These special trees oink!

Most husbands surprise their wives with lavish trips or sparkling diamonds, however, mine is a little unique.  We headed out Saturday morning for maple trees from a nursery in Royalton, VT.  The trees here are in full color and the drive was beautiful.  As we arrived onto the dirt road, Eric tells me the trees we're getting are unique..."they oink".  To my surprise we pull into a small farm where piglets await!  My dream has come true and I am now the proud owner of two baby piglets, Willow and Penelope.  The girls had a noisy and smelly, hour long ride home in the Subaru.  Go Subaru, go!

 

 

 

The girls are settling in well and enjoying their food, but what can I say....they're PIGS!

Vermont 50



Sunday was the VT 50, one of two ultra marathons (the VT 100 being the other) that we have within a ten minute drive of our house.  I can not imagine that there are too many folks that can say that for themselves and almost felt obligated to participate.  Combine absolutely perfect weather, stunning scenery, and a network of excellent trails and you have a recipe for a great day to run 50K.  I also had the benefit of running with my coworker Bethany, an experienced and accomplished ultra runner.  Without her company, it definitely would have been a much tougher day.  We certainly did not light the course on fire but it was very enjoyable, nonetheless.  It was also quite delightful to see Teresa at the last aid station located at mile 29 where she was a volunteer.

In Goes the Apple, out Comes the Cider!

We had a great day of apple cider-making on Saturday.  It took us a good four hours.  We discovered the apples press much better if grounded into a pulp and were able to get over a gallon of cider from the apples we pressed.  We placed it in the freezer to enjoy for Thanksgiving.  Mr. Harvey kept us entertained by climbing up and down the nearby trees.  He reminds me of a little bear scampering up the tree, then shimmying his way back down. 

We also harvested the gourds.  Over 50 gourds were picked and they continue to serve as wonderful decorations.



Fall is here.

This has been a beautiful week of blue skies and cool weather.  The leaves are changing colors, adding to the feeling of fall.  Teresa decorated the porch with pumpkins and gourds from the garden.  The apples have been falling from the tree like crazy.  We're getting overloaded with apple sauce and are now saving up apples to make some apple cider.  We acquired Teresa's family heirloom apple press from the 1800's this year and are excited to put it to work (photos to come). 

Eric's been busy all week cutting wood and working in the garden.  He planted a garden bed for the winter with kale, beets, lettuce, carrots, and garlic.  The next project is to build the low tunnels to keep the frost out.  We also dug up 30-40 pounds of potatoes this week!  Our farm keeps right on chugging along.

We got an egg!!!!

The Adventures of Big Daddy and Hot Pocket

We're back from celebrating our 5th anniversary in Maine.  We had a really great time and managed to spend most of the time hiking beautiful trails.  The 5 Lakes Lodge Bed and Breakfast was perfect with an incredible view out our bedroom window.



We saw squirrels, toads, beavers, and turkeys, but alas, not a single moose.  Better luck next time!

 

 

Hiking Mount Katahdin and canoeing in Baxter State Park.

 

  

Hiking at the Gulf Hagas and enjoying the many waterfalls.

Garden 2013 Update

Now that summer is almost over, it is time for a belated garden report.  Watermelons are still deciding whether to ripen and the great zucchini avalanche is coming to an end.  The basil smells delicious, peppers are going strong, and the cabbage is about done.  We have so many green beans that we don't know what to do with them.  We should soon be in the same boat with late ripening tomatoes.  We should have a good fall with lots of pumpkins, squash, gourds, and potatoes.  As you can see below, the sunflowers are growing tall.  

If all goes well, we should soon have some extra veggies growing for fall, winter, and next spring thanks to some new advancements here at Silver Hill.  More on that later

If all of that were not enough, there is some firewood to cut...about 7-8 cords straight from the log truck to be exact.  It is going to be a busy fall.