New Snow, New Year.

The first significant snow has finally fallen just in time for the year to close up and the outdoor projects to come to an end for the most part. 

We are quickly closing in on our one year anniversary at the homestead and the blanket of snow made us remember back to our first weekend here at the end of last January when we were blanketed with just under 3 feet of snow ! This 5 or so inches was much more manageable but it also made me realize I had to get a little better prepared for what could be just around the corner.

 I marked all of our new raised beds so the plow doesn't make a mess of them and the garlic is finally nestling in for a long winters sleep... the new to me snowblower did a great job creating a nice path to the shed and around the house so we can stay on top of a few things that even a few feet of snow can't put on the backburner but overall the outdoor projects are done with the exception of some wood to chop and some chainsaw work in preparation for next winter. 

Our pile of wood from our back deck has been depleted but it did get us through December and I thought it would only last through November, the mildest December on record was a big reason for this but we still have a couple cords in reserve that have not been touched and it was time to fill the basement.

Moving the woodpile down from the driveway location, now where the garlic is located, proved to be a good decision and made for easy stocking. If I get real lazy I know I could ramp the small step into the house and bring the wheelbarrow right in but it was a pleasant day mid 30's and sunny so leaving the door open and parking it in front worked just fine.

We have four rows of wood and worst case scenario each should last us a month taking us up through May... Im assuming I will have a row or more left at the end of winter and will supplement the purchased wood from this year with some of our own wood from our land and will see how this system works in sustaining a wooded lot and not having to buy wood every year.

Everytime I move, chop or stack wood I remember the writings of the Nearings book called the Good Life. Scott Nearing talks about how wood heats you twice. Once when you process and move it and once when you burn it.

With the arrival of the snow and the change of calendars over to 2016, I figured Id take a house shot with the lights twinkling and the snow blanket over the landscape before the holiday trimmings are taken down and we move on to plan for another successful and fruitful year ahead.

With the new year comes new projects. Im starting with a list of indoor to do's for the winter months and was just eyeing up a table saw to help with some of those. First step is building a work bench in the basement, organizing the studio and getting going on a few commissioned pieces that I have promised to get done in the January/February. My dream is to build a bench/bookshelf in our living room to hold the massive library of books and records we have accumulated through the years turning our living room into more of a library. Along with some woodworking projects we would also like to put some fresh paint on a few of our rooms and touch up some other areas.  I will continue with more and more blog posts in the new year and you will notice I have added a few new tabs to bring all of my passions together on one page. You can now check out some of my artwork, design work and a link to another blog I have about bottle foraging for delicious beverages.  I also will be adding a music tab in the weeks to come and hope to add a localrootz podcast to the mix that will be a combination of homesteading stories, interviews with local farmers/producers and just some showcasing of our vast record collection and the tunes that get me through all the projects on a daily basis. Many of you may not be aware of all my other passions as a deejay and artist, and my plan is to bring these all together somehow someway !

Along with these projects and lofty goals we are excited to think ahead to next years garden. We have been thumbing through seed catalogs and adding some reading material to our library to become more informed about some exciting new projects this spring/summer including building a chicken coup and raising chickens, raising a few hogs, planting fruit trees, starting a couple bee hives, building a greenhouse out of old windows from the dump, a screened in gazebo in the woods, horseshoe pit and more rustic firepit in the woods... so many dreams so many projects but if this past year was any indication of how much we can get done in a year I think we will make some more successful headway toward turning our little homestead into a fulfilling rewarding utopia that I have always dreamed of !

Stay tuned for more posts from the localrootz homestead in 2016 !

Autumn changes, leaves and falls.

Autumn is closing in on the homestead and leaves are being kissed by frost as heavy clouds of warm breath flow from my mouth.  I find myself spending more time rubbing my hands together than actually getting work done. My wife doesn't find my morning fires quite so strange now that the chill has creeped into the mornings and the stacked wood is alread starting to be brought in to take the edge off from time to time.

We still have been putting as much jars and bags of greens away in preparation for the upcoming winter where the tasty summer treats and sun ripened fruits will be a distant memory. 

Our adorable kitty Merrimac is awaiting the snow when yard work will dwindle and lap time by the fire will be more abundant.

Our most recent canning project included a gift of over ripe peaches from a secret source that I will never divulge the location of.

Step one was to blanch the ripe peaches in boiling water to remove the skins.

We then proceeded to boil them down in a solution of local Frith Farm honey and our own maple syrup.

After the mixture became thickened and the peaches started breaking up we added heaps of our homegrown hot peppers as well as a touch of apple cider vinegar and a little adult libations.

By a touch I mean about a bottle minus a small glass for the chefs.

Pureed and canned into a big batch of our secret spicy peach whiskey sauce !

So far we have used it to marinate chicken, pork and salmon as well as just using it as a salsa.

Few more batches of Tomato Sauce to make sure the cellar is thoroughly stocked.

We ended up with 5 slightly different batches making just under 48 jars of tomato sauce !

 Besides cooking pot after pot of tomato sauce and boiling and canning to help take off the early morning chill, we also spent lots of time splitting and stacking wood for the winter. I always remember reading the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing as they talk the truth about how wood provides heat twice. Once when you have to split and stack it and again when you burn it. No truer words have been spoken !

We got about four rows filled with easy access to the basement for hauling in throughout the winter.

I used old pallets from work that will keep the wood off the ground and left about a foot in between each stack to allow it to further season for optimal heating.

