Finally!

Well, well, well. Looks like it's been nine months since my last post. Now the question is, do I catch up on the last 9 months, or just dive into the present?  Hmmm.....Perhaps a semi-quick 9-month recap followed by what we're up to now. Sound good? Great.

Since my last post we have taken two trips to NYC. Our first one was in October. The evening before we left, I had a miscarriage, so our trip was a somewhat subdued affair. Mark also got strep throat while we were down there, so it was kind of a downer. However, we did make it to Central Park and the Museum of Natural History, ate various ethnic foods and got to see our friends Katie, Alex and Eric as well as Adam and Emily who came up from DC for the night.

Central Park

Hall of Life at the museum

 November brought Mark back to seed packing at High Mowing Seeds while I continued on at the Co-op. In early November we helped our friend Dan make sausage from the 4 pigs he raised all summer. Here are a few choice shots.

Last year I peaced out after 10 minutes. This year I got right into the thick of it.

Pig heart

Maggie loves sausage parties.

Mark, Emma and Coco making it happen.

Thanksgiving week brought a visit from not 1, not 2  but 3 friends! Nic and Sarah flew in from Bozeman, MT and Katie bussed up from the big city for a week of fun, friends and eating. We managed to fit sausage into at least one meal a day. Yum!  We ended up eating three Thanksgiving dinners over the course of the week: Community Dinner is every single Thursday, including Thanksgiving, so that was dinner number one. Dinner number 2 came on Friday when we hosted Friendsgiving and then Claire and Drew hosted another Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. Mmmm...

Sarah, Mark and Nic at Community Dinner Thanksgiving

Squishy face friends photo at Friendsgiving

At Friendsgiving there was discussion over whether you could swallow food upside down. Dan proved that you can.

Catan anyone?

Something else we did during Thanksgiving Fun Week (besides eat) was get way into Settlers of Catan. Way. At least one game was played a day. Or three.

On December 1st, I turned 29. I also started working for Caledonia Spirits and Winery  sampling out wine and spirits at liquor stores and markets around the state. It's a pretty sweet gig, which continues this summer. I get to go to Hardwick and Burlington Farmer's Markets and give people free samples of tasty booze.  Their gin is the best I've ever tasted and I'm not just saying that because I work there.  For my birthday we went to Nutty Steph's for chocolate and bacon Thursdays. Chocolate and bacon were both consumed in vast quantities. Mmmm....29 never tasted so good.

Maggie tries to pretend she doesn't love Hank, but she does.

 December brought a 10 day trip to Montana for the holidays. It was great to be back in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley, especially at such a fun filled time of year. Activities included a winter hike at Lake Como with the Goheen women, beer drinking at Jasper Miller's new brewery Higher Ground Brewing, hanging out at Chapter One, eating, hanging out with friends, more eating. As an added bonus, Nic and Sarah came for Christmas and got to participate in our annual Christmas Eve ravioli making and eating extravaganza! It was so nice to see them for not one, but two food centered holidays! When I'm out East I can forget how much I love the West, but being back quickly makes me remember. If only I could clone myself and live in multiple places I love at once. Maybe someday...

The lovely Lake Como

The lovely Goheen women: Morgan, Alysha and Sylvie

So many raviolis!

Family time! Peggy, Chels, Warren and Grandma Lois

Montana's version of shuffleboard. How close can you get your rock to the edge of the ice without sailing it into the river?

Uh oh. More Catan. This time with an ocean involved.

Dusty, Ives and me at Higher Ground.

Montana was awesome and it was sad to leave. But all good things must come to an end. And usually they lead to more good things. Like an awesome dress-up Formal/Feral New Year's Eve party in Vermont.  Dancing and mild debauchery occurred. What a way to ring in 2012.

Nothing says Happy New Year like pink sequins.

Welcome to 2012!

Winter in VT was pretty mellow. I did not try cross-country skiing again and I don't feel a bit bad about it.  I felt a little guilty while winter was happening, but looking back at it from a summer perspective, I don’t feel guilty at all.  Some people are made for outdoor winter sports and some are not. Instead I caught up on my reading, crafting and movie watching.

February brought another miscarriage at 6 ½ weeks, same as the first one. It threw us both into a bit of despair, but we haven’t given up hope.

