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I was not a friend to the deer this weekend, having spent hours and hours mowing acres and acres of the high grass in which they like to make their beds.  I was, however, a Hero of the Barn Swallows: they love it when someone mows because it turns into a feast.  They swoop around […]

On Saturday, we visited the Northern Dutchess Botanical Gardens to buy a few plants for the garden. We got the essentials: peppers (bell and poblano); lettuce (oak leaf, red sails, and red romaine); arugula; peas (snow and sugar-snap); soybeans; broccoli; strawberries (everbearing, Junebearing and all-star); herbs (green and purple basil, Italian parsley, and lemon verbena); flowers (coneflowers […]

On Saturday, Sarah played first base in her first softball game, against Red Hook. Rhinebeck could have fielded 15 players, but the Red Hook coaches — rather churlishly, in my opinion — allowed only nine of them on the field at a time. Some of the Red Hook girls seemed quite a bit older. In […]

We had a great Mothers’ Day weekend at the farm, with lots of lilacs starting to bloom, and plenty of gardening by Jen. If the house appears a little odd … … it’s because we’re having it painted, and it looks a bit naked without its shutters. In addition to lilacs, we gathered lots of […]

Last year, we were surveying the damage from one of our annual 30-year ice storms. This year, however, we are leaving for Florida.  Sarah is very excited — she woke me up at 5:30 this morning to ask why it was still dark. It looks like we’ll have pretty good weather!

We had an icy weekend. On Friday, we took Sarah to see Disney Princesses on Ice at Madison Square Garden, at the invitation of the parents of one of her classmates.  Sarah was not sure why all the princesses from the various stories would be together at the same show, or why they would be […]

We had ideal conditions this weekend for sledding (Sarah), cross-country skiing (Jen, pictured below) and snow-shoeing (Bill).

We had a great Christmas vacation at the farm with Jen’s family. Here, in transliteration, is Sarah’s letter to St. Nick: Dear St. Nicholas, The cookies and milk are for you! And the carrots are for your reindeer! 🙂 And the hay for your reindeer, and the hay is in the barn.  Help yourself. Love, […]

The lawn is still green, but there was snow on the pond on Saturday.  Today, the rain washed it all away.