31 Jul
Ah, been really preoccupied these last 3 or 4 days with blueberry festival stuff and some other paperwork. I promise I’ll update late tonight or tomorrow morning for real.
BEGINNING OF WEEK 5! (Also, I’m leaving a week earlier than I anticipated because my parents have to move my sister into college the original weekend I was going to come home. So, I’ll be home August 26th!)
26 Jul
Ugh. What a headache I’ve got this morning. Yesterday, we woke up and I cooked breakfast for everyone. Then, did a bunch of paperwork. After lunch, we had a pyganic spraying squash bug party out in the south field. All hands on deck. It only took us just under 2 hours, but it’s so exhausting. Good news is our squash plants though plagued with some bugs are unbelievably healthy and we’ve got TONS of squash growing.
Sarah and I decided we wanted to go out after dinner for a drink. Put on some real clothes and get off the farm. So, we got dressed up-ish and first went to Brattleboro because there was this cute microbrew bar I wanted to check out. Well, we got there and holy hell, Brat is DEAD and empty. At least on weeknights. So, we got back in the car and drove to Keene to go to this bar Katie had told us about that she said was cool. Finding a cool bar here has been difficult. We parked on Main in front of this other bar that I went to the other night with Steph and we start walking down Main to try and find this bar. Well, we walked up and down Main and it was nowhere to be found. Finally, we decided to poke our heads down this alley, and way out in the back of the building was the bar we were looking for and there were PEOPLE there! It’s probably where we’ll end up going from now on. Wednesday night is Irish night so all Irish beers and drinks are cheaper. We had some Jameson. Met THREE math teachers there. Weird. Played some music on the music machine. Then, we went to the bar we parked in front of because some of the folks at the first bar told us there’d be karaoke there and Sarah loves karaoke. We walked over with a bunch of people, and one of them said they were going to sing 4 Non Blondes “What’s Up.” I LOVE that song, and may have joined a random stranger in singing it. We got to the bar and ordered gin and tonics. Better than last time I was there. Ran into one of the practicum students who works on the farm from Keene State there which was funny. Karaoke night was interesting. I drank a lot. We got back to the farm a little before 1 and I crawled right into bed. All in all, it was an amusing and entertaining night. And now I’ve got a hangover headache pounding in my head and just want to eat salty, greasy food.
Today though huge thunderstorm will be passing through and there are electrical outages up and down the coast. So, we’re preparing for that by hauling up the generator to the store and making sure it works. Jeanny is teaching us how to can beets today. Yesterday we pulled all the beets from row 1 in the North field and Sarah and I cut the tops and tails and cleaned them and soaked them in water overnight. It’s a good day for canning if it’s going to be storming. I’M SO EXCITED FOR THE STORM!
I made a ham steak for breakfast today with a sliced apples cooked in butter, brown sugar, whole grain dijon mustard, and thyme. We also had scrambled eggs and leftover potato and string bean salad from yesterdays dinner. Ham steaks are delicious. I’m getting so spoiled here with high quality food. I’ve also been consistently surprising myself with good cooking, but I think it’s hard to cook something badly when you’re working with the best ingredients. Anyway, I’m spending the morning organizing more blueberry festival stuff.
EVERYONE SHOULD COME! AUGUST 12TH!
Also, I’m really pissed because I think my camera is broken and I just fucking bought a $40.00 computer cord for it from Sony so I could upload my photos to my computer. So, I haven’t been taking photos for 2 days. Here’s a sunset photo from a few nights ago.
Sunset and the driveway to our farm.
24 Jul
So, plans changed. We realized that not everyone was here for the squash party and we really need all hands on deck for that. Postponed it until tomorrow afternoon. It will be better then anyway, sunnier out. Squash bugs like the sun, and it is a little overcast today. In fact, we just came inside because it smells like rain and right now there is thunder.
