The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/category/farmingnature/page/23/)
What a fabulous year this has been for Suffield farmers. The weather was about as perfect as it gets, except for the soggy spring. We got plenty of warm sunny days, and rain came when it was needed. Irrigation of crops was very limited all summer. The weather has continued to cooperate this fall with warm dry days that make for good tobacco curing in the sheds.
Autumn leaves fall along the road to the river at Hilltop Farm
Kathy Dunai, center, chats with Carol Martin, far right, after making a sale, while Nancy Viggiano stows her purchases in her bag.
One November night in an attempt to get away from my roommate’s clutches, I toddled down to the triple on the other side of the dorm where my friend lived. There, as the skies were darkening, my friend told me about the night she lost her dad. He had been ill, but the story was still heart-wrenching and almost beyond belief, as I had led a sheltered existence, thankfully, in that department. I must say she was a good story teller, eyes bugging out, pregnant pauses, hands gesticulating as she filled in the details of that awful night. One of those details, which has stayed with me for all these years, is the part when a crow flew into the window and became trapped in their house on the dad’s final night.
Birds are “on the fence” deciding when to eat from the feeder nearby.
The bright color of these gorgeous maples along Sheldon Street by the high school was nicley captured by the photographer three years ago. No matter what year, it gets us in the autumn mood.
Recently, I had a chance encounter with a wildlife biologist in the woods. It was on par with meeting a rock star, and I briefly lost my ability to speak, which is something my family has been wishing for. I hung on her every word as she talked about migratory birds and habitat until eventually her narrative turned towards rabbits. Most of the rabbits we see in these parts are eastern cotton tailed rabbits. They were introduced in the 1800s and have multiplied as rabbits are known to do. They have done so at the expense of the native New England cottontail.
Looking south down the Connecticut River from the Windsor Locks Canal Bike Trail, a beautiful spot to walk, bike, bird-watch or sit on one of the many benches and enjoy the view.
Members of the Hastings family went down to Hamden on August 7 to attend Plant Science Day at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station’s Lockwood Farm, near Sleeping Giant State Park. This is a big, yearly event, with lectures and demonstrations and meetings with experts, but this year’s highlight was when the family’s well-known Suffield farm on Hill Street was presented with the 2019 Connecticut Century Farm Award. This is a significant award, given each year to “a farm that has been in family operation for more than 100 years and has great potential to be successful for at least another 100 years.” The recipient is selected by the Connecticut Agricultural Council. This is the second time that the 70-year-old award has been given to a Suffield farm – the Coulter Farm earned it in 1998. Only one other Connecticut town has had two winners; that was Wethersfield.
Ted Drewnowski hands a customer the change from his payment at the July 27 Farmers Market, as another customer makes her selections.