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We had a lovely Christmas vacation at the farm, with highly variable weather (often unseasonably warm, as above, but it also snowed) and lots of visitors (Lew, Rinda, and Lewis, for Christmas; Erica and Geoff, for New Years; Lauren (Sarah’s babysitter-for-life), and her dog, Hamilton, for the weekend after New Year; and a drive-by Saturday lunch […]

On Saturday night we attended the Sinterklaas Parade, the centerpiece of Rhinebeck’s annual crypto-Christian holiday celebration.   Some more images are below. Sunday was foggy.

Soon it will be Thanksgiving, which means it will be time for Hickory Nut Pie. We will have to take them on the road, as we’ll be spending Thanksgiving in Scottsdale, Arizona. I suppose people have traveled farther. Now that the leaves are down, you can see all sorts of interesting things up in the trees, […]

Sarah and her fellow Ravens fought mightily to keep the Philipstown Raptors from scoring, even resorting to this unusual defensive formation — but score the Raptors did, and the Ravens were unable to put one in the win column. Sarah certainly earned an A for effort. On Saturday we harvested our Brussels Sprouts and some apples, […]

There were not many smiling faces after the Ravens’ latest defeat, a five-zip shellacking by the Shrub Oak Xtreme at Lakeland High School, which, by the way, prohibits all dogs other than service dogs from being anywhere on school property (Daisy had to stay in the car).  The team gets next weekend off, for Columbus Day.

It is tomato season, which we’ve been celebrating with many colorful tomato salads.  From left to right are Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Pineapple Hawaiian, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, and Sungold, all from Jen’s garden. Our weekend was truncated — cut in half, more or less — as a result of an away game against the Cold […]

Sarah had her first soccer game of the season on Saturday.  The Ravens (f/k/a Fireballs) played the Red Hook Storm.  Sarah played defense with gusto, élan, and vigor.  The Ravens fell to the Storm 2-1, but there wasn’t a moment when we doubted that the Ravens could win. Sarah and her friend Anna congratulated each […]

I celebrated Labor Day weekend by laboring — I mowed our biggest hayfield. Most of the Burleighs visited.  Lew also labored, reading emails on the back porch. Rinda tucked into Middlemarch on the lawn. Erica seemed skeptical that Sarah was in fact laboring. On Sunday there was a ladies’ swim in the pond — not […]

We had a splendid time at the 170th Dutchess County Fair. Sarah met a Doberman-colored bunny, while local matrons looked on in horror. Jen took to the air. I got the chance to bump Sarah. And vice versa. We triumphed in the culinary arts. (No, really, we killed it this year.) And, at the Miracle […]

I was awakened Saturday morning by this pileated woodpecker — not by his hammering away at the maple tree outside our bedroom window, but rather by the sound of wood chips falling on the hood of the car parked below. It’s just as well we had an early start.  We harvested peaches from our nano-orchard.  […]