I forgot to mention the most exciting part of my day thus far in my earlier post. I received MAIL today! Every week I try to write friends and family back home a little card or note. A friend of mine wrote back and SURPRISE! She has the same veggie and fruit stationary that I do. It’s so exciting to get mail. I will spend the next hour or so doing paperwork that I have on my list to get done for store manager, and then finishing up dinner, and then dinner, and then finishing the last 20 pages of this play I will most likely be designing. I might take a trip to Keene to run some errands. We’ll see. I’d rather be laying in bed today like this:
Fatty being lazy.
24 Jul
Stephanie came to visit this past weekend. It was fun. On Sunday we woke up and picked blueberries and walked around Brattleboro. Saw this magical woman while we were at a stoplight:
Then, back to the farm, and then to Keene for some Ultimate pickup. This week’s turnout was MUCH better than last weeks and I met some cool new people. Stephanie started to learn how to play and jumped in on a few points! So that was very exciting. Then, we came home, showered and went back into Keene to get Mexican food and margaritas before she had to leave.
This week I am store manager so in addition to being responsible for the farm store and farm stand, I am responsible for cooking meals for everyone and keeping the kitchen/mud room tidy and neat. So yesterday morning for breakfast I made scrambled eggs with diced onions and peppers, sauteed kale with garlic, oil, and chunks of taylor ham (Stephanie brought me some!), and toast. Lunch was leftover homemade pizza, Jeanny’s hommus, a large spread of raw cut veggies (tomatoes, snap peas, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, etc), hard boiled eggs, and other leftovers. For dinner, I made roasted potatoes with rosemary and olive oil, blanched string beans and snap peas with garlic, s&p, and almonds. For the entree, I sauteed diced onions and peppers in oil with zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes, added 2 pounds of ground pork sausage meat, 1 lb of ground pork, tomato paste, red wine, and seasonings and let it simmer for a long time. It smelled DELICIOUS. Everyone loved dinner and there enough leftovers for lunch today.
This morning for breakfast I made a kale and scallion frittata, leftover roasted potatoes with rosemary, and BACON. Our  smoked meats finally came in from our last set of pigs. SO TASTY! For dinner we’re going to have pulled pork. I’ve had 2 pork shoulders in the crock pot all day, and collard greens, and beets. Probably leftover blanched snaps peas/beans because we’ve just got tons of it.
Fatty keeps coming into my room around 4 in the morning and annoying the shit out of me. I could keep my door closed but I like having airflow. Yesterday I went out to the farmstand to put everything away and saw Sugar rolling around in a pile of dried out grass clippings. So I laid down about 15 feet from her on my back just because it looked like a good time. Sugar came over to me and curled up on my chest while I lay there under the sun setting and it was so relaxing. But, then Ginger came over and chased Sugar away.
In about five minutes we’re having a squash party out in the south field. Not as fun as it sounds. We’re spraying pyganic again but a stronger solution because we were doing it too weak, and in a different method on the plants. It’s going to take a couple hours. UGH.
I’m working on planning the Blueberry Festival and some other things for the farm. Keeping pretty busy.
Straight from the Blueberry Forest
22 Jul
YAY! So, yesterday (Saturday) we woke up to do barn chores then got to nap afterwards because we were up late with the films on the farm Friday night. I tried napping but my nap quality was poor so I caught up on some other things, and finished watching an episode of Sopranos. I think I’m about to start Season 3. Anyway, then I did some work in the garden. We had planned on making pizza (both regular and paleo options) for dinner so I was going to make ricotta. Realized we had no heavy cream and off I went to Brattleboro to buy some heavy cream. Spent a couple hours making cheese. Then, went out and did more weeding all the while anxiously waiting for Stephanie to get here! After some weeding I went inside and cleaned our downstairs bathroom because it was getting dirty. Then I took a shower and BAM! Steph was here.
