Happy Thanksgiving(and the snowstorm of twenty-ten)

It's the day before Thanksgiving, I'm baking one loaf of bread, a long pie pumpkin and three heads of garlic, which will also be transformed into bread before the day is through. I'm off on a road trip, or will be in a few hours, and I'm jittery with excitement, and coffee, but mostly excitement.

It snowed here in Port Angeles on Sunday, an unseasonably early storm of impressive ferocity. We got somewhere between eight inches and a foot, on the farm there were drifts as high as three feet in some places, but I'm getting ahead of myself. On Sunday we went and saw the new Harry Potter movie. It was, as we all had to assume, quite dark. I love the animated tale of the three brother right in the middle of it; thought the animation was fantastic. I enjoyed it, but I have to say that it in no way compared with going sledding at the highschool with Maggie, and Jen and Nathan afterward. That was easily the highlight of my week, if not the month.

The day afterward, however, was back to farm life, and let me just tell you, farming in the snow? Even inside of the greenhouse...not ideal. We got it cleaned out, however, harvesting the last of the peppers and eggplants, and some green tomatoes that may or may not ripen off the vine. Yesterday we finished pulling up all the fencing, and cleaning it up as best we could, and then cleaned out the chicken coop. Ah, the glamorous and idyllic life of farm folk.

I've been getting some quality writing done, I think, and I've been enjoying my time immensely. Although living in a trailer during the snowstorm has taken some of the romance out of it, it was undeniably beautiful. Some pics from around the farm(it should be interesting to see what survives this, but I've learned not to underestimate the resilience of plants).


Chickens do not like the snow:
The display garden, lettuce?:

Leeks:

Parsnips:

Brassicas:

Asparagus:
Flax:

Raspberries and Blueberries:
Leaving the Athair's the morning of the storm:



Sometimes you find beauty in the most unexpected of places, like the skin of the greenhouse the morning after:

As for my Thanksgiving plans? A rented house on the Oregon coast, with some friends and some strangers. There will be much cooking, and celebrating, and, on my part at least, being thankful for what I have, for the opportunities I find myself with, for my friends and loved ones, and for all of you who care about me and my journey.

Thanks.

Is it dark where you're at?

Because apparently, this far north? It gets dark, right early, and it's only November, I shudder to think what it will be like in January. Despite that, I have to say this place is incredible. Even on a gray drizzly day, perhaps especially on a gray and drizzly day, this place has a beauty...you know what? I'll shut up and let the pictures speak for themselves.

From my trip up to Hurricane Ridge today.




It's not really that snowy; in fact, those are pictures of every square inch of snow there was.

What kind of Mushrooms are these? I don't know. They looked delicious, however. Also on the mushroom front...pickled chanterelles:




I've not been doing a great deal, you know, the usual:

Knitting and crocheting:

Baking(roasted potato fendu and peanut butter cookies):


Also in the kitchen, the controlled spoiling of foods, the powers of fermentation...cider in the process of hardening, and milk in the process of seperating, that I might use the whey in further fermentation projects, and the curds in the name of cheese:

Farmering, which this week mostly involved planting garlic:



Also harvested the last of the apples, this week:

Pink pearl...yeah:

I've been doing really well, but I'll freely admit that the early darkness can be a little wearing. It's fine as long as I have my friends, but when they're not around it can be a little...frustrating.

I'm enjoying the opportunity to work market on Saturdays. I'm getting to know my regular customers, and my fellow vendors, and it makes for a nice change of pace from working on the farm. We are rapidly approaching the time when farm work become very difficult due to the weather, but despite that fact we seem to all be in good spirits.

I like the story I'm writing for NanoWriMo, I think it will probably turn out to be a novella, actually around fifty thousand words when it's complete. I hit the halfway mark today, right on track. All I can say is that it's a good thing I'm not trying to do this in July. That would have broken me. I've got a lot of stories to edit once this is done, and I'm giving serious consideration to taking another crack at rewriting my first novel, given the experience I've just had, I feel like I could write it a more authentic voice, and I have an idea of how to fix the ending, but all of that will have to wait until December at the earliest. A preview:

That's my life, these days. Hanging out with Maggie, and the kids down the street at the Lazy J, who, after an incredibly productive summer, are quite justifiably exhausted. I'm doing my best to reward them all with cookies, and my company, although whether that last qualifies as a reward is up for debate.

