Marc has become famous for hauling moose with his other Belgian, Bob. You can read about Bob and Marc hauling moose at this link   Bob, the moose hauling draft horse.

 

Hollow-een Fire

 This is the way to enjoy a campfire! Find a hollow log, stand it up on top of a couple of cinder blocks, build a fire below it and stand back. The log acts like a chimney and ....whooosh, up it goes. This lasted for several yours. Add pieces of wood into the top and it will flame up even higher. It gives a wonderful display of sparks and flames. The moon happened to be out this night as well, just about full. It was October 27th, not quite Halloween, but we call it Hollow- een for the fire we enjoyed. These logs are not just everywhere, but this one showed up when our logger, Marc, cut down a good-sized spruce tree and found the rotten interior. Of course, it's not worth a penny at the mill, but worth a million for the great fireworks display we watched. We will be on the lookout for more of these wonderful logs for our fires this fall and winter. So easy to light off and such fun!  

A Day at Jay

A day for Jay peak
High up in the clouds with wind
Autumn in Vermont the best

Staining the house

 

After 8 years in this house and several attempts at staining the south side, we decided to have it done by people who know stain. The caulking will be done in cooler weather. Here you see the stages of staining and the finished house. The odor is about gone and the dripping stopped. Cleanup has not been fun with many spots on the porch and balcony that should have been prevented.

Elderberry Time

 Elderberries, finally. Three years after they were planted, 9 plants from NRCS have produced a good crop. Now to make something. Ripeness is the key, dark as dark can be is best for the flavor. Making syrup is quite easy, more so than using a fork to remove the berries from the stems. The syrup is the most useful and is adding gorgeous color, sweet fruity flavor and health benefits to everything it is added to. What a great fruit to grow!

Logging with Bob

Today we started some logging with Marc Farrow of Morgan, VT and Bob, his 25 yr old Belgian horse. The woods were cool and Bob was determined to follow Marc's commands and remove the cedar and spruce that we have decided to cut. Bob just knows what to do and moves rather quickly up the hill, despite the 80 degree temp. I have never witnessed something so coordinated as the cutting, limbing and hauling of these two. Watch Bob as he pulls a log into the field.

Hello Family and Friends

When Dan, Tracey, Ellie and Liddy came to visit, there was  nothing but constant excitemenet. Ellie and I enjoyed playing on the crocheted watershed habitat play mat (see my craft blog for more pics of that ) which she named Ellie's World. Tracey had her hands full with Liddy. We all fed the frogs in the pond. And David called to say that he had made a new friend at the Greenfield Folk Festival in MA where we used to live. Our friends, Nancy and Dave Berliner arrived minutes after the family drove away. We expect Melissa and her kids soon and then more friends want to come up. Guess we are popular.....

Farewell To Grand Manan

Our vacation on Grand Manan was cut short after bad weather removed the chance of going out on the boat again. And after the fisheries cops said that the fish were gone anyway ... seriously! And after I sprained my ankle (see black and blue elevated foot in picture) on the rocky beach in front of the cottage, and after getting tired of crocheting  lobster buoys (holding in my hand), and after reading all the books we brought ( not really but  close) and after looking out the window at the surf and fog, we decided to start packing and head home.  There are other reasons, too, too many  to mention and noone really cares expect us. Oh well... such is life.

Grand Manan

Swallowtail Lighthouse Grand Manan NB

On board Grand Manan V

Grand Manan V

 Back again to Grand Manan New Brunswick Canada, this time with the boat for fishing and adventures. We settled in at the Seawall Cottage of Peter and Marilyn Cronk. Check out the place on the Grand Manan webpage .

Bon Voyage to the Carolyn B

Today we bid farewell to the Duffy 26, our lovely boat from Maine. We did enjoy many days out on Lake Memphremagog and even a few nights. We still have a salmon from our fishing trips in Canada last fall, better eat that one. I have never had a boat named after me until now. She will become someone else's wife, mother, sister, daughter or girlfriend in the years ahead. She will be in Brooklin, Maine at the Atlantic Boat Company,  www.atlanticboat.com until she belongs to someone else. The decision was not hard to make. There are so many lakes in Vermont, and so many fish to catch in them that a boat on a trailer made more sense, not staying in one lake even though it is beautiful. We made some friends at the Yacht Club in Newport and had some great meals on the boat, watched great sunsets, fireworks and shooting stars from her, as well. She always turned heads when we went out, people asked about her, took pictures of her and just admired the classic downeast look of her. We have fond memories of this boat and I may never have a boat named after me again. Farewell.

John enjoyed 2 days fishing on Lake Ontario recently. He brought us 11 lbs of Brown Trout which are now vacuum bagged in the freezer. A good year's supply. Meanwhile, back home, the daffodils finally bloomed and the fields are just barely turning green with the dry weather.

Easter Oven

What Easter wouldn't be perfect without firing up the wood oven and baking a fresh ham? And so we did. The first day of firing was the hottest and so the pizzas were done, including my interpretation of the Green Mountain a la Parker Pie in W. Glover.  This includes, spinach, sliced apples, onions, garlic, cheddar cheese and drizzled maple syrup. The pizza above was grilled chicken with caramelized onions/peppers/garlic and 3 cheese blend. Second day, bread was baked (one herb and one cinnamon raisin) and then the ham, temp 400. This was too hot for the poor ham, but we would have had to wait another day for 325, and then it wouldn't be Easter. Third day, monday, the temp was falling below 300 when I baked up a mighty supply of granola, using up many seeds, flakes, nuts and dried fruit that I have had for long enough. Coming soon....granola cookies, ummm good, from the Craftsbury Outdoor Center cook book. Food is so much fun.

Sugaring Time at Last

The buckets were hung on March 10. We collected 46 gallons and boiled on March 13 leaving some unfinished syrup still in the evaporator. We made 1 gallon of syrup that is delicious. However, the temperatures have stayed warm day and night, so the sap is not flowing very much. I dumped what little there was and now it time to dump the rest and clean up. The whole thing did not last long for us and yielded little. Last year we made 10 gallons. At this post, March 20, the first day of spring, our snow is gone, what there was of it. Temps are breaking records all over this week. We are see low 70s during the day, and 50s at night. Cooling is predicted, but the sugaring season is done for this year. This will be remembered for a long time. 

Hydroponic Herbs in Winter

In the winter months when the sun is low, this little hydroponic planter works well for herbs. I tried lettuce, spinach, etc with larger leaves, but it did not produce well. The light was not strong enough, so this year we have a light suspended over the tower. At night we place a reflective box around the whole thing to intensify the light. Even though fresh herbs are available locally, this is something to do and fun to watch the growth. It's called a   Vertigro planter . I have chives, rosemary, basil, cilantro and thyme. I am so pleased with this setup now that it is really producing just enough for our meals.

Winter's Workshop

I don't know what we would do without winter to work on new and old projects in the workshop. First we started working on the porch railings for the house, four to do there. Then, new bluebird houses were in order, eight there. And among other things like auto maintenance, my Aunt Helena's ancient garden pixie needed repair, head on with new epoxy there. With bluebirds reported north of us already, we have to move on finishing them soon. When the sugaring starts weeks ahead of time ( such is the case this year), we lose time on the winter projects. I live for the day when we don't have  projects and we can just go off and do whatever for a few weeks. Maybe next year.