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This is an “on” year for our biannually productive hickory trees. We should be in good shape for hickory nut pie at Thanksgiving.

A cold and rainy day did not dissuade us from visiting the Duchess County Fair. Jen and Sarah enjoyed copious amounts of fair fare. We saw cows, sheep, goats, and, yes, these piglets. Jen was triumphant, winning not only her customary blue ribbon for her splendid peach lemon marmalade, but also a blue ribbon and […]

The black raspberries — black caps — are having a great year. Jen is gathering great bowlfuls to be made into jam. The mulberries are also ripe at this time, which is why we can often find a deer grazing at the end of the driveway.

What could be better on a snowy Presidents’ Day Weekend than cassoulet and the U.S. v. Canada game in the Four Nations Face-Off tournement. The U.S. won 3-1 in a tight game. Daisy watched with interest.

We clustered nine around the table for Thanksgiving this year, with Sarah absent (she celebrated in Strasbourg). We had all the traditional favorites, although we experimented with new recipes for turkey, gravy, and stuffing. We also had some splendid new additions, such as a sour cherry pie contributed by Geoff. Jen made an exceptionally delicious […]

The kitchen was abuzz for our weekend visitors, Julie, Stacey, and babysitter-for-life Lauren Ballback. Between meals, Jen managed to put up quite a few jars of marmalade. Stacey lent her customary good cheer. Lauren stopped overnight on her drive from Virginia to Maine. While here, she and Sarah made approximately 30,000 calories worth of granola. […]

We have entered the shank of blackcap gathering season. Jen never leaves the house without a Ziplock bag, or possible two.

We had a mostly happy Thanksgiving, although we were very sorry not to have Julie and Stacey with us. They stayed home out of concern for Rinda’s health. It was wonderful to have Sarah back with us for the week. She was in high spirits throughout. Lew was in good form, tucking into a Thanksgiving […]

The frost has held off, so we’ve been able to harvest plenty of peppers with which to make hot sauce. In the background you can see a colander full of Bogmere Pippins, gathered by Jen. They are tasty, if perhaps unsightly. In less cheery news, marauding deer laid waste to our new donut peach tree, […]

We are enjoying the last of the summer tomatoes — which also are the best of the summer tomatoes — as well as the various unsightly apples yielded up by our superannuated fruit trees. We even got a few from our nano-orchard, our first domestically produced Macouns. They make the apples in this colander look […]