Worcester Woods Farm

  There are a couple moose that have been walking through the lower field in the evening lately. Bonnie and I saw them a few days ago, and then I saw them again tonight. It’s a bull and a cow, and the bull is so big you can just about see his rack over the top of the greenhouse when he walks by. Their coats are almost black right now, and in a couple months they will disappear up high into the hills for better browsing. We have very few deer around the fields here, but there are a lot of moose. A game warden once told me that this five mile stretch of woods is in the top three most populated areas in the state for Bullwinkles (that’s the name he used). There is a great beaver dam just north of the house, there are a couple bear hanging around between here and the neighbors, and most nights you can hear the coyotes going crazy down by the river. With no bugs and the color popping out of the trees I am so anxious not to have tons of work to do so I can get out into the woods. We have 300 acres here on the farm, and thousands more surrounding us. You can walk five miles in three different directions from our porch with no houses, roads or people. I don’t get to do that as much as I used to, but it’s comforting to know that its there whenever I need it. With the freezers filling up and storage crops moving into the barn, we are so ready to enjoy the winter months. Unless the wood stove has something to do with it, I might even be able to read a book after 7 O’ clock without falling asleep.
         One of the better things about fall is of course the food. Roast pork, pumpkin pie, caramelized onions, potato-leek soup, bacon eggs and home fries, maple glazed carrots, chicken broth, winter greens from the greenhouse, braised cabbage, big fat chicken thighs cooked in red wine, zucchini bread, lots of garlic, steamed kale, tomato sauces, apple everything, spare ribs that have been in the crock pot all day, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked beans, rutabaga french fries, stuffed turkey breast, grilled teriyaki wings, parsley pesto, buttermilk doughnuts cooked in pork lard…..who could say New England doesn’t have the best comfort food? To some this might seem very fattening and unhealthy, but I’ll take my chances. How could well grown food that comes from right outside your kitchen be unhealthy. I don’t know many fat farmers, do you?