As the days start to grow longer and the diurnal shifts more drastic, we are reminded of what lies beneath this subtle white blanket of yet another rather mild winter. Seasonal changes that we have been observing over the last few years seem to be the new normal. Hard frosts are flipped with rainy warmth, even during what should be the coldest parts of the year. Finding mud season creeping into the February side of the calendar and recalling more worries about making sure homestead drainage is up to snuff and less worries about keeping snow paths cleared to access compost piles and tool shed ..read more

  An idyllic wet snow blanketed our homestead by mid December but like recent winters have shown the roller coaster weather rolled back with a nasty wallop of rain and wind that knocked power out for many around the state and caused a lot of havoc with flooding and property damage. After cleaning up from the storm it was time to gussy up the home with some seasonal cheer as the solstice quickly approached. I was able to score a good clutch of winterberry that I spied along a ATV trail nearby and gathered other offerings from our land to set the mood. Pinecones are super abundant this y ..read more

 As the growing season of 2023 comes to a close, we scroll through the memories of the seasons fleeting moments of success and abundance as the morning frost gathers on our windows. The sound of hunting rifles echo through the crisp autumn air, tools get gathered and stored... replaced only by the rake, ice scraper and snow shovels that winter will put to the test. Wood gets split and stacked, tarps get folded, beds get amended and holiday trimmings are gathered. The ground hardens at the crust as we dig out the dahlia tubers for storage and plant a slew of tulips, daffodils, irises, croc ..read more

  The upside to this rain soaked summer has been the prolific varieties of fungus popping up amongst the landscape day after day. As you may have picked up from previous blog posts, mushrooms are a big fascination and area of discovery on the homestead.  From inoculating logs, burying spawn plugs, making mushroom beds along with diving into indoor cultivation along with wandering the landscape and working on identifying our findings. This summer has been full of discoveries and dinner delicacies as we hone our foraging skills and broaden our identification methods.  As a self pr ..read more

So with all the rain and slugs we had our veggies set back a bit as most growers in New England but we still managed to get a decent harvest of snap peas, bowlfuls of lettuce and leafy greens along with garlic scapes, shiitake mushrooms and bountiful herbs. Somedays it seemed the season was going to spiral into the worst of my gardening life, but alas some scattered sunny days have opened and the summer onslaught of veggies is delayed but arriving as I scourer our photos to pick out some of the winning blooms that have occurred in June and July. More on veggies in an upcoming post but for now ..read more

Greetings! It's been a minute...planting season combined with the end of our daughters school year as well as all things summer seem to have burst into existence all at once. The pictures, projects and thoughts pile up as the moments of time available to drop updates seems to evaporate like the morning dew... but alas here we are! Here is a throw back to the first of June where the temps began warming and our cold hardy crops were starting to gather strength as seeds were sown and seedlings transplanted. And then came the rain... along with more rain and more rain. After the last couple ..read more

Got a few hours in the Rootcellar Studio this week and was able to finish up this piece I started a couple weeks ago! Buzzing Beets. (Acrylic, Watercolor and Ink on 300# Arches Paper) Time does not teach the honeybee how to dance Time just allows Honeybees just dance Flowers bloom Times fades Petals flutter Butterflies Worm Dirt Root Time just allows Time does not teach the honeybee how to dance Honeybees just dance ..read more

 Mays days are fleeting and the suns rays feel stronger by the day.  The no seeums and biting flies are joining the party as the landscape awakens and the various songbirds migrate their way back into the ecosystem filing the air with their distinct songs and behaviors. A resident skunk appears to be devouring grubs at a rapid pace and hopefully their persistence will ease up any Japanese beetle impact come summer. Cycles of nature have a way of balancing themselves out if we just spend the time to observe rather than react, we can learn so much. We always try to take those reflectiv ..read more

Catch up post! As I mentioned previously, its been a busy spring season here at the homestead with any windows of time always being focused on getting cold hardy crops in the ground, nursing perennials, mulching beds, spreading & flipping compost, starting seeds, prepping tubers, checking in on bees, inoculating fungi and garden planning! I figured now being on the cusp of our last frost date, that it was a good time to get caught up on a couple of our new additions as well as update the progress of all those fall bulbs we got planted. If you recall from a previous post, we got some f ..read more

                                                                     Biodynamics?  You may be unfamiliar with this term or the reason why I found it intriguing enough to take the plunge. It is a slightly long and convoluted path that I have had through the years of investigating different holistic and intuitive gardening practices from around the globe. At its core its a philosophy of growing that was developed by Ru ..read more