Since July of 2011 we’ve been hosting Taco Tuesday at our house the last Tuesday of every month. Mark and I supply the hand-pressed corn tortillas and everyone else brings things to put on, in or next to a taco. In January we ran out of propane the day before taco night so we cooked all our tortillas on our woodstove. It was a good thing it was a cold night, cause it got real hot.  In February our theme was Taco Tattuesday and a friend of a friend came to give people tattoos. Mark, Emma and Coco all got tattoos.  Here is photo evidence.

Mark getting a manatee dreaming about a taco

Emma getting a candleholder

Coco getting a double handled saw

In March, Hank got a nasty cut on his ear and we ended up having to put a makeshift cone on his head so he would stop messing with it. He was really upset about the whole thing, but it provided hours of entertainment for Mark and me. For some reason, Hank didn’t think he could lift his head when the cone was on, so he spent 3 days slinking around the house, cone brushing against the floor, pitifully meowing. Luckily, he healed up just fine and has only had to wear the cone once since, for an unrelated, but equally gross injury.

Poor Hank.

Late March brought some unseasonably warm weather which was welcomed, but with skepticism. For a week people ran around in shorts and t-shirts, started seedlings and considered going swimming. After the week of warmth, it dropped back below freezing, but it was a nice reminder that summer is definitely coming!

Mmmmm...meat.

 In April we took a trip to NYC and Washington DC to visit friends. It was so nice to be in places where leaves were on trees and flowers were blooming. In DC we made much use of the city bike program. You swipe your credit card and can rent a bike for 3 days for $15. If you’re on it for under half an hour its free, so we spent our time in DC biking around in ½ hour spurts, taking in the sights and soaking up the 70 degree weather.  We also went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. There was an amazing exhibit of x-rayed fish skeletons.

Mark at the Capitol

Winter? Not in DC.

Me in front of the Supreme Court. This one's for you, Ma.

Mark and Adam holding up the White House

Fish Skeleton!

3 fish skeletons! Piranhas?

I want to ride my bicycle!

Cherry blossoms peaked early this year. Good for us, not as good for the cherry blossom festival.

While we were in NYC, Mark turned 30! Pretty grown up. We spent the day doing New York things, like riding the Staten Island Ferry, drinking beers at McSeourley’s Irish pub (the oldest Irish Pub in NYC), and eating lots of NY style pizza.  

Lady Liberty

This is what 30 looks like.

Katie and friends at McSeourley's

On April 14^th we had an amazing scavenger hunt birthday party for Mark.  It was similar to our previous summer’s scavenger hunt, but at this one the wild card was planking instead of taking off your pants, which means I can show some photos!

Maggie was really excited about Mark's birthday scavenger hunt.

Peeps in dryers.

Jim planking a beaver dam.

Vacuum someone's hair.

Two planks and a yoga pose.

Human Pyramid with strangers.

High-fiving strangers in an eating establishment. These people were stoked to be in the scavenger hunt.

Merry go round? How about merry go plank.

Not only do we still have payphones in Vermont, but you can plank them.

Pineapple upside down birthday cake.

In April we also helped our friends Lindsay and Jonah inoculate hundreds of logs with shiitake mushrooms. Pretty fun way to spend a Saturday!

 April 30^th brought my Dad’s 62^nd birthday and the birth of our friends Liza and David’s baby, Johannah Skye Sprout y McKay. She is adorable and I’m so glad she’s part of our Vermont community.  A few weeks before her birth, we had a ‘blessing way’ for Liza. I had never heard of a blessing way before coming to Vermont. It’s a lovely gathering of women (and sometimes men) where we all celebrate the mother and the transition into motherhood. Lots of singing was involved and also telling Liza how much we love her. I broke down a bit during that part. If my first pregnancy had come to term, I would have had a baby 6 weeks after Liza, so I was busy feeling a lot of feelings during her blessing way.  However, even though there have been bouts of sadness, it’s been really fun watching baby Johannah get bigger and bigger and more responsive as the days go by.

Johannah in Mark's arms, a few days after she was born.

