New Trees and First CSA

Here are my luxurious summer accommodations!

We call this cabin Water Music because you can hear the brook that runs behind it. I planted a garden out front and there is a beautifully scented rose bush by the step. Later in the summer there will be morning glories climbing the strings by the porch. It just doesn't get any better than this!

Look closely at this picture and you will see the most exciting thing that we did over the weekend, planted trees!! Mom and I planted three sugar maple trees in front of Water Music, next to the raspberries. I love planting trees!
Here it is folks!

The first CSA of the season. My mom has been growing veggies for CSA for 16 years. I remember helping her when I was a kid, it is fun distribute the harvest into members' crates knowing that by the end of the day the fruits of your labor will be feeding a local family. Receiving a CSA share once a week is like getting a present, you never know just what you will get and it is exciting to see what you can make with all those fresh veggies! Yum! Mom likes to include recipes and info about the farm in a note that comes with the share.

Check out a CSA in your area!

Not Much Knitting, But I do have a FO!

What do you block a hat on??? A red cabbage!

I finished the hat to go with my sister's wedding shawl. I am very happy with it, I had to come up with my own pattern so I just kind of winged it. I used three strands of lace weight Zephyr held together and I used size #0 US needles.

I have made a little progress on the shawl using the same yarn. My goal is to use up the yarn and make it as big as possible before the wedding!
And a close up, I am practicing with my new camera. It seems pretty close color wise.

New toy, New friend, and Pie!

Wow it has been too long since I posted! Things have been crazy here. Planting season on the farm and the first wedding in the family is fast approaching. I am in making the wedding cake for my sister's wedding in August so I have recipes to perfect and chocolate to source. Everyone has a part in the wedding so we are all going a little crazy. Planting is busy as always on a farm. Hopefully we will be finished buy the middle of next week.


This week we made pies for the farmer's market. Mom used to make them twenty years ago and People didn't want to pay for them because they could make their own, but now few people make their own pies and a true home made one is hard to find. Flavor of the week: Strawberry Rhubarb! a Vermont classic.

I have a new friend!

He was happy to be the subject for the first shot with my new camera! He and his two sisters will be looking for new homes soon. What a cutie!
I am enjoying learning to use a digital camera, I was worried at first that nothing was coming out nice because I was looking at them just on the LCD screen, but when I put them on the computer they are not too bad. I hope to get a lot more practice.

Wow, I've been busy!

Lets see, what have I been up to since my last post?
In a nut shell, a long car trip, seeing the Yarn Harlot, visiting Webs, seeing my family, a family emergency, a surprise trip to Boston and a visit with a good friend, working on the farm in the dirt and baking lots of cookies. whew, it's been crazy!

Out of the nut shell,
Li'l M and I had a fine trip up from Arkansas, relatively uneventful. Gas prices are no fun but we got to stop and see Stephanie and visit Webs so that made up for it. Stephanie was awesome! We laughed a lot! At Webs we both went a little crazy over the yarn, I got a bunch of sock yarn and some lace weight to make a shawl for me, finally. M got some yarn to make her first hat and some sock yarn. she wants to learn how to make socks next! Check out M with her first yarn! She walked into the spinning section at Webs and said (pointing to a wheel) "what's this?" the next thing I know an enabler of the finest sort has got a hold of her and is teaching her to spin! It was great! I even got my first drop spindle lesson from the lovely Marcy. Sometime during the evening I fell completely under the spell of bamboo, I loved every yarn that had bamboo in it and I almost couldn't resist the pull of the bamboo top in the spinning fiber section, so soft, so shiny, so, so irresistible! I must get a spindle and learn to spin so I can make my very own delicious bamboo yarn!

The day after returning home my younger brother had an accident and had to be flown to Boston to the hospital there. I, of course, rushed down there to be with him and bring him home when he was released. It was lucky that I was home because there is no one else in the family in a position to drop everything and go to Boston. He was released after only two days instead of the three or four we had first thought. He should be all better in a few weeks, thank goodness! The up side is that I had a chance to visit my good friend who lives in Boston and meet her new baby! What a sweetie!

After all the excitement I finally got to settle in on the farm. The weather has been very good so far this year so the fields and gardens are looking good. It is a joy to be doing simple, meaningful labor in such a beautiful place. In addition to helping in the fields I will be doing most of the baking over the summer, which I enjoy.

I am expecting my new camera to come in the mail any day and I hope to post pictures and blog about farm life while I"m here!