I've made my reservations for Christmas in California, and since I'm not driving I guess I won't be able to haul a tree a thousand miles for aesthetic reasons, but it just made more sense to fly. Truly excited to see everyone again, and to celebrate with Grandma Pooh and Saba. Sunshine might be nice, as well.

I've got preliminary plans for Thanksgiving that I'm totally jazzed about More on that when I know for certain what's going on, or I might just leave y'all in suspense, and share after the fact...let it suffice to say you needn't worry I'll be alone and depressive on the holiday.

I hope you all have big plans as well, and I hope you're enjoying your lives, and if you want to talk, feel free to call or e-mail, and if you have, and I haven't gotten back to to you yet, I promise I'm working on it, but the allure of the yarn is becoming hard for me to resist. Not sure what that's all about. Love you guys. Miss you, and hopefully I'll get to see at least some of you, soon.

Remember, remember, the fifth of November...

Anyone have a big exciting Guy Fawkes bonfire? We did, but only incidentally. It was a gray and rainy Saturday, and farmer Kelly took the opportunity to set the burn pile alight. I was working market, however, and so I missed the festivities. It's November, which means it's NanoWriMo time again. I think the story I've started is probably more of a novella than a full-fledged novel, but that's just fine. I've been writing everyday, but my output has been severely reduced over the summer, and now I'm finding it really challenging to find the time to write seventeen hundred words a day, but I'm managing(even after starting over after two days and having to make up the page count, because I'm a stickler).

On the farm we've been continuing the same program we've been on. We're taking in the last of summer crops; we took in the flax and field corn this past week. The corn didn't do great, but we've gotten enough to make cornmeal for the farm, and I think that was really our intention. The sunflowers didn't make it. They went moldy before they finished maturing, and were consigned to the compost on the same day I harvested the corn. Tant pis.

Flax, wheat, and corn:



I've been as busy as ever. Contra dancing, knitting and crocheting, reading, both fiction and some seminal farming books, cooking, baking, and pickling, and yoga. Yesterday, Maggie and I went hiking in the Elwha, which is really beautiful. The mountains are just beginning to show signs of snow at the peaks, and the deciduous trees and ferns make an incredible contrast with teh vibrantly green moss and Doug Firs. There has been a great deal of reading aloud, including, but not limited to, a read aloud children's book group, which was a great deal of fun. I read several Just So Stories, and some poems from Where The Sidewalk Ends. That was the sort of book club I can get behind.

What else am I reading, you say? Why these:

The beginning of my first knitting project:

I'll post more pics of my handiwork when I've finished.

On a recent Monday off(Hooray November) I spent some time walking through the outdoor sculpture garden in PA. I took some pics, which I present without commentary:


That one's my favorite(What? Oh yeah, no commentary. I did say that. Fine. I retract my previous statement.).

Some pics of some recent bakes; I've been doing even more bread than usual the last few weeks. Ciabatta al Funghi:

Roasted Beet Bread:

Perhaps the simplest, but most delicious loaf I've made since I came to the PacNorWe. A pain au levain:

These are bay laurel cuttings that Kelly took from a job, and is rooting next to the greenhouse. The day he put these in the ground, the wind carried the scent of them over to the wash station where Kay and I were cleaning produce, and all day long we'd get a whiff, and wind up smiling like schoolkids. It was fantastic. If you've never had the chance to smell real fresh bay, not California bay, but the Mediterranean variety, seek it out. It's a whole other thing.

Bodie and Willow, Newfoundland and Pony, from next door:


Some shots from around town and the farm, which make me smile; just looking at them is enough to make me smell woodsmoke:





It's easy enough for me to remember to be thankful for where I am. In considering what I'm to do once the farm season is over for well and for good, I've been thinking about the logistics of returning to Georgia long enough to grab my bike, and drive across the southern edge of the country, but haven;t quite worked out the details of what that trip would entail(aside from wool and waterproofs). It's all still theoretical, but the more I consider it, the more I like the idea. It would give me the chance to visit with everyone, and catch up, and it would be an experience unlike anything else, I'm sure. I hope you guys are all doing as well as I am. I really miss you, and wish we had the chance to talk more often(i.e. at all), but I know we're all busy. I love you, and hope you're all looking forward to the holidays; I can't wait to see some of you in California for Christmas. I just want to know, who's bringing the tree?