What's Up at WRLG
FARM BLOG
FROM THE FARMERS POINT OF VIEW
The season's are moving on.....where did summer go this year? My body has not been cooperative lately and many of the farm chores have not been done. I have missed 3 September farmers markets and yesterday I only sold eggs at the market. My low back and pelvis are having problems working together, it doesn't help that I have arthritis in the connections at the ends of the ribs ( it is called Facet Joint Arthritis).
I am hoping this week to slowly get some things done and a bit more canning. I need to find at least 2 white pumpkins so I can make Pickled Pumpkin. The drought has brought on an early harvest of apples and pears. I have made Spiced Apple jelly and Spiced apple rings. There are alot of pears, but they are small and hard which makes it difficult to do anything with them except to pick them and store them in the basement while they ripen.
Cucumbers and Zucchini seem to be done as well as peaches. I am glad I don't grow all those veggies.....I enjoy buying them from other farmers and paying them for their labor and expertise. I have some red fall raspberries, but they are very small and won't amount to much other than a snack for me and the birds. I am hoping to pick up some white pumpkins to make pickled pumpkin before the kitchen renovation begins. Now that the canning season is winding down I won't be doing much more canning till the canning kitchen is finished . Once that is done I will be starting to can the fruit in the freezer to make jams and preserves. As my dad would say" onward and upward". Yesterday just after noontime my neighbor Dot knocked on my door and the police arrived in my driveway with the blue lights going. Dot knocked and asked if any of my sheep have escaped? They are in the road......my thoughts made me not listen to the rest of what she was saying as I thought the boys had jumped over the fence next to the road. But no, that wasn't why they were there so I began listening again and she refered to the sheep running from the powerlines across the road.
I asked " were there black sheep with horns?" The reply was "yes" ...uh oh....but it still didn't sound right. My neighbor Dot offered to drive me down to where the sheep were and I went with her . There were certainly sheep crossing the road....but they weren't MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Luckily Dot and I plus the police man convinced the sheep to go into the cementary next to the powerlines. The sheep were owned by a neighbor on a road that runs parallel with the powerlines. Those sheep had certainly escaped and the owner headed over to the cementary to gather up their flock. I was relieved that the sheep weren't mine as it seemed impossible for my sheep to get to access to the powerlines. My fence line doesn't go anywhere near the border of the powerlines and I don't have any gates on the backside of the property. Most of my escapes occur when the grass is no longer enough and my big boy rams will jump over the fence into the lush overgrowth next to the roadside fence. But they usually jump right back if anyone approaches them. The farm animals make life on the farm different everyday! ALL ABOUT FAMILY determined that the north end of the first barn had come off it's foundation and needs more work than just a roof job. So in late March of 2023 they will start work on the barn infrastructure and what foundation work can be started. The canning kitchen conversion will start near the end of October (after I finish canning for the season). As it is right now the canning season seems never ending. The hot stretches of weather haven't helped my canning output. I find it hard to pick fruit , pick up local veggies to can and still manage to do the cooking and canning, farm chores etc . I think it has more to do with not being physically isolated, unlike the past 2 years. I leave the house much more regularly than I was and boy does that take time away from the farm. But hopefully I can fill the shelves in the basement as I had 5 or 6 years ago. Yet I need to be realistic and do what I can and hope for the best! Right now I am listening to the crew from ALL ABOUT FAMILY LLC. as they replace the screws and caulk the roof of the additon. Metal roofs are wonderful till they are missing screws and leaks develop.
After the roof job is done they will move on to the north end of the first barn to repair the infrastructure before they roof it(with leftover shingles from the barn restoration) and side it with shakes(left over from the addition work). The canning kitchen cabinets will be arriving soon and the laminate, hood and sink are here. But I was told today, the crew doesn't want to start that job till I am done canning. Which will mean renovation for the canning kitchen will start 1st week in October. The other kitchen in the addition can't be worked on till the cabinets arrive in December as they were custom. Oh and another little wrinkle has developed, the counter top fabricator is going to change, but because I don't have any cabinets yet this point is rather mute. But it may mean once the cabinets are in...I may be living with plywood for a bit....we shall see! Things with the addition kitchen/living room are past the design stage......the cabinets have been ordered! My sister Suzie came this last weekend and did the designs and we went and decided on cabinets, counter tops ,wall coverings for the CANNING KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!. Even though I have an AGA in the new space, that kitchen will be the cooking and entertaining room, not the canning kitchen.
It will be a couple of months till all is completed , but I can't wait to see the spaces transformed! It still is strange to be able to walk into the addition and down to the basement without having to go outside. Plus the air movement in the house is much better and at night I can open the north windows in the addition and use the exhaust fan in my bedroom to pull the hot air out and bring the cooler air in! This is a game changer for more comfortable sleeping during this hot and steamy week. The addition was Brandon's Baby....what you see was his vision and his hard work. I am sad that neither he or our parent's got to see it. It is a marvelous space with great accoustics and I only played a small part in it's construction. It brings me joy to see Brandon's personality stamped into every aspect of the building.
I have to give heart felt thanks to my Brother in law Richard,his boys and my niece's husband for doing the deck on the foundation on which the post and beam structure was built. A big thank you to the builder from Bethleham NH(whose name escapes me, it was 20+ years ago) for making and letting Brandon help assemble the frame. I want to thank the Gun enthusiasts friends(from one of his computer gigs) who helped Brandon and the blue tractor get the insulated panels on the north facing roof and then went and shot targets in the backyard at the home range Brandon had put together. I realized today that most of the work happened while I was quilting or teaching quilting. How could I have missed all the hubbub. Plus we had three Belgian Tervurians at the time who needed to be walked or played with 3 times a day and Brandon was still working his computer gigs away from the farm in between working on the addition. I know I helped put up the steel I-beams in the basement to support the sub floor of the addition. I helped bleach the post and beam structure once it was in place and helped to stain all the wood used for the ceiling and walls. But the rest of it, once the structure was in place it was all Brandon. He was a marvel.....god how I miss him. It was less than 24 hrs since the last post and my world has changed.....it has been 20+ years I have been waiting for this day.
Now it is here.......no more having to go out the front door to get into the basement of the addition. No going out in the rain bringing jars down or up from the basement. I am adjusting very slowly and so is Zorra as she needs stair treads on the stairs as her feet otherwise slide when she is going up....so I will do that today. Yesterday June 29,2022 would have been our 31st wedding anniversary and today is my 66th birthday. It has been almost 4 years since Brandon died, much has happened and changed since then.
All our parent's are gone, but none were lost to covid for which I am most grateful. The post and beam addition is being worked on as I type (they arrive at 7am every weekday) and the barn with no roof is now sound and a godsend. Almost all the sheep that needed to be shorn are shorn and all but two lambs have been tagged and every sheep has had their yearly shot of selenium. I was just told that by tomorrow I will be able to walk from the old house to the addition! HOW EXCITING IS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!! More pictures to come! Thinsgs are moving right along! The guys from All about Family finished siding the north side of the addition yesterday. They are working on finishing the south sdie of the addition today. The gable end(east side) is about 1/2 of the way done. It is shingled and takes a bit longer.
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Mary Will Sussman Archives
March 2024
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