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We had a great Memorial Day weekend.  On Friday, before heading up for the farm, we visited our prospective puppy Daisy and her litter-mates (and mother and grandmother) in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.  We’re only about two weeks away from dog ownership, and Sarah could not be more excited. This morning, Sarah marched in the Memorial […]

One of Jen’s peonies bloomed to herald Mothers Day. We started the day in traditional style, with breakfast in bed: broccoli and cheddar omelet, locally sourced bacon, fruit, toast, and coffee.  Sarah made duct tape roses, and a pinwheel for the garden. On Saturday after soccer practice, Sarah and I stopped by the Phantom Gardener […]

It is unmistakably springtime.  The barn swallows have returned. The daffodils are blooming. The tulips — at least those few that are regularly Bobexed, to avoid the predations of the deer — are blooming. And even our peach trees are blooming.  They were Jen’s Mothers’ Day present last year. On Sunday we had such spectacular weather […]

Sarah dug her golf clubs out of the back of the hall closet and drove a few balls into the pasture. Springtime brings Ring-necked Ducks to the pond.  This year we have an odd menage of three males and a female. On Saturday, Jen and I took a walk and counted nine herons’ nests in the swamp.  […]

Sarah dusted off her bicycle for the first ride of the season. Here is one of our resident turkeys.  Soon we should have lots of poults (that is farm talk for baby turkeys). On Sunday, Sarah went for a trail ride in Walden N.Y. with her friend Michaela (not pictured).

We returned from a long absence (okay, two weekends) to find many signs of spring. At school, Sarah just finished a segment called “Wild Northeast,” in which each student selected a northeastern animal or plant (only two kids picked plants) and wrote a little book about it.  Sarah chose the Northern Spring Peeper (seen here and […]

We had enough snow on the ground so that Sarah could try out her snowshoes, which were a Christmas present last year. She and her mom made a snowman. While they were doing that, I found this horseshoe sticking out of the ground.  It looks very old. Here’s the completed snowman, with a jaunty birds’ […]

We had clammy weather at the farm this weekend. Sarah stayed indoors and made origami frogs.

We drove up to the farm Saturday morning after Sarah’s magic-themed 9th birthday party at our apartment.  We spotted 16 hawks on the Taconic on the way up — a personal record.  When we arrived, we found the pond frozen solid.  Sarah found a cat tail and made a wish. Sarah and Jen shoveled off […]

We had a nice long weekend up at the farm celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. day, President Obama’s inauguration, and my father’s 75th birthday. It was cold on Saturday, but on Sunday it was mild enough to get everyone outside. The wild turkeys seem to be doing OK this winter. Sarah broke the ice to […]