– At the top of the horse pasture, a male scarlet tanager, brilliant in the early sun, was singing away.

– Near the beginning of Nubi’s white dot trail, I flushed two wood ducks (male & female) who flew up and perched in a tree!

– At the far side of the hayfield, I saw my first baltimore oriole of the season, singing away.

– Also near the top of the horse pasture, I heard multiple hermit thrushes and wood thrushes (first I’ve heard this year), and saw one hermit thrush as it foraged in underbrush nearby.

– A yellow-bellied sapsucker flew over me to a power-line pole, hopped onto a metal part covering one of the wires, and started drumming away, seeming to be experimenting with different tones, all very loud.

– Later in the day I caught brief views of a wilson’s warbler low in bushes near the river, first time I’ve seen this species at Nubi.

Although today was quite bird-filled, I had the impression of fewer warblers than yesterday morning, when I also went on an early walk. Yesterday there seemed to be waves of warblers coming through. This morning I saw/heard a lot of warblers up in the scrubby area above the horse pasture, but they were more settled in, singing for territory, rather than passing through in waves.

Full list of what I could identify over these two days (there were several more kinds of warblers, especially yesterday, that my novice skills could NOT identify):

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mourning Dove
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Blackburnian Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson’s Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch

Brad discusses his experiences with agriculture.

For Miller, the power of biodynamic practice derives not from the details of its practice or the science of its theory, but rather from the intention of building a relationship with the cultivated land and the faith involved in connecting to unseen forces. Biodynamic practices bring “old wisdom into a current time,” he mused.

A biodynamic farmer since 2000, Miller recounted the story of how he came to value and then to practice biodynamics. Miller first “fell in love with hard work and stories” of farming life at 12. From there, he made his way to the New York City restaurant world to participate in the “local food” movement as a young adult, and learned that most of the food served was in fact not local at all. Later, in California, he discovered that the truly “local food” was produced on the backs of migrant labor. Still later, on a small-scale, Indiana-based organic wine grape farm owned by his ex-wife’s family, Miller found himself profoundly isolated, cultivating a tiny island of land in an ocean of industrial farms.

Then, on a visit to the Santa Cruz, CA-based farms developed by Alan Chadwick (a student of Rudolph Steiner), Miller “had the wind knocked out of me” wandering through the gardens. “I just knew there was something to biodynamic agriculture when I felt the life force in the garden,” he described. In biodynamics, Miller discovered a belief system and practice oriented to enhancing the life-carrying capacity of the land.

Neighbors appreciated the discussion. Johanna said “It helps us become aware of the importance of the intention we bring to our stewardship of our land.”

When I find myself aghast at the state of my foyer, I relax and remember how wonderful it is to have all these people (adults and kids) who have slipped off their shoes and coats to come visit.

Hanging out by the evaporator.

I want to thank everyone who helped out all week, from setting taps, to collecting sap, freezing sap, brushing snow off  wood, building and tending the fire, figuring out our new system for evaporating, buying and roasting potatoes, and finishing the syrup. It’s a lot of work but it has never felt like a hardship – because so many in our community, young and old, help out. Thank you for making this such a fun annual event!

I’m sorry I won’t be here for next week’s boil, but I’m so glad that it’s happening! Have a great time…

-Dori

Justin, Stacey+

We enjoyed a lunchtime gathering in the Common House recently to interview one another for neighbor profiles. These are short descriptions of residents to post to the website. That way, folks contemplating joining cohousing can get to know us better. We shared lunch, played some games good for all ages (such as In the Manner of the Adverb and Pass the Ball) and interviewed each other in small groups. Although many of us have been living together as a community for as much as 4+ years, we learned many new things about each other and it was fun.  The profiles will be posted to our website soon. In the meantime, here is an abbreviated one that our newest residents, Stacey and Justin sent to the community just before they moved in.

Our family consists of Justin, Stacey and our two preschool children. Justin likes to bike, Stacey likes to run, our son likes to bike, and our daughter likes to walk (a recent skill).  As a family we like to hike, camp, and bike (assuming we can get out of the house, which is an adventure in itself). Justin is a meteorologist (no, he doesn’t study meteors and he is not on TV) and works as a Wind Energy Analyst for GL Garrad Hassan in Peterborough. Stacey is a software engineer turned stay at home mom, currently learning that programming children is much less predictable than programming computers. Our son ‘s favorite pastime is riding his scoot bike, which he affectionately dubbed his motorcycle. He also enjoys singing a somewhat out of tune version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” when he sister is upset. She spends her days practicing walking, putting things in baskets and taking them out again and saying “Da-Da-Da” when Cadel asks her to say “Ba-Ba-Ba”. Generally we find that just when we figure things out as a family, something changes!

(Posted on behalf of Barbara)

After the recent rainy weather cleared, there’s been quite a wave of bird activity — many more birds than I’ve been able to identify, but in addition to the kestrel, it’s included osprey, sharp-shinned hawk, wild turkey (a dozen checking out the tomatoes in our hoop house), red-bellied woodpecker, northern flicker, belted kingfisher, hermit thrush, common yellowthroat, and (I think) a brown thrasher, though I didn’t get a good enough look to be certain.

It was s drizzly fall morning, but at one point (see photo) there were more than a dozen people around the pond admiring the visitor. S/he did not seem to mind, but kept right at work diving for delicacies, popping up to the surface, looking around, then diving some more.

Dori later provided some interesting otter facts — they can stay under water for up to 8 minutes at a time, and individuals can live up to 14 years in the wild. So, this may indeed have been the same otter who delighted us in the pond 3 years ago, a visit which led to the name now on our sign — Otter Pond.