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?

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.