Greetings from Colonial Williamsburg

I'm in Williamsburg, Virginia for a work conference this week.  This is my first time traveling to this part of the state and I have to say one thing - boy, it's HUMID here!  In any case, I generally don't bring my camera with me when I travel for work.  And in this instance, I am sorely regretting it.  Off all the places to be without my trusty Nikon D60.  Shortly after I arrived yesterday evening, I took a walk around the historical district and was deeply struck and moved by the beauty of it all.  I don't think I've ever been to a place like this before.  Sure, having lived in Philadelphia and Boston, I've seen my fair share of old brick buildings.  But they were always viewed within the backdrop of modern day life.  Here in Colonial Williamsburg, aside from the tourists walking about, time seems to stand still.

I took the picture above with my blackberry phone.  Not great, I know.  Yesterday, I bought a disposable camera and am looking forward to waking up extra early tomorrow morning to take some pictures.  (I was surprised to find that they still made disposable cameras.)  And of course, I will be hunting for the Colonial gardens.  I found one that had artichoke plants that were 3 ft tall (Erin - you are missing out, girl!), shell peas that were 6 ft tall (mine are 6 inches tall in Vermont), wooden cold frames like I'd never seen before, and low tunnels made from bent branches and cotton muslin.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some decent pictures from the disposable camera and post some soon.

Dairy Day At Shelburne Farms

Last Sunday, we went to Dairy Day at Shelburne Farms.  The weather was beautiful, and so were the cows.  I'll let most of the pictures speak for themselves.


I might be mistaken but I believe Mount Mansfield is in the background.




Sheep looking freshly sheared




This calf was born the day before.  It's legs were still shaky and you could see the umbilical cord.




The calves loved having their cheeks scratched, and over course, nibbling at our clothes.


Lake Champlain




Brown Swiss cows bathing in the sun


Around 3:30 PM, the cows came home.

 

We had a great time and will surely come again next year!

I'm Baaaack!

 
 I have to apologize for being MIA for so long.  I don't think I've ever gone this long without posting something.  But now that things are starting to warm up here in Vermont (this week being an exception) and I've gotten our community garden plot squared away, I'm sure I'll have more to talk about. 


These are just two random pictures I took of Lake Champlain a while back.  They're nothing to write home about and don't highlight some of the spectacular mountain views you can see from the shore, but on this day, we came across some bird watchers and even spotted a few Bald Eagles circling in the sky.  (I was sorely disappointed that I'd neglected to bring along my telephoto lens.) We're really looking forward to exploring the nearby forests and mountains this summer.

We're finally getting some much needed rain this week, though it might end up being a bit too much.  I don't remember the last time we've had a spring this dry.  The soil in the raised beds behind our townhouse had begun to take on that grey sandy dust bowl-ish look.  Hopefully this is not the start of another wacky year of weather.  This past winter was wacky enough.

Apple Picking

Now is a great time to be in New England. There's tons of natural beauty to take in, which is one of the reasons why fall is my favorite season for being outdoors. This past weekend, we visited Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury, Massachusetts. With sunny skies, temperatures in the uppers 60's and a slight breeze, it was perfect weather for going apple picking.


A gentle slop of apple trees, you can see why the farm is called 'Cider Hill'.


I loved their display of pumpkins, which came in all shapes, colors and textures.


The little man looked mighty cool in his tinted glasses, track suit and garden boots.


As you can see, the fall foliage still has a ways to go before reaching its peak.


As the wind swept through the corn fields, the dried leaves made a gentle rattling noise.


We picked a good amount of Mutsu apples, which are similar to Granny Smith. They are destined for pie.


I would love to grow an orchard of my own one of these days. As I picked, I thought about the relationship between the farmer with his apple trees. Simply put - he cares for them, and if all goes well, they supply him with an abundance in return. I'm sure there's a parable in here somewhere.


A bin of fallen apples - soon they'll be carted off to the cider press.

It's Good to be Home - Peppers

I'll say it again - I feels really good to be home. For much of this week, I was in Phoenix, Arizona for work. It felt a bit strange to go from our New England weather to a desert climate where temperatures reached into the upper 90's during the day and 80's during the night. Even stranger was the fact that everyone I ran into seemed to be happy about it, or more specifically, happy that it wasn't 110 degrees F. I will admit that I felt a sense of relief when I got into my car at Logan airport tonight and the thermometer read 53 degrees.

Despite the weather, I rather enjoyed my time in Phoenix. I loved the desert foliage and the Spanish-style homes. And I'm sure that some of our summer veggies would love the dry heat and brilliant sun that the southwest has to offer. Nevertheless, earlier this week, I noticed that my zone 6 Poblano pepper plants are over 6 feet tall now! Amazingly, they still look perfectly healthy unlike our tomatoes.

