Week Twenty.

This is week 20 out of 20 for the CSA and 25/25 for the market. What a feeling of bliss. It is harder and harder to get myself outside on the frosty mornings to dig in that dirt, I tell you. The garlic is cleaned, sorted and planted and the crops are mostly gone. The beets, leeks, celeriac and brussels sprouts are very small, I assume from lack of irrigation and poor nitrogen levels. Still, there is enough to give the CSA a mighty fine final share. I have still yet to pull up the annuals and cut back the perennials in the kitchen cutting garden. I'd like to add 5 raised beds to my list of things to do. I have yet to plant the spinach in the tunnel for winter. I have yet to till in the final crops across the street. The crimson clover finally took, but won't get big enough before the freeze. The greenhouse is slowly being dismantled and hauled over to Native Farm. The grass doesn't need any more mowing. The chickens are about to move into the market garden to tidy up the fallen tomatoes and leave behind a layer of free manure for next spring. The woodstove is fired up constantly and takes the chill out of the house. The hoses are freezing up in the morning. The last orange leaves are still clinging to the trees. The bees are sitting tight after we extracted 75 pounds of honey last week, thanks to Jim and Nancy. This farm is turning off, closing up and healing over. We are moving the bikes and canoe into storage. The yarn basket is on the dining room table. There are dusty books being opened. This is my favorite moment. Relief. It feels like I have been carrying around 2 full buckets of water for 7 months and finally someone has told me I can set those down now. Go ahead, set those down, dear one. You have done it again.

We decided to go out on a hike in the High Peaks this weekend, which included a loop trip through a foot of snow and ice covered boulders in our sneakers with Stella crying at every impassable object. We hiked 18 miles total in the Great Range and did 3 High Peaks and slept in the snow in our little Tarp Tent. It was once of those trips I would dub a Hatalsky Deathmarch. I get it in my head we can do something that we clearly find out early into the trip is nearly impossible because of one variable or another, but we push on. I think because Chris and I are very flexible from our thru-hiking days, we just go with it and try to make good decisions. We got down off the ridge top just before dark and found a little nook of a tent spot and crashed pretty hard with Stella in the middle between our two sleeping bags. That was the first camping trip we have taken as a family, all three of us, ever- and we LOVE camping and hiking. That just gives you an indication of how all encompassing farmlife can be. But, as Chris said, no one died or was hurt, so it was a great trip. I will post pics once this week's harvest is in.

For now I am making birdhouse gourds for the final CSA. I love growing things, but I also love crafty projects, so here I go. Now the only thing left to give my people is the sad news that I will not be doing the CSA next year. For various reasons, I need to rebuild or build infrastructure here on our property. It will do the soil good. I also vowed to find a way to run a 4th Year Fallow Farm from the beginning!