We live in a rural area of Maine…. and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Peace and quiet.
Visiting wildlife.
And beautiful scenery.
Some days more than others…
Living across the road from an organic vegetable farm has it’s benefits.
And fresh veggies aren’t the half of it.
Right now, the poppies are in bloom.
Glorious, riotous bloom.
And I’m enjoying every minute of it.
I mean really….
How can you not?
Our half share of the 3rd CSA from our neighbor was a lovely assortment.
Swiss chard, white radishes, green leaf lettuce, carrots, mesclun mix, spinach, cucumber, basil and ….
What I thought was parsley.
But turned out to be chervil. If nothing else, I’m learning a lot about green things this summer.
With those fresh ingredients, it was spinach salad with apples, radish, mushroom and purple onion for dinner.
Yes, I like a little parm on top as well.
A bright berry mixed green salad was dinner the next night.
Week 4 saw the family we split with out of town, so we received the entire share.
And that’s a big bag of veg.
Zucchini, turnip, cucumber, mustard greens, parsley, carrots, mesclun mix, parsnip, spinach, lemon basil, butterhead lettuce and cilantro.
Not being fennel fans, we passed that and the dreaded cilantro off to a friend.
But ooh la la!
Fresh aromatic lemon basil meant from scratch marinade…
For delicious grilled chicken breasts that night.
Recipe below if anyone is interested.
The baby barn.
Now that we’d finished the holy crap did it really take that long construction and paint, it was time for me to begin the beautification process. This meant doing something with the empty flower bed and border.
The ground has always been uneven there… and when I mulched, it tended to wash downhill. So I gathered up a bunch of the old weathered bricks I love and started stacking.
While the husband was watching.
Best.
Idea.
Ever.
Before I knew it?
He was on his hands and knees telling me I was doing it wrong.
And while I normally don’t react well to that statement… if it means someone will step in and do all the work? I can swallow my pride.
In no time flat it was being done properly.
As he gleefully pointed out how my eyeballed straight line wasn’t so straight.
Look at him with his little level.
Isn’t that special?
I damn near burst out laughing when he started trimming the bush with a pair of scissors.
Who is this man, and what have you done with my husband?
Be still my heart.
He actually dipped into his sacred pile of dirt that’s been behind the baby barn since we built the big barn years ago and… look!
He even spread it.
I don’t mind telling you the rare sight of my husband gardening was positively orgasmic.
While he loves to mow the lawn and chop down trees…. anything resembling planting, weeding, mulching, bordering… aka gardening?
It was a miraculous sight.
Unfortunately it used up a lot more material than I had, so I sent out an SOS for additional bricks.
Next door neighbor to the rescue.
They have a lovely old farmhouse with a huge 3 (4?) story barn.
Which the husband was scoping out while I loaded bricks into the truck.
She had enough to let us (and by us, I mean him. All I did was take pictures and moan with pleasure) finish.
And I’m quite pleased with the results.
Especially if he’s your neighbor.
Across the road from our house is a ( 65 acre?) family owned and operated certified organic vegetable farm.
We love our neighbors. They’re alternative lifestyle vegans, and tend to do things a little differently….. which has made for wonderful blog fodder over the years.
How differently do they do things you ask.
Here’s a picture of my husband taken a few years ago. He was starting to put a roof on the chicken coop that had been turned into a farmhand’s cabin.
Yes…. that’s a hot water heater up in the tree behind him.
Isn’t that where you put yours?
Fast forward 6 years and the farm has grown by leaps and bounds. Expanded cultivation, multiple greenhouses, migrant workers, a new wife, 2 more children….
And goats.
Our neighbor has earned a stellar reputation among the expensive Old Port restaurants and did most of his business with them…. until the Corona virus shut everything down.
It was literally do or die for the farm, and in desperation the family opened a farm stand on their property. It’s doing well, but can never make up for the market they lost.
So they’ve also brought back their CSA (community supported agriculture). Not sure if you have this where you live, but it’s become very popular in Maine.
The following is a heartfelt plea they sent to our town and an explanation of how it works if you’re interested.
Which were almost too beautiful to eat.
So, can you see it?
Look closely now.
Not until you get near enough to look up.
There.
The neighbor’s tree adjacant tree house, hidden from sight by trees.
I love trees.
Here’s the husband for size reference, holding the enemy of trees. The chain saw birthday gift I’ve lived to regret.
