Living and writing in a circa 1840 New England Farmhouse with three generations of my family
Seriously. More snow? I am tired of snow. I have snow fatigue. I’ve already posted about The Winter of My Discontent. Yet here I sit, with more freshly fallen snow at 1840 Farm. Enough already. I couldn’t come up with anything to do to help Read More
One of my earliest cooking memories involves my mother and chocolate fudge. I was sitting on the kitchen counter a safe distance from the bubbling pot as the mixture boiled away on the stove. I watched in amazement as the candy thermometer registered higher and Read More
Bah, humbug. It just hasn’t seemed like the holidays here at 1840 Farm this year. First, there is not a single flake of snow on the ground. Not one. The practical side of me is not upset about our lack of winter precipitation. I’m quite content Read More
Here we sit at 1840 Farm. It is almost the end of November. The garden has been put to bed for the winter. The leaves have been corralled into their leaf compost bins. Well, at least most of them. Summer is over and fall is Read More
A war of epic proportions has erupted here at 1840 Farm. I was minding my own business, happily mixing up dough for a batch of cinnamon rolls. I snapped the bowl of my electric mixer into its base and switched on the motor. Nothing happened. Read More
I’ve had a wide variety of duties here at 1840 Farm. I’ve been a wife, mother, cook, housekeeper, handyman, appliance repairman, etc. Luckily, I’ve never had to be an undertaker. Well, until a few days ago.
It’s official. It’s fall. I know, I know. I’m supposed to embrace this change. I should get out my favorite sweater, go apple picking, and buy a pumpkin. I don’t want to. Instead, I want to invite summer to stay a while longer. I want to thumb my nose at Mother Nature. I want her to understand in no uncertain terms that she can keep her beautiful foliage if I can keep my tomato patch a while longer.
I’ve made my share of macaroni and cheese in the 1840 Farm kitchen. From the homemade to the (I’m sorry to say) character-shaped pasta shapes in cheese sauce the color of a dayglo orange construction cone.
It was a typical Tuesday morning at 1840 Farm. I was 90 minutes into a tomato soup canning session when the phone rang. When I picked it up, I could immediately hear the “cheep, cheep, cheep” in the background as a not very impressed postal employee Read More
I started making my own vanilla extract several years ago. I didn’t do it to save money or make a better product. I did it because it’s just what you do when someone in your family suddenly has food allergies.
I am on a mission. 1840 Farm will have a flock of chickens in residence before winter comes calling. No, this didn’t happen because of the salmonella egg scare that has been the news story du jour as of late. But I will not tell Read More
This just in. I harvested 17 pounds of organic, fresh produce from the 1840 Farm gardens yesterday. I feel proud. I feel victorious. I feel exhausted. This is the time of year that the hours of labor in our gardens finally seem to make sense. That Read More