Happy 41st Anniversary. Max speaks to Art........

Excerpt from Paradise Lost

By John Milton

(Eve speaks to Adam)

With thee conversing I forget all time,
All seasons and their change, all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful evening mild, then silent night
With this her solemn bird and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heav'n, her starry train:
But neither breath of morn when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds, nor rising sun
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistring with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
Nor grateful evening mild, nor silent night
With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,
Or glittering starlight without thee is sweet.

Excerpt from "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. (Public domain)

Family, Friends, French Fries, Feeding Fish and Food for Thought. . . .

Groucho's kittens were one year old on August 1st. True Leo's, they are very Leonine, even Little Girl, the only surviving female. She isn't around much, as she seems to be constantly in heat, though seemingly never pregnant. The boys, however, are visible like lightning bugs, every evening and all night long, making sure there isn't a chipmunk, or "Grinny" as my neighbor Floy calls them, darting around the gardens of Jolico Farm. This picture is of Tommy Tip (on the right) and Tom Boy (on the left) enjoying some catnip. (Unavailable for this photo is Brother #3, named Little Tom, the runt when he was born, but the 2nd largest now, just in case you were wondering!) Tom Boy is my favorite, as he is friendly and allows me to pet him through the open kitchen window. He reminds me the most of his mother Groucho. If you have been following this blog, you will remember that my beloved Groucho found a wonderful Forever Home last fall. She lives with Lonnie, who renamed her "Peppermint Patty".

Sadly, on July 23rd we lost a good and faithful friend, Freddie Oakes, who passed away in Pittsburgh at the too-young age of 65. Fred and Art were friends since the days of their misspent youth and we will sorely miss him always.

Weeping willow trees are gracefully beautiful. We had two towering willows on our property. The older one was planted by a young girl named Joni, the granddaughter of Alfred Barron, the farmer from whom we bought Jolico Farm. The willow tree that Joni planted in her youth grew very big, its trunk measuring 200 inches in circumference after 40+ years of growth. Art planted the second willow tree in 1975 above the bank barn, far enough away (he thought) so that the branches and leaves would never overhang the barn roof. Wrong! This tree grew over 40 feet tall and clogged the gutters and downspouts so thickly with fallen leaves each autumn that the gutters were literally rendered useless. Joni's tree was badly damaged a few years ago in an ice storm, so we had the tree-trimmers out to cut it back and clean up the fallen limbs. This was a job too big for Max and Art and our little toy tractors! The willow continued to grow and thrive, but this spring a terrifying thunderstorm twisted a huge limb off the upper half of the tree, leaving the tree split and badly injured. Sadly, we decided that euthanasia was the best decision, as Joni's tree had become too big and unwieldy and was beginning to rot as well. We called Phil Read, Tree Surgeon Extraordinaire, who not only removed both willows, but a 100+ year old rotten apple tree, as well as trimming the tops of our dwarf pear trees in the orchard.

 The willow tree above the barn is about to come down!

The stump of Joni's willow tree measures 200" around the base and 66" in diameter!

Phil Read, our hero!

Our newly trimmed pear trees. Now the fruit is reachable!

This is the tree Art thought he and I could handle by ourselves.....NOT!

Willow and apple wood is not suitable for burning in the Tarm to heat our home, so Phil hauled it all away.

On August 1st we had the honor of a visit from our Atlanta GA cousins, Linda, Julie, Terry, Sam and Jake. Art's sisters Sheila and Arlene, brother-in-law Robert and dog Charlie came up from Pittsburgh to enjoy the day with us. As a picture is worth a thousand words, and I have so many pictures.... please enjoy!

From left: Terry, Sheila, Sam, Julie, Robert, Arlene, Linda and Art.

Sam holding his brother Jacob!

Lunch! As usual, there was plenty to eat!!

Sam fed the fish while Mo cleaned up the pellets that didn't make it into the water!

The garden, planted so early this year due to the warm early spring, seems to be ripening early as well.  Art harvested potatoes one day recently, digging them out of the ground with a small camping shovel while kneeling in the soft dirt. He finds this the easiest and most back-saving method to tackle an age-old job.

As usual, we planted red, white and blue potatoes, an all-American tradition!

Digging potatoes is hungry work so.......

.....let's go make some homemade fries! Pomme frites!!

These peppers are the size of Bocce Balls, each of the red ones yielding 3 cups of diced peppers! The white eggplant is 8" long and gives some perspective as to the size of the red bell peppers.

We are ecstatic over this years' tomato crop! After a devastating year in 2009 fighting the late blight, we could not be happier with the yields, the taste, the size, the GLORY of our 2010 crop!!!