 May 1^st brought a surprise. When we woke up in the morning, our car was gone! It had been stolen from right out of our driveway while we were sleeping. To be fair, the keys were in the car, but they were hidden under the seat, so it was quite a shock that someone actually bothered to look for them.  Especially since we drive a 1995 Subaru station wagon. We assumed that it was gone for good, but 2 weeks later the cops found it in a parking lot in Johnson, a mere 30 minutes away. And it still worked! Meanwhile, a friend of a friend gave us a free, 1995 Subaru station wagon, so now we are the proud owners of not 1, but 2 1995 station wagons, one green, one blue, both mostly functional.

Also in May I started working at the Galaxy Bookshop, our local independent bookstore. Linda Ramsdall, the owner, is good friends with Russ Lawrence, the former owner of Chapter One Bookstore.  It’s so great being back in a bookstore, reading books, talking about books, thinking about books…really it’s the perfect job for me. I only work Thursdays from 3-7, but just doing that is wonderful.  Linda and Sandy are great and it’s lots of fun.

May also brought the launch of our Farmer’s Market Taco stand, ‘Tacos Con Gusto.’  Mark and Matt had one gig last year, at a funny music festival, but this year they have hit the ground running. We have a space at the Montpelier Farmer’s Market the third Saturday of every month and we’re fill ins at the Waitsfield Market, but so far we have been peddling tacos every weekend. It’s been really fun watching Mark in a “kitchen” setting and I always love serving people tasty food. It’s a lot of work, but totally worth it. And we’re even making a little bit of money! 

Our first day of Tacos Con Gusto at the Montpelier Farmer's Market

Peggy and Warren came for a visit in late May/early June. We didn’t get up to much, but it was so nice having them here. Since they were here on the last Tuesday of the month, they got to attend Taco Tuesday 10. It turned out to be our biggest Taco Tuesday ever with 52 people attending! Our biggest one before that was 32 people. They were also here for Hardwick’s Memorial Day events, including a parade and sustainability fair. We ate lots of good food, home cooked and restaurant. We also went canoeing at Caspian Lake, attended a Memorial Day BBQ at Merin and Beth’s, spent time in Montpelier and did a little gardening.  Their trip was too short, but it was great to have them here. I feel lucky to have such awesome parents.

Family

Canoeing at Lake Caspian

 June has been busy. Between the co-op, tacos, Caledonia Spirits and the Galaxy, as well as all the fun things that happen in the summer in VT, we’ve been pretty busy. Mark started back at Harvest Hill after our 2^nd New York trip and he’s been loving it. This year’s interns are doing a great job and Mark always thrives when he gets to work outdoors. Maggie also loves summer, because it means she gets to go back to the farm too. One of the interns, Carey, has a young dog named Lokie and when Maggie isn’t napping under the Subaru, she’s busy chasing Lokie or biting his neck. She comes home and immediately crashes on the couch. Pretty cute.

Future adventures include a trip to Boston this weekend to see our favorite podcasters Seth Romatelli and Jonathen Laroquette of Uhh YeahDude live at the Paradise Rock Club. We’re real excited.  In August our dear friends Nic and Sarah are tying the knot in Elkton, Oregon on August 18^th. Mark is the best man and we’re using their wedding as an excuse to make a 12 day trip out to Oregon. August 11^th is our 5^th wedding anniversary and we’ll be in Portland, OR to celebrate. I can’t wait to head to Oregon to see our adorable friends get married, as well as the awesome friend reunion that will go down at their wedding. We’ll also get to see my folks at the wedding and then spend some time with them on the Oregon Coast before heading back to VT.

Another potential adventure? Home ownership.  We’ll keep ya’ll updated.

Love to everyone. And enjoy the summer!

Tiime Flies

Oh geez. Talk about a season getting away from you. Not only is it not spring anymore, it's not summer either. Luckily fall in the Northeast Kingdom is lovely. For the moment we've got chilly nights and warm days. Soon the ground will be covered in snow, but for now I'm enjoying the lovely weather.

A lot happened this summer. Too much for one blog, really, but I'll try to give a brief(ish) snapshot of what we've been up to since May.

