Update

We have planted all of the perennials and a majority of the annuals. Yam slips should be arriving in the next day or two, those will be planted in the big greenhouse.

Phillip and I are working hard at weeding and mulching the whole orchard. We want it to look top notch when you come to forage in a couple weeks.

The strawberry plants are producing A LOT of flowers! I hope you are ready to forage for so many pounds. Pease spread the word! We will continue to update when the orchard is open.

I’ve made some changes to the calendar. I have chosen to eliminate the Community Farm concept and changed it out for simple volunteer time. There will still be some activities for kids and refreshments. Discount on produce if available.

Volunteer hours are Sunday and Thursday afternoon, 3:00-5:00 pm and Tuesday morning 8:00am-10:00am. RSVP if coming.

I’m also starting sunrise Yoga on Sunday mornings. It’s not a class per se, just a gathering. We’ll try to start by 6:00am, free to come earlier to get the full sunrise experience. I’ll have an audio recording from my yoga app, unless someone feels drawn to guide us.

All of this can be found on the calendar!

Weekly Update

Spent the first half of the week moving mulch into the orchard pathways. Sowed a lot of seeds.  Phillip picked up our order of 15,000 strawberry crowns from Nourse Farm; Darselect, Sparkle, and Sunset varieties. We had some temperatures in the mid 20’s, so waited for it to warm up a little before planting the babies. So far we’ve planted roughly 6,000ish. The goal is at least 1,000 a day to finish.  

Come to the farm this week and help if you like. Or just hang out. 

Tuesday/ Thursday/Sunday- 10:00am-12:00am and 2:00pm-4:00pm 

I’ll have some short kids activities for Community Farm on Thursday and Sunday. 

Next week my attempt at hosting an Astronomy Club begins. We will be gathering at the Waterboro Public Library on May, 6, 2024 at 4:00pm. Check out the Calendar for more dates and locations.  

Sunday is Cinco De Mayo. Considering a Mexican inspired potluck? 

 

Solar Eclipse and other future events

Head on over to our calendar page to see what events we have coming up!

Starting next month I am hosting Community Farm Time every Thursday and Sunday afternoon.

We will start with tea, a snack, and a small lesson geared towards elementary age children, though all are welcome. Thursday’s lesson will be focused on science and conservation. We will read a little and do a STEAM based activity. Sunday’s lesson will be focused on math in art. We may look at an artist’s work and find an aspect of math in it. Followed by a simple art project.

After the lesson we will work together on a small chore; weeding, harvesting, planting, and so on. Feel free to just hang out if you don’t want to do the chore. It’s just nice to get the community together!

Looking forward to growing with you!

-Gwendolyn

Hello,

It's been a challenging week for Maine. We chose this state because it IS the safest place in our country. Our communities saftey was disrupted by the growing mental health crisis and the ease of obtaining assult style weapons. We've been close to mass shootings living in Florida and Texas. This madness making its way to the peaceful state of Maine has pushed Phillip and I to try and take a bigger stand to bringing resolution to these issues.

On a lighter note, we had an awesome time watching the moon rise and eating pizza with friends new and old this last Friday. We are learning how to host events and hope to get better each time. I"ve got a lot brewing in my mind about the future.

One very special event is the upcoming Solar eclipse! Mark your calendar on April 8th, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. for a viewing party here at the farm. Working on some projects to do to learn about eclipses and how to view them safely. I'm partnering with the Parsons Memorial Library to host these educational opportunities. We may be doing those gatherings at the library leading up to the Eclipse, weather is very tricky in March. Big goals of having an event tent up by April to expand our potential.

We were able to get the trellis's up for our Everest grapes, there are a thousandish of them. The grape vines really vegetated this year and need some taming. Our goal is to have every vine strung up by the end of next week. If you'd like to help in that adventure, lemme know.

There may be a carrot harvest soon, thinking next week. If they look promising, I'll have them posted for sale.

The farm is awake for just a few more weeks. The last 10 hour day is next Tuesday! I'm ready for the reset.

Events:

Experimenting with more days and topics! Introducing Art on Sunday afternoons. Goals of getting a space exploration one on Tuesdays.

Friday, 2:00 pm- Nature science Tea Time, Leaves and Needles. Bring Paper or nature journal.

