Hi ho -- the Frog Log has been dormant, to be sure, but then frogs do hibernate. My friend and writing buddy, Tom Hines, who has been immortalized in several blogs, finally took the bull by the horns -- or the frog by the legs -- and wrote his own Frog Log. I appreciate the wake-up call, but I'm still moving kind of slow in this cold weather. I'll let Tom fill y'all in for now and I'll return soon.

I did stop by the Farmer's Market today and a few intrepid farnmers were braving the low twenties temps. One of them was an organic grower bringing in fresh greens from his hoophouse. Good for him! If Ken has his way, the 100 ft. hoophouse he has been building this winter will be full of greenery next winter, and we'll see you at the market year-round.

Here's Tom:

I'll walk with Jupiter in the cold woods. I'll think and amble as he lopes off after deer. The gardens rest, only bushy green kale dares stand, still life like into the new year. Short cover grasses blanket tilled soil. The ground becomes solid, scampering squirrels no longer track foot prints in mud. The soil is content and wonders (as if soil could wonder) if a fancy meal will be served before spring: a nice layer of pond muck, mixed with well seasoned manure, perhaps a sprinkling of dry grass and leaves? Yummy! Strawberry plants, unconcerned, covered in a thick blanket of straw are content to slumber.

Ken continues constructing the new "hoop house", a green house of sorts (20' x 85') made of cedar hoops and slab wood. The cedar is harvested from thick woods at the rear of the property where Ken is attempting to create/restore the oak savanna. The logs are hauled up front to the sawmill area where Ken and Edwin saw them into the sizes needed for bending. The hoop house will be covered in used plastic sheeting (which was removed and saved from the other greenhouse), and will be used in early spring to keep young plants out of cold and to extend the growing season in the fall.

The family continues to discuss and debate various additions and deletions to the seed inventory, and the make-up of potting soil. Which types and variety best fit the taste and needs of our consumers? What grew well last season? What was a dud? Wouldn't a large, semi-deformed, almost purple, firm, juicy Brandywine tomato taste great, today?

Anyway, rest is good, a break from the seven day a week attentiveness to cycles of preparing, planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, trucking, presenting. Even Ken, (still sawing, building, cutting firewood, planning) is down to 50 hours per week.

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