Happy Halloween!

The kids came up with some really cute Halloween costumes for trick or treating tonight

Daniel Boone



Lady Guinevere


Amish guy


Pocohontas


My Jack O Lantern


The beautiful variety of pumpkins and squash from the garden

the hay loft

The first thing I do at the beginning of chores is climb up into the hay loft above the paddocks and pitch hay down the chute. It smells amazing up there, sweet and grassy, and it's some of the hardest physical work I do here, like shoveling snow. It takes about 15 minutes to pitch down enough to fill the 9 mangers that feed our 19 goats.

Spain in Maine

Manchego rubbed with smoked paprika

High View Farm

I spent this morning with Darcy + Bill Winslow at their beautiful High View Farm up the road in Harrison, Maine. Darcey + Bill raise Belgian draft horses that are used for field work as well as winter sleigh rides, and also have a small herd of Guernsey dairy cows. They produce and sell their own raw milk and butter, which is the richest, most delicious milk ever. The color of the butter is naturally that yellow. I showed them how to make feta cheese, here is Darcy stirring the curd. Bill has helped me out more than once with livestock advice since I've been here - they are the most charming, happy people you'll ever meet.

mummy cheese

I made a "bandaged" Cheddar, which resembles a mummy, for Halloween. Instead of air-drying, you grease and wrap the cheese in muslin, producing a drier, flakier Cheddar. The "larding" technique is a traditional English method of storing cheese for long periods of time.

the sky this morning

chicken army

They do this every time you come out of the house.