Sunday, 2:00 pm- Art Tea Time, The movement of diagonal and zigzag lines. Looking at;

Thomas Hart Benton Country Dance 1929,

José Cúneo Perinetti Ranchos Orilleros 1932,

Jacob Lawrence Children at Play 1947.

Bring paint, brushes, paper, glue, and scissors.

Astronomy:

Simplifying this section as I figure out how to learn about astronomy myself. Narrowing down what to focus on.

Star- Eltanin can be this weeks focus. Find it by locating Vega first, high in the west after sunset, the star shining brighter than all. Vega is about a fist and a half above Eltanin. This star is considered the nose or an eye of the constelation Draco.

Nebula- On Halloween an hour after sunset look to the Northern sky above the little dipper to find the constelation Cygnus. Find the constelations brightest star, Deneb. After finding the alpha star, take your gaze to the east-northeast. Here you can find The Cocoon Nebula. It is an emision/reflection nebula, it is reflecting light from other stars and emiting light from its ionized gases. Directly to the west is a Dark Nebula (blocks light) called Bernard 168. It is also called The Dark Cigar due to its shape. The two nebulas apear to be like a comet with a dark trail.

Planet- Jupiter will be at Opposition (directly opposite of the sun) on November 3rd. Best viewing this evening because of its brightness. It rises in the East after sunset moving southeast and then setting in the west as the sun rises. The constalations that surround it are; Aries above, Cetus to the lower right, and Taurus to the lower left.

Constlstion- Taurus will be the focus. Look to the East-Northeast in the evening. In this group find the star cluster Pleiades in the upper right. This cluster of seven stars was used by several ancient civilizations to help with telling what time of year it is. Seeing this cluster at different points alloud them to know when to plant, sail, and celebrate. Taurus's brightest star is Aldebaran. It has a hugh of red and represents the eye of the bull.

Moon- Waning Gibbous. First quarter November 5th.

Astroid- Midnight on Wednesday search for Astroid Vesta 4 towards the feet of Gemini and just south-southeast of the waning gibbous moon.

Space Flight News:

Spacex aims to launch Starlink sats on a Falcon 9 rocket on 10/30

Intuitive Machines announced they are aiming to start lunar missions in January,

10/15

Dear Reader,

Your support has a lot of meaning to us. It keeps us looking towards the goal. Building something from scratch with little previous knowledge or experience is daunting. It’s had a lot of discouraging moments in its infancy. We want a lot of big things that will take time and trials to achieve.

The last weeks have honestly been difficult for me. I had high hopes for abundant harvests of sunflowers and yams. The deer had the abundant harvest instead. My feelings are mixed on the matter. I’m disappointed that all my hard work seems lost. Yet, understanding of the deer and their needs. This area was theirs just a year ago. Finding balance with the wildlife is going to take time and a lot of energy. We worked hard to get the electric fence in better shape. Glad to say, we haven’t seen them this week.

Another bummer is the loss of our honey bees. All 4 boxes are now vacant. We see honey bees flying around, just not sure where they have made a new home. It’s something we half figured would happen. Hope they have a nice life somewhere else.

I’m fighting these feelings of being bummed and trying to focus on all our abundance this year. I remain positive towards our future in growing food. I also greatly recognize that I need help. We want to hire someone part time and will continue to offer volunteer for food times. If this interests you or if you know someone wanting seasonal work, please reach out.

We’ve connected with some really great people we can’t wait to collaborate with on creating events. My goal is to have a rough calendar planed by mid winter. If there is something you’d like to offer don’t hesitate to ask; such as movement classes like yoga, teach a skill set, host a party, and so on.

EVENTS

Tea Time- Tuesday and Friday at 10:30.

Adding Tuesday this week for Garlic planting. Come help me plant garlic through out the whole orchard. Will provide refreshments

Friday- discussing Roots and Stems

Working on lesson plans to start space themed Tea times on top of our nature themed one. Possibly adding a cooking class eventually too!

ASTRONOMY

Earlier in the week look to the Southeast an hour or so after sunset. There will be a carbon star called 19 Psc. It is the color red because blue light is scattered away by its atmosphere. Here is more in depth info on Carbon stars.

https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~pberlind/atlas/htmls/cstars.html

To locate the red star find Pegasus, it’s higher in the southeast. The stars form a large square on the lower left side. Take your gaze to the lower right of the constellation to see seven stars forming a circle. This is the Circlet of Pices the Fish. The southeastern most star is called Lambda. 19 Psc, the carbon star, can be located just north-northeast of Lambda. Below Pices is the planet Neptune. It has a blue hue and appears flat.

