Anyone know what this sucker is? There are so many of them in our carrot section that has a lot of dock weed in it. We're not sure if they're after the dock or the carrots. but they are massive, around 3 inches long, and some of them talk. caterpillar code. 
Raspberries, this Paris apple tart, and the pickled goods from the first picture win my prize of best in show. The purple radish micro-greens and the bee-hive come in close second. Great market, wish I could've seen the Sat. set-up.
Okay, so these pictures are out of order, but the important thing is that my best friend from high school is MARRIED!
I was able to take two fairly hefty bouquets of flowers on the plane so that Sarah could have some homegrown Durham love represented. Besides how heavy they were, everything was smooth sailing trying to get them up there. Besides the pilot trying to buy them for his wife. I think it would be more of a problem if they were fragrant....I don't think anyone could swing oriental lilies on a plane, your fellow passengers would hate you. 
Sarah looked so beautiful....if I look at her wedding photos long enough I get misty eyed and can't believe it has been 16 years since we were in freshman English class together. Now it's just Leia left to get married out of our best friend trio; she is pictured at right with the black coat with Sarah and me. I can't believe some of the things we did back then.....crazy fools.
This is Sarah and her two sisters and brother. The next two pictures are of Cathedral Ledge, the original wedding site where Sarah and her new husband Jim go climbing all the time (unfortunately it rained the whole wedding day and the ceremony was relocated). That's right, they climb up this rock face. Sarah has always been a great source of inspiration for me, helping me to push my boundaries and to have faith in myself and what I can accomplish. 
But I would never want to climb this rock face, as beautiful as it is. I guess my hands belong in the dirt. I should probably say the professional looking pictures were taken by Anne Skidmore, a photographer and fellow cliimbing friend of Sarah's. Hope it's okay to have used them.
That's right everyone, I was lucky enough to take a trip with Sarah from Saipua to the flower market of NYC. And it was amazing. I'm still in shock at the selection. I'm pretty sure there were even some human arms and legs in a bucket in the back (all with flower tattoos of course), but you had to be in with the flower sellers to get those for your arrangements. The big players I didn't see at the flower market.....poppies, anemones, and peonies. 
The market was set up as a series of shops scattered around a couple blocks, and the majority of the flowers were out of water. We were there around 6:30am on Wed. and thankfully Sarah saw the desperate look in my eyes so we quickly went to get some very good coffee before shopping. After shopping the flower market we darted over to the Union Square farmers' market which will have to be a blog that stands on its own. I know you all want to see house pictures, and I promise they're coming, along with pics from my best friend's wedding in NH, and our stay with Stuart's aunt and uncle in Bethlehem. But the farm is calling.....
Thanks again Sarah for letting me tag along! I loved the experience. Too bad I didn't get to see you work your magic arranging them all.
That's right everyone, it's true; it is the best toilet around. And it's a composting toilet to boot. I heard on Living on Earth a couple podcasts ago that in Sweden they call it the 'utedass' or dry compost toilet and it sounds like everyone over there has one. Maybe soon enough more people will have them here in the states. This is Gerard, the architect behind this beauty of a building. He took apart an old meat curing salt shed we had on the property and used that wood for all of the siding and the awesome dutch doors (we're going to have some dutch doors in our house proper, love them).
Because of the old recycled wood the little shack has a great feel to it. In the first picture the plexiglass hasn't been put on, but it's there now and works to heat the composting pile of s*#$. Pretty cool huh? The urine is diverted outside via the pvc pipe. The black pipe supposedly works like a vacuum and draws out the odors. We use leaf mulch and wood ash to cover what we leave behind. This has been a great addition to the farm. What next you ask? Solar powered irrigation? solar power for the house?? a wetland water run-off purification system? what else? the sky is the limit.
Looks like we only have about three to four more markets left worth of produce. How exciting. House progress pictures are soon to come.
