A pretty place to farm

I never cease to be amazed at how pretty this place is. Here we see Emily planting garlic on what is probably the last possible day. Several people I’ve talked to in town mentioned that they were looking at the weather report, feeling guilty that their garlic wasn’t in yet, fretting at the coming weeks of rain, and clearing their calendars. It’s funny to think of people all over north county all planting garlic simultaneously on Saturday, as though under some subliminal mind control waves.

In the days since that photo was taken, the rain and cold have moved in, requiring us to light the wood stove in the house while we work. We’ve finally removed the old stove that came with the house, and saved it to use elsewhere (yet to be determined).  It’s a nice enough stove, but two years ago Emily scored a really sweet Jøtul Model 8 wood stove on craig’s list for about a thousand dollars less than new. This is our dream stove; we’ve loved it ever since we used one in a friend’s vacation home in Door County, almost a decade ago. They are the finest of Scandanavian woodburning technology, both beautiful and extremely efficient. This one needs a little cleaning and a few parts replaced, but I can handle that.