Two Dog Night

November 14, 2013November 14, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

The days that I go up to Rowe during the week are dwindling. I went up yesterday to work on a couple of projects and this is what it looked like when I arrived. The sky was beautiful but I really wasn’t expecting snow on the ground. It was cold – 26 degrees when I got there.

This is when going up there is not as much fun as other times of the year. The house is cold and takes forever to warm up. It’s dark early as well. I arrived at 4:30 yesterday and felt like it was about 7:00.

I started coming up to Rowe during the week when we got Chester. He needed to really run around mid week and this was the way to go. I can play with him for a while or he runs over to see his girlfriend. During the milder seasons I take him for a swim at the lake. With the days longer I can garden or can something, hike around the property or visit with my sister. It doesn’t matter what’s for supper because it’s just me.

We don’t have heat on the second floor of the house but all of the beds have electric blankets. This is fine when you get in but it’s pretty brutal when you get up in the morning. When I go up by myself the dogs sleep on the bed (that never happens when Bill is there). This morning approaching 5:30 or so I woke up to realize I was right on the edge of the bed because Chester kept moving over to snuggle up to me. He doesn’t usually do this, he just curls up on a corner of the bed and stays there. He must have been cold.

For many years I’d hear the expression “It’s going to be a three dog night” and always thought people would invite all those dogs onto the bed to keep them warm but I realized last night my dogs were having a one person night in order to keep themselves warm.

It’s Here

November 12, 2013November 12, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

Snow on Sunday. Snowing again today. Nothing has really accumulated but it’s here. It’s been quite cold the past week or so, cold enough to break out the winter coat.

This time of year is the most difficult for me in a lot of ways. The days are so much shorter. The house is cold a lot of the time. I know this is one long, long slog until spring. We are talking 5 months minimum on the hill. Yes, we will have a few of those January thaw days and it will warm up in April so we think we can actually do something outside in the garden but . . . never, ever plant anything before Memorial Day.

So what are the advantages of a long, dark winter? For me it gives me time to work on many different projects. I have a lot of handwork that sits idle whenever the weather is good enough for me to be outdoors. It’s a time for woodfires in both stoves and fireplaces. I love hearth cooking and that is really only fun when it’s really cold out. If I sit and watch a movie on TV that’s okay – I’m not frittering away a day when there is too much else to be done. Did I mention weaving? Weaving, weaving, weaving, nothing more to be said about that.

I love the beauty of the snow on the trees and ground, how bright it is with the moon shining. I love the sound of the snow under your feet on those cold, quiet nights with a million stars visible from the driveway. I love snoeshowing the property lines, it gives me a wider perspective of the land (and I can walk on all those wet, swampy spots that I can’t cross any other time of the year). There is bird song of a whole different kind.

So it’s now time to ease into a slower pace, enjoy family and friends and work on things left since last winter. This is what the dogs live for.

Days of Grace

October 15, 2013October 15, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

We are into what many people refer to as “days of grace”. This, for us, is after the gardens are done, the canning is finished (for the most part) and we are seriously thinking about winter. It’s the time between the leaves falling and the snow flying.

With that in mind we brought wood in over the weekend with the help of Amanda and Yusuf. We had to move most of what was left from last year out of the way because it is very dry and bring in what we have been cutting and splitting over the past few months. This is when the tractor really comes in handy. The bucket can be loaded and driven right into the shed. The wood is unloaded and stacked at waist height, it cuts down on the bending over which can really save your back.

The project lasted through the weekend, we figure we put in about 4 and a half cord with a little over a cord left from last season. I can’t tell you what a relief it is when that project is over. It’s one of those never-ending things. The seasons are dictated by cutting, splitting and stacking wood. Trees will come down this winter with the brush stacked for burning. The burn season starts in January and runs until May. We usually cut and split throughout the year when the weather permits – it’s not something you want to do in summer heat. With any luck it spends the summer drying out a bit. In the fall it comes in. It will continue to dry until it gets burned.

Other projects on our list are re-glazing windows. Tightening things up in the house. We are considering a small wood stove for the kitchen in the ell but we will have to see what the next few weeks bring. A little more insulation in the attic over the kitchen would probably go a long way toward keeping it warmer.

The one other vital thing to do is put the electric blankets on the beds upstairs. There has never been any heat up there (except the bathroom) so if we don’t want to sleep under 10 pounds of quilts electricity must be used. There is nothing better than getting into a nice warm bed in the dead of winter.

This time of year always has an anticipatory air to it. There’s pressure put on whatever time you have. Once the temperature plummets, the snow is on the ground and the wind is blowing the mood changes. We are doing things indoors. We spend more down time. This is when my time is spent on handwork. There are so many crafts that I do in cooler weather because they are just too hot to do any other time of the year. I will be finishing up a couple of hooking projects and I will be weaving. Yes . . . lots and lots of weaving.

