Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Tis the Holiday Season and in keeping with spending our $$ locally Sue and I have been annually cutting our Christmas tree at a local tree farm. Unlike those folks who put up a tree right after Thanksgiving and often take it down a few days after Christmas Day or the day after New Year's Day, we have a different plan. Back in the day, you know, when Christmas was less commercial and a bit more of a religious observance, Christmas was more than two weeks long.

Several years ago, in part due to slower economic times, but more out of a desire to put our Christmas back into the spiritual sphere by de-emphasizing gift-giving, Sue and I started breaking our old habits. One thing we did was to limit the number of and cost of individual presents.  After a few years we radically changed the gift-giving to our Grandchildren, we now have six. No longer do we give toys or clothes -  because with clothes its too hard to get the sizes right, the kids growth so fast. As for toys, they already get so many from their own parents and the "other" grandparents, it seemed to us the value of an individual toy was lost shortly after the next present was opened. What we did was to start buying EE Savings Bonds for each grandchild, one for each birthday and one for each Christmas. So far this system is working pretty well, for us anyway.

A number of years ago my daughter Sasha, I think it was her anyway, gave me a very nice book for Christmas, 'One Hundred Saints'. I learned from this book that December 6th used to be the official feast day for St. Nicholas, who we all know now as Santa Claus. It occurred to me that the Christmas Season ought to start with a nice dinner on December 6th. I even penned a short work on how St. Nicholas became Santa Claus which I read the evening of December 6th. The next event in our season is to cut our own Christmas Tree.

Christmas Tree cutting, for us,  takes place about mid-December. Cutting our own tree gives us the freshest tree, which we want to last through January 6th, Epiphany. By our

system the Christmas Holiday lasts one full month. Though we are not Church-goers, Sue and I observe the Advent Sundays and Sue reads the Advent Calendar. On Christmas Eve we read the Nativity Story and watch a Christmas movie. We do give a few gifts, a good proportion of which are food treats, but some may be DVDs, books, CDs and this year I sent a Teaching Company Course, it was a 12 lecture course and it was on sale - I referred to it as "food for the mind."

Christmas at Berryridge Farm is truly a season and it gets more fun each year.

Snow Falling on Berryridge Farm

We had a little dusting of snow a week or two ago but Thursday evening, November 17th, the first real snow fell. I was in town at a Masonic Lodge meeting and returned home to find almost four inches of snow had already collected on the back door porch. There had been no snow falling in town, nor any until I was well into the foothills, but six or seven miles from home the flakes were coming down. The real accumulation came at the four mile from home mark.

The timing was perfect because earlier in the day I had taken the Ford Escort to the tire place that we use and had the studded snow tires put on. Our little Escort is a very good snow-mobile when the snow is less that 8 inches deep, its not a very good snowplow however. The arrival of snow is not a big deal, unless of course it drops more than 8 inches, then we just don't plan to go anywhere. Three of our neighbors have tractors with bucket loaders and they often keep the road open for all of us to use.

The "Girls" (our Hens) actually do OK in the snow. We take them warm water when their water dispenser freezes. Last Winter, it was only a few times I hooked up a heater (60 watt light-bulb) to stave-off serious cold (single-digit numbers like 3 deg F). The girls are not thrilled about the snow or frozen ground because they like to scratch the earth and so frozen ground really slows them down. So what do they do, they just hang out as best they can. Only a week ago or so Susan saw a Bobcat pacing back and forth next to our Girls pen - so we have been more careful to lock the girls in for the night.

Just recently, our nearest neighbor Tina, got some Hens of her own, four I think. She has an interesting coop, sort of a Gypsy Coop. Since she has a horse and her sons visit frequently with their dogs we hope her hens are safe from the local Bobcat and the Coyotes we often hear after dark.

During the past five days we've had several vists from Jack Frost. I took a turn around the yard to photograph the jewel-like quality the leaves take on when covered in frost. Who knows, one of the photos may end up on the Christmas Card we send or in the Berryridge Farm Star Christmas newsletter.