In the Eastern sky a couple hours after sunset locate Jupiter in the Aries constellation, it’s the brightest object. East-Northeast of the planet is the star cluster Pleiades in Taurus. Between these two celestial bodies is a faint glow, that is Uranus.

Venus can be seen in the East near the back paw of Leo in the predawn hour, one of the brightest objects. Observe with a scope over the next week and see as it becomes more illuminated. It’s coming to what is called dichotomy, half lit. Observe through twilight.

This is a good week to see what is called gegenschein, meaning "counter shine" in German. This is the glow of the sunlight bouncing off the dust located in the second Lagrange point. This happens to be the location of the James Webb Telescope. This light is best seen at midnight in Spring and Autumn and in a low light pollution area.

Monday, observe Jupiters moons Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto transit over the Gas giant starting after 10:50 pm.

Tuesday, check out the moons of Saturn. Turn your scope to the south around 10:00 pm. It’s the brightest object in this region of the sky. Tethys, Dione, Rhea, and Titan can be observed through out the night.

Wednesday, view the waxing crescent moon in the southwest sky after sunset. South of the moon is Antares, a brighter reddish light. To the east is Sagittarius’ Teapot. Above that is Aquila, which houses the bright star Altair. This bright star forms a triangle with the stars Vega and Deneb which are higher than Altair.


SPACE FLIGHT

Not much going on this week.

10/09

Greetings!



If you have ever tried to garden, you know that one of the greatest struggles can be weeds. We’ve known ways to mitigate the weeds; such as mulch and plastic walk way covers. In order to cover the space of the food forest it was a huge expense to purchase these materials. We’ve called around to local wood cutters and mills. Signed up for chip drop about 50 times. We received a couple yard through those means. Just a mere fraction of what we need.

We started to lean towards purchasing plastic for the walk ways. I just hated this idea, yet know its an effective weed blocking method. I decided to make a wood chips wanted sign as one last try at getting free/cheap mulch. Within a week trucks full of wood chips began to arrive! We now have hundreds of yards! Plans of mulching volunteer parties during the first part of November.

Feel free to stop by and enjoy the changing of the leaves. I’ve added a sign by the road to welcome you in!

EVENTS THIS WEEK

-Tea Time Friday at 10:30. Subject: Spores

-Harvesting the yams on Saturday, the 14th in the afternoon. The Annular Solar Eclipse starts after 12:00. If skies are clear, we can do some star gazing and pot luck dinner after. Let me know if this interests you.

ASTRONOMY

Monday- The moon is going to be farthest from the Earth, 251,900 miles away. This is called apogee, it happens at 11:42 pm. After 8:00 pm, Jupiter rises and will be bright and visible all night. It is coming close to opposition. This makes it ideal to view its moons through a telescope. On the west side of the planet sits IO. To the East is Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto will be significantly far east. Watch the moons move in their orbits through the night. See the great red spot, most visible after midnight.

Tuesday- Rise early, an hour or two before sunrise. Venus, the waning crescent moon, and the bright star Rugulus will be present high in the East.  In the evening, Pluto is with the stars of Sagittarius.

Wednesday- In the pre dawn hours Comet Hartley 2 can be seen with a telescope passing through Gemini by the Lion Nebula. The constellation begins to rise after Midnight. It is coming to its closest point to the sun, this is called perihelion. This closeness will make the comet slightly more illuminated each night.

Thursday- Twoish hours before the sun rises, the crescent moon can be seen in the Eastern sky. It may look brighter, as the suns light is bouncing off Earth and shining on the moon. There is an opportunity to see the zodiacal light this morning. This glow will exist along the Eastern horizon. This occurs when small particles in the inner solar system are illuminated by the sun. Particles come from comets and dust storms from other planets, like Mars.

Friday- A couple hours after sunset, take your focus to the Southern sky. Saturn is there with its moon Titan visible through a scope. In the southwest part of Aquarius, there is what’s called the Ghost of Saturn, Saturn Nebula, or NGC 7009. It’s called a ghost because it looks very similar to a hazy Saturn. The nebula has an elongated shape making it look like rings.

Saturday- New Moon, making it a great night for a very dark sky. There is a an annular Solar Eclipse. The moon so far away that it’s unable to completely block out the sun. We can see a partial eclipse begin to occur around 12:15 and peak around 1:20.