I've been purposefully waiting to harvest most of my Poblano peppers. If you pick them too early, the flesh will be too thin to be worth the hassle of roasting and pealing them.


Finally, I noticed that my Pepperoncini peppers have turned a bright lipstick red color. I think this will be the last year I'll grow them. As much as I tried to like them, I'm not too fond of their slightly bitter taste.

Market Sighting - Jackfruit!

Yesterday I was at the Asian Market in Chinatown during my lunch break and noticed that there were fresh jackfruit in the produce isle. I'd never seen fresh jackfruit for sale on the East Coast before. It was an exciting find to say the least. The last time I came across this fruit was a few years ago, when visiting my sister in Orange County, California. We went to an Vietnamese produce market that sold jackfruit almost exclusively. The store was stocked from floor to ceiling with this enormous fruit and offered several varieties, the flesh of which ranged from pale yellow to deep orange. When I returned from my trip, I planted a couple of seeds for fun and both grew into 2 feet tall trees before succumbing to the outdoor elements. (There are times I wish we lived about 5000 miles closer to the equator.)

The ones I saw yesterday were pretty impressive, the largest weighing at least 40 pounds. Jackfruit can be as big as 3 feet long and weigh up to 80 pounds and is considered the largest tree fruit in the world. It's hard to describe the taste of a jackfruit. It's one of those natural foods that you just have to experience in order to fully comprehend. I was tempted to buy one of these monsters. Unfortunately, I couldn't imagine returning to work with a 40 pound tropical tree fruit strapped to my back.

Road Trip - The Lake Champlain Islands and Shelburne Farms

As most of you know, we went on a mini-road trip to Burlington, Vermont not too long ago. Here are some photos we took on our journey to the islands of Lake Champlain and the famous Shelburne Farms estate in the town of Shelburne. Athough we were only able to spend one night in Northern Vermont, we're looking forward to returning this Fall, hopefully when the weather is cooler and the foliage is at it's peak.

Shelburne Farms is a magical place and a "must" destination for all visitors to the area. There's even an inn on the property where guests can stay while they spend a few days exploring the 1500 acre estate. For our day trip, we were only able to visit the 'Farm Barn' complex, which provides many activities geared toward young children and houses the farm's cheesemaking facility. We're planning on exploring many of the farm's other sites, including the 7-acre market garden, when we return in a couple of months.

Anyway, here are few pictures of our trip:


The surrounding mountains, as seen from a bridge to the Lake Champlain islands.


The Lake Champlain islands remind me of Long Island, New York in many ways. I was surprised to find so many farms on this seemingly narrow stretch of land. Driving up Route 2, you see farms and hay fields dotted across the island landscape.


A dairy farm on the island of North Hero.

The next day, we were off to explore the grounds of Shelburne Farms.


We came across this rather interesting display of hand-carved wood.

The estate's open pastures stretch as far as the eye can see.


We eventually found our way to the Farm Barn, home to many of Shelburne Farms' educational programs including a private elementary school.


We entered through the side of the facility and came across this rather interesting children's garden.

The architectural features of this huge facility is stunning to say the least.


We then made our way to the animal stalls where the children's program was being held that morning.

The first animal we met was Bella, who was a gentle cutie pie. Shelburne farms makes all of their cheese from Brown Swiss cows.


These kids didn't seem very excited to see us.


The chicken parade - We learned a bit about chickens and watched as they were let out of their coop for the day. We were also allowed to pick them up (or at least try to) and hold them. Afterwards Jonathan and the rest of the kids went into the coop to look for eggs.


Later that morning, it came time to get up close and personal with Bella.


She didn't seem too excited about getting milked, that is until they brought her some haylage to munch on.

The children each got a chance to milk her. Jonathan must be a natural because he was able to get a good steam from Bella on the first try. Marc and I on the other hand struggled a little bit.

An antique tractor in the children's playroom.


We then made our way to farm's cheesemaking facility.


We were able to sample some of the farm's delicious cheddar cheese and then watched as they cut the morning's batch of curds.


Then it was Jonathan's turn. You can see me in the background chatting it up with one of the friendly cheesemakers. Of course I had to purchase a cheesemaking kit before we left.


Soon it came time to say goodbye to Shelburne farms and all of their beautiful cows.


We hitched a ride on a wagon back to the farm's welcome center where we purchased some amazing cheddar cheese to take home. We were really disappointed that we didn't get a chance to see more of the farm that morning (which was bloody hot by the way) but are looking forward to coming back in late September for a longer stay.