The last week of May/first week of June my parents, Peggy and Warren, came for a visit. I think I'm safe in saying a good time was had by all. Activities included: stopping by Harvest Hill, checking out a crazy old cemetrey, making risotto, hosting a 'Meet the Parents' potluck, going to the Shelburne Museum and eating dinner in Burlington, having my lovely friend, Therin, over for dinner, checking out the Hardwick Farmer's Market and doing a lot of work in my community garden plot. Truth be told, most of the work was done by my parents as I had to go to work at the Co-op. They made my weedy plot look fantastic! Their trip was far too brief, but much enjoyed and appreciated.

Here are a few photo highlights:

Warren working in my garden plot.

The four of us at Pho Hong in Burlington.

This was part of an awesome paper art exhibition at the Shelburne Museum.

This too.

The rest of June was moderately mellow. We hosted a 'Hardwick Scavenger Hunt' that was real fun and a little out of hand. We had 3 teams of 5 people. Everything on the list was worth a certain amount of points and those points could be tripled if you did the item without any pants on. Who knew so many folks would be willing to drop their drawers? It was a photo scavenger hunt, so all the activities had to be documented. In the end we gathered back at our house and had one of the best slideshows I've ever seen. Definitely inappropriate and definitely hilarious. Some sample items: making a human pyramid, getting 5 or more subarus in the same photo, eating a maple creemee with gravy on top, finding "local celebrities" and getting pictures with them, finding a Monster Energy drink logo on a person, buying hot sauce and condoms at the same time.....the list goes on. I'm not gonna post any photos of this event, but let it be said that it was one of the highlights of the summer.

Our friend Jen hosted a 'Tequila and Tattoos' night. The tequila was tasty and the tattoos were henna. It was a great combination. Some pretty awesome tattoos were put in some pretty awesome places. For the next week or so it looked like there was a secret society walking around town. I had Jen draw a Bitterroot flower on the inside of my left forearm. It looked awesome and if I get another tattoo, it will probably be that one.

In July our friends Katie and Alex came up from New York City for the 4th of July weekend. It was a quick trip, but really nice to have them up here. We hiked to Cheever Falls, went to the Bread and Puppet Museum and hosted a 3rd of July BBQ.

Katie and I playing smooshy face at Cheever Falls.

Mark and Maggie bonding.

A few days later Mark tore his MCL playing Ultimate Frisbee. He was in pain for quite awhile, but luckily he didn't need surgery. Now it's fine, except for the occasional twinge, but it did put a bit of a damper on the summer.

A couple weeks later our good friend Devin and his girlfriend Carrie came from Portland, Oregon for a wedding in Burlington. It had been almost 2 years since we'd last seen Devin and it was so nice to have them up here. They are having a baby in January and I hope we get to meet the little guy/girl before it's a teenager.

Devin looking hip in Burlington.

The first weekend in August, Mark and our friend Matt made their dream of having a taco stand a reality. They sold tacos at this funny music festival called Bonestock. Though the music festival wasn't huge, they actually sold quite a few tacos and had many repeat customers. I think it was a good learning experience and it made them all fired up to really get the stand off the ground next summer. The plan is to apply to farmer's markets and also work the festival circuit. Tacos. Yum.

On August 11th, Mark and I celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary. We went out to dinner at Kismet, in Montpelier. It's a really good restaurant that focuses on serving high quality, local foods. Here's a photo of us four years ago:

We still love each other.

Near the end of August we took a 4 day trip to Maine. We met up with Katie and Alex in Machias for the Beehive Collective's Black Fly Ball. If you don't know about the Beehive Collective you should check out their website. They draw intricate black and white posters detailing various environmental and social issues. One of their original posters was 'Plan Colombia' and their most recent is 'The True Cost of Coal' about mountain top removal. We bought a poster and I'm still discovering new things every time I look at it. The ball involved 3 stages with different bands. One of the stages was built on a pavilion over a waterfall. I only wish I had a photo. We spent 2 nights camping at Cobbscook Bay State Park and on the 3rd night headed down the coast towards Rockland. We went hiking, ate lobster, visited a boat building school and slept outside.

I love Maine.

Katie, Alex, Mark, Maggie and Lucha at the Easternmost Point in the U.S.

Praying MANtis?

Katie and boats.

Sub-arctic bog. There were pitcher plants here!