SPACE FLIGHT NEWS

-A Russian laboratory module on the International space station has sprung a leak. Not a lot of info has been shared on this subject.

-SpaceX plans to launch several rockets this week. A Falcon 9 launch will cary a batch of Starlink sats from Cape Canaveral pad 40. A Falcon Heavy is planned to launch on October 12 carrying a NASA space craft to the metallic Psyche Astroid. The spacecraft will reach it’s orbit in 2029. Learn more about this mission here.


https://science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche/

10/01

Hello!

This week was pretty uneventful at the farm. Not much to update on. I am working on creating a survey to present to you. Starting to brain storm about how to make the most of this coming year. We would love all the input and ideas we can get! Keep an eye out for that.

Tea Time will be this Friday at 10:30. We will be learning about the first types of plants. All are welcome.

Astronomy



A new term has been coined called "Noctalgia" which mean sky grief. This word refers to the loss of dark skies with the increase of light pollution. If we continue to pollute the air and shine our lights so brightly, our access to Astronomical observations become very limited. I encourage you to read this short letter about the subject. Also check out DarkSky Maine to learn more about what you can do.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2308.14685.pdf

https://darkskymaine.com/#:~:text=Dark%20Sky%20Maine%2C%20a%20501c3,while%20maintaining%20dark%20skies%20overhead.



-Monday, the 2nd view Astroid 29 Amphitrite in the Pices Constellation with a scope or binoculars around 3:00 am. The Pleiades cluster will be just north of the waxing gibbous moon when it rises late in the evening in the constellation Taurus.

-Tuesday, the 3rd Look above the moon after it rises around 10:00pm. There you will see the star Algol, the Demon star. This star changes brightness due what’s called Eclipsing Binary System. This is where stars are close to each other and block the light when moving in front of the other. Over the span of 3 nights compare it with surrounding stars Gamma Andromedae (similar shine to Algol) and Epsilon Persei (shine of Algol when eclipsed).

-Venus can be seen an hour before sunrise just above the horizon. Mercury can also be see briefly before being shined out by the sun. View through a telescope to compare their illumination.

-Thursday, the 5th set your telescope on Jupiter as soon as it rises, 8:30/9:00 pm. Witness the moons Ganymede and Io pass over the planet. This will happen through 11:00ish pm.

-Friday, the 6th is Last Quarter Moon. Great time for deep sky observing. On clear crisp nights look to the Northern sky to find the Andromeda galaxy. The Andromeda constellation can be found  northwest of Taurus and the Pleiades and northeast of Pegasus.   

-Saturday, the 7th will be the peak viewing night for the Draconids Meteor Shower. After the sun set will be the best time to see a meteor. They can be seen all over the sky. The constellation Draco (The dragon) is the meteor showers radiant point. The stars Eltanin and Rastaban can be found in the head of the Dragon, the best point of the constellation to focus on. They sit high in the sky making it easier to view the shower in the evening rather than in the pre dawn hours. The meteors are a product of the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The comet was first observed in France at the Nice Observatory by Michel Giacobini in 1900. Discovered again  in 1913 by Ernest Zinner in Germany.








Space Flight News

-October 4/5 Arianespace scheduled to launch their Vega rocket out of French Guiana with 12 satellites aboard, most for various Asian countries for Earth Observations to help with forecasting. SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket out of Case Canveral carrying a batch of Starlink sats.

-October 6 Atlas 5 Rocket to launch demonstrations for Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband constellation.






www.seasky.org

www.earthsky.org

www.astronomy.com

spaceflightnow.com

9/24

Welcome to the weekly update!

I’m a little busy/tired today so keeping it brief.

This last week in the garden I took out all the tomato  and melon plants. Replaced them with brassica seedlings. Hopefully the harvested tomatoes turn red eventually. The peas and oats that were sown in the spiral garden next to the house have sprouted, thankfully not too many turkeys got to the seeds. Hopefully the don’t go for the tasty sprouts.

Fighting the deer, they have been winning. I started to rearrange the electric fence today to try and prevent them a little more. We’ve just been too busy to fix it. Our yam plants are being munched on quite a lot. I don’t think they could handle much more pressure. Planning to sow spinach, cilantro, arugula, lettuce, and radishes in the green house this week.

