Musical Nests (Chairs) :)

Sam took this video of our happy, busy pastured hens in their nesting boxes!...


Musical Nests(Chairs) :) from Craig Lenz on Vimeo.

Calling all "Sherlock Holmes" and "Inspector Buckets"...

Any guesses as to what Mama is sewing?...

Hint: The clue is directly behind Ben in this last picture.

Autumn Harvest...

From the Six Arrows Farm Update:

"I recieved a pleasant surprise when I walked up to the garden a few days ago. Tomato cages and stakes were lying in piles to be stored. One almost forgets the desolation that follows harvest when you have witnessed a year of plenty. The dull monochromatic colors saturate the landscape. They are relieved by the brilliant leaves and clear azure sky. When I'm out driving this time of year, I love to listen to Vivaldi's "L'autunno" (Autumn) from The Four Seasons. There are few inspirations from  human composer that have come closer to reflecting the song all of creation seems to sing. Summer is such a glorious symphony that nothing but autumn can be a more fitting or glorious requeim. I love such endings only because they are beginnings as well.

Even now, there are a few buried riches that the resting earth gives up. Aubrey dug the carrots, the boys and Mama washed them... and I ate them. Of course, I was well occuupied while they were working. :)"

"This was a particularly good carrot year! The lovely orange roots are uniform, sweet and crispy! I think the early frost was good for them. :)"

Early frosts make for snow on green maple leaves!  "Sam found two different colors when he took this picture last week. Green leaves covered with snow is uncommon even here! Yes even here in this "semi-arctic" climate!" :)

The last few weeks have been filled with processing, sorting and drying produce..

Our potatoes and onions were plentiful this year and the onions especially dried beautifully!

The Colors of Famer's Market...

From the Six Arrows Farm Update...“This time of year is the best for coming to Farmer’s Market. The colors and smells are myriad and brilliant. When the sun’s rays stretch down our aisle, it looks like the hallway of a treasure chamber with glowing jewels of every size and tint piled in small mountains on either side. The scents are mellow and spicy, rich, ripe, and tangy. We managed to bring the camera along for pictures so you could see for yourselves!”

We were all devastated when my pumpkin plants ate up Emily’s flowers (accidentally, of course)and even had the audacity to thread their way through a few tomato cages!

But when those presumptuous vines yielded so prodigious a harvest we forgave them(at least I did…)and welcomed the lovely round shapes and colors so characteristic of harvest.

Mama loves the little green curly cues on the ends of pumpkin stems so we cut the vines farther from the pumpkin. They look so bare and lonely with out remnants of their vines. :)