Good Food

August 15, 2013August 15, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

My kids call me the doomer. I try to tell them that I just like to be prepared. I never want to worry about where my next meal is coming from. In doing so I have learned to garden in good weather and bad. This year is one of those years where some things are doing much better than expected while others are an unmitigated disaster. Every year I seem to say to Bill, “If we had to survive on this year’s garden we would starve to death by February”. Even though I’m getting better at my gardening and adding more and more perennial beds and plants to the ever changing array of food that I grow I know that it would never be enough for a family to survive on until the next crop comes in.

The main reason I really grow a garden is there is nothing like the taste of a warm cucumber just picked, or that summer tomato. The real revelation came to me when I grew potatoes for the first time a couple of years ago. Potatoes freshly dug scream “POTATO” when you eat them. Something happens to produce the minute it is harvested – the taste begins to wane. There are only two things I grow that improve once picked – pears and long pie pumpkins.

Last weekend we made a spectacular meal of things we have grown (or in the case of the steak watched grow). These are the meals that are memorable, the ones I like to share with friends and family. I want them to know their food can be so much better. There is such satisfaction in knowing you started the seeds and nurtured your food. That there are no chemicals involved in any of the food we ate. The beef was fed grass and hay from one property, no hormones, antibiotics. It grew up in fresh air and sunshine. It tastes like BEEF, not the homogenized red meat you find wrapped in plastic and styrofoam at the grocery store. There is a huge difference.

The garden surplus I will continue to can to use in the winter months. Peaches and apricots are next on the list and I will continue with tomatoes. Even with processing the taste of home canned fruit of any kind is a revelation in the winter. The first bite brings you back to summer. That is what makes all the work of preserving your harvest in the summer worthwhile.

Changing of Seasons

August 13, 2013August 13, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

There comes a time every summer when you feel it, you know fall is just around the corner. The leaves on the ash trees are beginning to turn, the maples are taking on that olive tone. We are fortunate to be experiencing beautiful weather right now – cool and clear. With the realization that the seasons are beginning to change also comes a little panic feeling about what needs to be done before winter gets here. On the top of the list is cutting and splitting wood.

The weather was just amazing and we have been taking Mondays off in lieu of a week’s vacation, the idea being that we would take the boat to the lake for a little R&R. Winter is calling though and our shed has a limited supply of wood stored. The house would be quite frigid in January if we couldn’t at least put a fire in the big fireplace in the living room. Instead of boating yesterday Bill and I cut and split about a cord of cherry and ash that was sitting in the back forty. It’s work, but it’s satisfying seeing cord wood in a nice stacked row drying out. Having a splitter makes it possible for us to do the work, if we had to use a splitting maul and ax I’m afraid we would have to hire a much younger man to do the job.

It took us only 3 to 4 hours to cut and split what we did. When we came up to make dinner I was concerned with just how achy I was and thought about getting out of bed this morning. You know that feeling when muscles are screaming as you put your feet to the floor? Or going down the stairs heading for that first cup of coffee? I was pleasantly surprised this morning. I felt good, like I’d done an honest day’s work. I told Bill I could do that everyday (it’s nice working hard and having something to show for it). Now we will see if it hits me tomorrow, sometimes it takes a day.

A Whole Different World

February 28, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

When I got up this morning this is what I saw looking out of an upstairs bedroom window. Pictures sometimes don’t do justice to the reality. It was stunningly beautiful out (and quite warm as well).

I took another photo from the living room window – the snow bank is what is up over the windows. I didn’t think we were going to see that this year, I was wrong. It will be months before I can go out the patio door.

It was so nice out that I decided to put on the snowshoes and walk down to the back forty before I left to go back to Enfield. I swear Chester intentionally photo bombs every picture I take. He’s like that, it’s all about him.

This is the second time this winter I’ve seen this. I always count those days as special because the beauty is extraordinary. These are also the days that are so peaceful and quiet. Nothing but bird song. The songs are changing now. It’s beginning to sound like spring even with all of this snow the birds are coming back.

Looking back at the outbuildings the snow makes everything look so clean, fresh.

We all enjoyed our little trek out back, breathing the fresh air and listening to the birds. I got into my car and by the time I’d reached Route 2 in Charlemont the world had changed. It looked more like spring there, with much less snow. By the time I got to Enfield it was a whole different world. Nothing but mud and puddles. This time of year it amazes me the difference in two places that are really not that far away from each other. This is when I remember that the growing season in Enfield starts 3 weeks earlier than it does in Rowe. As much as I like spring I have to say I’ll take a snowy morning like this morning’s any day.