The last weekend in August I had my very first canning experience. Mark had bought 2 crates of peaches and after eating a ton and freezing even more, we still had 1/2 a crate left, so I made peach jam. It was way more labor intensive than I thought it would be, but ultimately not as intimidating as I had imagined. I was so un-intimidated, in fact, that a week later I made and canned peach chutney. I also made pasta sauce from fresh tomatoes and froze about 4 quarts. We bought a chest freezer and it currently holds pesto, blueberries, peaches, 3 turkeys, kale, blackberries, pasta sauce, peppers and soup. We're planning on buying a whole lamb from our friend Jonah and hopefully half a pig from our friend Dan. If anyone wants to come for a visit, I guarantee you'll be well fed!

We discovered something amazing in the North East Kingdom this summer. There's a museum in someone's barn off of Route 16 called 'The Museum of Everyday Life'. Our friend Dan talked us into going one day and it was really awesome. This summer's exhibit was on matches and one part of the exhibit featured instruments made entirely out of matchsticks. The man who made them was in prison for 20 years and the only wood available to him was matchsticks, so he made a banjo, 2 violins and a mandolin. And they work! But the real treasure of this museum is that underneath the museum, in the old dairy barn, the owner has set up a bowling alley. We spent a ridiculously fun night there bowling. Could I feel anymore country? Probably not.

Museum Entrance. That's not a real bear. But Jon is real.

Mandolin made out of matchsticks.

Entrance to the bowling alley.

Bowling! Amy looks skeptical, but she had fun.

Clearly this was not regulation bowling. But there was a disco ball.

In mid-September Mark's good friend Mikal came up for a visit from Austin, Tx. He was only here for 2 nights and 2 days, but we packed a lot into a short time. Activities included pizza and beer at Parker Pie, a farm tour, a hike to Cheever Falls, at trip to the Museum of Everyday Life and the Bread and Puppet Museum. The main event during Mikal's visit was the Chili-Cook off that we hosted. 10 chilies were entered and almost 40 people came to taste and judge. All in all, I'd say it was a huge success. We're contemplating a 'hot dish' cookoff this winter.

Mark and Mikal just above the falls.

Maggie's good about staying hydrated.

Our latest adventure was at the end of September and involved another trip to Maine. This time we headed to The Common Ground Fair with our friends Jon and Claire. Common Ground has been going on for over 35 years and it's pretty much the best. It's an agricultural and sustainable living fair and exhibits and activities there included multiple craft tents, an amazing border collie demo, tons of great food, two farmers markets, a manure toss, animal exhibits, 3 music stages, lectures, classes, veggie exhibits....too much to take in all in one weekend. We volunteered at the manure toss so we got free camping, free admission and one free meal. Here are a few photos.





On our way back to Vermont we hiked Tumbledown Mountain. It was a little sketchy on the way up, but totally worth it. We were met at the top by gorgeous views and a much easier route down.

Don't Tumbledown. It will hurt.

Halfway up Claire and I were feeling like this:

Then I almost got stuck here.

But we finally made it to the top!

Jon was pleased. And warm.

From the top we hiked down to this little lake and took the less steep, less sketchy route down.

Other adventures that are currently or soon to be happening include the 6 week pottery class Mark and I are taking, a trip to NYC at the end of October, a visit from our friends Nic and Sarah for a week over Thanksgiving and a trip to Montana from Dec 17th-28th! Fun times ahead.

Ch...ch...changes!

There have been a number of changes since my last post. For starters, Mark and I are officially townies. We moved to the thriving metropolis of Hardwick on April 15th and we're loving it! Since most of our friends live out in the boonies, our place has become a central meeting spot and we've already hosted a number of potlucks and dinner parties. Our place is 2 blocks from the Co-op, which means my work commute takes about 3 minutes. It's also kitty corner from my other job, meaning that work commute takes about 35 seconds. Awesome. It's also only 3 blocks from the Community Garden, where I have a plot this summer. Since I'm not farming, I figured I should probably still have a space to get my hands dirty. It's been raining pretty steadily this week, but on Tuesday I managed to squeak in between rainstorms to plant some brussel sprouts, rainbow chard and kale. My plot is next to our good friends Jon and Amy's plot, so we spent the afternoon weeding and prepping beds together. Hopefully next week will bring sunshine and the opportunity to get more seeds and starts into the ground!