To keep the stacks tidy I side stacked a few pallets and devised a pretty clever way of using a few pieces of rebar I had laying around and wedging them between some long branches to keep the pallets lined up and supported so they would not just fall over and ruin the stack.

Ill let you know how well it holds up through the season.

We decided to stack a small amount right on our back deck for super easy access. Will keep this pile stocked until the snow pack makes it to difficult to wheelbarrow it up the hill and around the house.

Wild Turkeys heard they were welcome here... they were safe I couldn't get them into a peach sauce this time !

Autumn colors abound !

The cold weather has been spotty but the colors are amazing and the garden is finishing up nicely too.

Beautiful late season chard.

Too much to handle... chop it up seal it in some plastic freezer bags for a winters day.

Late season kale crop from early mid-October.

Final harvest and slowly putting the beds to rest.

Time for some dinner.

Farmhouse Eggplant Parm.

Fill a pan with as much hot peppers, rainbow chard and of course eggplant.

Roast it till your house smells amazing and everything starts to meld together... add a bunch of fresh herbs and cover in some mozzarella.

Do not forget to go down to the cellar and pull out a great wine to accompany your dish !

Wait I forgot something... Dessert !

Stack up all your leftover apples from your wifes day of picking apples with her Dad, sister and niece and start peeling. Add a stick of butter some local oats and a generous gulp of honey and cinnamon. Bake it to perfection and whip up some bourbon whip cream using some deliciously farmy local raw cream from Misty Brook Farm and a touch of homestead maple syrup and presto !

I was so anxious to get it in my bowl I didn't take an artsy food shot of the final crisp !

As the heavier frosts have pushed on I have been slowly drying out the herbs we have left in the herb gardens.

This guy appeared at the end of October and was shockingly large... we have plenty of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers around but this was our first Pileated Woodpecker. He must have been close to 20" long and when he flew off into the deep woods as I tried to get a better picture his wingspan was astounding !

Fallen leaves and lots of work to do...

The raking process unearthed many interesting varieties of fungus.

Ok enough mushroom hunting back to the leaves.

The good thing about living in the woods is your really just moving leaves... most of our 5 acres are woods so we decided it would be nice to clear them from our small lawn in front and pull the layers away from the house to keep the moisture away from our foundation but really we just filled the tarp and dragged it out into the woods and spread em out. We also are utilizing as much as we need for our compost pile and to cover our raised beds to protect them from the harsh winter weather and add some additional nutrients to the soil.

Round One of raking is complete but there are still plenty of leaves on the oak trees for a round two. Now to put some of these leaves to good use.

Garlic Planting Time !

Our garlic bed full of compost.

Organic Garlic Seed from a local farm.

Poke some holes about finger deep, 3 or so inches.

Fill each hole with a garlic bulb with the pointy side up.

Spaced them about 6 inches apart knowing the soil is very fertile and the bed is a few feet deep.

All in all about 100 planted so far. Hoping to build one more similar sized bed in the first week or so of November.

Dirty hands are busy hands, spread a layer of soil over the planted garlic.

Emptied my last lawnmower bag of grass clipping and mulched leaves on top of the cover garlic.

Top off with some dried piles of oak leaves and watered liberally.

I think planting garlic on the first day that you see geese starting their winter migration is a good rule of thumb. 

Speaking of birds we stocked up on winter feed for our little feathered friends !

Time to relax with a little fire and a morning camp coffee... "camp" is code for spiked, a little bourbon for breakfast on my day off is usually well deserved !

After some campfire time we covered the rest of our beds with leaves for the winter but the chard is still holding on for dear life.

Another batch for the freezer.

Sealed and waiting for a winter stir fry.

I like the self vacuum seal method using some old fashion lung power.

Also excited that the Katahdin Mint I bought a bunch of from Crown of Maine rooted... I've always secretly wished I had this variety which is a mint that was foraged from the shadows of Mt. Katahdin. I decided to try to root a cutting and it worked. Now to keep it happy till the Spring so I can plant it in our herb garden.

The other winter addition to the homestead, not pictured here but the old goat shed was prepared for its arrival was an old Ariens Snowblower my father salvaged from a barn in MA and restored to working order. I do enjoy shoveling but with plans to expand the homestead to include livestock in the coming years I foresee us having many more important projects than shoveling and the usefulness of a snowblower will be much appreciated.

That being said, after we drove the behemoth snowblower into the shed we both agreed a door would be a good idea to shelter the toolshed from the elements.

A week later and a few trips to the lumber store and the goat shelter is now a secured shed ! 

 As I finish typing this recent post it is now November 8th. Autumn had came in with some fierce frost in late September but from mid October till present, things have gotten strangely mild and the outdoor projects are continuing to get accomplished. Next on the list are chopping down a few trees in order to open up some daylight for a small greenhouse as well as open up a place to plant some fruit trees come spring. We also hope to finish building another raised bed or two, one to get some more garlic planted and another to visualize what we will have for growing space come Spring.  We are anxiously awaiting this years seed catalogs and plan on planting some much more obscure heirloom varieties of vegetables this upcoming season.

Stay tuned for more notes from the localrootz project.

As you can see this has almost just become a homestead journal for ourselves to look back on the things we have learned, the things we have accomplished and the things we dream about. I hope some information is interesting to the friends and followers that pass through to find out whats new with the localrootz project.  

Feel free to leave comments, questions or ideas if you have them.

Till next post.