Salem and Halloween

It's been almost three weeks since I've updated I just realized. Sorry about that. But Halloween happened! And two days before that Susan and Jason and I went to Salem! It was incredibly crowded. I guess we weren't the only people who thought it would be fun to go to Salem, Massachusetts two days before Halloween. This is the Salem Witch Museum, which we didn't go to because the line was around the block.

And here is a big cemetery.

And see? You can tell I'm in Salem because I turned into a witch.

We walked down to look at the harbor.

And then walked by this woman being a statue. She was amazing.

We toured through the Salem Witch House. It's a house built in the 1600s and was the home of one of the judges in the witch trials.

We didn't go to the Salem Witch Dungeon (though we heard it was scary).

But we did see a living history portrayal of one witch trial. There were folks dressed up in the street and they arrested one woman and dragged her to the town hall.

Once we were all up there they re-enacted her trial with people's documented testimony. Then, we in the audience got to decide whether or not she was guilty. We voted her innocent, even though I totally thought she did it. Witchcraft was really the only explanation for what these villagers were describing.

By the way, the actual woman, Bridget Bishop, was found guilty and became the first person to be put to death for witchcraft. And contrary to popular belief, no one in this country was actually burned at the stake; they were all hanged. And there were only 19 people actually convicted and sentenced for witchcraft in Salem, 14 women and 5 men, one of whom was the husband of one of the women, and he got accused of witchcraft during his wife's trial.

And that, pretty much, was Salem. On Halloween we all dressed up like different animals or vegetables from the farm. I made these cakes. They were delicious and just happened to be vegan.

Liz Jo was a carrot.

Elizabeth was Scruples, the bull.

Sarah was Beatrice, the queen of one of our bee hives.

Susan was Petunia the pig (with a candy cigarette).

Jason was Pudge, the farm dog (with another candy cigarette).

Sam was Rumpelstiltskin, a goat I don't have a picture of. His fabulous beard was made of llama wool.

And Ivy and I were Ruth and Jessie, two adorable BFF goats.

And here we all are! Ashley, by the way, (on the far left) was a leek, holding a leek; Emily S. was a raccoon; Nic was Evander the ram; and JP was JP.

That was Halloween! Sorry it's a week late. I hope all of y'all had a wonderfully spooky time!

So Much to Update!

I still owe y'all a long update about the Wool Festival, but we went to Vermont today, so I'll tell you about that real quick and then go to bed.

Six of us went today, just because we wanted to see what it looked like in Vermont. We went to the town of Brattleboro and walked around.

I found a yarn shop called Knit or Dye which clearly almost killed me with excitement.

And we saw Vermont's longest covered bridge!

It was really exciting.

And absolutely gorgeous.

We took a lot of very serious pictures.

Then we went to another little town to find somewhere for lunch. But first Sam climbed a tree......

......I laid down in some leaves.......

......Susan climbed a tree (with Jen's help).......

......and we found a stool made of silver dollars.

Then we climbed Cemetery Hill Road, assuming there was a cool old cemetery at the top. We were right!

We found some really neat things.

But since it was still an old cemetery surrounded by a lot of dead trees, I got scared.

And then my camera died, probably because I was taking disrespectfully goofy pictures in a cemetery. So I will steal the pictures of others a post them later! They involve a cheese factory, a mountain trail, and another trip to Knit or Dye, this time with delightful picture poses in mind. I hope you can stand the anticipation!

Pie Off!

I WON THE PIE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I won a category of the Pie Off! And it wasn't Most Ridiculous Pie. It wasn't even Most Creative; I got edged out by a last minute entry made of snow. But I did win Most Visually Appealing. Let me take you through the steps of my NACHO PIE!

It had a crust made of crushed up tortilla chips held together with melted butter.

Then I put a layer of sliced avocado on the bottom.

The main filling consisted of mashed up pinto beans mixed with sauteed onions and garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin, mixed with salsa and shredded cheese.

Then I "frosted" it with sour cream.

On top I put shredded lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, and cheese. I was trying to win the category I made up of Swirliest Pie.

Lastly, I piped more sour cream around the edges and put a dollop in the middle, with a tortilla chip sticking out of the top.

Other people worked on their pies today, too. Sarah made and crushed ginger cookies for the crust of her Butterscotch/Butternut Squash Pie, Jason piped whipped cream onto his Banana Cream Pie, and Maggie took Pear and Almond Cream Pie out of the oven.

Instead of baking her Ginger Peach Cream Pie, Ivy chilled it. Except that we didn't have much room in the refrigerator, so she put it on the porch, in the snow, under a pan to protect it from said snow.

So there were ten pies.

All of them were amazingly delicious and it was so hard to choose favorites in any category. But we all tasted and contemplated and voted.

Liz Jo tabulated the votes and announced the winners.

And the winners are.......

BEST CRUST---Sarah C.'s Shoefly Pie

MOST CREATIVE---Liz Jo, Susan, and Ashley's Snow Pie. Note that this pie is local, gluten free, soy free, vegan, healthy, and organic.

BEST FLAVOR---Ben's Raspberry, Rhubarb, and White Chocolate Pie

BEST OVERALL---Also Ben's pie. But Maggie's Pear and Almond Cream Pie was only one vote behind in both flavor and overall, so Ben shared and she won this one!

And I won Most Visually Appealing!

In other news, it snowed giant snowflakes today that we stood around and caught on our tongues instead of doing chores.

The End! Yay Pie!

Tonight!

IT'S SNOWING AGAIN!!! DUDE! WHAT IS GOING ON???????

The Sheep and Wool Festival was absolutely amazing. I am going to tell you all about it, but I can't tonight. Here are a couple of pictures, though. There were a lot of sheep.

And there was a lot of wool.

I can't tell you more now because I have to make a pie. Tonight is the annual Overlook Farm Pie Off. I am hoping to win in the category of Most Ridiculous Pie. Here are my ingredients. Try to guess what I'm making!

The Aftermath of SNOW

This is what the farm looked like when I woke up this morning.

By 10:00 or so, though, it had all melted. But it inspired me to take more Fall Pictures.

Also, tomorrow Ivy and I are going to the NEW YORK SHEEP AND WOOL FESTIVAL IN RHINEBECK, NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a little bit excited. A massive post will shortly follow, I assure you. Yay!!!