wild foods hike...

apples which were made into applesauce

Rosehips which were made into rosehip syrup, full of vitamin C. Yesterday Michelle and Keenan and I hiked up bald hill. The fall colors were amazing. We gathered wild apples for applesauce, rosehips and hawthorn berries for medicinal syrups on the way. It seemed as if our rainy weather was great for the wild foods if not for our gardens. I have never seen rosehips quite as bright and bursting as these. The Hawthorn trees were so full of berries that you could pull them off in giant clusters! It has also been an amazing mushroom year. Michelle made the food and syrups from them.

fall harvest...

The garden has been put to bed for the winter. Michelle and Keenan harvested the pumpkins and put everything in the compost bin. Keenan informed us that this is the mama pumpkin, papa pumpkin and baby pumpkin.

lunar observations from Maple Hill...

Barn's burnt down

Now I can see the moon.

-Mizuta Masahide

summer updates...

It has been a good and busy summer. The boy is getting big big bigger. Gardens are beginning. The new work situation has worked out well. Spending time riding the bike and in the woods and training the dog. Also check out what Michelle has been doing as extra summer work...http://gardensforlearning.blogspot.com/

The young artist at work en plein air.

Work in progress. A partial octagonal deck, partially complete.

A variety, if not a quantity of heirloom tomatoes, finally.

There were bazillions of mushrooms in our woods this summer with all of the rain.

Flowers from our wildflower garden.

early...

Some pictures from my morning bike rides and walks with the dog. Looking across the road from our driveway above and looking across the hills from the other side of the field later in the morning. This summer I have had more time in the morning since I no longer have a long commute. I have been going out with the ten month old dog. I also have time to spend with the family and cook breakfast instead of being gone before they wake up.

emergence...

It has been a busy late winter and spring. New job closer to home with less driving. Carpentry and remodeling. New big garden. Busy outdoors springtime with 2 year old son and 7 month old dog. Not many posts lately because we have been so busy and our internet connection so slow.

time stamp and ski

A multi-topic post. Yes, the time stamp setting on this blog is set to the correct time zone. I really do most often post between 3 and 6 AM. The reason? My toddler wakes up some time in this zone and I often cannot resettle myself. I went for a good ski yesterday. It was -1 F but didn't feel too bad between being bundled up and moving about. Took some photos when I was out today on a trail I cut on our land this fall. It was a lot of fun. Once I get it tracked out good it'll be even more so. The section in this image is actually an old road that I cleared out. Other sections are more single track size. I now find myself wishing that I had finished up the loop. I can get all the way through it, but the sections with the 2 ft. tall fir trees are sticky. It is so exciting that we are getting snow again. Up to my knees and we are still supposed to get another foot or so. My buddy Mike (littlecircles.blogspot.com) and I went for a little adventure up Mt. Philo last week. It was beginning to look like winter, but now I can truly say that winter has returned after a three year hiatus!

the bike

The plan is that this will be THE bike. The one that does it all. It pretty much is already. Yummy lugged steel. An old mtn. bike frame converted to roadness. My current focus is on fit and comfort. I have solved my elbow pain issues which caused me to stop riding years ago. So simple. Stop putting 70% of your body weight on your hands! And yes, that stem is safely installed according to the max. height line. Now I am working on my butt which seems to give out somewhere around 60 miles. My plan is to 1) lose 10 lbs. 2) get a new seat(s) 3) pedal harder and 4) ride more. I decided that last year I was practicing excessive moderation in my riding efforts and have since modified that to moderate moderation. The harder I pedal the less my weight is on my butt. Amazing. I am looking at these tires http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=10156 as all time tires except maybe using my WTB slickasaurus for century rides and such. Where I live it is pretty much all gravel to dirt to bad pavement to gravel to dirt. The road shoulders are not so good either. So I plan to stick to back roads and roads less travelled. I think that will make all the difference.

no snow, i can still go...

The last few years the cross country ski experience in Vermont has been very skimpy. It seems like there are only a few days each year that have been any good. SO, in come the winter bike tires. I must get out and be active. I have gotten old enough that the winter pudge does not come off easily any more, therefore I aim to prevent it. I understand that this change is part of the 30 year warranty on the human body.
These excellent custom tires took 2 hours to make. Ingredients: one old pair knobbies, 180 3/8" sheet metal screws, cloth tape and viola! They work awesome!! Just like riding on non-ice. Fun.
Double row in front, triple row in back. Vroom!

fresh turkey

They really don't get any fresher. Watching turkeys does not rate nearly as high on the 20 month old kid's wowometer as deer do. I thought it was fairly interesting though.

Commute...

Rolling along Rt.2 between Montpelier and Middlesex in the foggy morning.

aliens vs. wolves...

My theory on aliens is as follows: Back in the olden days everyone liked to make scary etchings of wolf/goat/animal beasts of many different configurations. Europeans and other agricultural folk were genrally scared of the woods and their fears were expressed through their depictions of what scared them. Now that people think that they are the most dangerous and scary things around how do we depict our fear? The creatures look a lot like a certain point in human embryonic development and have amazing technological powers.

less is more unless you always want more of less...

On a recent trip out of town Michelle and I were in the midst of travel exhaustion and noting how fortunate we are even in the most difficult times we face. I made the observation of how we were so grateful when I started working less hours (at my old shop 50 hours was normal), but lately how we had been feeling like we still work too much. I realized that less becomes another form of wanting if you always want more less.

a wee thaw

Spent excellent time with Keenan all day. When his mom got home I hopped on the bike for a quick muddy/icy/slushy fun time down our road and the VAST trail. Good fun!

This is a photo looking down our road from our driveway from this past weekend. Unreal...it was warm and no snow. I actually bundled up and went for a bike ride on Rt. 2! Absurd! I don't really think you can call it a January thaw if there is no freeze. I have to admit, it was very enjoyable.

step aside

This is a photo of our basement floor where a leaf fell on the wet concrete last fall. I honestly feel it is one of the most beautiful parts of our house. All that was necessary was to step aside and allow things to happen.

giant bonsai tree

125 foot tall bonsai red pine tended by a 900 foot tall

little ancient person on my walk this morning.

ikebana

Sunday walking along Laird Pond Rd. with a friend after a delicious breakfast with friends. Collecting beautiful pre-spring plants. Sun that was bright and delicious to the skin.

Yummy day.