It has been a long, busy, beautiful Summer here at Stone Soup. The horses are fat, the garden was fantastic, the broiler chickens are coming along nicely(except for the five that the fox bit the heads off from), the days are getting shorter and cooler and the full weight of the Fall harvest is upon us.As our days run on into the night, sometimes till 11:00, we are thinking of winter.
  Winter is a little quieter around here when the long nights drive us inside by 4:30, but there is still plenty to do. Aside from the usual daily chores there will be the Winter chores to prepare us for the Seasons ahead. This Winter we will be cutting and splitting firewood for next Winter and selecting the trees that we will need to saw  into lumber for a new roof for a barn that we took down in Topsham last Fall and will re-construct next Summer here at S.S.I. The horses have been on light duty all Summer and I think that they will be happy for a daily routine of logging. We are currently accepting applications for four students for a Winter semester that will focus mainly on Horse Logging. Anyone interested in applying can take a look at the full Course Description on our web-site at www.stone-soup-institute.org

Highlights of the Past Year

Well, it has been along time since I wrote a post, but a lot of wonderful  things have a happened- the garden is in amazing shape, its been the best year for berries that I have known, and there has been a number of building projects in the works. Notable buildings are a pig pen, and a mobile chicken tractor.   Thirty-one "Freedom Rangers" broiler chicks arrrived about a week and half ago-they will be the first residents of the chicken tractor. I picked them up from the post office, where they were making quite a racket. 

The garden is just about to go into heavy production- with massive amounts of pickling cucumbers getting ready to come on, and an even more massive amount of tomatoes. An ample supply of canning jars will be critical to a successful year. I plan on making a lot of tomato juice, sauce and salsa,  and a couple jars of ketchup. I love making tomato sauce in mid-October on the wood-stove, when you can just leave a pot on top of the stove and it fills the whole house with the smell of tomatoes. We are just entering into late summer  now- as evidence by the deeper color of the sun, and the deep green of the leaves. Nature always goes in that familiar pattern- things are just a little bit different each day. You don't notice it, then one day, you look and everything is different from the way it was.

Summary of 2011

The garden and chickens this year where quite a success. Seventeen meat birds raised, averaging about 6.5 lbs apiece, and costing about $1.40 per pound.  I never had this much chicken in the freezer, but, I like it.

Lots of carrots, beets and turnips in the root cellar, lots of beans dried, and lots corn drying as well. Lots of tomatoes frozen, and turned into sauce, juice, salsa and ketchup and pickles, and lots of dried mushrooms.

My general feelings about this whole process, growing food, preserving food, thinking about life in this way is this:
Its a commitment, which, like all commitments does not always feel fun. However, it is an activity which does, at the most basic level, create peace of mind. It is real peace of mind, the kind that existed before insurance tried to convince people that they could sell you peace of mind. Its is peace which comes from actions taken, from diligence, from sacrifice, time and knowledge. It leaves you with little to say at the end of it all. It is done, and here is what the results are.  There are always plans for next year, always learning which occurs, but at the end of the season, when everything is put away, it is like a huge exhale. There is nothing more to do, until the season starts up. Its time to celebrate that you have participated in the reality of keeping yourself alive and healthy, to the extent that you could.

It creates space around you- knowledge that makes you feel secure. It is the raw knowledge that ensures you will be alright this winter. Even thought there is uncertainty in the weather, and many things can go wrong, if it didn't go wrong this year- then, for the most part this winter will be o.k.

 This has meaning that is tangible, and that is what we need- the connection to our life, our labor, our time, and our efforts  remember this feeling, and carry it forward, as the world changes, as time rubs off the memory of what it feels like to live with the earth, and to connect ourselves in the most honest way possible to the ground we live on.