HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We hope all of you had a
healthy, happy Christmas! The yuletide rush ascended upon us like a crashing
sleigh and eight intoxicated reindeer, so we are (yet again) postponing the
penning of our annual letter until Santa and his coursers return safe (and
sober) to the North Pole.
We’ll begin with restoration
news, as we have become quite the seasoned veterans in that field. Walnut Grove
Farm continues to get facelifts and Botox injections. This year, we covered our homely old smokehouse
with clapboard salvaged from a 100+ year-old farmhouse. It now proudly serves as woodshed, potting
shed, and repository for Thomas’s “farm equipment.” We also moved a log pigsty to the property,
which will become Thomas’s hideout, though Heather hopes one day it might house
a heritage breed hog or two. The garden
continues to produce vegetables and challenges.
This year, we had our best tomato crop ever, as Heather honored Gregor
Mendel and grew all hybrid varieties (at least that is the excuse she gives
herself for forsaking all heirlooms.)
The corn patch was beautiful—enormous green stalks of “Bloody Butcher,”
“Cherokee White Flour,” and “Bear Paw” popcorn—until the raccoons found it and
had a string of midnight feasts.
As always, our animals entertain
and provide emotional support. In the
spring, we added some Marans chickens to our flock, and we are already enjoying
dark rusty brown colored eggs. Sadly, we
lost two goats this spring: Iris, our old nanny goat, broke into the feed bin,
gorged herself with grain, and died of bloat a few days later; and Little
Larry, one of our recent additions, got his hoof caught in the fork of a tree
and hanged himself. Needless to say, we
cursed the Grim Goat Reaper for months.
To replace our losses, we again turned to our “real” farmer friends who
breed their goats every year and usually have a few extra males to spare
(either as herbicides for folks like us or as dinner for their Egyptian
friends.) So, we picked out a floppy eared, brown and white little guy whom we
named “Jeffery” to complete our Big
Lebowski theme (adding to Walter and Donny.) Donny, Little Larry’s brother, seemed to know
immediately that Jeffery was also his kin and has been protecting him from the
butts of the pygmies who constantly try to maintain “order.” Jezebel, our sweet dapple gray mare, still
suffers from frequent episodes of founder (laminitis), and she spent six months
this year confined to her stall. It was
a harrowing experience for all involved, so come spring, she will have her very
own dry paddock that will allow her to get exercise and commune with the other
horses, but not pick green grass.
In human news, Lance is
staying busy at the VA opening blocked arteries, biopsying tumors, and treating
cancers. He enjoys conversing with his
patients, including one who was a medic at the Battle of the Bulge. This summer he worked for two weeks at Naval
Hospital Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Heather and Thomas joined him at the end of his active duty, and the
whole family enjoyed a vacation of shell seeking, sand castle building, and
wild pony gazing on the coast of North Carolina.
As usual, Heather stays busy
practicing for the symphony and trying to return to her rightful century. She
continues to cook on the open hearth at Exchange Place, and she recently formed
a Junior Apprentice program there that unites middle and high school history
buffs and allows them to learn heritage crafting and agricultural skills. In the summer, she attended the annual
conference for the Association for Living History Farms and Agricultural
Museums (ALHFAM) and found her lost tribe, including historical
interpreters from Old Salem, who invited her to volunteer at their
site. So far, she has helped bake bread
and ginger cookies in the large outdoor bake oven and rive (split) white oak
roof shakes. In February she will return to learn the fine art of making tallow
candles.
Thomas continues to enjoy
playing “cave boy.” He has inherited his
mother’s love of collecting (bottle caps and license plates are his current
favorites) and his father’s love of rocket building. In his kitchen, he dabbles
in “gourmet” cooking and chemistry. His
favorite aisle at the grocery store is surprising not the candy aisle but the spice
one! He still enjoys Kindermusik and is
planning on starting violin lessons soon.
Maybe next Christmas he can serenade us with “Deck the Halls,” though
more than likely he will spend more time practicing on his tin can drum set.
