Inside the Milkhouse revealed

Expanded Milkhouse interior

Written and posted 3 Nov 2023: A couple days into the new year, and the structural part of the Milkhouse expansion is done. Time to finish up the inside. The photo shows a bit more than half of the overall depth and most of the width, facing the original Milkhouse area. The walls and ceiling were finished with plywood, with the joins plastered over (you can see in the bit of unpainted wall and ceiling).

It’s amazing how much a photo helps along the old memory. Writing from 16 years later, most things are familiar, some I’m reminded of, and a couple I don’t recall. In that last category, that speaker: I have no idea where that’s from, complete blank. Wow, maybe it’ll come back to me. It must be a pair, I think I see the other one against the back wall, behind the partially painted post on the left. Come to think of it, I don’t remember what the speakers were attached to, either: an stereo system, receiver, something like that? Hmmm…

Winter is a no-show

The consistently odd and erratic weather of the last four years continues to get weirder with this non-winter we’ve been having so far. A few cold snaps and a little random snow, but mainly, it’s been days around 5°C (40°F) and no real ground freeze-up. I worry about the garlic, with tips already emerging from the cloves. Bring on the COLD!

Last of the carrots

A bushel of carrots, a mix of Nelson, Napoli and Danvers Half Long (mostly Danvers showing on top), fresh out of the ground. These were gleaned from the last carrot beds of 2006. A bit of winter’s been forecast beginning tonight, so I dug ’em up before the snow. If the prediction’s on point, we’re in for at least a couple of weeks of subzero days and nights. Normal wintery weather for around here. At last!

Still alive? Not quite well

Rosemary, potted in the Autumn from the herb beds, has taken a bit of beating and probably not survived. It’s weathered several intensely cold nights already, out here in the unheated greenhouse, and I kinda wanted to see if they could make it through the winter. What a difference last night made, not colder than any others, it’s probably the night after night that got ’em. Well, inside they go to see if there’ll be any miraculous recoveries.

Winter wonderland

A corner of the veggie field. Yep, it definitely looks like winter out there. The snow is only a few inches deep, but the subzero days and nights are in the forecast for at least the next couple of weeks. Even after the exceptionally mild winter of last year, who would’ve guessed that daily weather watching to see whether wintery conditions would hold would be as normal as looking out for that first taste of spring?

Seed starts here…

Seed chest

This is where everything but the bulky seed goes, and the season starts here. It’s just a big plastic tool chest, with a ziploc bag full of seed packets for each crop. But it’s REALLY the heart and soul of the entire farm, and more so, because there are dozens of small packets of “gotta try this sometime” varieties and specialty crops on top of staple varieties in larger quantities. There’s a whole lotta seed in there. Bigger seed, like corn, beans, peas, and bulk stuff, like buckwheat and clover, have their own plastic jugs.