97,255 odometer
The air is crisp and dry. As I turn onto Castle Island road, I find the first signs of snow. It looks like there was an inch or so a while back that was plowed off the roads. In the pale blue, southern sky hangs a waning moon. Pulling into Flying Pond Farm, I meet Laura, Harold and Josh. After taking my things up stairs, I am given a tour of the farm. There are 2 green houses and one hoop house, about a hundred chickens, three cows, four pigs and two cats. Some things are similar to the farm where I work but there are some new and interesting things. First, the obvious, its colder (snow already) and the days are considerably shorter. Sandy is the first impression I get just by looking at the soil, very unlike the clay back in PA. There are two heated greenhouses. They are heated by air circulation and by pipes buried about 1 foot deep in the ground. The heat source is a wood burning furnace located about 20 feet from the nearest greenhouse. The furnace takes 48" logs and can keep the two greenhouse above freezing this time of year with just one loading each evening. When it gets colder, it will have to be done twice during the night. Stepping into the houses, it is about 60 degrees. The beds of leaf lettuce and mustard greens look lush. I help to weed the lettuce, mostly chickweed. Always a greenhouse favorite.