In memory of Fred..........

With you a part of me hath passed away;
For in the peopled forest of my mind
A tree made leafless by this wintry wind
Shall never don again its green array.
Chapel and fireside, country road and bay,
Have something of their friendliness resigned;
Another, if I would, I could not find,
And I am grown much older in a day.
But yet I treasure in my memory
Your gift of charity, and young hearts ease,
And the dear honour of your amity;
For these once mine, my life is rich with these.
And I scarce know which part may greater be,–
What I keep of you, or you rob from me.
(By George Santayana)

What I Really Know About Long Walks

I spent my 13^th birthday in July of 1960 hiking portions of the Ditmar Trail high up in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania.  It was the longest walk of my young life. A city girl from Pittsburgh, I was 100 miles from home at a two-week Girl Scout camp. I had been to an overnight camp before and I had survived, so I was not completely out of my element. A stranger when I arrived, I quickly made friends with campers and counselors alike. I had never experienced camping outdoors, nor had I gone on an overnight hike, but I was very I was eager to try.

Outfitted with a pack frame, I carried 3 normal-sized packs, as I was strong and tall for my age. Each hiker carried her essentials for the 14 mile first leg of the hike, and the camp truck delivered our sleeping bags, food and cooking gear to our evening campsite, in a farmer’s cow pasture along the banks of a running stream.

The walk was grueling, hot and dusty and straight up and straight down, sometimes over gravel switchback roads, but mostly on paths through the rugged wildness of the Eastern Front of the Alleghenies. Fourteen miles each way with an overnight camp, this was a great challenge for young women.

When we made camp that evening, we built a campfire and cooked our evening meal.  I can’t remember what we ate but the birthday cake we baked over the campfire in a reflector oven, and the birthday song sung to me by fellow campers and counselors, were the sounds and the taste of victory. We slept that night under the stars, and I awoke in the foggy dark dampness to see a cow staring straight into my eyes, her head just above mine. I had no fear.

On that walk I developed courage, determination, self discipline and self-sufficiency, and my lifelong love of the outdoors was born. That walk instilled in me the concepts of teamwork and community, of setting and reaching goals. The strengths I developed that July when I turned 13 have remained with me throughout the years. That walk that took me over 28 miles in two days started me on the pathway of my life.

Midsummer Wisdom

Busy, busy, busy, busy hands.....making pesto, pickles, zucchini breads for the freezer, cooking for friends and family, hanging sheets on the line. Solitary work only occupies my body. It allows my mind to float free. If I am calm and happy, I am in the astral world, a state of simplicity, harmony, order and serenity. When my mind resides in the astral world, I become a different kind of human being.

It has taken me the better part of the two years since retirement to reconnect with my home, my garden and with nature, relaxing into the silence and enveloping calm of my farm, my daily habits and chores.

An easy recipe for happiness:

• Be grateful.
• Be optimistic.
• Count your blessings.
• Use Your strengths.
• Commit acts of kindness.

Even the most reliable of life's gifts can be taken away unexpectedly. So seize the moment and live in joy. Search for kindred spirits along the way. Take the time to smell the air, and in doing so, imprint memories related to those smells upon your brain, your heart and soul. Later, when you are old(er), those same smells will trigger the wonderful memories you have attached to them......of a rich and redolent life.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life." (Melodie Beattie)

"Knowledge comes, wisdom lingers." (Daisy Hickman)

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." (Marcel Proust)

The spectacular view of the garden through my kitchen window;
I am grateful and blessed to have such beauty and abundance surround me.


The garden begins to deliver its organic bounty. We are grateful to receive it into our bodies, for nothing tastes as good as organic, home-grown veggies! We are optimistic that we will have a healthy tomato harvest, after the disaster of late blight in 2009.

Scott, Art and Harry are exercising their Second Amendment rights on the 4th of July. We all celebrate and count our blessings!

The Second Amendment guarantees us the right to own and bear arms. This right has recently been closely studied by our US Supreme Court. The Court has ruled by a majority that each citizen may own firearms (within certain State restrictions; only mentally stable adults, not having been convicted of a serious crime). Under the Constitution we have the right to protect our families, homes and property. History has shown that we are a nation prepared to defend global freedom. We owe the deepest debt of gratitude to all those who have defended us and freedom worldwide, and who have paid the ultimate price for our Constitutional rights.
God Bless America! God bless us all on Earth!

Jon and Peggie, as they prepare to move to a new home and practice opportunity. They are using their strengths in new ways and we wish them happiness!

Pure Prairie League in concert in our little town
Somerset PA, Saturday night, July 10, 2010.

