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Alan
and Nancy Brown About the farm |
November 2009
We are
always amazed at the beauty of the blend of colors in the foliage at this our
favorite time of year. It is time to ready ourselves for the “resting period”
of the winter. There are so many things
to do before the ground freezes and the snow flies to prepare. As we prepare we
can appreciate the fall colors, sleep longer in the morning, harvest the fall
crops from our garden, and smell the first wisps of wood smoke from our
beautiful old parlor stove in the kitchen. There are new smells under the sugar
maple trees on the front lawn. The woods smell different too. I love the blend
of hardwoods, hop hornbeam, witch hazel, maples, cherry, various oaks, poplars,
shagbark hickory and their nuts with their own distinctive smell. We cut our
own firewood from any dead trees along the edge of the woods where we can drive
a truck so it can be harvested late and still be quite dry by the time we start
having fires in the stove each day.
The less
glamorous tasks also need to be done. We winterize all of the tractors and
haying equipment and put them in the sheds. We make sure the 2 tractors that
can feed hay all winter long are ready to go. We put up the storm windows on
our old story and a half Greek revival home. We are STILL fixing fences – this
work is never done! We clean up all the veggie and perennial gardens and the
pigs rummage through all the remaining vines to look for delectable treats. We
clean up the pig and cow barnyards and make our big compost piles to spread on
the pastures early in the spring. We don’t like to rake leaves on the lawn so
the mower chops them all up to provide nutrients for the grass.
Our priority
project is the new barn. We are outgrowing our space for collecting all the
farm products and splaying them around us in the old milk house to pack all of
your orders. I went on the 2 trips to the city this month and Alan and I spent
the travel time planning the layout of the new space, the furnishing
possibilities, and the deadline of getting the “new” used freezer hooked up
before the turkeys arrive. We saved this freezer from demolition of an old
diner that was in town for years and was being smashed for a new building. It
is bigger than our existing walk-in freezer and will be a great thing to have
ready soon. We are hoping for the time to make