The weather outside may be frightful, but on a sunny day the temperatures in the greenhouses on the hill can be absolutely delightful. Young salad greens, fennel bulbs, green beans, baby bok choi, and other treats grow in the beds, which are kept productive even in cold weather by the warm water that circulates in pipes set beneath the soil. The denizens of the hooped gardens, Kendell and her team (Betty Lou, Lottie, Susie, Sadie, and the girls), use whatever organic means they can think of to make sure the succulent greens are harvested for the inn, and not eaten by the many wild things who may have just that in mind.

Beer, for example, is a slug deterrent. And, Kendell tells me, slugs do have their preferences. She recently put out an assortment of beer for the greenhouse slugs to sample (and subsequently drown in) and found that they prefer Samuel Adams to either Yuengling or Budweiser. Sam Adams on tap, that is. One never knows when this bit of trivia might come in handy.

The team I spoke of earlier is ever vigilant for stealthy critters who may have a penchant for vegetables, or chickens. Lottie is in charge of groundhogs; Betty Lou keeps the mice from eating seeds and seedlings; Susie stands guard at the gate just in case a stray visitor from the inn strolls by so she can give them a friendly wagging; the girls (of the hen variety) peck at insect larvae and slugs in the empty greenhouse and fertilize it for spring. Sadie keeps one eagle eye on her hens, the other in the sky where there is invariably a hawk circling. If you get too close to her girls she will act ferociously protective … it is, I can assure you, an act.

Yes, it’s a winning team up there on the hill. Just ask Chef Stephen Browning.