Phillip and a neighbour were able to get the the accessible parking spot and ramp done.

We aren’t in need of volunteers this week. However, it is a full moon week and would love to have people over for watching the moon  rise.

Come on over Wednesday-Friday. Moon visible around 6:30 on Wednesday, 30 minutes later the following days. Pizza and face paint Friday evening. If you’d like to join, let me know! I’ll have crusts and simple toppings.

TEA TIME Friday at 10:30. Come have a snack, tea, and discuss plant anatomy and care. Curriculum geared more towards 2nd grade, ALL are welcome though! Feel free to bring anything to share but not needed if you don’t want to.

Unfortunately that’s all I have time for today. I encourage you to visit Astronomy.com to learn about what you can view this week and spaceflightnow.com to learn about what happening in space travel.

Have a wonderful Full moon! Again, feel free to come over for a visit one evening this week. Just give me a heads up.

Thanks,

Gwendolyn

9/17

Hello!

This week we spent time weeding and feeding the high bush blueberries. Harvested the sunflowers, the handful the deer didn’t eat. Chose to harvest the cannabis plants out of the greenhouse. I was unsure of what the hurricane winds would be like and didn’t want to risk possible loss. The storm thankfully ended up being just another day with small gusts of wind. I sprinkled spinach seeds in the greenhouse with hopes of it growing and being harvested through the winter.

  This Tuesday I plan to sow more spinach, kale, cilantro, lettuce, and radishes in the green house. The seedlings of kale, cabbage, and broccoli will go in the ground replacing what was harvested out of the greenhouse. Planning to thin the carrots and weed and feed the raspberry patch. Sowed a cover crop of peas and oats in the garden next to the house. I’ll likely be chasing the turkeys out of there all week.

The freeze dry machines has gotten a lot of action this week too. Experimented with tomatoes. They did well! I haven’t tried to eat them or cook with them. I was very lucky to receive two 5 gallon buckets over flowing with Granny Smith apples from a local land owner. I sliced them up, soaked them in a brine of honey and salt for 24 hours, froze them, and then ran them through the freeze dry machine. They are soooo good!! Sometime in October I want to have a freeze dry sample party. Keep on the look out for that date!

Volunteer hours are different this week due to the Common ground fair and other camping adventures. Please let me know if we should expect you. No Friday Tea Time.

Wednesday 4:00-sunset

Thursday 9:00 am-11:00 am, 4:00 pm-Sunset

Sunday 9:00 am-11:00 am, 4:00 pm-Sunset



Astronomy

-Neptune can be seen a couple hours after sunset. Look slightly above the southeast horizon towards the constellation Pices.

-Venus is visible a few hours before sunrise. Look at the constellation Cancer in the southeast sky. Mercury will also be visible in the East. It can be found in the constellation Leo. Between these two one can find Regulus, Leo’s brightest star.

-Early September 18th, at about 12:30am, fix your telescope on Jupiter. You can find it in the Southeastern part of the constellation Aries. Look to the East, high in the sky. Ganymede, the largest moon in our Solar system, can be seen playing peekaboo behind Jupiter’s rings. The moon will be moving from the west to the northern part of the planet than to the East. As the predawn hours approach, the moon Io’s (contains the most volcanos in our solar system), shadow will appear in the East and pass over Ganymede. May or may not be visible due to the Sunrise.

-From midnight to predawn you can view the comet Hartley 2 high in the Northeast sky with a telescope. This area of the sky houses the constellation Auriga. The brightest stars to identify with the naked eye in this constellation are Eta Aurigae and Capella. Hartley 2 can be found just south of these bright stars. The comet will become brighter through this month.

-The Dumbbell Nebula (an old star dispersing  and lighting up its gas) is visible in the southern sky late into the evening. Search for the constellation Vulpecula the Fox. The bright star you should search for is 13 Vulpeculae. Look just little to the southeast and you can find the nebula with a scope or binoculars.

-Friday afternoon the moon will be First Quarter. The night before it can be seen an hour after sunset in the South. Scan the sky westward and there is the constellation Scorpius. The focal star of the scorpion is Antares. This star is classified as a red giant. It is so massive that it burns through all its hydrogen and turns to its oxygen, helium, and carbon for fuel.


Space Flight News

-The Russian Soyuz capsule carrying 3 astronauts made it safely to the International Space Station.

-The company Rocket Lab in New Zealand scheduled to launch 4  Earth-Imaging satellites on an Electron rocket.