She helped me with evening barn chores, and then we had dinner. The paleo pizza crust is made with cauliflower, cheese, eggs, and some spices and was DELICIOUS. My favorite pizza had sausage meat and beets on it. While we were eating a gigantic Vietnamese family came and asked to buy two of our ducks…live. We had 6 ducks (4 white and 2 brown) and they wanted the brown ones. So, Sarah and I put our shoes on and went to catch some ducks. We had never sold live ducks here on the farm before so we weren’t quite sure how to hand them over, but they asked us to tie the feet together. They were super friendly and loved our farm and will definitely be back.
After dinner, Steph and I finished up barn chores and then went into Keene to get a drink. Keene is such a weird place. Bars close at 12:45/1ish and I still have yet to find a place that makes a good gin and tonic. We walked around Main Street for a bit then settled on this one sports bar. Walked in and realized OH NO WE’RE IN RED SOX COUNTRY!!! Red Sox on every televesion!!! We only had one drink each then went home because we were EXHAUSTED.
Yesterday when I went to collect eggs around noon I went to push one of the hens out of the box she was sitting in so  I could collect the eggs in there, and when she stood up PLOP out came an egg. I have never in my life seen an egg come out of a chicken’s body that up close and personal at eye level before. It was pretty weird? Cool? Anyway, here she is:
Hen whose privacy I invaded.
21 Jul
I’ve been pretty tired lately and so I haven’t been updating as often. I’ll update for yesterday now.
Last night was our first ever films on the farm night. So, we spent most of the day (with the exception of morning CSA harvest) preparing. I made kale chips, we picked blueberries, made popcorn, set up the farmstand as a concession stand as well. Made coffee and had hot water for hot chocolate. Set up a screen in front of the gazebo and put out some lawn chairs. Richard built a fire so people could roast marshmallows or hot dogs. However, we forgot to put this in the newspaper so the advertising wasn’t very good and our numbers were very small. No new people, just friends and us. We showed the movie “Babe” which is SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD.
I’ve got tons of photos I’ve been taking. I think maybe I will put them in a flickr album or something and post that up here. I’m going to try organizing a blueberry festival for the farm. We need to get more people here to pick blueberries and know that we exist! So, right now tentative date is August 12th – a Sunday afternoon. I’ve got lots of work ahead of me but I enjoy it and it’s kind of like preparing for a NJL meeting or Wayne Day.
Jeanny and I had a long conversation two days ago about what my plans are when I get back to NJ. It came up because I got a phone call two days ago from the Dean at my old college asking if I want to costume design a show there this fall (September through middle of October). I told him I’d read it this weekend and let him know for sure by Tuesday. I told Jeanny I’ll probably do that and see if I can pick up a day or two of work on a farm every week. The conversation morphed into being about how I could take all my managing and other skills from costume design and weave it into the local foods and farming community. Basically, the conversation we had was almost exactly the same one my best friend Stephanie and I had several months ago about creating a position for myself where I work with farms on events and connecting them with their public and communities and local restaurants and things. Then I started looking into jobs similar to that already out there and there are some things to look into. Jeanny said she’d help me come up with a resume that pertains to what I’m thinking about. In the meantime, I’ve got lots of plans for events, activities, and more that will connect our farm here in NH with the community and help them get more customers. Today is my last day as barn manager and next week I’ll be working the store so I’m hoping to start implementing some of my ideas shortly.
Our farmstand.
18 Jul
We all expected today to be just as hot as yesterday and so we all woke up super early and were down in the squash spraying pyganic by 5:45 in the morning while it was still cool-ish (the 70s). Took us a couple of hours and then we had breakfast and then we did barn chores. Jeanny said that she thought we would end up having to take most of the day off because of oppressive heat. However, it ended up not being nearly as hot today as it was the last two days. So, we ended up doing a lot of planting (beans and cabbage). I did take a little extra time after lunch to lay in bed and rest because I was pretty tired before I got back to work. Jeanny taught me how to use the rototiller, and I just know my forearms and hands are going to be so sore tomorrow. Since we did start super early I finished up around 3:30/4ish and took a shower then went to Brattleboro to pick up some vintage clothes I bought and to stop at the co-op to buy some yogurt and some things for our Films on the Farm night for Friday evening. It also turned out that tonight was the first night nobody was eating together at the house so I went into Keene for dinner. Delicious NY strip steak with smoked gouda mashed potatoes, and then a Greek yogurt cheesecake with Blackberry port wine reduction sauce. I was EXHAUSTED and came home and now I’m ready to pass out.
