Well, I know it has been a long time since I posted here - fall is always a busy time for me at work, and hasn't allowed much time for farming! Some good news - we were approved in October by the county for another year of CAUV (agricultural tax status). But this is with the caution that we have to demonstrate activity to return more of the land into agricultural use. So now its time to get a little serious - enough with the alpaca jokes!

For Christmas I bought myself a great present - a film scanner that is allowing me to digitize all the wonderful Kodachrome slides my mom took over the years at Villa Mir. It is great fun going through these pictures, and re-living the wonderful parties, remembering all the old friends who gathered there. So you'll be getting some old photos from time to time, maybe a calendrical cycle with maple sugaring, spring flowers, haying, blueberry picking, Halloween parties.

Right now, let's start with winter. Most of you who've been there know that winter in Northeastern Ohio can be brutal - and the area around Chardon is the worst of all, due to the phenomenon called 'lake effect' snow. Here are a couple photos that I took in the winter of 1977, which is the winter that convinced me to move to California. I remember that was just one storm after the next after the next. Pretty soon you can't shovel or plow anymore, you have to move snow with a front-end loader. Here are some statistics on snowfall in Chardon - I am reminded of the motto, "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me strong." Some of my Oberlin friends will remember the time we were snowbound the day after Thanksgiving and couldn't get back to school for three days - during which time my mom cleaned our clocks playing hearts. Nothin' else to do!

Of course, it can be very beautiful too - quite peaceful. Just stay inside and build a nice roaring fire, curl up with a good book. Paul tells me the cross-country skiing is also pretty good - what with the 100 miles of horse trail that runs through our land. But I don't miss the winters there!