-SpaceX Falcon 9 plans to deploy 2 batches or Starlink sats.

Weekly Update 9/11

Greetings!

We took a much needed trip this last week driving around Arizona and New Mexico. The kids deserved an adventure. We wanted them to have an immersive opportunity to learn about geology and culture of the south west. Saw so many beautiful sites. Met interesting people. Visited a few friends scattered around the desert.

On our trip to Arizona, Phillip signed up for an astrophotography class at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. The subject of the class was photographing the Helix Nebula with a 17" Telescope & monochrome camera that has three filters attached to it: Hydrogen Alpha, Oxygen-3 and Sulphur-2. In our eyes, naturally we perceive that sulfur-2 gas glows dark red, while hydrogen alpha shows up as deep red and oxygen-3 as blue & green.

After capturing multiple long exposure images with each filter, the photographer then stacks all of the images in a software known as Pixinsight to produce one high quality image and assigns colors and intensities to each element (red/green/blue) to produce a final product.
We are in the process of upgrading our 12" telescope to be able to re-create this exact process so we can explore the entire universe with you this fall.

Hydrogen Alpha.

oxygen

Sulfur

Layered photo


Ready to get back to the farm work. Looks like a lot of weeding ahead. The carrots need to be thinned, The tomatoes are finally producing, ready to be picked and processed. Sowing spinach and cilantro on Tuesday.

Volunteer Hours this week:

Tuesday, Friday, Sunday

4:00pm-Sunset

I’d love to serve you dinner if you want to help.

Tuesdays-Bean tacos, Friday-Pizza, Sunday-bread and soup. If there is bad weather we will cancel. Reach out if you plan to come so I can be prepared.


Astronomy this Week

-Comet Nishimura Can be visible during Dawn just above the Horizon in the north east sky through September 11th. Then see it in the West-Northwest horizon in the evening the following days.

  • The season shift means we will start seeing Cassiopeia high in the North East sky in the evening.

  • Just as the night gets dark, look West. There you will see Arcturus, the fourth brightest star, reaching 36.7 light-years from Earth. It will go lower as days pass. To the North West, just right of Arcturus, you can see the Big Dipper. Arcturus belongs to the constellation Boötes. It forms a kite shape above the star. Hold your arm out toward the bright star and make a fist. The constellation reaches roughly two fists up to the right.

  • Vega, slightly dimmer than Arcturus, can be found in the East. Will be rising higher over head through Fall. Visible in the North West sky by winter evenings. It belongs to the Constellation Lyre.             

  • Our Sun is 50 times less bright than Vega. We can’t quite experience its largeness because it is 25 light years away. It has a bluer hue because it is closer and very hot, much hotter than our sun. This extremeness will cause the star to die quicker.

  • In the Southern sky you can see Altair, the brightest star. Look to the left and you can see Delphinus.

  • Thursday, 9/14 at 9:40pm is the New Moon. The constellations Sagittarius and capricornus will be high in the sky with the Meridian (The imaginary line running from north to south) running between them. There you can see a small constellation called Herman’s Cross. It is a set of four stars forming a cross. Also called The Dog’s, derived from Chinese stories.

  • The crescent moon can be seen Sunday at twilight in the southwest sky above the horizon. Spica, Virgo’s brightest star, can be seen with binoculars just below and to the right. Keep moving your scope to the right a little and you can spot Comet Nishimura.


Space Flights News

9/11-15 SpaceX plans to have 2 launches of Starlink sats from Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral.

9/15 Russia’s launching 3 Astronauts, Russian commander Oleg Kononenko, Russian flight engineer Nikolai Chub, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara to the International Space Station.


SpaceX has made steps to being closer to launching their Starship. The FAA closed their investigation of the 4/20/22 failure. With a few alterations and improvements Starship will be launching from Starbase in Boca Chica TX soon!

Exciting News!! We got Bigger!

Greetings!

*Edit Phillip and his Robot also wrote an announcement.

“We are thrilled to announce the successful acquisition of an additional 32 acres for our flourishing farm. This significant expansion marks the inception of an enthralling new venture: Celestial Grove. Within the enchanting realm of Celestial Grove, we will weave together the enigmatic wonders of space with the beauty of nature, culminating in an alien-themed botanical garden. This visionary project will not only captivate visitors but also serve as a haven for vital pollinators, harmoniously blending the cosmic and the organic.”

