Looking Back at 2011

This time last year, we were in the middle of our year at the Farm School.  We hadn't been to Italy yet, we hadn't endured lambing season, hadn't cut the umbilical cord of a new calf and hadn't watched the first plants of the season sprout in the greenhouse.  A farm of our own was just a few notes on the back of a piece of paper and something Theo and I wondered about.

Fast forward to now, and we're living in our farmhouse, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first chicks and piglets and planning the crops we'll grow for our first season.

The road here hasn't been all that smooth.  As of August, our house that we were supposed to move into was completely gutted and we needed to be living there at the end of October.  Those days were hard, long and stressful.  I was commuting over an hour to my new job as an elementary school teacher and Theo had an equally long commute to the new house.  Why wasn't I writing about this grand adventure of plumbing mistakes, lack of dry-wall and no heat?  It was bad enough to go through those days once and at the end of them I certainly did not want to relive them through writing.  Then, a week before we were supposed to move, and New England got dumped on by the first storm of the season, our house wasn't done (think no toilet, no kitchen, no walls, no heat, no running water... the list goes on), our truck was broken, which was impairing our ability to even move out of where we were currently living (and each day was closer to the end of that lease) and this guy, the one in the back, didn't come back inside one night:

Talk about a stressful, sad and pretty horrible weekend.  It was times like those that the great parts of the fall shone through: my best friends dropped everything to help me search the woods for Hobbes, who never came home again.  My mom came down to the new house and helped us get it ready.  Theo's parents, who live in Montana, sent us a set of power tools which were invaluable.  During that weekend, we received our first email from someone we didn't know and hadn't met who was interested in our lamb and chickens.

Eventually, we did move.  With one last, long look at the woods behind our old house, hoping that Hobbes might appear, we drove to the new farm.

What comes next?  Ordering seeds, putting the final touches on our new home, planting flower beds and waiting for spring.  What have we learned over the last year?  Not to let the cat outside.  Continued thanks to our family and friends who have been nothing but supportive as we begin this great adventure.  We've had lessons in perseverance, tenacity, hard work and that the days march on, no matter how great or how bad they might be.  Hopefully I'll write more, especially as the season gets started and we're doing more exciting things than installing a shower and wiring lights.

We hope that 2012 will be kind to us as new farmers and that the good times will continue to outweigh the bad.  We're getting a dog soon, so that might fill a bit of the emptiness Hobbes left in our lives and our home.  We can't wait to see how this year goes and to look back at it in twelve months with all that we've learned and all the experiences we've had.

I hope all of your New Years are happy and hopeful as well!

On Vacation...

Be back soon!

What a Week!

So much is happening around the farm! One of the most exciting things is that we're getting ready to harvest some of the crops that are busy growing in the fields. It's great to be able to walk outside and grab some lettuce for lunch. Sadly, the bugs and pests are also ramping up their season so our sweet potatoes aren't looking too great, nor are the cauliflower. Both of these are growing in our home garden. The tomatoes are getting bigger each day, but the Green Grape variety seems to have been hit by a bit of disease. I had to compost two of them which was rather sad since they had already set fruit. Luckily, I had some extras in the cold frames.

Tonight is the Big Pig Gig, our annual fundraiser at the Charles Hotel in Boston. Josh and Obi have been working for a week now getting the decorations ready and I can't wait to see how it all turns out!

And, over Memorial Day weekend, Theo and I went backpacking! We climbed Mt Eisenhower, Mt Pierce and Mt Jackson in the White Mountains. Very foggy and chilly but we had a great time. It was fun to eat some of the kale from the farm when we camped at night!

River Rat Race Part 2

Check out the video of the start here! After driving down to the bridge in Athol to watch the start, Theo and I jumped in our car and drove the back way to Orange to be by the finish. We watched Andrew and Justin paddle their way across, closely followed by Emily and Tyson. Such an incredible day, made even more so by finishing it off with the first cookout of the season at Reid and Kim's!

River Rat Race Part 1

This past weekend was the River Rat Race. It's a canoe race from Athol to Orange that is probably the craziest thing these towns see all year. We'd been hearing about it for months and the weekend did not disappoint with a carnival outside of Ocean State Job Lot and a parade down Main Street. There was a 5K on Saturday morning to kick of the festivities and we had all been betting on Kiyoshi, a fellow student farmer, for the win.

He did great! Theo, Emma and I were watching at the finish as he came around the corner and left the second place finisher in the dust for a time of 17:41. It was a very, very exciting finish.

Theo and I were on chores and when we returned to the farm, we found Emily and Tyson gearing up for the canoe race that started that afternoon.

Check out their super fast, super awesome, super rusty canoe!

More to come about the race when I get the video online.

Italy!

We're heading off to Italy! There's not much to do around the farm during the winter, so us student farmers are headed to a farm near Siena to learn how the Italians do it. We just finished up a week of vacation (skiing! woo hoo!) and are packing feverishly before heading to Logan. We'll be back at the end of February so there might not be much blog-action happening between now and then.

See you all in March!

The Creepy White Line

We had one of the best weekends in a while. Nat, Rebecca and Anthony came up for Josh's Eggnog Party. Very eggnogy, very fun, very good food. Also, a very rousing game of Settlers of Catan.

We finished the night with a huge fire behind the bunkhouse and the very good idea to go contra-dancing. We drove out to Springfield at 9, got there a bit before 10, and were thrown into a situation none of us were expecting or quite prepared for. We decided that contra-dancing is what the world would be like if the south and the hippies had won their wars. Look it up on you tube because words just don't do it justice.

