Early October farm tour

Summer has given way to another beautiful autumn in Palermo, Maine. Join me for a virtual walk around Ridge Pond Farm in photos. 

The lovely and delicious Nodhead apple.  

What an amazing apple year we're having In Maine. Everywhere you look apple trees are heavy with fruit. This is the Nodhead tree covered in its red jewels. 

Looking back towards the house from the Nodhead. The giant pear tree next to the house is going to need more pruning over the coming years to yield healthy, happy fruit.  

It's an enormous tree for a pear. I love how it towers over the house. 

Mike in the kitchen garden. Our house is a good example of Yankee thrift. The 'formal' sides of the house that can be seen from the road or the dooryard are white clapboards while the private sides are simple wood shingles.  

The kale is going strong. We'll be harvesting these plants in the next couple of weeks to make room for this fall's garlic bed. 

First time growing Sweet Annie (the scent of the Common Ground Fair). It's massive! From one small transplant came this monster. Will definitely be growing it again, wherever a fragrant summertime hedge is needed!

We had over five inches of rain on the last day of September. It helped replenish the farm pond somewhat, though the level is still far, far below where it should be. 

In addition to the Nodhead we have this apple that gracefully arches over the path around the end of the pond. We don't know the variety but it is tasty for fresh eating.  

Fall color coming on around the pond.  

Mike has been clearing trails in our woods for hikes and access down to our shoreline on Branch Pond. Our land is full of ledge rock outcroppings like this moss-covered beauty. 

It may not be easy to see in this photo but at the high point of our property where there are several small ponds and wet areas there is this man-made bridge that gets you safely over the wettest section. We don't know much about the bridge but if it dates back to Palermo's agrarian heyday it could have been a way to get sheep over the wet areas and onto the north side of the ridge, now forest but back then was likely cleared for sheep farming. 

Thanks to our friend Joel of Wild Miller Gardens here in Palermo we have a new tilled garden plot for next summer back behind the barn. It's about 20x70. We'll use this for growing more vegetables in the future as well as larger plantings of perennial herbs like calendula and comfrey for Ridge Pond Herbals products. The apple on the right is the third mature apple we inherited with the farm. This one is most definitely a cider apple as the taste on its own is extremely tannic. 

Dogwood leaves turning purple.  

We planted five black locusts in May. They're growing quickly, exactly what we want as we're growing them to make our own fast-growing, naturally rot-resistant fence poles. 

Fall color tucked into the wall of pines along the edge of our eastern field. We enter our second autumn here at Ridge Pond still astounded at the beauty of this place and our luck in getting to live here. 

Ridge Pond Herbals Pop-Up

Next Friday, September 18th, I'll be at Ferdinand in Portland for a Ridge Pond Herbals pop-up shop from 11-5. In addition to the Ridge Pond Herbals already sold at Ferdinand, I'll be bringing the entire line of herbal-based body care and organic herbal tea blends. Please stop in if you're in the area (or were looking for a reason to be)!

Sugar Scrub - Bright

One of the products we bring to market every week and a new offering for Crooked Door Farm CSA members this week is Ridge Pond Herbals' Sugar Scrub - Bright fragrance. Made from organic and fair-trade sugars, sweet almond oil, and a delicious combination of essential oils to brighten your day. This scrub is great in the shower, gently exfoliating and moisturizing for the body. We'll be at the Gardiner Farmers' Market and Mill Street Market in Yarmouth next week with these jars of sunshine.

Tomato Days

It's been all about tomatoes here at Ridge Pond Farm these past few weeks. Between our kitchen garden tomato jungle, my parents' large garden and our farmer cousins at Crooked Door Farm, we are awash in tomatoes. And I couldn't be happier. Now is the time for eating them fresh and putting them by for future meals. 

A tower of tomatoes in my favorite bowl.  

Some of these beauties became salsa, some were roasted in the oven, and others went into sauce. 

These tomatoes were simmered plain on the stove top for a few hours, then baked in the oven until reduced by about half. I don't bother with peeling or seeding. I want the whole food. I used an immersion blender at the end to purée the final sauce. 

Salsa, sauce, and salmorejo. Salmorejo is a delicious Spanish cold soup made by blending tomatoes with bread, olive oil, garlic, sherry vinegar, salt, and pepper. It's creamy, savory and perfect for summer. 

We have little Juliet tomatoes in our garden. I slice them in half, cover with a generous amount of olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast until much of their moisture has cooked off. 

Another batch with added Italian herbs (oregano, thyme, basil)   I keep some of these in the fridge covered in olive oil for a couple weeks and freeze the rest either in small containers or in a single layer in a freezer bag so that I can break off just a few when I need them. Defrosted, they'll add great flavor to colder weather soups and braises. 

This apron belonged to my grandmother, Anne. It's floor length, holds a lot of tomatoes, and reminds me of her every time I wear it.

These chunks of tomato, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, were roasted like the Juliets and frozen in a single layer in a freezer bag.  

I love my kitchen work counter. Being able to look out on the garden and the pond beyond is pure joy.  

Dog days of summer

Sultry, steamy, sticky. We have been having the hottest weather of the year so far these past few days. The world has taken on a toasted yellow hue, baking under the August sun. We don't generally have too many days like this in the summer in Maine so, depending on our heat tolerance, we manage, enjoy or suffer through, knowing it won't last (and feeling for all the people around the country and the world for whom heat like this can be the norm)

The farm pond, Ridge Pond, is nearly dry.  Hoping fall rains will replenish it. 

I don't think it's any coincidence that the Old Farmer's Almanac released its upcoming winter predictions this week, calling for an extra cold and snowy winter. As if to say to many of us, "Remember last winter? Soak it up, kid."

So I try hard to appreciate the heat, even though it's not my favorite and makes me lethargic and every task feel insurmountable. I know what lies ahead and I also know that most of the days until winter will be beautiful late-summer and autumn Maine days. 

Tansy and goldenrod are the most colorful plants around the property right now. 

Hydrangea bush In the hot sun

The first weekend in August marked the completion of our first year living here on the farm. The past year has been one of discovery, of falling in love with this place, and feeling wonder at our fortune in getting to live here. 

The past few weeks have been full of visitors and preparing for a gathering of family and friends, held this past weekend. It was Incredibly fun to see so many of the people we love and enjoy spending time with. Seems we got pranked at the end of the night, with someone tipping over the portapotty (gross) and the same pranksters, we assume, dropping off an unwanted rooster under cover of night. It was a surreal experience finding this rooster perched on the edge of the beer keg out in the woodshed. At first I thought someone had left us a stuffed chicken toy, until it blinked. 

The rooster spent his first night locked in our old privy at the back of the woodshed so we've named him Mr. Perkins, from an old Bert & I skit as told by our friends, which includes the line, "It's your privy, Mr. Perkins".

We're not sure if we're going to keep him but even if we do, we'd need to keep him separate from the hens for a few weeks in case he's carrying any illnesses. So for now he's free-ranging around the property, admiring the girls from the other side of the electric fence, and helping out by eating bugs around the yard. In the next few weeks we plan to expand the chicken coop so that there's room for more than our current 10 layers. By the time we finish, hopefully we'll know whether we're keeping Mr. Perkins. 

Bumble on the apple mint

I love everything about lettuce plants going to seed (except for the bitter taste of the leaves at this stage).  

A couple more roses are stil blooming. Little troopers.  

August sunset

Stay cool out there and enjoy these last weeks of summer.