It has been an eventful week. I wasn’t able to get my weekly update out on Sunday, decided to wait until I had some exciting news to share.



As you know, Phillip and I chose to purchase 20ish acres of raw land March 2020. At the same time our land was for sale, there was a 40 acre lot neighbouring us that was also for sale. We fantasized having that acreage as ours, recognizing the possibilities of what we could do. I genuinely felt that we were meant to have it. Yet, it was no longer for sale and it didn’t make sense financially to buy it.



About a month ago, the man who owns that 40 acres showed up randomly at the farm. He offered to sell us the back 30 acres of the lot, all of which abuts our land. His price was beyond what we could afford. Phillip and I agreed on what we would be willing, which was over half of his asking price. We decided if it was meant to be it would happen.

A few week went by. Then, we got a call from the owner. He was willing to sell at our price! Today we signed a few papers, wrote the check, and now have a 52 acre farm!!

There are several plans we have for the land. Last week Tucker from Longship Construction began carving out a road going down in order to gain access. It is our hope to become a certified botanical garden, a 15 year goal. Check out our Celestial Grove section on the website to learn what the theme of the garden will be. Phillip is desiring to raise Elk for meat production. Looking forward to hearing their bugle through the valley.

I wholeheartedly believe in manifestation, following desire and believing what you want to come into existence. In 2008 I went on a backpacking trip, we hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail in Kentucky. It was the first time I was introduced to the concept of manifestation. Before setting out, our guide began telling us about the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. (Honestly, I’ve never read it) He went into the gist, if you think it to be true it will happen. To test the ideology, he told us he was going to find a deer antler while on our trip. Low and behold, the man found a deer antler!! That simple thing stuck with me and led me to begin practicing manifestation. I hiked around our new land this last week. Guess what I found, a deer antler! It was confirmation that this was the right choice.

Our desires exist within us for a reason. They may be simple. They may be complex. They may sound crazy. Embrace them and believe those dreams will come to fruition.

Thanks for reading my story. I’m so excited to share this space with you! It’s magical.

Love, Gwendolyn

PS- No volunteer hours this next week. Picking back up September 12th.







Newsletter 8/21

Volunteer Party!

Sunday, Tuesday, Friday

8:00am-10:00am

5:00pm-Sunset

Friday Morning chores followed by a Tea Time and Read Aloud for Kids. RSVP by sending us a message

It was another rainy one, work was slowed yet again. The Observatory deck will continue this week. Hopefully done by  Thursday!

Tucker from Longship Construction started on his projects Friday. He is clearing a space for an accessible parking lot and path. Then applying stone dust to level things out. After that is done, he will make his way down through the woods to shape up an access road.

We are in the process of some exciting news. Once its all finalized the announcement will go out! Hint in the picture at the top. Tucker forming the road down is a part of a big dream that is all coming in to reality!

In the Garden

The greenhouse is spitting out some cucumbers and tomatoes. Finally got our first red tomato!! The Mellon vines are experiencing a lot of insect pressure, not sure if they will make it long enough to harvest fruit. Fingers crossed! The cannabis is beginning to flower. One plant is roughly 8 foot tall!

It looks like we have gotten decent germination on the many carrot seeds sown over the last few weeks. The sunflowers are taking over the back cherry orchard. Look out for you harvest sunflowers, yams, and carrots in the next month or two.

Space Exploration News

-SpaceX launching Starlink satellites August 21/22 from Vandenberg Air  Force base.

-Russia preforming a resupply mission to the International Space Station August 23

-Rocket Lab electron Rocket out of New Zealand planning to launch a Earth Imaging satellite August 23/24

-August 25 SpaceX Falcon 9 launching Crew Dragon spacecraft, sending NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Florida

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Astronomy this Week

-August 20, Look to the east a couple hours after Sunset to view The globular cluster M15.

-August 21, Venus is visible in the east prior to the Sunrise.

-August 22, The cluster Coathanger in Vulpecula the Fox will be visible in the North east.

-August 23, Mars will be visible briefly in the eastern skyline just after sunset.

-August 24, 1st quarter moon.

-August 25, View Saturn late in the night into pre dawn hours. The rings will be growing brighter over the following week.

