Ecogastronomy…

It’s been a blur of a week here at the farm- unpacking, sorting, college orientation, bad storms, changing auto titles, driver’s licenses, insurance, etc., etc., etc….. the days just go by. We can see we’re making headway on our mental to-do lists, but we have no idea how we got there. All days start with a cup of coffee in front of a fire in the hearth while reading devotions, and end with a glass of wine or beer on the screened sleeping porch out back enjoying the sounds of nature, and nothing else. We finally identified the beautiful bird calls we’ve been hearing as “veery thrushes”, and another that a neighbor told us was a “peewee”, but sounds a bit more exaggerated than the sound loops I can find online, so maybe the one in our area is a bit more dramatic than most. Otherwise, it’s robins, finches, sparrows, hummingbirds, and a few I’m not familiar with, and haven’t yet identified. The pets absolutely love it here. Tennessee is definitely in his element being a country dog, but even Toby (our rescue cat) has never been happier… napping in windowsills or on the sleeping porch. The weather is amazing here- 80 or so in the peak of the day, but quickly cooling into the low 60’s/upper 50’s as soon as the sun sets. There seems to be about a 25-30 degree swing between the highs and lows, so we just keep the windows open, and have yet to turn on the AC. We’ve even gotten up at night to close windows, but most often, sleep so soundly that we just wake up wanting to snuggle under the covers until the sun warms up the floors. But we get up with the sun, and set upon our days. We’re making headway sorting through boxes, and working on projects around the house/ell/barn. It’s going to be a long-term process, but that’s why we’re doing this. We’re just happy to be here. This house really speaks to us- it’s history, quiet surroundings, simple lifestyle… all of it. We truly feel honored to be the house’s caretakers.

Nothing’s easy in moving cross-country. Any trip to the DMV involves at least three actual trips to find and bring the obscure paperwork that you never thought you’d need, but they require. Or different states have different rules, and depending on who is on the other side of the window, different interpretations of said rules. After several trips to Keene (the county seat here in Cheshire County, NH), tomorrow (we think, hope, and pray) we will become official New Hampshire residents as we will attain New Hampshire driver’s licenses and plates for our two old cars. In New Hampshire, much is done at the town level, so we spent quite a bit of time at the Harrisville Town Hall today to apply for New Hampshire titles, registration, and plates for most of our vehicles (the Tahoe has to wait until we get the actual MN title, which is another story). I was able to find “year of manufacture” plates on Ebay for the Corvair (1963) and MGB (1972), which was not easy, as the 1963 plates were a one-year-only design. We can run these on the cars, just keeping the “official” antique plates in the car somewhere. We were able to get NH plates on Allie’s car today. 

We were able to get both old cars unpacked and out of the barn for Father’s Day this week- the MG still has the vinyl from the last rally in October, and the Corvair hadn’t been driven since last September. We really missed our little old cars.

We drove the Corvair up the road to the Fox Tavern’s “Innkeeper’s dinner” Sunday night. Most of the Monadnock area is a quiet, almost secret, foodie area, very “farm-to-table”. Everything the Fox Tavern serves is from within just a few miles- most veggies and herbs are from the garden out back, cheese and milk from the goat farm next door…. but everything is amazing, fresh, creative, and all served with a smile from the Innkeepers Duncan and Sue, and prepared by the owner/chef Jasper. Most of the restaurants in the area follow a similar philosophy. There are really not a lot of fast food options here, which is fine with us. One of the finest examples is up the road at the Harrisville General Store. Harrisville, which was annexed from four surrounding towns in 1870, was created as a means of bringing the railroad into the Harris family’s woolen mills, and is now one of the most well-preserved mill town centers in the world. The Harrisville general store, which while pretty much off-grid (seriously, there is no cell service for miles around here without a cell booster or something similar), has your basic general store items, such as coffee, cereal, mouse traps, laundry detergent, etc…. but it differs when you step up to the counter to order your lunch or scone with your coffee. The place is heaven when it comes to eating- all local, organic, fresh, and creatively-prepared. We eat there whenever we get the chance, and the scones are worth the drive alone- simply the best we’ve ever enjoyed. Today’s was candied ginger, and we picked up a half-dozen to take to a neighbors for coffee this morning. I’m also still remembering the simple tuna melt we enjoyed for lunch, made with sushi-grade tuna. Oh. Em. Gee.

After dropping Allie off on Monday, and attending the parent’s orientation, no sooner had I arrived home when a severe thunderstorm hit. With a vengence that we have not seen in a while. We really thought “tornado” (which are quite rare here) when we were watching the rain and debris flying around. We did end up losing power, and we could see some branches down out back (thankfully we had a bunch of trees near the house taken down last fall), but really sustained no other damage. Texting our neighbor, who was trying to get home, and not finding any luck, we set out with our chainsaw to find all four ways out of here blocked by downed trees, most tangled in the (downed) power lines. 

Living barely on the grid doesn’t mean much most of the time other than a quiet, simple lifestyle, but without power, our well pump doesn’t work, so no flushing of toilets and no showers. We cleaned up best we could, and set out to pick up Allie from Durham, picking up a generator on the way home. Thankfully, the power was back on when we got home, but now we’re ready for the next storm.

The projects we’re currently working on are clearing out the parlor, finishing a workshop space in the ell, finishing the inside of the sleeping porch, and clearing the land of overgrown and encroaching nature- the woods really want to reclaim the house! We’ll post before and after pictures, as well as in-process pics once we finish an area.

Oh, the title of this blog entry? Because Allie will be studying nutrition at UNH, she will be in the “Life-Sciences and Agriculture school, and one of the other classes offered is eco-gastronomy, which is the study of not only food, but where it comes from and how everything affects food, from the soil to the plate. One of the orientation tour guides was in the eco-gastronomy program, and he was about to leave for a semester abroad (in San Gimignano, Italy!) I would sign up for that program if I were in college.

By all means, let us know if there is anything you’d like us to add, go into more detail about, or leave out altogether… we’re doing this as an archive, but want it interesting to read as well. So let me know if the posts are too long, too short, too many pictures or not enough…. really. Feedback is always welcome.

Project pictures to come soon! We’re going to go watch the nightly firefly show!