Here’s a funny picture of Sugar from a few nights ago.
Meow.
16 Jul
On a break right now. It’s just too damn hot and humid out. It stormed last night but obviously not enough to break the heat. The thunder was pretty great though, and this morning there was fog all over the North Field. We had a meeting to talk about some updated responsibilities of the store, barn, and field managers. Store manager is also in charge of the kitchen and keeping it tidy and of meals. Everyone must report down to the barn by 6:30 every morning to help the barn manager with chores, which I am personally grateful for this week! After that, it was harvesting for CSA baskets. Then, I did some weeding in the north field, and then i broke from garden chores at 11:30 to do midday barn chores. Part of the new stuff we talked about at the meeting this morning is that lunch will be at noon. Well, turns out the barn chores took my about 45 minutes. So, I might have to adjust some things. Then, after lunch, we did some maintenance to the cukes and tomatoes and came inside to break from the humidity and the heat.
I took a cold shower because I got pretty dirty from midday barn chores and now I am just laying in bed with the fan on. I might make myself a smoothie/milkshake with some blueberries.
Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter, hitting 100 degrees. 😦
Here are some photos of the fog this morning for your viewing pleasure.
15 Jul
Today was our day off. And it turned out to be a pretty good one. I did my first day of barn chores. I think I’ll be happier with this position than garden manager, but I’m (as usual) terrified of fucking it up. Woke up to do morning barn chores, then at 9:30 Kate, Sarah, Stephanie and I all went to Brattleboro for a yoga class. WOW! One of the best yoga classes I’ve ever gone to. The teacher was fantastic. I might get a 5 class card when I’m here and try to continue going on Sunday mornings with Sarah.
Stopped in this adorable and huge antiques/vintage clothing store and bought myself a few things. This one dress look FANTASTIC on me if I may say so myself.
Afterwards, came back to the farm, did noon chores. Then, hung out and got ready for…ULTIMATE! I went to pickup in Keene. Super small turnout, but we made the best of it and played 3s or 4s. Seems like a fun group of people. Going to try to go to Brattleboro’s pickup one Tuesday or Thursday. Supposedly, it’s bigger there and a tiny bit more competitive from what I understand? Anyway, it started drizzling during pickup which was great too.
Came back to the farm and the locavore cooking class was finishing up. Little Erica helped me with evening barn chores Part 1, and then I came inside and stayed out of the kitchen until everyone was done cleaning up from the cooking class and then finally ate dinner. Leftovers again, I love pork chops. After that the rest of my night was eating my weight in frozen blueberries (my fingers are stained a bit), folding laundry, and watching Sopranos while listening to the thunderstorm and rain outside.
I don’t know why but sleep that you get during a storm always feels like better sleep.
Going to go to morning barn chores after our meeting at 6:30.
North Shore beach at Lake Spofford.
The water is crystal clear and warm! I heard it reached 84 degrees.
14 Jul
Slacked off updating as frequently these last two days. I’m sleep so I’ll get to it:
Day 13 – CHICKEN PROCESSING
I killed chickens today. The dinos finally met their doomsday. It was really quite simple. I won’t go into too much detail and I won’t post any graphic photos. I guess if you’re interested in seeing those you can ask me and I’ll email them to you. We had these metal cones that hung up in a row in the carriage shed “kill room” small end down. Then, you pick out a bird, holding it upside down by the feet. If you do that and swing them gently it kind of lulls them and they relax. The cones are about waist height, and there is a ditch below them in the ground with a plastic tarp in it to catch the blood that drains out. Then, you sit on a bucket with the bird head first in the cone, and holding it’s head down, you feel for the jaw bones and make 3 cuts right under the jawbone on the neck. Two to kill, one to cut through the esophagus. Some people don’t do that third cut, but Richard said he prefers it. You don’t cut off the head, you just hold it as the blood drains out and the bird stops moving. Even though the chicken is dead, the body does move around a bit. One interesting thing I learned is that the chickens feathers sort of puff up and then relax when you do this.
