Reminiscing on a beautiful fall in a new place

I started working at the Land School this fall, jumping right in at the start of the school year. I have learned so much in the last few months, and appreciate all of the wonderful people that make up this extraordinary learning community. Here are some photos from the fall as I started to learn my way around the land, preserved the harvest so we have food from the land to eat all year, and met the students, staff, family, and broader community of the Land School. It's so good to be here!

Callie

The guinea/chicken palace

The Farmstead

The Homestead

The hoophouse and blueberries

Onions and shallots drying out in the greenhouse - we had a bumper crop!

Canned salsa

Bountiful and colorful eggs

Walking the perimeter fence with Jen and Katie to look for holes that needed patching after we noticed some cowpies in the woods!

Brilliant fall colors made for some beautiful hikes through the woods

Colors reflected in the pond

"First" Snow

First Snow

~Mary Oliver~

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles, nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain — not a single
answer has been found —
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.

~ excerpted from American Primitive ~

Although this is not the first snowfall of the season, nor certainly the last, Mary Oliver's words describe the scene to the tee.  We get to take this day, this Snow Day, to be drawn into the beauty, awed by the power she has to influence our lives, and grateful for the connections and resources we have to take care of ourselves and each other.  So, bundle up, get out there and celebrate The Day it Snowed a Million Snowflakes Plus One!

Action shot of yesterday's snowstorm as seen from the Farm House kitchen window.

Good Morning Snow Day!

Trail tales on a fresh snowfall are the best.

Mocha and Pippa utilizing the early deer trails in lieu of snowshoes.

Through the woods.  Where's the trail again?

Espy the Homestead up the creek.

And the Red Barn under the Sun and through the forest.

Mocha blocking the mouse trails I was interested in.

More Farm Stay 2 Photos

Sledding!

There was a lot of knitting on Farm Stay 2

Mia and Tessa cooked a Haitian and Mexican inspired meal as part of the Food Around the World Occupations class.

This labyrinth was built by the Prepared Environments Occupations group.

Photos from the Holiday Craft Fair