Mark finished his long winter of seed packing and is now back at Harvest Hill this summer working as a crew leader and Bill's right hand man. The interns have arrived and they all seem awesome. I worked there for a day last week and helped transplant a bunch of brassicas and lettuce into the fields. It was fun to be out there, but I'm glad I'm not farming full time this summer. However, I do hope to be periodically called in to help out. Mark loves it and is feeling super optimistic about this season. He already brought home a giant bag of spinach and I scored some starts for my garden.

Even though I thought it would never happen, winter is finally over! The snow lasted until almost the end of April, but now the grass is green, flowers are blooming and the trees are no longer naked!


An excellent homage to this change of seasons was celebrated on May 1st. Every year in Montpelier there is an 'All Species Day' celebration. It starts in the park and then a parade shuts down the streets and wends its way from Hubbard Park to the state capital. Here are a few photos. It was a gorgeous day full of tons of great energy (and hippies!)

Opening circle. A few of our friends are in the dance. They had this great body paint on and since it was so sunny, they all got these crazy awesome tan lines.

Mark and I in the parade.

My friend and co-worker William, one of the masters of ceremony for the event.

Show at the statehouse.

It was a beautiful day and a nice kick off to the start of spring. I know the calendar says it started March 21st, but up here in VT, it took a little longer! Though I didn't feel this way in March, I can now honestly say it was worth the wait.

Speaking of things that take a long time, I finally finished the baby quilt for Penelope Ray Prinbeck, lovely daughter to Cosmo and Gwenn, that had been consuming my life for a good 6-8 months. It was a fun project and it felt amazing to finally send it on its way. I first silk-screened some of Mark's jellyfish onto plain pieces of fabric, then cut out more squares from various patterned pieces. I machine sewed them together which took no time and then spent the next 6 months hand quilting. I had had the best of intentions to get it done and sent before Penelope was born in December...but as always happens, I forget how long my projects tend to take. However, it is finally with it's rightful owner and as the family is moving to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands at the end of the summer, it turned out to be a very appropriately themed quilt!

Finished project!

Mark's jellyfish. My hand quilting.

Closeup.

Other things that have happened since my LA trip include Mark taking a trip to Austin for SXSW. He saw lots of great music, ate a bunch of breakfast tacos, saw a grip of good friends and generally had an awesome time. He spent the week walking around in shorts and a t-shirt in the 80+ degree weather. The night I picked him up from the airport, it snowed over a foot. Oh Vermont...

Mark turned 29 and had an epic dress up potluck/dance party/freeze tag dodgeball game to celebrate. Our friends braved mud season and turned out in force.


Oh, what's mud season, you ask? It's a disaster! Once the snow starts to melt, all the dirt roads turn to mud. I didn't realize how serious this mud was until I sunk up to my axles on Noyestar, unable to go backwards or forwards. My tailpipe was a mere quarter inch above the squishy mud. Luckily at the third house I tried a family was home and a very friendly stranger grabbed a giant tow chain, hopped into his truck and proceeded to pull the poor little subaru out of the giant mudhole where I had lodged her. He then followed me back to the pavement, just in case I got stuck again. You can never underestimate the kindness of strangers. Mud season lasts for over a month and makes every trip down a back road an exciting, occasionally terrifying adventure. Until I experienced it, I never got the joke that Vermont has 5 seasons, the fifth one being mud season. Now I get it.

Maggie and Hank have both adjusted to city living with ease. Hank is busy staking out his territory and therefore comes home with various cuts and bumps, but it hasn't dampened his spirits. My boss and friend Maggie McGuire has found him in her kitchen more than once, via the cat door. Maggie (the dog, not my boss) doesn't seem to notice much difference between town and country, possibly because she's getting the best of both worlds. Mark takes her to work on the farm, so she gets to run around and then when she comes home, she gets to go for long walks most of which she spends peeing on every imaginable surface. Looks like she's staking out her territory too. When she's not peeing or farming, she's generally doing this:

Or this.

At least she's not bored, right?

Well, that's the spring update. Look forward to more adventures in the coming months, including a visit from Peggy and Warren. I hope wherever you are flowers are blooming and sun is shining!