Sue is working hard to get a Christmas short story finished in time to publish before Christmas. I've been looking for a snow scene to use as part of the cover. This is an Irish story so Sue would like a scene of an Irish Cottage or village, at night, when its snowing - Dreamstime has some good snow stuff but nothing that fits what we'd like - I may have to improvise.

I'll close for now. Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave your comments, questions and suggestions. Grand John

Grandkids Rock II

The next grandkids I'm going to feature are the three whose parents are Sean and Sasha. (I have to check-in with Aunt Meghann to make sure its OK to post pics of Seamus and Rowan).

Sean and Sasha were married in the Spring of 2006, both having waited into their 30's before tying the knot. With the biological clock ticking away they got started on a family and the first bundle of joy arrived in July of 2007. "Devan"

Devan was an instant hit with all who got to meet her. In the photo at left, she has her uncle Collin right where she wants him.

Having two very active parents, Devan soon started collecting frequent flyer miles. If memory serves me correctly, before she even had her 2nd Birthday, Devan had flown to Hawaii and to Paris, not to mention several trips across the USA, both east to west and north to south.

Devan became an 'Older' sister in November of 2008 when the 2nd bundle of joy, Bria, joined the family. Devan was fascinated by her baby sister and enjoyed being right at hand to assist with bath time and other baby care duties.

Devan was always very careful when holding and playing with her little sister. Little sister's do not, however, stay little. They get bigger, start to crawl and well they begin to get into your stuff!  Mom and dad do their best to keep things in order.  Daddy really enjoys his two "Irish" girls.

Something was missing though, oh yes, a boy! That oversight was fixed on April 1st of 2010 when the 3rd bundle of Joy arrived. Conor came to join the happy family and he had not one, but two big sisters to give him all the love and affection a boy could stand. It is a wonder he survived the attention. Devan actually showed a great touch with her baby brother.  Bria, however, did not yet have command of her own strength. Conor, in the pic at right, wonders - "who is this girl?"

Sean, Sasha, Devan, Bria and Conor are lots of fun. Conor, who turns two next April, is walking and now holds his own with his two sister's. In fact, he even invites the rough n' tumble with Bria, they'll probably enroll in Judo together.

One of the great things the kids enjoy is lots of attention from family and friends. At right the kids pose for a photo with uncle Kevin, earlier this Summer - 2011.

Grandkids Rock

Now that the firewood preparation is under control, I'm taking a little time to reflect on what it means to be a grandparent. Sue and I have six grandchildren in our combined family: I had two kids with my first wife, a daughter Sasha and a son, Collin, while Sue had two daughters with her first husband: Carrie and Meghann. I guess you could say we are right in step with the modern American Family.

There are many things I like about being a grandfather. One is that you can sort of get "do-overs," experiences you might have missed the first time round. For one, I take lots more photos now than I did when Sasha and Collin were very little. I did take quite a few photos on our boating trips, starting when they 6 and 4 respectively, so that was good, but I didn't take many everyday photos - so to speak.  With our grandchildren I've tried to capture everyday life, when we visit them or they visit us. This Summer Sue and

I were blessed to have all our grand kids visit Berryridge Farm.


I guess the place to begin is with our oldest grandchild, Meghan, who is now ten years old,

Meghan's family at left,  L to R are Carrie, Meghan and Kevin.

Meghan is named after auntie Meghann, Carrie's sister. Little Megs was a very cute baby from the git-go but especially so the older she got. She stole many a heart at almost 2, when she danced at her Aunt Meghann's Wedding, see photo at right. Meghan's mom has a flare for the dramatic and Meghan often has Great Halloween costumes. A couple of years ago Meghan dressed up as 'Dorothy' from the 'Wizard of Oz', as you can see at left. 