I neither know, nor want to find out what he was cutting down there.
I shall just enjoy the leaf cover those glorious trees provide.
And maybe do this –
Remember I blogged about our neighbor giving us 3 free trees….
And the fact that he planted a row of 54 on his property across the street?
Well, yesterday…
He added a little something to those trees.
Okay a lot of something.
And it was quite…. how shall I say?
Pungent.
In an effort to beautify his farm, our neighbor grew 100 silver birch trees. He planted a row of them (54!) alongside the road and I must say…. they’ll look impressive in a few years.
Next thing we knew he was planting them down his driveway, on the next door neighbor’s property and along the road on the other side of the street.
Not wanting to be left out, I asked if we could buy 3 to put in front of our big barn.
He said no.
But that he would be over the next day to give us three and plant them.
We love our neighbors.
This half dead flowering plum will have to go.
Spring was late in coming this year, and while our lawn is still trying to recover from some mid May snow and frost and doesn’t look it’s best yet, I had to laugh at the husband’s reaction to having parts of it disturbed.
You know that man in your neighborhood who’s constantly outside raking, picking up twigs, and screaming “Get off my lawn!” at children? That’s my husband. He’s been known to mow the same patch of grass 3 times in one day.
And yes, I bought him that shirt.
I think watching our neighbor tear up and fling the soil around was physically painful for him.
But he endured with stoic silence.
And we all got in on the act.
Say no to free trees?
And I don’t want to start a partisan political fight.
But I’m getting tired of people snarkily saying, “You know that’s not going to protect you.” every time I go out in public with my cloth face mask firmly in place.
Yes, I know it’s not going to protect me.… but it’s going to protect you against airborne infected droplets in case I’m asymptomatic, which apparently many of us are.
I protect you, and I don’t think it’s too much to ask that you protect me… and by default my older husband who has 3 major underlying health conditions that would make catching Covid 19 a possible death sentence. I’m not an alarmist, or a panicker. I’m level headed and calm, but when it comes to my husband’s life? I’m not taking chances.
I get that the economy can’t be shut down indefinitely. I understand people are suffering, and if I could trust them to protect others? I would have no problem opening businesses. But a lot of the people I know who are out there protesting in large unprotected groups have jobs they can work from home and steady incomes.
They’re just upset they can’t go out and play.
Yeah…. let that sink in.
If the Irish can stop consuming their pints in public? I think Americans can deal with a little piece of cloth if it helps save lives.
And to those who say the crisis isn’t that serious because they don’t personally know anyone who’s ill? We’re relatively lucky in Maine, we have a low contraction and death rate, but even here…. in my small rural town? I know people. Our neighbor who lives behind us has it. Our neighbor to the left’s parents have it, one severe enough to require hospitalization.
It’s here.
It’s everywhere.
As this sad picture posted by a childhood friend who lives in NYC can attest.
There are no sympathy cards because there are too many deaths. If that isn’t the definition of serious, I don’t know what is.
Rant over.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled program.
We love our large back yard.
Specifically because there’s nothing to see except grass and the occasional 4 legged visitor.
It’s quiet, peaceful and far away from other houses.
Remember a while back when I complained about the neighbor behind us who parked his motor home right next to our property line instead of on any of his other 10 acres?
Well, the other day as I was reading on the couch, I heard banging.
Do you see it?
How about now?
The neighbor’s house isn’t visible from our place, and they have a good 12 acres worth of property, if not more. Some is cleared, some wooded… and it goes right down to the water.
So what did they do?
They started construction of a tree house…… right next to our property line.
Grass? Ours. Brush? Theirs.
Maybe 6 feet between the end of our grass and their tree house frame.
12 acres plus… more than 522,720 square feet! But they had to pick the only spot on our common border that’s open to viewing from our side.
I’d like to bitch… but we love these neighbors, and have always had a good relationship. The owner lost her husband to Parkinsons a few years ago and it broke all our hearts. The home is large and was too much for her to handle alone so her daughter and family moved in to help. Two granddaughters and two step grandsons are now also in residence, hence the tree house.
Which technically it isn’t, since it’s merely tree adjacent.
I don’t mean to sound anti children, but damn. We’re on the other side of the life spectrum and relish our peace and quiet.
But there it is, looming over our backyard.
Did I mention it’s strategically placed on the only break of the tree line?
12 plus acres…. and they had to put it there!
No.
We’re not bored.
What makes you think that?
River's world..... 