Bitter, Bitter Cold

February 18, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

I have to admit I took this photograph a few weeks ago when there was less snow and was warm enough to walk out to the back forty. This past weekend it was so cold the farthest I ventured was the doorway of the shed. There is still a lot of snow with a crust of ice on the top of it so I wasn’t that interested in snowshoeing. The dogs didn’t even stay outdoors for long. Chester made his usual rounds to see what was up with his peeps on either side of us but he spent most of his time in front of the fireplace.

Yesterday the wind was howling and it got up to 17 degrees. Mid afternoon with the wind chill is was -4. By last night they were saying -18. There’s a big difference between having the temperature below zero on a still, cloudless evening and when it’s there because you are having 30 mile per hour winds. I rather like those still evenings with the snow crunching beneath your feet and it’s so quiet you can hear your electric meter running. With yesterday’s wind you couldn’t cover up enough.

This is when I start thinking “enough”, I’m ready for spring. The seed order will be placed this week and I will plot out the garden on graph paper (a few more times). Sometimes just thinking about the garden makes it feel like spring is almost here!

Hello Old Friends

February 11, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

Yes, by now everyone has heard about the snow in the northeast. We left for Rowe in the morning on Friday after finding someone to clear our driveway in Enfield after that fateful event. It snowed, it was a blizzard but waking up on Saturday morning with the wind still blowing and it being in the mid teens in temperature we stayed inside next to a fire. Reports began to come in from the daughters – one in Enfield, one in Boston about the amount of snow and their cars being buried or nearly invisible. They had their shovels and food, hadn’t lost power, were working their way through the mess with everyone else around them. What they had in southern and eastern MA and CT was not really what we had in Rowe. We had a good snowstorm – anywhere from 15 to 18 inches of white, fluffy snow, what they had was monumental. The problems in those urban areas were compounded by an inability of the cities and states to handle the amount of snow they received. I can tell you there are a lot of trucks today with blown transmissions that failed the task of plowing out streets, parking lots and driveways.

Sunday morning the winds had died and the temperature rose to a balmy 30 degrees. We decided to get the snowshoes out. We use beautiful vintage models made in Maine in years gone by. The problem was that my leather bindings had broken beyond repair over 2 years ago. I had scoured the internet and found someone out west that made bindings for these in neoprene. They’d been kicking around the house for almost 2 years since there really hadn’t been enough snow to take them out (or I was too lazy to rebind them). I was also a little skeptical that they would be as good as the old ones and was really contemplating dusting off the old leather working skills to just make another pair. The weather was just too nice to watch Bill snowshoe away and sit in the house so I dug those neoprene bindings out. What a chore that turned out to be. The instructions were vague at best. I’m pretty good at reverse engineering something but none of the new straps were marked so I had to guess. Fitting my boots into the bindings on a table was a lot easier than doing it in the snow and finally we were ready to go.

Chester went with us, the little dogs stayed behind. We have learned from experience that if you take them out in deep snow with snowshoes all they do is walk on the backs of your shoes, not fun or funny. So Sophie spent the entire time we were gone looking out the window from the back of the chair at a snow bank barking – she couldn’t even see us. Chester took this opportunity to bring a tennis ball and played an extended game of fetch. Extended because he continually lost that ball in the snow and would take forever to find it.

It was nice to walk out to the wood lot, a place we have difficulty getting to in other seasons due to beaver activity. It was so quiet and beautiful out there. The only noise was an occasional crow or chickadee with the sound of the snow beneath our shoes.

This is winter as it should be, outdoors, quiet. And those new bindings? Spectacular!

Red Sky at Dawning …

January 24, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

I’m not sure there is any weather on the way but the sunrise this morning was beyond compare. Sometimes a photo can’t do justice to the scene. It is COLD. The kind of cold that makes your face hurt as soon as you open the door. The dogs stay out just long enough to do what they have to do. It is so still the only thing you can hear is you electric meter running. When you walk the snow crunches beneath your feet. This is winter, it seems like I haven’t seen it for sometime. It feels restorative to me this year – quiet, restful. In another month we will be gearing up for spring and be thankful for this time of rest.

Dogs and Snow

January 2, 2013January 2, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

Sophie loves snow more than anything. You’d think she’d hate the cold, or the snow balls that stick to her fur, or the fact that the snow is too deep to walk in. Her favorite game is Bill throwing snow with the shovel into the air and she leaps into it. In the first photo she knows what’s coming. She wants to make sure she’s there before Chester (who is clueless about this game).

Success! A few more shovels full and she’d had enough. Went into the house and stood in front of a fire to melt the snow.

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