I think that acts of kindness work in many ways; not just when we bestow kindness on others, but also when we receive kindness, which, like love, can flow in ALL directions.

I have been happier - consistently happier than I've ever been in my entire life.

My beloved spouse, (...of 41 years!...alias "Mister Wonderful", alias "Mister All-Or-Nothing-At-All", alias "Slim Cookie", alias "Judge Slim Lebowitz"), has even commented on it! He is my 'Mirror of Truth', my 'Best Friend of the Heart', my 'Other Half', my 'Soulmate', my "Everything".... so it has to be be the truth.

I am grateful for so many things....all of them "biggies" in my mind. Some wouldn't think they are worth mentioning, but they are THE most important things to me, and more highly prized than jewels; my family and my friends (especially those who remembered and celebrated me on my birthday:)). I am so grateful for the rain and the sun;

grateful for my amazing friend (canine) Moses who is my constant companion; grateful for my strength of body, always so willing to take the abuse my WILL heaps upon it; SO grateful for my eyesight, my excellent mind; my heart that bursts and overflows with love; my senses (of compassion, altruism, fairness, of loyalty, of direction, of hearing, of balance, taste, intuition, time....and even my hot flashes).

I hope I have not sounded self-important or vain, as I am not any of those; especially in these times of suffering for so many, of economic stress, of terrorism, of discontent, of anger, of violence, of Earth Changes. This is NOT the time for 'self'.

I am simply filled with gratitude to God and filled with love......and I just wanted you ALL to know how very much I love you.........Max

Springing Forward........

I have more nice pictures this Spring than nice words it seems. My words this Spring would probably fall unwelcome on some ears. Narrow, ungenerous behavior exacts a price on psyches and relationships, and those who wound with words and actions cannot, or do not care to see the long term damaging effects on once-loving relationships until they are lost.

In our lives, we come across many circumstances in which we have wronged someone or someone has wronged us. As we grow, there comes a time in our lives when the opportunity arises, giving us the chance to forgive them. We have all heard the saying to 'Forgive and Forget'. Well, human nature does not allow for the mind to forget easily, so really it is 'Forgive and Accept'.

When we decide to forgive someone, this is a selfless act of kindness to that person and to ourselves. We are forgiving the person and not necessarily the act that was committed. This is self healing. When we are releasing negative energy and breathing in positive energy, we are looking away from the past and toward the future. In forgiving, we accept what happened and move forward; and really, moving forward is what it is all about. The same energy comes when someone forgives us. Even if we have to approach that person and ask for forgiveness, it is OK because we are moving forward. If they forgive us, we also must forgive ourselves and recognize that we have grown and moved forward on our path.

There is so much emotion tied to this. We may feel that something is unforgivable.....and that is OK, too. That is our choice, and once again, if it is truly unforgivable we can accept it and move on. We must not let the negative hold onto us, but release it and move forward into the positive power that is out there. Many things happen throughout our lives. Some are done accidentally and some on purpose, and those we will sort out and do what is needed in order to move forward. This is all part of loving ourselves enough to move forward and release the negative and receive the positive. Forgiveness of yourself and others is a cleansing of sorts, like detoxifying your soul. Again, love yourself enough to move forward. Forgiveness is not a weakness. It is one of the most courageous things a person can do for themselves.......

Life has been full and satisfying. We are joyful and filled with gratitude that Mother Earth has greened up once again and her abundance springs forth! Green and growing grass prompted Art to adapt his oldest piece of equipment to run on his newest tractor. "Arthur The Inventor" is forever seeking to reinvent. He is supremely adaptable, and from his fertile mind optimism springs eternal. We have owned a #1 John Deere sickle bar mower since we bought our farm nearly 40 years ago. This was the first tractor-mounted model of mower that John Deere ever produced! Other mowers have come and gone here, but the sickle bar mower has a prominent, specialized place in our arsenal of grass-tamers. We use it to cut grass that is unable to be harvested along the very edges of our fields, to neaten up the road berms and ditch banks after haymaking and, more recently, to cut the high grass that grows along the shoreline of our lake. Without this mower, with its cantilevered cutter bar that juts out from the right side of the tractor (forcing one to always make clockwise revolutions), we would have to perform this exhausting task using a gas-powered Stihl string trimmer, or risk upsetting a valuable tractor into the lake! Art re-engineered the #1 using 2 nuts, 1 piece of custom-bent black iron pipe and an extension PTO bar, enabling the mower to snap onto the quick-hitch and run on the modern JD4720.....super slick!!

The business end of the JD4720
with the JD#1 mower...... on the move!

Innovation......The American Way!!

