Market

The Davis Square Farmer's Market was busy today despite being the last week for some vendors. Because I was working on the farm, and receiving some produce as trades for several months, there was no need for me to go the markets. What can be better than picking my own vegetables and bringing them straight home?


Now that winter is approaching, I have to start storing some local produce that will keep for a while: squashes, onions, apples, potatoes. I was introduced to TAZA chocolate today, a locally made stone ground dark chocolate. They share their stall and production facilities with Fiore di Nonno, a handmade mozzerella cheesemaker. Fresh cheese, and dark chocolate. Even if you can't really eat them together, the stall became my instant favorite! Now I just need to find out how I can come visit them while they are making these delicious treats! No really, stay tuned!

Happy Halloween

This is as good as it gets in our family! And they are perfectly happy with it ( I hope).

Wellesley Fun

Wellesley and Fun were two words never used together during my days at the college, unfortunately.


I was too young and naive to know to not take college too seriously. I learned, I studied, I tried to achieve. I did it because it felt like everyone else around me was doing it, too. Ten years later, I wish I had done some of the serious stuff half of the time, and had some fun the other half.

I did manage to run or walk around Waban Pond a few times as a student. It is a pretty place as it is, but in the fall, it becomes magical with all shades of fall colors illuminating the trees. My friends Meliti and Megan were there today with me the children. For the youngsters, fortunately, it was all fun. And I hope that life, Wellesley College or not (well, not for Momo at least), will always be fun and exciting for them for a long long time.

I am lucky to be able to re-live a little of my life through my children. I will definitely teach them, when it's time to go to college, to remember to have fun, at least half of the time!

Fall at Codman Farm

It was a crisp, cool day. Fall is finally here to stay.

We were pleasantly surprised to find baby animals at Codman Farm today: piglets, and calves. There were also plenty of chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, cows, bunnies, and even wild turkeys roaming about.


The kids enjoyed playing with a toy tractor in the big barn, and observing the piglets being mischevious (crawling under the fence, and pushing each other around). It must be somewhat comforting, at least interesting, for them to see that other animals misbehave, too!

Check here for more photos from our time there.

Fall images

The other day

Who knows when the boys can play shirtless again. It was a bit scary, however, to have it be late October, fall leaves all around, and be so warm that the children wanted nothing to do with their clothes. We will all look longingly back to these photos!

Late Afternoon

The sun is setting much earlier now. Pretty soon, it will be dark in the middle of the afternoon, and it will be too cold to frolic outside.


















There is a little green space near our house that we call "The Circle Park", only because the patch of grass in the middle is circular. We sometimes ride the trikes there, and sometimes just walk over to see what we can discover. We have chased squirrels there, picked fallen apples, made nests with twigs and eaten popsicles. Today we found seeds and of course lots of fallen leaves. We made dumplings out of them. This may seem very simple, but it was superbly entertaining, at least for our children.

Last Harvest

The growing season is drawing to a close. I spent the morning at Blue Heron helping Ellery harvest for the restaurants and farmers' market. We chatted in the field as we picked kale and chard and lettuces. It was hard to believe that we will not be harvesting at the end of next week, especially when the warm wind blew the leaves off the trees all around us (too warm to be the end of October).


Who knows what the next season (winter, hopefully), and the next chapter will bring. Ellery will get a break from the farm, that much is true. As for me, some things may be brewing... I will keep you posted!

What we saw today

Pictures are supposed to say a 1,000 words. So as you look at these, imagine a light warm breeze, and the afternoon sun touching your skin. In the air, there is that very distinctive scent of New England fall: the leaves, the trees, the rich soil. There you have it, a perfect Indian summer day.

Day of Dates

We could not lie today if we had to, that we indeed live near Boston (for now).

We started out the day watching a little bit of the boat race, also known as 'Head of the Charles'. Thousands of people flocked to this event from many far away places, but for us, we were able to walk down to the river, found a grassy spot to sit, and watched the strong crew teams whiz by. The day was so beautiful, autumn at its best, so we had to drive out to Lincoln one more time to see the foliage, and say hello to our wonderful playground, Blue Heron Farm.

We didnt' stay out there too long. We had dates to attend in the afternoon! Claire with her Daddy, and Momo with me.

Jim was the doctor on call for the Boston Ballet today. He gets two free tickets each time he has to 'work'. Today's show was La Sylphide, at the Boston Wang Center. Of course, he wanted to take his darling daughter Claire with him. She was so excited that she wanted to get dressed and ready for the show at seven this morning!

Momo and I didn't have such a sophisticated plan, but it was a good one, nonetheless. We walked into Harvard Square, and took the subway train into Boston. We had lunch at Legal Seafoods before visiting the New England Aquarium. Then we reconvened with the other half of the family at the Boston Public Garden where the Make Way for Ducklings
reside. We saw the swans, climbed a tree, played in the dirt, admired the changing of the season, before taking a taxi home (that in itself was a treat - no carseats - and crazy Boston cab-drivers).


Could we have been more Bostonians today? Short of walking the Paul Revere trail, I think we maximized our life in Boston pretty well today, at least for a young family like us.

Just for you

The kids and I tried to find the best maple tree to photograph so that we can share this beautiful fall day with you.

When we found just the right tree, they were sound asleep in the car, tired from the fun they had at the Fall festival at Blue Heron.

The thunderstorm last night cleaned up the air, and the sun came out just in time for the first annual harvest festival to raise funds for the farm's irrigation.

The kids had a blast on hay rides. They painted pumpkins, and ate yummy pumpkin treats. The farm was in full swing: music was playing in the flower labyrinth, the chickens were frolicking in the woods (afraid of the hawks flying up above), new friends were enjoying lively conversations.

It was a fall day in New England as you might imagine. Short of sending you fall leaves and warm cider, we hope you enjoy some of the photos we took just for you!

French Onion Soup

This was the first time that I made this soup, surprisingly. It was very easy to make, and quite tasty, if I may say so myself.

Organic purple onions, and leeks from Blue Heron, good french baguette from Iggy's, and fruity-tangy gruyere cheese from France.

A perfect fall soup, except that it's 70 degrees and rainy outside...