The next step is to loosen the feathers. We rented some equipment that helps with all this. You hang about 4 birds by their feet upside down and dip them a few times in this vat of hot water (must be about 150 degrees Fahrenheit) and a bit of Dawn soap. When the wing feathers pull out easy it’s done. You don’t want to over do this.
The chicken plucker.
Then, they need to be defeathered. First, you pull off the head, and then cut off the feet. We throw these in a special box to get burned later. To defeather, we have a machine that plucks them. You can see it in the diagram. Basically, you turn the switch on and water spurts out and the inside spins. You hold 2 birds up high and drop them in. Then, the rubber arms in there get almost all the feathers off. You have to be very careful not to leave them in there too long, because then the machine will tear the skin and you DON’T want that. Take the birds to the table and remove any remaining feathers then drop in big bin of cold water. When all the birds are done up to this point you move on to evisceration.
I was a bit afraid of eviscerating because I didn’t want to puncture an intestine and get poop all over the place, or worse the gall bladder and get bile all over everything. Jeanny taught me how and did a wonderful job because the first bird I eviscerated was PERFECT. We save the heart, liver, and gizzard. After evisceration, they get put in a bin with ice water until they’re all done.
Then, we weigh and package them!
Like I said, I took some photo and video but I don’t know how any of you folks do with seeing those kinds of things. So, if you’re interested shoot me an email or a message and I’ll send you photos.
After chicken plucking, we had some garden things to do. I spent the entire day weeding a row in the north field. ALMOST THE WHOLE DAY! It was insane. I couldn’t even properly scrub off all the dirt in my fingers. Jeanny and Sara had this brilliant idea to have Katie make margaritas, so when I got out of the shower I was promptly handed a salty margarita on the rocks which was fantastic. Then, we all proceeded to get pretty drunk, roast hot dogs on the firepit, and marshmallows, and stayed up late chatting and having fun.
Day 14 – SUPER HOT
Today, I woke up in a panic that I forgot to do some watering last night. I had a terrible headache, and turns out I fell asleep with my laptop on my chest last night and it was still there this morning. I must have been sleeping like a log. This morning was awful. Everything took three times longer than it should have, but not because we were all still recovering from the amount of tequila we drank but things just kept getting interrupted. Denise and I had to spray pyganic on all the squash and I wanted to kill someone. It’s a terrible job. Then, my young friend Jake and his Dad were passing through and stopped by the garden so I gave them a tour and while I was doing that Richard decided that it was just too darn hot to do work safely outside today and gave us the rest of the day off! I was going to go to Lake Spofford but instead decided to shower (good choice), and sit in bed watching Sopranos, eating frozen blueberries and napping. Super glad today is my last day as garden manager for a couple weeks. Tomorrow morning I start as barn manager. So, we’ll see how that goes. Dinner tonight was so delicious. Pork chops with Jeanny’s own applesauce and then a cucumber salad, and sauteed veggies (beets, carrots, peppers, zucchini). Tomorrow I may go to yoga with Katie in the morning, then ULTIMATE (finally) at 2:30. If I don’t make it there this week I might go nuts. Then, at 4 in the afternoon we’re hosting a Locavore cooking class. I may miss the beginning of it though because of ultimate.
Anyway, time to go to bed. Here are a couple photos. My camera cord from Sony came in during chicken processing. I’ll post 1 or 2 a day.
View out the backdoor of my bedroom. Facing north.
Meatbeasta 