In 2010 she dressed up as a 'Corpse Bride', as shown in the photo at right. 

This costume was the inspiration for Susan's Middle-Grade novelette, The Curse of the Corpse Bride. I actually hope that Sue is inspired by many more of Meghan's Halloween costume choices, because it is fun to see what books might spring from said inspiration. In fact it won't surprise me if Megs takes up acting, perhaps in High School. Both her mother and aunt were putting on little skits as girls growing up.  One of Meghan's talents is that of being a good baby sitter. She gained lots of valuable skills playing with her two younger boy cousins, Seamus and Rowan, who are aunt Meghann's sons.

OK, that is the introduction of the 1st of 6 grandkids. Stay tuned for more.

Falling Fast

October has given way to November, we have a fire in the wood stove every day now, and the first traces of snow have fallen on the upper reaches of Black Mt. Most of our garden has been harvested, with the beets, carrots and parsnips coming out of the ground last.

The last couple of weeks have been so colorful, with reds, oranges and yellows predominating. The only green plants are mostly evergreens. In the evening the western Sunlight hits Red & Black Mountains and adds a richness to the yellow-gold which turns pink when the the Sun dips below the visible edge of the earth.

The air is brisk, nips at your nose, there is no chance to forget you're alive, one's senses are on high alert. The country is beautiful but it plays no favorites to the careless. It is not uncommon to see a hawk flying away with dinner in it's talons. The coyotes call in the evening and the owl hoots in the nearby forest.

As each Fall approaches I tell Sue, "this year we're just going to have to set out our Autumn figurines on 'Michaelmas' (Sept. 29th) but we're always a few days late. We pick 'Michaelmas" because it is a date often mentioned in the various Jane Austen novels-made into movies that we love to read and watch. Besides, it makes a convenient on which to mark the Autumn Harvest Season. It makes no sense to wait until late November. In productive gardens, harvesting starts in Mid-Spring. We keep our Fall figurines displayed until December 6th,

St. Nicohlas' Feast Day, when they are replaced by our Christmas figures.

Sue and I are very fond of the evening and night sky. We especially like the Fall and Winter night sky because we love to look at Orion. I'm also a big fan of Moon scenes as you can see at the left.

Thanksgiving is not long off and I can hardly wait. I love turkey, cranberry sauce - home made of course and pumpkin pie - also home made. Got to now, have to start the evening's fire. John

A Hen's Life at Berryridge Farm

It's been about a year and 1/4 since we got our original six hens. They have survived one winter and lost one sister to a local hawk. Our hens get to roam around in a pretty good-sized area during each day.  Sue and I secure them in their safety zone, the coop plus a ten foot square caged-run, each evening.

I sited our coop to the west of our fire-wood processing and storage sheds. We knew the coop was going to be a little raw-smelling, at times, so not having it too close to the house was part of the reason for siting where I did. The structure I built was divided into a coop and a tool storage shed. The roof is metal.

I saw a very convenient nest-box set-up on some pre-fab coops in a homesteading magazine Ad and so I designed my own variation, see photos at left and right. Just recently I put a  rain gutter along the overhanging roof so we wouldn't get as wet collecting eggs on rainy days.

As the Fall of 2010 approached I wondered how the "girls," as we learned to call our hens, would be able to handle the cold and snow. It came to me that maybe they should have some outside shelter, with a roost perhaps. So I built a smallish covered roost within their "safety Zone."

The shelter at left is what I came up with and little did I know how welcome it would become during the "girls" first winter on Berryridge Farm, as you can see at the right.

If Sue and I didn't quite feel like home-steaders the first few years, we certainly feel it now that we have "live stock." As live stock goes, hens are pretty easy and if you don't have a rooster, then the hens love you all the more. They want to be around where

you are working, even when you're cleaning their coop. What's more they make their feelings known as soon as they hear the back door of the house opening. They are very greatful for any treats that you bring them, like bugs, berries, kitchen scraps etc. The "girls" will peck at you from time to time and they steal food from each other, no one's food is safe. However, they do seem to tollerate the small wild birds who raid their feeder.

