First Snow of the Year

but we still have veggies in the greenhouse.

Snow is always a surprise - especially when you get 8 inches all at once! Luckily, we have one and a half greenhouses planted while the third one will be used for the chickens this winter. Those lucky chickens should have a much warmer place to live in the greenhouse rather than the chicken coop. As a bonus, they will have made our greenhouse soil that much more fertile come spring.

We have stopped selling our vegetables commercially (except to the occasional, persistent customer) but it is so nice to have fresh salad, beets, kale, chard, and carrots at hand for our own meals.

Last Crop of the Season

Garlic is one of my favorite crops for a multitude of reasons. It is the first crop to poke its stem through the ground in the spring, it is the last one to go in the ground before the winter rest, and it is low-maintenance the rest of the time. Not to mention that it is also versatile and delicious!

If there is any doubt about climate change then garlic planting is here to refute those doubts. Traditionally, garlic has been planted in October but we have been able to plant our garlic for the last two seasons in November. We have even waited to this week (the week of November 15th) to mulch the last of it. Talk about late!

Here are photos of our latest garlic planting session. Thanks to our good friend, Jason Gamache, for helping us out!

Fall Produce

We still have plenty of produce available. Sam has one of the greenhouses planted with fall/winter produce and we still have hardy broccoli, kale, chard, lettuce, and carrots available along with root cellar varieties of winter squash, potatoes, onions, and apples. Needless to say, we are awash in food. So what are we up to now? Sam has been busily offering non-subscription farm shares to our farmers' markets customers as well as getting ready to plant garlic. Next up, 3 Icleandic ewes to be delivered in late January. Oh yeah, and we are getting ready for the baby girl due in mid-December!

The belly

Eggplants - finally!

Weeds

Just in case you thought our farm was weedless here is evidence to counteract that delusion. Can you guess which vegetables (or maybe fruit) are growing here?

Garlic Baseball and Harvest

The baby chickens are all grown up

Visitors

Amaliya's Nest Box for the New Chickens

As Sam says, 'Amaliya is a natural carpenter.'

Greenhouse #2

Basil, Squash, Cucumbers, and Peppers

Shell Peas

The Jungle of Tomatoes Begins

Chicken Tractor

Strawberries!

Baby Bump

Who Says You Can't Grow an Avocado?

The Beauty of a Greenhouse...

Tomatoes in June in Maine!

Benton's Visit

What does every farmer need? A nephew to visit him for a week. We put Benton to work this week with compost screening, greenhouse watering, and lots of planting. In between the hours of work he and Sam were able to squeeze in some mackerel fishing on the bay, a salt marsh paddle, and lots of clamming.

Greg & Andrea & the Nephews

We were treated to a visit by Greg & Andrea and the three nephews (Benton, Andrew, and sweet baby James). In typical Cheeney fashion, much work was done (including the finishing of the tractor shed - yes!) and lots of good food was eaten. We even got to squeeze in a swim.

Boar's Nest Cabin

What does every farmer need? The occasional canoe trip. Sam and I paddled up the Narraguagus River in Cherryfield (Maine) and stayed at an old 1930's cabin for a night. One of the highlights was the one pot dish of pork chops, potatoes, kale, garlic scapes, and onions that Sam cooked up - almost all food grown by us or the farm down the street.