It was, however, really quite enjoyable. Rebecca, Nat and I all danced with varying levels of skill and self-embarassment. Theo even waltzed with me at the end (which was slightly terrifying and and uncoordinated to say the least).

We rounded out the evening with a beer at People's Pint and rocked out in the car on the way home.

This morning, it was eggnog challah french toast, pork sausage and a sad farewell to our friends. Nat had brought us a pair of snowshoes from home, so Theo and I went on a bit of an adventure in the late afternoon sun.

We were happily walking along when, out of nowhere, a white string appeared across the path in front of us. A creepy, creepy white string that extended across the trail in both directions, about waist height and looking very deliberately set up. I was convinced that if we touched it, a giant rope net would scoop us up and ewoks would come out of the woods with spears.

Theo finally convinced me that that probably wouldn't happen and we ducked under and continued on our way. About 300 yards later, we came upon another one and took it a sign to head back.

If anyone knows anything about said creepy string, we are very curious and would love thoughts of what it is. I believe a deer probably grabbed a spool of thread in his mouth and went on a jolly jaunt through the woods. Thoughts?

Remoras Are Pretty Awesome

Who knew? Remoras attach themselves to the bottom of sharks and eat the scraps that are left behind. Apparently, they also really like bread. Awesome.

Caribbean Getaway

Theo and I had the most amazing/exciting/relaxing/enjoyable/etc vacation ever. We went with my family to the BVI and spent ten days sailing, swimming, snorkeling and celebrating the holidays.

I had meant to catch up with things I wanted to write before I left but never got around to it. I did, however, clean out my room at my parents house for the first time in years so that counts for something. The next few days might be a bit of a mash of vacation and farm related stuff as I catch up.

We decorated the boat for Christmas (there was a tree down below but we didn't get a picture).

After carols on Christmas Eve, we had our traditional sweet rolls (quite a feat when cooked in a galley!) on Christmas morning. We did a secret santa this year instead of lots of presents. I got Anomia from Mom, a new card game which is really really fun.

Theo and I spent Christmas day collecting firewood. Nothing like limbing and bucking on a beach!

After grilled lamb chops for a mid afternoon dinner (so good!), we built a fire for hotdogs and s'mores. Quite the Christmas.

On New Years Eve (locally called Old Years Night) we went to a great beach party. A local artist makes huge steel figures (this idol was complemented by giant balls and cubes), fills them with wood and lights them on fire for New Years and Full Moon festivals. Right at midnight what you see below was doused in kerosene and lit. The circles were fire crackers and behind all this were torches. All was well and good, except the wind was blowing from the water right onto the beach. We spent the first few moments of 2011 dodging smoke and embers.

We're Back!

Our Winter Break was also a break from writing because this happened:

Not just the pelican landing (and pooping) on the boat, but a spectacular vacation. Theo and I are currently doing laundry, getting used to the cold again and heading back to the farm. More to come!

Can't Wait

I'M SEEING MY CATS TODAY! And Rebecca and Anthony and we're going to have a fabulous weekend. Can't wait!

Friday Night Lights

After one weekend spent in Athol, I was prepared for the lack of nightlife and another evening spent on the farm. Luckily, inspiration struck in the form of the Athol High School football game. Go Red Raiders! We pulled out a win against the Red Hawks (hometown unclear) and didn't win the 50/50 raffle while drinking hot apple cider. Can't wait for the next home game!

Newport!

Theo and I just got back yesterday from a very successful weekend in Newport. Reasons for the success? 1) amazing Philly beer 2) PR in a 5K 3) seeing friends from Philly 4) the pork. The weekend got docked some points since Levi was not in attendance.

We started the weekend with Sarah and my 5K which was great, followed by a day wandering around Newport, a dinner of braised pork and vegetables from the farm and Jamie-Lee and Aaron's half marathon the next morning. And when I write Jamie-Lee and Aaron, I really mean Jamie-Lee and Duff-Man.

Tomfoolery

Another Terrific Tuesday! We started off the day with pancakes (yummy) and a whole lot of sitting around doing nothing. We celebrated all the nothing by going to the post office, bank and then to Haru for sushi and Franklin Fountain for ice cream. One of the highlights of the day was a) walking past independence hall with ice cream cones in the rain and watching Theo fail at eating his and b) my dad sending us to Le Meridian for a drink to check out their hotel for their big trip to Philly in September. We finished the night with drinks on the balcony after a delicious dinner of Chicken Marbella.

Birthday Adventures!

Well it's still technically over a month until we move, but we started this past weekend by taking two huge suitcases up to Newport. We met up with some friends for a delicious birthday dinner and the Opera House Cup. We sailed to Nantucket on Friday and spent Saturday eating a huge breakfast and practicing in the afternoon. After all those tacks and jibes, I'd say we were doing pretty well. Unfortunately, the wind died during the race on Sunday and we didn't do too well. Still had a great time, though, and ended the weekend at a party where we ate our weight in oysters and mussels. Yum!

Terrific Tuesday!

For the first time all year, Theo and I have been able to take the same day off work. Last week, we had a middle school date: we went to the mall, the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and saw Eclipse (yes, Twilight is our guilty pleasure). This week, we drove to the Pine Barrens in New Jersey and went canoeing!

It turns out that we are not the best at canoeing and it didn't help that by August the river was really low. We spent a lot of time hitting the bank and logs that were submerged under water. Twice we hit trees that unleashed a hoard of bugs onto me. Not so great.

We stopped for a picnic of cheese, fruit, hummus and sausage (yummy!) before continuing the battle down the river. But, the most important part of the day was in the car on the way there when we brainstormed blog titles. What you see here is the mastermind of an hour on Jersey roads laughing over farming puns. Less than two months until we start!