We did name the "girls" but I can only recognize three of them on sight, Dottie, Marilyn and Chole O'Brien, yes, from 24. There you have my Hen Report - oh, how could I forget - the EGGS - they're soooo goood!!

Have a wonderful Fall ~ John

Fall, the Season of Color

I was talking to a Masonic friend of mine yesterday and he told me he was not just sure whether he liked Spring or Fall the best, both are colorful and full of promise. I said to him that for me it was Fall, because the harvest was in and there were so many good fresh things to eat.

As I look out my little home office window, my feelings are very mixed. The day lily plant I can see is mostly yellow with a few remaining streaks of green. The black-eyed Susan's have dropped most of their yellow petals and the plant leaves are turning a burnt orange around the edges. The crowning gleam in my sight is the Maple Tree, its called October Glory and has already gone from green leaves to dark red and eventually they will turn a brighter red before the November winds will strip them from the branches.

Out here in the foothills the Vine Maples turn from green to orange-red or green to yellow with orange-red edges, in either case it is a beautiful sight. One other show-stopper in our yard are the blueberry shrubs, so red-orange they look as if on fire. I mentioned my feelings and they are tugged-at by the wilting leaves on the bean plants and grapevines. I have to remind myself that life lives in a cycle and that during Winter's apparent rest, plants are rebuilding for Springs emergence.

Another reason I love the Fall, are the low-lying clouds which settle in the valley's. The scenes they produce remind me of Taoist Paintings from China's past. Images of mountain tops peaking through clouds as if floating on those very clouds surrounding them. I sometimes watch in wonder as clouds drag by through the stands of Fir, Hemlock and Cedar trees on nearby hills. There is such a quality of Zen philosophy, available for those who seek it, here in our foothills. Living in the moment, the now of time, it becomes easy to feel connected to the rhythm of life and with the creatures we share existence with on this planet.

Sue and I are ready for Winter, we have a good supply of dry wood, a fair amount of food in the freezer and most important the knowledge we've gained from our previous winter experiences. We hope each of you have planned and made ready.

So Much to Do!

I'm sure some of you are like me, it feels like you always behind because there is just so much to do. Spring and summer tend to fly by with all the attention you give to planting, weeding, watering.....and weeding again. Spring and Summer is also the time I move and stack the coming Fall/Winter firewood into shed One. Once in awhile Sue gets into the firewood action as you see in the photo.

Fast Forward: Sorry I let the above entry slide so long - its now 10/22/2011

Sue and I have certain tasks we share and ones which each of us handle pretty much on our own. The weeding we share because it without it the garden areas can simply be over run. Sue pretty much handles the watering chores and I pretty much take care of tieing-up the plants needing support structures. Sue and I share brush removal, though I handle the cutting down of small trees, she helps me move them to the firewood cutting area. Spring and Summer zoomed by this year but May, June and the first half of July were cooler than usual, and we had much more rain. This did not hurt the root crops but the bean, summer squash, table grapes and to some extent the tomatoes were held back. The tomatoes got a needed boost at the end of Summer and we did somewhat better than we feared.

The biggest change in the garden this Summer has been the installation of several raised beds. After trying to trap voles and failing miserably, it came to me that with digging front feet they would not be good climbers, so a raised bed might be good. But then how to keep the voles from tunneling under? Well, to the rescue came hardware cloth, in 1/2 and 1/4 inch mesh. I constructed the beds to be 36 inches wide, to the outside edges, the width that the cloth normally comes in. I built nine beds, using 2X10 Douglas Fir planks.

