http://www.tallcloverfarm.com Homeward bound on Puget Sound. Putting in a good day on Vashon Island time. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:31:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5684/free-sign-of-the-the-times http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5684/free-sign-of-the-the-times#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:01:35 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5684 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Fashioned from a paint sample drywall scrap, one of my best free signs was also one of my most quickly pinched. Vashon Islanders have many quirks. (Just ask someone from Seattle.) As a community of free spirits, our behavior and island traditions often beg for scrutiny from those unfamiliar with our island ways. Case in [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5684/free-sign-of-the-the-times/feed 6 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5644/winter-left-the-door-ajar http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5644/winter-left-the-door-ajar#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:05:19 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5644 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Mount Rainier as a sundial (from Maury Island) Winter Left the Door Ajar Winter left the door ajar, enough to steal a peek, Perhaps to silence my discord, to quell my harsh critique. For winter breezes often fool, impostors of seasons to come, Sky belies the biting cold, Trompe L’Oeil for a willing sun. Feathered [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5644/winter-left-the-door-ajar/feed 13 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5213/spreading-the-chestnut-love http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5213/spreading-the-chestnut-love#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:40:36 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5213 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Autumn’s bounty: a bowlful of chestnuts, a tabletop of squash I have a thing for chestnut trees; let me count the ways. I love the tasty nut and the porcupine casing that protects it. I love the tree’s reaching habit and stately form. I love the way the sawtooth leaves dry to the color of [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5213/spreading-the-chestnut-love/feed 17 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5583/snow-days-and-the-power-of-the-outage http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5583/snow-days-and-the-power-of-the-outage#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:21:49 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5583 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Every year I plan on being prepared for the torrent of Pacific winter storms that buffet coast, home and hearth with unapologetic bravado, but somehow between spring, summer, and autumn I fail to take action. Even this week when our local network anchors were practically convulsing over the opportunity to report on an approaching, and [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5583/snow-days-and-the-power-of-the-outage/feed 32 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5562/shaved-ice-boz-takes-a-bite-out-of-frosty http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5562/shaved-ice-boz-takes-a-bite-out-of-frosty#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:00:07 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5562 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Yesterday Vashon received a primer of snow, and my buddy Jon took advantage of its fine packing ability (and my inability to locate our fencing tools) to build an impromptu snowman. Boz busted through the dog door to inspect the trepasser. Let’s just say his reception was chilly. The forecast calls for more snow, serious [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5562/shaved-ice-boz-takes-a-bite-out-of-frosty/feed 17 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5541/saving-pumpkins-how-to-store-winter-squash http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5541/saving-pumpkins-how-to-store-winter-squash#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:20:59 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5541 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Here’s to a long (shelf) life Fresh food storage is a tricky business; what’s good for the potato and parsnip gets a pshaw from the pumpkin and pepper. And while I know better, for some odd reason (like expediency, or distraction by something shiny),  I stored some pumpkins last fall in my root cellar, a [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5541/saving-pumpkins-how-to-store-winter-squash/feed 9 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5526/beguiled-by-a-month-of-full-moons http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5526/beguiled-by-a-month-of-full-moons#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:39:59 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5526 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } My friend Karen calls January “an honest month.” I agree; it is what it is. Mornings are reluctant, evenings jump the gun. The trees put on no pretense of leaves, flowers or fruit, and the sea doesn’t play nice. But this January, I fear the month of Janus (god of the doorway) is up to [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5526/beguiled-by-a-month-of-full-moons/feed 15 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5506/the-snapshot-that-cost-me-my-lunch http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5506/the-snapshot-that-cost-me-my-lunch#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:56:07 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5506 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } I had to take a trip “off-island” for some special wire fencing that was nowhere to be found “on-island.” After adding a quart of oil to Old Grey, and rounding up the mutts, we headed to the ferry dock to embark on our retail adventure. An hour later, this friend of the slow lane and [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5506/the-snapshot-that-cost-me-my-lunch/feed 14 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5486/a-place-between-too-little-and-too-much http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5486/a-place-between-too-little-and-too-much#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:35:17 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5486 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Recently my friend Erik shared some Finnish wisdom: Onnelisuus on se paikka puuttuvaisuuden ja yltäkylläisyyden välillä. What’s that, your Finno-Ugric language skills aren’t what they used to be? Roughly translated, that amazing string of chewy consonants and voluptuous vowels states: Happiness is a place between too little and too much. What a beautiful thought. And even [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5486/a-place-between-too-little-and-too-much/feed 15 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5461/boz-and-the-bobblehead-bulldog http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5461/boz-and-the-bobblehead-bulldog#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:12:53 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5461 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Boz vs. the bobblehead: showdown at the Tall Clover corral Boz was a pretty good pooch this year. Sure there were some mishaps,  encounters with oriental rugs that needed shampooing anyway, coffee table climbing expeditions for unattended hors d’oeuvres, and foraging safaris to find fresh chew toys in the form of young corn stalks and [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5461/boz-and-the-bobblehead-bulldog/feed 12 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5439/jonny-awesome-and-his-truck-of-trees http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5439/jonny-awesome-and-his-truck-of-trees#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:38:12 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5439 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Jon can do anything, a pronouncement I believe wholeheartedly. During a recent house project requiring his help, Jon or Jonny Awesome as I liked to call him, became my home improvement superhero–able to add mixed fractions and board feet in a single bound, prizing perfection and a job well done above expediency and filling squares. [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5439/jonny-awesome-and-his-truck-of-trees/feed 17 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5409/shining-light-on-winters-darkest-day http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5409/shining-light-on-winters-darkest-day#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:45:26 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5409 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Winter Solstice: Let there be light. (Photo: Frank Charron) In the Pacific Northwest, light is a cherish commodity, a gift where gray skies are the norm and drizzle our daily condiment. When winter solstice nears, Island pagans everywhere light up knowing the next day will bring a few more minutes of the good stuff, the [...]

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