Cedar Writes

Author: cedarlili

  • Planting trees

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    cedarlili
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    This week I have been planting a lot of things. Yesterday it was raining and I was hurting, so I didn’t do much. Dad and Uncle Mike came down and walked around the garden and farm with Mica and I. Uncle Mike hasn’t seen it in years, as he lives in Wisconsin and visits rarely.…

  • Fast Food and Hard Labor

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    cedarlili
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    It’s been a busy day. I’d intended to make dinner and put it in the crockpot this morning and slept in instead, so I left for work without doing it. And then I found a craigslist offer of free railroad ties and set it up to pick them up after work. And finally, my other…

  • Happenings on and Off the Farm

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    cedarlili
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    It’s been a while since I updated, because my attention was elsewhere. Life here goes on, chores have to be done and spring sweeps onward too quickly. But my father, the Farmer, went in to have a kidney removed this last week, and that held my attention much more than the farm. He won’t be…

  • Popovers and Chicks

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    cedarlili
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    My popovers didn’t “pop” but they still tasted awesome, especially with the blueberry jam that we put up last summer on it. I think next time I will use a metal pan, the silicone muffin tins didn’t work well for this! The little golden ones are Golden-Pencilled Hamburgs, and the black and white ones are…

  • Pig Tractor

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    cedarlili
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    We have about an acre of land we’d like to regain from having gone fallow for almost ten years. And, this being New Hampshire, we have rocks. Lots of big, hidden rocks. So hiring a guy to come on in and till isn’t really an option. That, and we are veering toward a no-till, low-till…

  • Spring Floods

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    cedarlili
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    Every spring the rains come, and the snow melts, and the low places flood and the brooks and streams rise… It was amazing to see it this week as the waters rose by 18 inches literally overnight. The other phenomenon I saw was the midday fog that comes over the snow on a warm spring…

  • April Showers… April Flowers

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    cedarlili
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    The saying goes “April showers bring May flowers” and that might be true in some areas, and here in NH most people think that is true. But to my eyes, spring is blooming all around us now, in mid April. Our little Sanbornton farm has so many species of plants growing on just our 14…

  • Spring brings so much to the farm.

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    cedarlili
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    I think, based on so many little signs, that it might actually be spring. You see, we live far enough north that spring can be elusive some years. We’d had a patch of nice weather earlier, then Mother Nature played April Fools with us and dropped six inches of snow on the farm that day.…

  • Recipe for Dirt

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    cedarlili
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    Dad walked in the house the other afternoon, looked down and said “Happiness is having dirty knees.” When I had stopped laughing, I knew he was right. For him,and so many other gardeners out there, happiness is about getting down in the dirt and making things grow. And as an organic gardener, his goal in…

  • Pot Full of Sunshine

    Pot Full of Sunshine

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    cedarlili
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    I was making dinner last night, just a simple spaghetti for the three of us adults as the kids were all out for the evening. While I was pulling together the ingredients from the pantry, I was thinking about how satisfying it is to be able to cook with things I put up from the…

  • Whose Mouth First Puckered?

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    cedarlili
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    This photo was taken last year, but I was talking to Dad about Rhubarb yesterday and it got me thinking. Ever since I was little, I have been fascinated with wild edible foods. I learned what I could eat, what I wanted to eat (not always the same thing!) and how to safely identify those…

  • Sugarbush Photo Journal

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    cedarlili
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    Sweet Work All this last month as we were setting up the taps, lines, and buckets to collect sap I was taking pictures. You can see the whole saga unfold at my Flickr account. Check out the slideshow feature!