her able hands

I squeezed in a little fall garden cleanup on Saturday. The air was both cool and warm at the same time, with big clouds skittering across the sky to block out the sun. Warm sun. Cool shadows. Chicken manure. Chopped leaves and grass. Straw. All layered on top of my salad beds to get them ready for spring planting.

I think I’m going to have to let this sugar maple live on—how can I not with this riot of color? So I dug up all of the dirt from the bed just behind the boxes where I grew carrots this year (dirt made by the awesome chicken tractor bed from a year ago) and layered it on top of the soil in the boxes. I’ll give up the ghost on that spot, let the maple stay and work on new spots to garden.

I started to empty the water out of the blowup pool as you can see there in the corner of the photo. I really should have made myself finish the heinous task (oh my dog, the inches of wet leaves on the bottom!) It’s snowing today. Not a lot, but dudes. Snowing. Winter is upon us and I haven’t even put the pool to bed yet! It’s an indication of just how crazy busy it’s been for one, but for another, it’s an indication of just how much I hate taking care of pools. I really, really hate taking care of pools.

In the meantime, the chooks continue to make fabulous compost and drop an orange-yolked egg or two each day (production has slowed considerably with the cold, and I don’t intend to light them artificially except to put the heat lamp in if it gets bitter cold.) My dear friend Debra stopped in on Sunday to visit and to take away three of the girls to her spacious barn at the foot of the hill. Elbow room!

We also baked cupcakes on Saturday to bring to the bonfire at Cheril & Greg’s. Lila was in charge of sprinkles and licking the beaters. I love how deeply yellow the vanilla cakes came out with four nearly red-yolked eggs mixed in.

Yes, I do still harbor some fantasies about opening a cupcake bakery and cafe in Kent. I can’t help it, they’re so damned sexy!

So I’ll wind up this meandering post with a few more shots of what’s going on in the garden and a few thoughts that I intend to explore here in the days to come.

One single sprout in the garlic bed. I’ll hang onto hope that they all continue to set roots in the fast-chilling soil and produce fat, juicy, spicy bulbs by next July.

They’re not called jewel nasturtiums for nothing.

The bright lights chard never did get very big, but it’s still going strong, and now so sweet after a few good cold nights. This snow will probably take it out, I should have picked it on Saturday.

Doesn’t it look sweet? It was awesome in my spicy chicken soup on Sunday.

Future posts:

• The five acres out behind us is slated to become a development, but building came to a screeching halt a year ago and six of the nine houses that are up are also still for sale. The other nineteen lots are turning into woods again. Wouldn’t it make a great spot to have a CSA and urban homesteading center? Yeah, I think so too.

• My shoulder still feels like it’s shot through with Novocaine from my surgery in July. When I scratch it, it feels dead.

• I’ve had an amazing if not entirely gag-inducing breakthrough around my singing. I think.

• I’m going to pickle turnips. I already bought the turnips and the vinegar.

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