Saturday was a full day here, especially in the farm part of Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm. We had a fall workday in the veggie fields, followed by a potluck lunch that took full advantage of our community-grown produce. Full fall colors in the trees and crisp blue skies helped set the tone.

A “Nub-Igloo”:

Homebrew:

And our boileriffic party:

Lots was done. Flower beds around transformers, Governor’s House, and Common House are clean of weeds! Daffodils are planted all along stone wall coming into the neighborhood, at Common House entrance, and in lots of surprise locations. Granite has all been moved and stacked and area cleaned up. Firewood near barn has been moved. Mushroom area is prepped. Trees near field edges were cut down. June-planted trees have no more weeds at their feet.

After a productive morning, we all were honored by a great lunch (chicken soup, salad with mozzarella, bread) in the Common House.

And the sun was out too! Earlier in the week, invasive bittersweet was torn down, and sunflowers and other annuals were pulled.

Thank you to the Orbetons for the lovely bridge contributed a few weeks earlier by the pond, and thanks to Darkstone and Dori for the recently installed stone and wood bench also near the pond!

Still to be done by others who weren’t able to be here today: work on sunken garden, trim maple tree in front of Common House, firewood brought up from horse pasture.

Let it snow!………Not!

The reality ended up being much simpler and ultimately a lot of fun: This past Wednesday, the kids and a few brave adults “camped” right on our common green.

This arrangement made it much more of a community event than a remote outing would’ve been. It allowed our 6-year-old to enjoy an “outdoor” adventure while we comfortably slept in our own beds nearby. And it led to a spontaneous summer cookout on the Common House patio — complete with s’mores and ghost stories — that many neighbors (young and old) participated in and enjoyed.

As Dori put it, this experience had a great ratio of “low-work input” to “high-fun output.”

Step 1 — invite lots of neighbors to pitch in.
Step 2 — follow up the work with a “farmer’s brunch” to be shared by all.

Our woods were heavily damaged by the ice storm this past winter, leaving many trees and large branches strewn along one side of the veggie field, making it impossible to work that part of the field.

So, a group of neighbors headed out this morning to clear the field while another group headed into the Common House to prepare a most rewarding brunch that included eggs (with herbs from our gardens), sausage, biscuits, blueberry buckle, cinnamon rolls, bagels, coffee, and more.

Although I did help clear a few pieces of wood, I soon realized I could also contribute (and coincidentally spare my back) by “documenting” this community event for our blog…..

Here’s an overview photo taken from the 2nd floor of our house….

And a closer look at the action….

The younger participants wisely stayed well away from the chainsaw……

And resident cows, Maggie and Pumpkin, kept a close eye on proceedings, using their charms to occasionally entice some of the workers into providing head scratches…..

After working hard to take photos (please realize that my camera is a 9-year-old point-and-shoot), I brewed some coffee and headed to the Common House for the post-work brunch, which was truly rewarding — especially for the folks who really did work up a sweat out in the field…..

Even the food preparers seemed to be having fun (or maybe just a little crazed)…..

Thanks to everyone who chipped in to make this morning both productive and enjoyable!