We are always amazed at the beauty of the blend of colors in the foliage at this our favorite time of year. It is time to ready ourselves for the “resting period” of the winter. There are so many things to do before the ground freezes and the snow flies to prepare. As we prepare we can appreciate the fall colors, sleep longer in the morning, harvest the fall crops from our garden, and smell the first wisps of wood smoke from our beautiful old parlor stove in the kitchen. There are new smells under the sugar maple trees on the front lawn. The woods smell different too. I love the blend of hardwoods, hop hornbeam, witch hazel, maples, cherry, various oaks, poplars, shagbark hickory and their nuts with their own distinctive smell. We cut our own firewood from any dead trees along the edge of the woods where we can drive a truck so it can be harvested late and still be quite dry by the time we start having fires in the stove each day.

The less glamorous tasks also need to be done. We winterize all of the tractors and haying equipment and put them in the sheds. We make sure the 2 tractors that can feed hay all winter long are ready to go. We put up the storm windows on our old story and a half Greek revival home. We are STILL fixing fences – this work is never done! We clean up all the veggie and perennial gardens and the pigs rummage through all the remaining vines to look for delectable treats. We clean up the pig and cow barnyards and make our big compost piles to spread on the pastures early in the spring. We don’t like to rake leaves on the lawn so the mower chops them all up to provide nutrients for the grass.

Our priority project is the new barn. We are outgrowing our space for collecting all the farm products and splaying them around us in the old milk house to pack all of your orders. I went on the 2 trips to the city this month and Alan and I spent the travel time planning the layout of the new space, the furnishing possibilities, and the deadline of getting the “new” used freezer hooked up before the turkeys arrive. We saved this freezer from demolition of an old diner that was in town for years and was being smashed for a new building. It is bigger than our existing walk-in freezer and will be a great thing to have ready soon. We are hoping for the time to make Adirondack style tables from our black walnut branch inventory to use for workspace. The closets are tucked under stairs. The closed foyer serves as a drop off point for the farms if we are not there. The doors all need to be wide enough to use carts for moving the coolers and boxes to save Sandy’s and my back from all that carrying. Alan and Colin and Herbie have done all the work so far beginning with the footings and slab foundation, framing, roofing and interior work of wiring, sheathing, installing windows, insulating and sheet rocking the pacing room. We will finally have lots of room, storage, and easy access freezers in a new barn without the cobwebs and combination hay storage area of the Waites Lane barn where everything is now.

enjoy, the Brown's