I started working on this post the end of December. It’s taken me 6 days to finally get it written, between coughing and not being able to sit editing photos very long. Each month had between 500 – 600 photos to select from. The first 8 months I did pretty well keeping the selected number down, but… so with no further ado, here’s Golden Oak farm in 2025.
We finally got plowable snow and it finally got cold enough at the end of the month to start feeding the birds. The cookstove hadn’t been done thoroughly in many years and took us a combined 20+ hours to do.
In February:
This month we got a second plowable snow; I bought a lot of books to read (mostly mysteries), and braced myself for the start of the season in March.
During March:
The old washer took a long time to finally be fixed and working properly.
And for the first time, I think, since building here in 1983, I was out cleaning out flower beds from March 11 – 16th. I also got the attic inventoried. We finally managed to get the peach trees sprayed before it was too late, plus we got pruning done on the fruit trees.
In April:
April brought another snowstorm on the 12th, the birdfeeders came down, the garden shed was cleaned out, and we got started in the Big garden planting.
May is the most beautiful time on the farm.
May brought a lot of rain, lawn mowing started, and the tractor seized up and was sent out for repair in Connecticut.
June was when things got really busy.
June was more rain, sometimes huge amounts in a day. Even with that I got the 2 vegetable gardens finished planted. And enough of the New Herb garden was done so the fairy could go outside.
The end of June both myself and my helper friend developed plantar fasciitis and he was no longer able to work outside or stand for very long inside. This put a lot more on me outside. Tom started doing the foliar feeding and that made a huge difference in the gardens!
July was a washout as I spent 3 weeks dealing with sciatica.
But I managed to get things done before and after during the month. I hated seeing all the cleaned out gardens go to weeds though.
The broccoli headed out just as the sciatica started, and I lost most of it, unable to process it.
In August, when it got so hot:
There started to be things to harvest, and I was tackling the weeds as I could.
Even with the netting on the fruit trees, something got in and ate most of the peaches.
In September, it was all about food preservation and getting things weeded.
The trip to the Fair would have been my husband and I’s 51st anniversary. I went with my oldest and youngest brothers. Two things I was glad of: the masonry heater shed was full, and I finished weeding the New Herb garden.
October brought fall cleanup and lots of food preservation:
My contractor started the front porch repair in hopes of finishing it before it got too cold.
In November I put the Christmas tree up really early because my #1 intern wanted to be involved with it, but she was heading south until after Thanksgiving and I didn’t want to wait that long.
Tom started work on the bird houses. He got 2 up for the bluebirds.
They installed the new inverter on November 21, but it had been down since June. I had no credit to get me through the winter, so I have to pay electric bills, again.
I was so glad to be able to finish cleaning out and mulching the Big garden!
My general helper was in town when we were doing the Christmas tree and she did all the bubble lights and garlands.
And finally I reached December…
I hadn’t made a wreath for Old Deerfield Village since before the pandemic. It was nice to start back doing that.
I could sit back and enjoy the Christmas season.
The snow came a couple days before Christmas, but mostly melted by the day. Then 2 days later we got a good snowfall. Almost a white Christmas but not quite…
I managed to get 2 sessions of chicken bone stock made, even with a roaster dying in the middle.
Tom and family came for Christmas, so it was the first one where I wasn’t alone since my husband died. They’d tried to do it before but someone always had covid. As it was, I had a cold but still enjoyed it.
And so the year closed out, not a bad year all told, for me and the farm.
Here’s hoping 2026 is as good and things go well, “if the creek don’t rise” and life goes on…
Happy New Year to all of you!