The harvest at Summer's End was decent for tomatoes, beets, most of the carrots, parsnips, strawberries and cane berries. The apple trees produced some fruit but the trees are still young, as are the blueberry shrubs, so the crops are still small. We did have some summer visitors, daughter Meghann and her two boys stayed one night, granddaughter Meghan stayed several nights and got to meet her two Moriarty cousins, Devan & Bria and he aunt Sasha. This Summer was fun and we learned lots and added to our homestead.

Spring Cleanup!

The month of May is nearly over and much of the garden is planted, except for the summer crops like beans, corn, squash and tomatoes. I have a few of these started in peat-pots or in small plastic pots and a some have even sprouted. Sue and I will purchase tomatoes in commercial pots so we'll have a jump-start going into the few hot days we have here in the foothills. Sue and I have been fairly busy this Spring, on the days it was not pouring rain and it did rain lots.

I took down a number of coppice trees, birch and maple, on the south side of our main garden. Most of these have been cut into what I call "loglets" and stacked to dry in wood shed #4. I also constructed 5 raised planting boxes, three of which have 1/2" mesh hardware fabric and the bottom side to deter voles from getting into the root crops we have planted. Sue and I purchased 6 more blueberry shrubs and planted them in part of the West Orchard.   I built a new fence line within the W. Orchard to  secure the new blueberry patch from the Hens. This new fence also allows me to secure the Asian Pears from the Hens. The area with the Asian Pears is where on of the raised boxes was installed. I plan to put one or two more boxes in this area. The new blueberr patch actually has 8 shrubs, 2 of which were ones transplanted from the western portion of the Main Garden.

Sue prepaired and planted a new strawberry bed at the south fence-line of the western part of the Main Garden. This variety of strawberry is called Reliance and are supposed to be very hardy and produce fruit for up to 10 years before needing to replace the plants. Sue has also planted several small beds of potatoes and a nice quantity of spinach. Onions, garlic, leeks, parsnip, beets, chard, carrots and peas have all sprouted.

By the way, the hens have recovered nicely from the April Hawk attack. We get 3 to 5 eggs per day now and lots sqawking when the "girls" think we'd not been attentive enough to their needs. I did double the size of their "bird-cage" area - this is an area off the main entrance of the coop where the birds can be outside but completely protected from predators. When Sue and I are outside we let then out into a larger area to roam around in, secure in most respects except from the brids of prey.

Sue and I have plans to expand south of the Main Garden, where intend to construct a sort of patio using lots of larger broken rocks, filled in with fist-sized stones and then topped with gravel. We also plan to expand planting areas,south of the Main Garden, to grow winter-squash and some grains, which we'll have to protect from deer and rabbits. Sue and I will stay busy, not only with the garden but doing some up-keep on the house but also with the well's pump-house. We also have to get educated on putting up food for we hope that the garden will produce enough that we'll need to put it up for winter use.

When Will Spring Arrive?

Fall and Winter 2010-2011 was relatively good for us at Berryridge Farm. We had some snow, beginning in mid-November. For Christmas dinner we tried our fist heritage turkey (above right) and we found it to be very tasty. It was raised locally on a farm a little NW of Lynden WA. With the turkey we enjoyed some homemade cranberry sauce and a bottle of Cranberry Wine, made by the Pasak (sp?) Cellars Winery in Mt. Vernon, WA.  To make our Holiday Season more festive each year we place out a Seasonal Church scene, on the dining room table, to remind us to be thankful for the bounty we enjoy from the earth which sustains us and to the provendance that brought it all into being.

There was the usual period of cold temps and Northeaster Winds but I have to say that the Winter was not as bad as it was projected to be here, I can't say the same for other parts of the U.S., the East Coast for instance, seemed to have been slammed hard repeatedly. The first snow came in about mid-November and revisited numerous time, even into March.

During the Winter Sue and I did collect some windfall wood for next season's fuel supply and we attended to our Hens, who came though the coldest part of winter very well. Sadly, about mid-March, one of our Hens was killed by a Hawk. I was able to scare the Hawk away and I gave our "girl" a decent burial to enrich the ground from whence she came.