Week of March 3

The TAProots barn is a quiet place in the winter.  Usually there is no need to plow the snow from the driveway off Skyline Drive.  The wood pile is ready to supply fuel for the fireplace, and the only things left outside are the two trailers.  The main part of the barn is packed with cars and farm equipment:  BigBlue, the 2008 Ford F-150 truck; Hannah, Eric’s 1979 Cherokee Chief Jeep; Gretchen, the VW roadster Eric let’s us use; Smokey, the Polaris ATV; the old farm tractor; and the John Deere garden tractor.  The kitchen is cleaned up from jam and cassis making in the fall.  The office has the fireplace, sofa for naps, and a writing table for academic work.  The loft is sealed off and not heated.  The basement is also sealed off and kept at 45 to 50 degrees.  It holds the wine cellar where the jams, cassis and blackberry liquors are kept nicely cool.  It won’t be long until planting season in May, when the barn will be the center of TAProots activity.