Cloverleaf Farm

Archive for July, 2009

Today, was the Teddy Bear’s Picnic at the Effingham Public Library. I made matching outfits for Freddie Teddie and Sadie. Their duds matched our 1890′s Victorian outfits I made for Christmas.  Marilyn and John read some stories to the kids, and we then enjoyed a snack of grapes, cheese and some juice. The bears weren’t to sure about the cheese, but they were good little bears, and tried it. They were glad they did, because they like it. Freddie and Sadie won Best Matching Child Outfits.  We all had a great time.

Tonight, I did a presentation at Green Mountain Conservation Group (www.gmcg.org) on heirloom veggies. 
We specialize in organic heirloom here at Cloverleaf Farm, and I wanted to share the knowledge that I have found over the last several years of farming.
Heirloom vegetables are known as old fashioned or vintage vegetables. They are vegetables grown from seeds that have been passed down from one generation to the next.
Heirloom varieties are open pollinated, which means they are pollinated by insects or the wind, and will produce “true” the following season if seeds are saved. True means that the offspring will be the same as the parent. With hybrids, you never know what you will get the following year, if you get anything.
By planting heirloom veggies and saving the seed you will be helping to safeguard the genetic pool of our vegetables of old—and hence the food supply of our future generations.
All who attended seemed to have a good time. After the presentation we enjoyed some of my home made tomato preserves with crackers and our own apple cider.

Today was the Victorian Tea at Par Sem (Parsonfield Seminary). We had a wonderful time. It was a sold out event with most everyone coming dressed in their Victorian best. This year the guest speakers were Mr. and Mrs. Abe Lincoln. Mrs. Lincoln told us about her days as a child, leading up to marrying Abe. Mr. Lincoln talked about his days in the White House, and about the Civil War.
After their speach, tea and dessert inside the beautiful dormitory building. They use the money raised at the Victorian Tea, as well as other events, to restore and maintain the buildings on the grounds of Parsonfield Seminary. The buildings are a national historic landmark.
We, as well as all the guests had a great time, and look forward to next year’s Victorian Tea.

This has been a crazy week. 
Monday and Tuesday were spent tilling, weeding and tidying up the yard for the house tour on Saturday. This took away much of my energy, and by Wednesday I was exhausted.

It was the kick off to the Summer Reading Program at the library on Wednesday, and Norman Ng performed some wonderful magic. This gave me some down time from the yard work. I’m still trying to figure out how he did the bowling ball trick. Amazing. I wish he could make the weeds go magically disappear.
Thursday was spent running around the big city of Conway getting feed, and other staples we have been in need of.

Today, I am doing Crafty Kids at the library. We will be making sock puppets. If we have time, we will put on a short puppet show for the parents. This afternoon, I will be cleaning the house and getting it ready for the House and Garden tour put on by the Friends of the Effingham Library. It is an annual event used to raise money for the library.
Tomorrow morning, we will be up bright and early putting the finishing touches on the house. The house tour opens at 10 am. We will then spend the day in our Victorian clothes giving tours of our home, where each room is from a different era. Everyone is always in awe of what we have done.
To top off the end of the week, is the Victorian tea on Sunday at Pars Sem, which we will be of course dressed in our finest Victorian garb.
Whew…what a week.

We are sadly disappointed at how our crops are going this season. Or should I say not going. We have had to plow and replant a good part of what we planted.
Due to all the rain we had in June, and the lack of sun, I must say we lost upwards of 50% of what we planted. The corn should make a come back, and the potatoes and carrots are doing fine, but the rest of the garden is doing so poorly, I don’t think we will get much if anything.

After all the rain we have had over the last two months, I am so thankful that today we have sun.
John Denver says it best!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcWZXPnRbBo

You have until midnight tonight to help GMCG with the $15,000 grant.
PLEASE take a moment and vote for GMCG (Green Mountain Conservation Group) on the Brickfish campaign….they only have until today at midnight. VOTE NOW.GMCG sure needs to win this $15,000. Please post if you have time on your FB page or other blog sites and ask others to support the conservation work being done to protect NH’s largest stratified drift aquifer!
VOTE: http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?picid=901340_99260649

With all the rain that we had during the month of June, we have been super busy weeding. I guess the grass didn’t mind the rain as much as the gardens did. The grasses grew, but the gardens are way behind.
We don’t use any weed killers, or chemicals in our gardens. This means we spend a bit more time weeding, but it also means that we can eat our food, and not ingest chemicals. We grow organically…as everyone should.