On the bright side

Hooray! The greenhouse is finished (again) not a moment too soon. The new, improved design is simpler to allow for easier moving when the time comes and I bought some serious anchors for the corners. You can sort of see one on the near corner, it's sunk in the ground about 2 feet and then bolted and screwed to the foundation of the greenhouse. John also had two 50 gallon drums full of cement lying idle on a stone wall. They are now tied to the middle of the greenhouse. Just in time for another blizzard and wind storm yesterday. It's still standing and after yesterday I have confidence that it will make it through the winter.
Holiday harvest shares are coming up for the Christmas share folks. I went out in the garden today and shoveled the snow to reveal fresh carrots. Here they are, fresh from the garden, the good earth, spongy and sweet, still clinging to the sugary roots. Most root crops can be stored in the ground the way they grow until spring with a heavy mulch. An early, substantial snow like this makes an awesome mulch. Isn't nature grand when we get out of the way and recognize that she is providing for all her creatures?

Here is our meal from the other night when it snowed. How local are you? The dish shows pumpkin soup with dried thyme, both of which came from our gardens, (milk from grass fed cows at the Old Ackley Farm in Blue Hill), roasted garlic from the garden, spaghetti squash with fresh thyme, also from the gardens and root cellar. The bread was a last minute thing or it would have been local as well. But for the bread everything on the table came from no more than 30 miles from our house. We're getting better all the time, striving to be completely self-sufficient.

Finally, our beautiful baby girl helping daddy make pumpkin cookies from our Long Pie Pumpkins (another gift from the root cellar...and a summer of hard work). She loves to stand up on a chair and help us cook. She gets her own spoons, spices and pile of flour. A wonderful tradition passed down through the generations from my wife's grandmother.

Doesn't she look grown up in her apron and so strong to carry that heavy pumpkin all the way from the door to the cellar to the kitchen. She is very much enjoying the cookies as a reward for all of her wonderful help.

Until next time...

local food, global change