our maine home – zone 5b
I cleaned up the hoophouse today in anticipation of very cold temperatures tonight. Harvested some escarole and carrots. A white mold had eaten the tops of many carrots – maybe it cam in with the hay mulch? The roots seemed fine though. I’ll make a carrot soup and some escarole and beans.
Morning visit from a bobcat.
Might be my favorite thing about winter. The stove is a companion. And warms us.
Our stove is the Castine model from Jøtul and it’s perfect for us.
Of course, part of the reason I can love heating with wood is that Sam takes care of all the chores involved with getting a handy supply of ready-to-burn logs.
Today we collected a pickup truck load of seaweed from Jellison’s Cove beach. Storms had created knee-high seaweed piles. Freezing temps had solidified the piles somewhat, but stomping on them helped break things apart enough to be able to shovel it. After dumping the pile at home, I immediately spread it on the garden beds and rows by wheelbarrow. I didn’t want it to freeze solid in a pile on the lawn, unusable until springtime.
Do you think the lunar eclipse is visible in this photo? I was awake at 4 am when it was supposed to be happening, so I snapped a photo.
We enjoyed taking some photos on this frosty morning. Frost is such a marvel.
The marathon of holiday cooking started on Wednesday morning with two pies. A vegan pumpkin pie (really butternut squash and some sweet potato) and a vegan pecan pie.
And a beautiful brief snowfall, just perfect to make pies by.
By Wednesday evening it was becoming clear that there would be too much food for Thanksgiving dinner. So we ate the kale farro salad for pre-thanksgiving dinner. An overlooked mealtime until this year!
Thursday morning’s bake was this main course: shepherd’s pie with mushroom lentil filling and polenta topping.
We were overstuffed of course and have plenty of leftovers. It felt weird to have thanksgiving alone at our house due to COVID. But the food was fun and exciting and just the way we like it.
We mulched most of the beds for winter. The two near the back got a layer of chicken coop waste covered by a layer of straw. The other beds got waterlogged straw, picked up from J&P Farmers Market. And some leftover hay.
The strawberry bed got a light layer of mulch. It really needs the blighted leaves pulled off and more mulch. Maybe later.
What’s left in the garden? A nice patch of leeks, quite a lot of kale, some juvenile broccoli that I don’t have much hope for, and mostly bygone escarole. A row of half-hearted spinach.
It’s definitely getting to be wintry out there.