First day of fall in New England

and it's time to celebrate by taking a little trip to one of the many used book stores in the area.

After a lovely drive along the Connecticut river on a winding country road through fields where pumpkins and squash were being harvested and turning left at Montague Center just past the village green, I found a little bridge and then this old mill - just stuffed full of lots and lots of books - heaven !

Lots of cozy chairs and sofas invite you to get comfy, have a cup of tea and enjoy the rushing water just outside the window while you try to decide how to reduce the stack of books to a manageable size to take home.

I can't think of a better way to welcome the new season !

Travels, near and far

Where did we go ? To the land of timbered houses, grapes and vineyards, cuckoo clocks

and Black Forest Cherry Cake - to Germany, in short. Tomorrow I'll tell a little about our adventures, because the trip started out with an amazing one about an hour after we got off the plane.

Not many words needed...

We're on vacation !

Going to the fair

We had a great time at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine.








The fair is put on by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and a great time was had by one and all. Here is a parade to extoll the virtues of organic practises put on by the children.

We all learned a lot !

I found out how to build a wood-burning breadbaking oven like the one on the right. T learned how to grow vegetables in winter by covering the crops with a simple greenhouse built right over the row .

It's fall in Maine

It was a wonderful fair ( check ou the guy on the lower left ) !

Travelers' update

We are in Maine and are blown away once again by the beauty of the coves, the rocks, the woods just starting to change to their fall colors, boats in and out of their harbors, lobsters and the beautiful New England houses built long ago.
We have been to Damariscotta and seen the Pemaquid Point Light and have spent a few days on Monhegan, a tiny island out in the ocean, where T had a truly remarkeable adventure.
This morning T and I are off to the Unity Fair, an agricultural fair put on by The Maine Organic Farmers Association. The Easy Houseguests are going to explore Camden while we are away.
There is so much to see and do every day that the reports and pictures of our travels will have to wait until we have a quiet moment, which may be when we return home. We are having a grand time and are enjoying every minute of this trip !

More Sightseeing

From the big city to the country - we've seen the sights around here with our guests. They enjoyed Washington, DC as well as visiting our neighbors, the Amish. We had a typical enormous Pennsylvania Dutch meal with them and the Europeans tasted root beer for the first time. What a surprise - it wasn't beer !

It was great fun seeing our everyday world through their eyes - we are fortunate that we have rolling hills, farms and the Chesapeake Bay right at our door, so there is really lots to see and do.

A big hit was the arrival of 50 chicks destined to become dinner. The houseguests are city people and everything here on the farm was fascinating to them .

Picking apples from the tree, the barn chores every morning, all the tools and equipment that accumulates on a farm and the ability to roam the woods and pastures in every direction were new experiences for our guests. Even the summer chorus of crickets and cicadas was new to them - they couldn't sleep at night because of "the noise."

They left yesterday for New York City and in one week we will pick them up there for a trip through New England . I'm totally looking forward to some local lobster eating in Maine !!!

Local Eating, Colonial style

After a whirlwind week with the Easy House Guests, we have become reacquainted with all the tourist attractions around here.

First stop was Mount Vernon, home and beloved farm of George Washington, to introduce our foreign guests to American history and give them an impression what life was like on a Colonial plantation, where everything necessary to life was produced on the farm by the people who lived there.

Besides all the normal farm products, they spun and wove the cloth for their clothes, made shoes, caught and salted herring , grew tobacco,made paint for the house , tanned leather - in short, they were pretty much self-sufficient. Talk about local eating - this was local living and in a very elegant style indeed.

I was impressed by Martha Washington's larder and smokehouse , which produced over 400 hams per year. Those hams were fed to 377 guests who visited George Washington in one year - it was Martha's rule that there should be a fresh ham on the table every day !

I was not able to produce a ham each day for my own guests, but I did manage to provide steamed crabs from the Chesapeake Bay, corn on the cob, and the ubiquitous tomatoes, this time in the form of a yummy salad made with green beans, lots of garlic , basil and a vinaigrette dressing. All of it either from our garden or the Chesapeake Bay right at our doorstep and totally local.

First ear of corn, ever !

The Eat Local Challenge continues .