600' of ditch bank mowed along the main road
saves PennDot the trouble!
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Another year, another garden. Hope springs eternal and this year we've planted many veggies that we hope will all make it to the table! I'm sure I'm missing something here, but I believe we have planted Vidalia, white, yellow & red onions, red and white garlic, curly parsley, basil, dill, arugula, romaine, mesclun lettuce mix, spinach, a dozen plants of 4 types of disease-resistant tomatoes, red bell peppers, Ichiban and white eggplant, red beets, carrots, 8-Ball zucchini, yellow straight-neck squash, cucumbers, tomatillos, sweet potatoes, Russian blue, red and Yukon Gold potatoes. Yes, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but here are some photos of the early vegetable garden and also some spring flowers.

The early spring garden from the west side.

Tomato plants in wire cages, with potatoes behind them.

Garlics, with potatoes behind them.

Basil plants.

Chives among the Hostas.

Spring Daisies!

A lot of chirping going on in this Sparrow nest!

Clematis reaching up to the Sparrows.

Mo and Art heading down to the lake to trim the banks.

A&M Cook, Jolico Farm, Somerset PA
100% Solar Powered since 1978!!
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.....And finally, I could not publish this post without attempting to express my personal, gut-wrenching anguish and fist-clenching anger over the worst and most horrible environmental catastrophe to befall our country, and possibly the most widespread and worst toxic despoilment ever to occur upon our planet. Like everyone else, I feel utterly helpless in the face of this disaster. I pray a lot and watch the news for signs of hope that there will be a turning point, that the storm of oil gushing forth from the belly of Mother Earth will begin to slow. I Tweet about all the news, the good and the bad, trying to spread awareness of what man has wrought in his insatiable quest for OIL. It saddens me that most people who are not living in the reality of the holocaust occurring in and on the Gulf Coast, are going about their everyday lives with barely any notice taken or expressed of this tragedy that is affecting so many millions of creatures..... man among them.

I ask myself, how does one go about forgiving an accident, an incident, acts of omission or commission, a corporation, a drilling rig, a fire, a mechanical failure, a "situation"? Should I go through the same process of forgiveness as I would towards a living person? Who or what deserves a punch in the nose here? After weeks of listening to my higher self I come full circle and repeat the last step in the forgiveness recipe above:

There is so much emotion tied to this. We may feel that someTHING is UNforgivable.....and that is OK, too. That is our choice, and once again, if it is truly unforgivable we CAN accept it and move on. We must NOT let the negative hold onto us, but RELEASE it and MOVE forward into the POSITIVE power that is out there. Many things happen throughout our lives. Some are done accidentally and some on purpose, and those we will sort out and do what is needed in order to move forward. This is all part of loving ourselves enough to move forward and release the negative and receive the positive. Forgiveness of yourself and others is a cleansing of sorts, like detoxifying your soul. Again, love yourself enough to move forward. Forgiveness is not a weakness. It is one of the most courageous things a person can do for themselves....... Does this also go for oil companies? I hope so.

Family Garden ~ by Hank Hudepohl

Tell me again about your garden
Tell me how you planted, in the small
flat of mountain land, corn seed

and bean seed, how your finger poked the soil
then you dropped in three dark bean seeds
for every yellow seed of corn.

Trees and mountains collared your land,
but the fenced garden opened freely
to sun and warm summer rains.

Your potato rows bulged in July. You ached
from digging them up, your hands down in dirt,
the cool lump of a tuber, brown-spotted,

just recovered, a greeting, like shaking hands.
Baskets full of bumpy brown potatoes filled
your basement until fall, until you gave

away what you could, throwing out the rest.
You gave away honey from the white hive too,
that box of bees beside the garden,

honey stored in Mason jars, a clearest honey
nectar from lin tree blossoms and wild flowers.
The bright taste of honey on the tongue

spoke of the place, if a place can be known
by the activity of bees and a flavor in the mouth,
if a person can be known by small acts

such as these, such as the way you rocked
summer evenings from a chair on the porch
tending your inner garden, eyes closed.

"Family Garden" by Hank Hudepohl from The Journey of Hands. © Word Press, 2007. Reprinted with permission.

May Day........the 1st day of May

On this glorious, warm, breezy May Day, I offer for your reading pleasure the words of Garrison Keillor. I especially love the poem he chose for his post, "Blackbirds" by Julie Cadwallader Staub. I hope you read it with the feeling with which it was written. It struck a deep chord within me. Blackbirds

Earth Day 2010, Mending Fences, Muskrats, Dogs and Daffodils....

