122 Corson February 2024 Newsletter The winter of 2023-24 may go down as the winter that barely happened. For many of us who enjoy the snow, it’s been a bit of a let-down. However, it has allowed us to work in the woods and harvest a load of pine and mixed species logs which we haven’t done in several years. We were prompted to do this as a result of the many blow-downs from the December 18th storm. I guess that’s like making a positive out of a negative. The deer have been taking advantage of both the light snow base, and enjoying the browse from the fallen tree tops. Each time Bob resumes the harvest, he’s met with a regular band of deer quite nonplussed about his return as they slowly meander off only to return shortly, after we twitch out the last of that day’s harvest. They’re having a good winter and they look good! The growing season has begun on the farm. We planted in the high-tunnel greenhouse on Monday; yes, planted in February! We planted spinach, green onions, arugula, peas, carrots, lettuce mix and lettuce heads, and of course radish. Radish is always the first up. The kale and parsley have wintered well as have the herbs. The garlic that was planted in late November, is now about 4” high. We gave the greenhouse a good covering of composted sheep manure last fall and we’re experimenting with a new tool. New to us anyway. We bought a Johnny’s Broad Fork. We’re retiring the Troybilt tiller (for sale), and switching to the broad fork for row preparation. It’s easy to use, easy on the soil, and creates a nice planting bed without emissions. We thought that it would be hard work, but we’re happy to report that it’s not. So grow you beauties! On the restaurant front, we are now entering our nineth season. Hard to believe! We met with Chef Eddie last week and we have menus created and posted through mid July. We’re excited with the menu offerings and we hope that you’ll find a menu and date that sounds special to you. As many of you know, the restaurant has been ‘found’; therefore, we recommend making your reservations early so that we don’t disappoint. We’re eager to start the new season. It’s those tranquil Saturday nights where we can relax on the patio before dinner that we look forward to. Catching up with old friends and making new ones, that’s what’s it’s all about. We have a brief vacation scheduled in March to one of our favorite destinations. It will involve food, wine, a test of our language skills, and lots of interesting sights. We’ll give a full report when we return with a lot of new ideas for 122 Corson! Warmly, Mary & Bob |
