It's been a while, hasn't it?

I know you've all come to expect blog entries on Sundays, but, oddly enough, as the farm work has slowed, I've found myself busier and busier in my spare time. Which is all well and good, but does mean that I have less time to document my activities. Much is going on, people are leaving, and the farm is in a state of constant flux. We had a killing frost this past Monday, which means no more zucchini, cukes are dead, all the winter squash vines are no more, the beans were obliterated, and the tomatoes which were planted outside are gone too. All of this is to be expected, and although the rain has begun, the sun lasted much longer than we had any business expecting. Not to mention the fact that with the end of the cucumbers came the opportunity for Aaron to make several massive batches of pickles, which I hadn't the chance to do yet this summer. it was several days of mind dissolving labor, but I'm sure teh end results will make it all worth it.

There is a new puppy on the farm, a black lab this time, who goes by Patch. Pics whenever I manage to get some.

So what have I been up to? Well, on the farm we've been preparing ground for cover crops, and readying the beds where the zucchini and cucumbers were for planting next year's garlic crop. Worked market in Sequim on Saturday. All by myself, like a big boy. It was actually really awesome. If the market hadn't been closed early due to inclement weather(wind like you would not have believed) I think I could have had an even more successful day than I managed to. Maybe next time.

In my spare time I've been having all sorts of adventures. I went out gleaning for apples with Maggie and her friends and co-workers, to obtain fruit for AppleFest, a yearly celebration, which mainly entails drinking and pressing apples for cider. It rained, in proper PacNorWe spirit, and much fun was had by all. I think I might have actually had more fun going gleaning than at the party, but I'm weird that way, I suppose. It was fun, we all climbed into the van, and drove around looking for trees that still had fruit on them, and once we spotted a potential harvest, we, and by we, I mean Randall, knocked, and asked if we could help ourselves. I was amazed at how many people were perfectly happy to let us take their fruits off their hands.

I went and saw an evening of storytelling, and went over to Port Townsend to see Here's To the Ladies . I've been going to Yoga at the Y every week, and boy I've really got to say, there is no better way to round out a day of farm work, than to do some yoga, and then have a fantastic meal with people you care about. I went to the Sol Duc hot springs, on Monday last week, since I was gifted with a two day weekend. I was dubious of a day spent in hot sulfurous water, followed by diving into a pool of substantially colder water, but it turned out to be a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. Afterward I got to spend some time at the Lake Crescent Lodge, sitting in an adirondack chair watching the sun set over the mountains, reading a library book, and in a fit of weirdness, sketching in my notebook.

A few, miscellaneous pics from the farm, a shot of some baby golden beets:
The wheat, you would not have believed what the sky was like, on the day I took this picture, it was dark grey, and sunny, and totally otherworldly, and there was a double rainbow:

Some kale and chard chips from the pumpkin party we had at Maggie's house, the other night:

There was a pumpkin potluck, and pumpkin bocce, and pumpkin carving, of course. It was a whole lot of fun.

As I've said so many times before, I'll endeavor to take more pictures, and keep the blog coming on a more regular basis, but I make no promises, things are busy, and they show no sign of slowing. The job search continues, in earnest, and I have a few promising leads, about which more, when one or more of them have become a reality. The writing progresses as well; I recently wrote a short story I rather enjoyed. Theoretically there are some pictures of AppleFest floating around, and if I manage to get a a hold of some I'll do a quick post to share them with you.

I love you guys; miss you.

Also I'm learning to knit.

What?

Don't judge me. It's fun.