I remember very well the very first Earth Day in 1970. We attended the events held at Point State Park in downtown Pittsburgh on a beautiful, sunny Spring day. We were newly married just six months previously and we had not yet given serious thought to the "Back To The Land Movement" that was to be the impetus for the search for, and ultimate purchase, of our farm. All of that was still off in the future for us. But, in retrospect, those first Earth Day events held 40 years ago, were really the catalyst for the shape our lives would ultimately take. I like to think that many others' lives were changed by the new awareness of Earth and our environment that was birthed that year.

There was much clean-up to do this spring on the farm. One of the first big chores was to remove the 30-year-old post and rail fence that the heavy snows this winter had literally turned to toothpicks. Art asked me how badly I wanted him to repair that old stretch of fence that had no purpose other than aesthetics. I caved in and told him that we didn't need to continue to maintain things that had outlived their purpose just for the sake of rustic charm. So, with the welcome help of our brother Hank and our trusty Stihl chainsaw, we removed about 100 feet of fencing. We saved the salvageable posts and rails for 'parts' and cut the rest into firewood, and the job was completed in short order. We realize we are not getting younger so we now think in terms that human energy spent on maintaining everything could be conserved and expended on maintaining the more necessary things. It required a lot of mowing and trimming around those fence posts. After every hay crop was removed that lovely-looking fenceline required weed-whacking, a tiring, dirty, sneezy job. You know, I thought I would miss the view of that silvery-grey fence that for over 30 years marked the edge of the hayfield above our barn. But the eye gets used to what is in 'the now' and the brain forgets how things used to be.......and this is progress!

Our newest tractor, the John Deere 4720, is a 4-wheel drive workhorse that enables us to maintain our farm, which is really a mini-municipality! We have our own water system, sewage system and road system of paved, gravel and dirt roads that lead to all the fields on the property. All of the roads require regular maintenance as they are subject to washing from heavy rains and snow melt. They all have ditches for water runoff that regularly get clogged with leaves, sticks and gravel debris. Our 4720's high-lift bucket is put into service to keep the ditches clear, and we use the wide blade that fits on the rear of the tractor to taper and level the roadways before spreading fresh stone and gravel. We also use the tractor to pull a heavy water-filled roller that presses down the rock and gravel, compacting and hardening the roadbeds. We had a good many downed tree limbs to clean up this spring and the high lift was perfect for carrying the tree sections up to the woodshed, where we cut them up and stacked them to age the firewood, which we will later use to heat our home.

Another big job this spring, which seems to be ongoing at this point, is Art's war on the Muskrats that have invaded our lake. We hate to kill anything and only resort to trapping when nothing else works. Even so, trapping Muskrats is tricky and cruel. Muskrats ruin dams and destroy valuable water empoundments. Our newest plan for Muskrat control is to fill the holes they dig into the sides of our lakeshore with large stones. This is a huge undertaking, as the lake is 1/4 mile in diameter; over 1500 feet of shoreline! Every day we find new holes. We gather large rocks and dump them over the holes. The Muskrats then dig more holes in new places. We then gather more rocks and repeat the process. I anticipate that by summers' end, we will have hauled enough rock to completely cover the shoreline of the lake. Eventually I know that Arthur will win this war because he always accomplishes what he sets out to do, one way or another. He is a Taurus. He has that kind of patience.





So far we've planted Vidalia onion plants and 3 types of garlic. Soil testing revealed that our organic garden needed a 40 pound dose of bone meal to raise the phosphorous level this spring. It is a messy, dusty job to apply the bone meal to the soil using a very scientific method of application........broadcasting it by the handful and then rototilling it in with the help of the BSA 720, a workhorse of another color!


So, here at Jolico Farm, every day is Earth Day. That's what farmers do.....take care of the earth. Millions of Americans who didn’t know what “the environment” was in 1969 discovered in 1970 that they were environmentalists. Millions of people make choices about lifestyles, diet, housing, automobiles, and even the number of children they have because of thinking that began at an Earth Day program. The Earth Day philosophy must welcome those who are just beginning to recycle as well as those involved in the pursuit of ambitious environmental goals. I believe that it is up to every single human being living on Mother Earth to love her and tread softly upon her, keep her clean, and know that we each have an impact and we each leave a footprint. We can't all be involved in writing legislation involving the environment, but we can use our votes by electing officials who have a green conscience. When I see trash on the roadsides, illegal dumping, polluted streams, belching smokestacks, wastefulness, unnecessary packaging of products, people who don't recycle and reuse.....it makes me sad. I try every day to set an example for others, to spread the word, to educate, to spread enlightenment. Won't you help me? Together we could do so very much more.........Thanks!