Newsletter

Ossipee Hill Farm and Observatory Newsletter

8/13/2023



Hello! Thank you for reading our second newsletter! The Observatory deck should be done soon! The Apex Woodworks team put most of the railing up and plan to finish up their part this coming week. Longship construction, our favourite excavator operator, will be coming in to create a level parking/walking area for handicap accessibility. Then, he will begin carving out the trail going down the hill.


Schedule


Volunteer Hours- Tuesday, Friday, Sunday 8:00am-10:00am/5:00pm-Sunset

    Pastries, Coffee, and Chai for the morning. Light dinner in the evening.

    Please let me know if you are coming to help so I can have enough food.

Kid Activity Hour- Tuesday and Friday 10:30-12:00. A story followed by a small activity.


In the Garden


Harvesting carrots and beets. Sowing carrots in the greenhouse. Sowing beets and  lettuce outside. Combating pests on the melons and tomato horn worms in the greenhouse. Doing a lot of weeding followed by compost mulch in the orchard. Watching the thousands of sunflowers, carrots, and yams grow in the back cherry orchard. Keep an eye out for a community harvest of those in the early fall.


Astronomy


August 14- Around 3:30am, view Europa’s shadow on Jupiter with a telescope.

August 15- View Comet 103P/Hartley 2. Look to the east as Andromeda rises.

August 16- The New Moon

August 17- View the Libra constellation’s Ghost Globular after sunset in the west.

August 18- 45 minutes after sunset, look to the west directly above the the horizon to

    find Mercury. Just above will be the astroid Pallas.


Space Flight News


-Russia launched a robotic mission to the Moon’s south pole to study electromagnetic

radiation and frozen water. Their first moon mission since the 70s.

-Tourist flew for the first time on Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity Rocket Plane for an up and 

down suborbital flight.

-August 16/17th SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch Starlink Satellites.


Hope you enjoyed the update!

-Gwendolyn

Newsletter 8/6

Greetings!



Welcome to our first News Letter. Here you will find updates on what’s going on at the farm and what inspires us to do what we are doing.


The Garden

-Harvesting cucumber, beets, and carrots from the green house.

-Sowing Carrot Seeds in the Green House.

-Starting seedlings of kale and bunching onion.

-Sowing beet seeds outside.

-Weeding



Working Hours- Tuesday, Friday, Sunday 8:00am-11:00am/5:00pm-Sunset

(Tuesday 8/8 looks stormy as of now. Will not be working if there is lightning)


Let me know if you’d like to come by this week and help out. Home made baked goods, coffee, and chai offered in the morning. For dinner; Tuesday bean tacos, Friday Cheese Pizza, and Sunday soup and bread.


The Night Sky/Observatory

The Observation Deck is coming along. The telescope mount has been ordered and should be ready in September. Hopeful we start deck events in a month or so!

-August 9-10 Mercury will be farthest from the sun, it’s greater elongation. After the Sun sets, look to the west.

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August 12-13 Perseids Meteor Shower. Seen best durning the darkest part of the night. Look towards the constellation Perseus, which will be high in the sky.

Space Exploration News

            -Today marks the anniversary of the Curiosity Rover touching down on Mars in 2012. (A project Phillip worked on in college.)

-August 6, Rocket Lab Electron rocket of New Zealand set to launch a Synthetic Aperture Radar Earth Imaging Satellite.

-August 6, SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch Starlink satellites from Cape Canveral

-India’s space craft Chandrayaan-3 entered the Moons orbit this last week, hopefully landing August 23 or 24

            

Book Study

On Tuesday at 10:00am come read and do small activities coinciding with the literature.

This week 8/8, One Plastic Bag by Isatou Ceesay and The Recycling Women of the Gambia

-Bring an old t shirt for the project.

Hope you enjoyed our first newsletter!

-Gwendolyn



Strawberry Season is Over

UPDATE 7/10/23

Strawberry Season has come to an end…the berries are just trickling in at this point and we are freeze drying most of them. If you really want a pound or two let us know and we can probably accommodate it.

Observatory Update -

  • The observation deck framing is complete and the decking is getting installed starting 7/14.

  • The telescope stand has been ordered and is expected to be delivered no later that 9/1. This stand can raise/lower to accommodate people of all shapes and sizes; including those in wheelchairs.

Update 6/26

We will be open this week for strawberry picking. Sugar snap peas are still producing as well.

Monday

3:00pm-Sunset

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday

8:00am-11:00am, 3:00pm-Sunse