Our Urban Farm in Vermont Begins Waking for Spring
Raspberries are budding, oak seedlings seem to be waking, but right now, it is all about the beautiful slate
After a winter in Palm Springs, California, we’re back in Vermont, preparing for our final push to getting things done so we can move into our new sanctuary at the top of Hill Street in beautiful Montpelier. Though things are still looking pretty rough at first glance, with piles of logs, rocks and tree roots scattered from the clearing and blasting work, there are subtle and exciting signs of the loveliness that is to come if you look closely. Most importantly: the raspberry plants we brought from Minnesota have survived and are budding. Those plants gave us so many delicious berries every year, we could not part with them. We brought some lovely plants with us when we moved. We could not be happier that they have survived the move and their first winter.
Just as exciting: The tiny oak seedlings from our sacred Burr Oak tree in our South Minneapolis back yard we planted look like some may have survived. They were in pretty tough shape by the time they got to Vermont. It is still too early for them to be budding. But, many of the seedlings have some really nice color on the base of their tiny trunks, which suggests there is life waking up in them. The real excitement, though, is what the property is offering up to us on its own, including thousands of berry plants, a wonderful variety of trees, and tons (literally several TONS) of beautiful gray, tan and copper-colored slate, that we will use for many things, including building paths, stairs, patio, pizza oven and hot tub. We will also be bringing some of it inside the house to make shelves; to put under and behind our wood stove, and maybe even make some side tables for our new living room.
We are excited about the slate for all kinds of reasons: it is beautiful, readily available, durable, free, and it fits well with our plans for nature-scaping our yard and decorating our new home, while helping to bring the beautiful outdoors inside.
In preparation for having a garden again this year, we have started some tomato, pepper and herb seeds, along with a couple of strains of cannabis. All are doing well.
Friends from Minnesota and California are already scheduling their visits. 2025 is going to be a really exciting spring and summer. We hope you will follow along to see how the progress goes.
On an unrelated note: during our down time this winter and with all of the craziness going on in the world, we launched a new political podcast and blog, told from the perspective of a couple of really pissed of gay guys. Feel free to check it out!