It Bugs Me

Cheryl Kimball — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:54:22 +0100

Through an odd tradition, most of the time a fluorescent light stays on above the counter at the picture window in my kitchen. At some point in the summer, I finally have to turn the light off--that point is when I wake up in the morning and the counter is totally covered with dead bugs (I have no idea why they die overnight...). The carnage is sad and disgusting. But the bugs are just incredible. In Read More...

Right up the road

Cheryl Kimball — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:39:45 +0100

Mount Major is a twenty-minute drive from my home. In the 16 years I have lived here, I have driven by the parking lot for the Mt. Major trails many times but I have never climbed up it. I decided that I was finally going to do that this fall as soon as there was a confluence of a crisp, clear day and a clear schedule. Yesterday was that day (ok, so I simply declared my schedule was clear).

They're Watching

Cheryl Kimball — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:01:52 +0100

Every day I am on the lookout for wildlife. And there has been plenty of it lately. Whenever I drive home at dusk or after, I see an adult porcupine saunter up the hill behind the barn. Great, when the dogs get wind of that, there's a vet bill waiting to happen. When I went to pick some veggies out of the garden the other evening, a young porky was snuffling around in the nice clover patch that surrounds thRead More...

Farm Fresh: Off the Farm

Cheryl Kimball — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:23:37 +0100

I've been away. To my millions of readers, I apologize for not blathering on about something or other for the past ten days or so. And while this blog entry may not make it self-evident, I am refreshed and raring to go.

I am also mighty smug about the fact that I missed a whole week of tremendous heat and humidity (although I did hear all about it whenever I called home--Read More...

Farm Fresh: Drop Everything!

Cheryl Kimball — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0100

When you own livestock, from May to October in New England if someone says "hay!" you drop everything and get hay. New England is among the worst places in the country to try to be a hay farmer. In order to make hay, you need to string together at least three sunny days, the hotter the better. That alone is a trick in this climate. Then think about this particular summer, and add to those three hot days at least Read More...

Farm Fresh: A Little Bit o' Country--Trash

Cheryl Kimball — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:45:17 +0100

Mountain Dew. Vitamin Water. Coca Cola (2). Bud Light. Bud. Red Bull.

No these are not beverages I consumed but these are the beverage containers I saw on the side of the road this morning when I went for a short run. I usually run through our woods but the deer flies have arrived en masse and so I hit the road. I was surprised how many empty containers I saw in just around a mile and a half.

The trash dropped me back to the mid seventies when I was a budding environmeRead More...

Farm Fresh: Natural Fireworks

Cheryl Kimball — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:57:47 +0100

Although I am certain a nation exploding fireworks in hundreds of cities and towns all in one 48- to 72-hour period has to have some impact on the atmosphere, I don't have anything against fireworks displays. What can be totally wrong with communities of people gathering together, celebrating, and being happy?

The fireworks display I like the best, however, is the one that happens in our yard eRead More...

Farm Fresh: Wet Enough for Ya?

Cheryl Kimball — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:38:04 +0100

My mom and I left her driveway yesterday and I said "at least it's not raining." And around two miles down the road I was turning on the windshield wipers. So at risk of causing more dampness, I'll say it again: Although the sky is grey and the air drapes around me like a washed blanket that was left in the dryer without turning it on, it currently is not raining. Yippee dippy doo.

For farmers, rain is usually good. Crops of all kinds need rain. It is easier to quench those thRead More...

Farm Fresh: Weekly Market Bulletin a Good Read

Cheryl Kimball — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:14:07 +0100

If you have not discovered the Weekly Market Bulletin (https://www.hws.nh.gov/agric/bulletin/index.php) from the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, & Food, you are missing out. This little four-page newsletter comes in the mail every Thursday and I drop everything to read it immediately. Oh sure, you can receive it as a digital newsletter but sometimes I just need to read without the hum of electronics in the background.

The Weekly Market Bulletin will tap you into the NewRead More...

Farm Fresh: Wine Tastings Are Worth Attending

Cheryl Kimball — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:33:33 +0100

Over the winter, a friend turned me on to Through the Grapevine in Eliot (21 Cedar Rd, a frontage road parallel to Rte 236). This caterer/deli/wine shop is a local treasure. Besides having the most awesome salmon-laden sandwich I have ever eaten, every third Thursday from 5 to 7pm they host a wine tasting--June 18th is the next.

After attending a few TTGV wine tastings myselRead More...

Farm Fresh: The Snapper Connection

Cheryl Kimball — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:44:21 +0100

You're driving along and you see a lump ahead in the road that looks a lot like a big rock. But it's moving, almost imperceptibly. It's a snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina to be exact) . Cars are dodging the lump but you worry someone just isn't going to see it. What do you do? My vote is to assist the snapper (or any turtle) if you can. But here are three thingRead More...

Farm Fresh: Welcome

Cheryl Kimball — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:42:11 +0100

Farm Fresh

I’m scratching out some thoughts for my new blog on pen and paper while I eat my lunch of an egg and sausage sandwich. The egg is a local egg from a backyard flock, the sausage “artisan-style” (yet prepackaged) chicken sausage, the bread a 12-grain variety from the grocery store shelf. “Organic” blue corn tortilla chips give some crunch to my lunch. And I am sipping on a diet Dr. PeppeRead More...

Blog entries from Cheryl Kimball