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Hello Windowsills & Goodbye Greeneth McHothousen

We set her up and we cleaned her. She was blown into the woods and we retrieved her. We patched her up and anchored her down, but two nights of wind storms proved to be too much for our little greenhouse (affectionately named Greeneth McHothousen).

So, the greenhouse bit the dust, but luckily the seedlings were not housed within when it happened (thank goodness for weather warnings). Without the…

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Is It Spring Fever Or Teething?

This time last year I was sleeping 8 hours a night, watching my many seedlings pop up, mixing spring cocktails and writing about spring fever (SPRING FEVA-is how it’s pronounced around here).

This year, I’m coming back into the blog world a whole new lady. I’m looking a little more tired than usual, my seeds are two weeks behind schedule and there are tiny socks that need matching all over my…

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The First Heavy Frost & A New Beginning of Things

The yard is just as colorful as it was this summer when the gardens were in full bloom. Now, everything is dying and going to sleep for the duration of the cold months ahead. As my marigolds wither and my pumpkins start to get spots, the bright, colored tree leaves dance and accumulate in delicate piles. There is something melancholic about it, but also exciting.

All of the hard work we put into…

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Gluten-Free Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies: They Won’t Save Humanity, But They Taste Pretty Good

My fingers are sticky and there is melted chocolate on my keyboard. Steam is rising from the sink and my goopy dishes are soaking. The oven is cooling down now, but it has helped to bring a little warmth into the kitchen on this rainy, autumn morning. Coffee has been poured, baked goods have been tested and I’m finally starting to feel more like myself.

I’ve been waking up at 3:00 am on the dot…

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Gluten-Free Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies: They Won’t Save Humanity, But They Taste Pretty Good

My fingers are sticky and there is melted chocolate on my keyboard. Steam is rising from the sink and my goopy dishes are soaking. The oven is cooling down now, but it has helped to bring a little warmth into the kitchen on this rainy, autumn morning. Coffee has been poured, baked goods have been tested and I’m finally starting to feel more like myself.

I’ve been waking up at 3:00 am on the dot…

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Autumn Colors and Mulching Experiments

It’s officially autumn! Yay! It’s time for pumpkins, hayrides, apple picking, fall decorating and, of course, tucking the gardens in to nap for a few months.

We Can’t Wait for the Red Maples to Start Turning

This year, I learned the importance of mulching my plants in the spring. When I was unable to get out to the gardens for a few weeks, the mulched areas were barely bothered by weeds. The…

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We Gonna Need Ourselves A Weed Wrangler...

We Gonna Need Ourselves A Weed Wrangler…

What is my garden without the weekends? The answer is – productive chaos.

After a 5 day stay in the hospital due to an unfortunate bout of the dreaded “stomach bug” – most unpleasant when you’re pregnant – and then subsequent time spent catching up on work and doing many fun things – traveling all over New England for weddings and friends (yay!), my gardens have turned into a bit of a jungle.

Whe…

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Sundays Were Made for This: Finding Time to Relax

This morning is cool, but humid. The forecast is calling for severe thunderstorms, but it is quiet right now. The only sounds are the songs of crickets and the occasional echoing whinnies from the horses next door. My hands smell like tomato plants and I’ve got two giant bowls of San Marzano, cherry and beef steak tomatoes ready for sauce.

The basil and rosemary we started from seed this winter…

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Pumpkins in the Patch and a Bun in the Oven

Summertime in Rhode Island means clam cakes, clambakes and clam chowder. We’ve had our fill of all of the above, and some pretty humongous lobster rolls. My cousins and aunt host an amazing clambake every summer and it is a blast. I always look forward to my annual whole lobster and the prospect of laughing so hard I’m sore the next day.

Me posing for my husband with my lemon-blueberry cake at…

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Bee Balm Tea and Disco Bunnies

July is the beginning of the real harvest season for us. Not that the spring gardens didn’t produce, but we didn’t plant any of the real “good stuff” early this season. We mostly just had enough lettuce to feed a family of four for two months. It was beautiful (garden netting is a blessing), but after a month of lettuce wraps and salads for dinners every night, we were ready for something new…and…

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The Grapes After the Storms

After all of the storms we had last winter, I was sure we had lost most of the grapevines in our woods. We had hundreds of feet of Concord Grapevines growing up into the canopy of our white oaks before last winter. We had planned to eventually train what we could against the stone walls near the trees so that we could reach the large, purple clusters of tasty fruits in the future. In an effort to…

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Chirp, Hum, Whoosh!

We have at least four zipping, iridescent and adorable hummingbirds in our gardens. I’ve been trying to catch a photo of them for weeks, but they are too fast. They perch just outside our kitchen window on hydrangea branches, but I can’t get a good picture from inside.

They sit on the side of the feeder to take a break; a perfect photo if I could get closer. They perch on the top of our feeders…

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Sounds & Sights of Summer

Yesterday was the summer Solstice, and today is going to be a beautiful summer day. We have been hearing boats on the reservoir through the woods and the sounds of horns and church bells from the youth camp that borders the north side of our property. They host summer camp during the week and weddings on the weekends. I can’t wait for the weddings to start. The main camp is far enough away that…

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Can I Have Your Trash, Please?

I believe that the success of any relationship is rooted in a strong foundation. For my human and animal relationships, the foundations are strengthened by good communication and love, among many other things. When it comes to my plants, I give them a different kind of TLC …

Touch– Regularly check the leaves and stems for parasites, fungi and bugs. Weed them and make sure they have all of the…

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#compost #environment #gardening

Hello little toad! Go to the gardens! (at Chepachet, Rhode Island)

Do you have an abundance of spring lettuce? Do you want a delicious salad recipe? Check out our latest blog post to try Hoffman’s Farmhouse Steak & Potato Salad! lupineacres.com #farmtotable #meatandpotatoes #lettuce #springgarden #farmher #husbandrecipes (at Chepachet, Rhode Island)

#meatandpotatoes #springgarden #husbandrecipes #farmtotable #lettuce #farmher

Farmhouse Steak and Potato Salad

The gardens are producing and they’re producing lettuce! We love salads, so this is great news for us, but I’ve noticed that not everyone shares our enthusiasm. In speaking with friends and family, the general consensus appears to be that lettuce based salads are a side dish, and often a boring one at that.

A side dish only!? A boring dish!? Okay, okay…I may have also shared this opinion once.…

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