Hello everyone, we hope your week is going well, and that you’ll be able to enjoy lots of Halloween and Trick-or-Treating activities this coming weekend. Come on down to Pathfinder Produce this week for the freshest fruits and veggies around, so that you can balance out the tempting treats from the spookiest night of the year. We’re open at the Village Commons this Thursday, from 1 to 5 p.m. You’re invited to place your order early using our online shopping service … just place and pay for your order online and arrange for pick-up late Thursday in either Edmeston or Morris. It’s easy and convenient!
As always, there’s a lot happening here at Pathfinder Village over the next few weeks. We’re looking forward to visits with volunteers from Hamilton College this weekend, as they help prepare a Haunted House in the Commons for our Community Trick-or-Treating event on Saturday (for children under 13 from Edmeston and Burlington, who must be accompanied by a parent/guardian). We’ll be sure to share pictures of the goings-on at our Facebook page.
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Each evening at Graceland, the migrating geese glide down to stay on our pond, a sure sign of winter’s approach. Other creatures are also getting ready for the cold … deer are constantly feeding to build up their fat reserves, their coats having gone from coppery-brown to dark grey. The mice and squirrels are scurrying too, making sure they have their stores ready for the long winter ahead.
We too have our seasonal routines … we finished our mowing for the year and put the lawn tractor into hibernation. The blower is out and serviced, waiting for the first big snow. The woodshed is filled and the outdoor woodpile is covered. The chimney has been cleaned with a wire brush (we have a neat pulley arrangement which speeds up the job), and our venerable cast iron stove now has a new baffle and door gaskets to burn more efficiently. The storm windows are installed making our homestead a little more-snug on these colder days.
Other chores are slated for next weekend, namely putting on snow tires and cleaning the dryer vent … a chore that is often overlooked but is effective in preventing house fires. While I’m doing that, I’ll check our carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms, to make sure that they’re working well too, as they’re our first line of defense against home disasters.
Though important, these measures are nothing compared to what I recall my grandparents telling me about when I was a kid visiting their “Happy Angus Farm” in the 1970s. By that time, they had retired from farming, but they would tell us about what life was like back in Depression and World War 2. They raised their own produce and livestock, and preserved everything -- canning was a huge part of the farmwife’s late summer. I know Grandma’s routines got easier when home freezers became common in the 1950s; they had a huge chest freezer in the “back kitchen,” an uninsulated part of the rambling post-and-beam farmhouse that served as a summer kitchen when my Great-Grandparents took in boarders.
(The boarders were escaping the oppressive New York City summer heat, so many farm families in Sullivan County took in guests during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as another form of income. Later, the area became known as the Borscht Belt and featured bungalow colonies and hotels, like Grossinger’s, the Concord, and the Nevele. Many of television’s early comedians, like Sid Caesar and George Burns, and later stars, like Billy Crystal and Andy Kaufman, performed many times before Catskill hotel audiences).
Of course, farmers were busy too during the last days of autumn, making sure the hayloft and feed bins were filled for overwintering livestock, bringing in the last of the root crops, selling crops to urban markets (and probably the government in WW2), and making sure their wood supply was sufficient for the winter. I think Grandpa’s life got easier when they switched from woodstoves to a central furnace in the basement. The advent of the tractor too simplified things, but I think something was lost when the draft horses were put out to pasture. (Apparently, there’s a new museum near where the family farm was that reflects the 1930s farming experience).
Anyhow, I digress with stories of the seasonal past. And I would add that that is a perfect autumn-into-winter activity, as humans are hardwired to spend cold evenings gathered around the fire, revisiting stories of days gone by.
Until next time, get cozy, eat and be well,
Lori
