Longer Days!

The difference isn't noticible yet, but we've turned the corner and the days will start getting longer. In the meantime, we bundle up and huddle around the fire.

This was the solstice night. We kept a small fire going to encourage the sun to return. We only made a small fire to be good neighbors, because it wasn't technically a burn day. We claimed a religious exemption.

Was it cold? Well it depends on where you're from. In Alaska or Michigan, this would be balmy. To us, it was cold. This was the temp at dusk on the solstice.

So, I did a little research, and found us a great propane heater that fits on a big propane tank. This baby fires up and heats a nice lil area. We worked out a good area to put it where it's not in the way and folks can huddle around it.

And sure enough, here we are huddled around it. Billy even joined us.

Buddy got himself a new mug, and found a way to go hands free!

After the solstice festivities, we did some serious pruning. This shot shows the two small plums, with the remaining large branches cut down to size. Yesterday we turned our attention to the big plum, and took down all that rampant top growth. It will grow much better now, and we should have fewer, sweeter plums, at a harvestable height. No more plum bombs!

The moon was new on the 23rd and 24th, and here on the 26th it was just a sliver, with Venus nearby for company.

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What We're Eating
Anything with lemons! We put lemon in our water every day, and I'll make some jars of preserved lemons.

We're also still picking lettuce and arugula from the garden, along with daikon and a bit of broccoli, although most of the broc isn't quite ripe yet. The chickens continue to work at the sheet mulched area, and everything else is in greens or favas.
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Sun's Nadir

The days are the shortest they get now, and in a few days, they'll start lengthening again. In the meantime, it's been cold. This was the temp on 12-4 in the late afternoon.We also had a few nights of below 28 degrees. We've had a  little rain, but it's been mostly cold, clear, and windy.

With it this cold, we need to break out the winter garb!

The trees need protection too. We wrapped the small citrus trees in frost cloth and put the lights up in the big one.

The mandarins are ripe! They look beautiful.

This mandarin is posing on the cover of Edible Shasta Butte magazine. It (the mandarin, not the magazine) was delicious.

At our house, the lemons are also ripe.

And the fava beans are up nicely.

They're mulched with pecan leaves... er yeah, that's my story. The paths do have straw underneath, but it didn't seen important to rake the leaves. The favas look so happy and healthy!

The greens I planted in 6a came up much better than I thought they would, and I ended up transplanting a bunch into 5b. I plan to finish that row out in fava beans. The chickens are still working the fallow area. We tossed a bunch of semi-composted stuff on the leaves, and the chickens have been happy to turn it over daily. We also cleaned the chicken pen yesterday and put that in pile P.

We've had some really great sunsets... at 4:30 in the afternoon! Folks don't hang around long when the sun goes down, although we did get a great propane heater. I'll have to remember to get a shot of it.

Hi from Katinka

Hi Folks! I've been thinking a lot about you too! I've been taking time to see how you all are faring this autumn. (Happy belated Birthday Titus and Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone).

One of the things I've been meaning to post is my happy experience of sitting, drinking a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and thinking of you all! My local beverage warehouse has Sierra Nevada! I saw thier ad, did the Happy Dance then went to the store! Bruce is sad that they don't have the Porter but we are REALLY enjoying the Pale Ale (we get the IPA, Heffeweisen & Pale Ale). A couple of times I have thought of going to the only place I can buy a burrito so I can have a burrito with my beer but haven't done it as I would have to postpone the beer... And the SNPA with thoughts of home make me well-up as it is, adding 'mexican food' might be too much.... :)

I love you all and I'm always just here in the wings reading your news and wishing I was there.

Much love, Katinka

Tasting and Beer Tasting

We had a lovely Thanksgiving feast at Titus and Jane's. Jane made this lovely turkey.

There was quite a full table.

Including lots of pie!

And of course, we had to do some gaming.

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Weather Note

This temperature reading was Tues. 11-22, in the heat of the day with the sun on the thermometer. It's been generally in the high 50s to low 60s in the day, and above freezing at night, although it's moved into "comforter weather." We got a nice steady rain for a day and half, which soaked everything down nicely. Last two days have been windy, and the leaves are falling like rain. I raked yesterday, and Buddy's been mowing at the farm almost daily.
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Then Friday after Thanksgiving we had the second beer tasting: Pale Ales. The weather was still iffy, so we held it at our house.

You can see how serious we are about this! Karen put together the score sheets and did the pouring. Here she's featured with Glen's wonderful breadsticks and a "pitcherlette" of pilsner. We were "cleansing our palates" with pilsner on tap.

Here's a closeup of the lineup. Oddly, the Caldera, in the cans, outscored the Sierra Nevada (but not by much). Other winners were Fire Rock, Stone, and Mirror Pond.

Ok, we've been feasting and drinking... but what's new on the farm? Well the daikons are literally bursting out of the soil. We had a nice steady rain last weekend, and the daytime temps haven't been too cold, so everything is growing like crazy. The lettuces are full grown, but not inclined to bolt. We did them perfectly this year, although I wish we'd started another flat a month later.

I harvested the first Black Spanish radish also.

Doesn't it look lovely?

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What We're Eating
Besides turkey with all the trimmings... This night's menu was homemade pizza with alfredo sauce, smoked salmon, capers, and preserved lemon, topped with homegrown arugula and drizzled with basalmic reduction; homemade veggie broth with carrots, celery, and potatoes and fresh lemon juice, and black radish drizzled with spicy brine and dusted with pasilla pepper powder.

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Dwight and Linda came to visit. It was so nice to see them and show them around the farm. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten my camera that day, so I didn't get a picture of them. Then, they had some bad news and had to change their plans and head out unexpectedly. Our thoughts are with them.

Speaking of folks who our thoughts are with... Hi Katinka! I've been thinking about you a lot lately and wishing you were here.

Thankfulness

It's just a few days before Thanksgiving, so it's a good time to feel thankful for all the bounty and abundance. First thing to be thankful for: Friends! Parties with friends! Jane threw a surprise party for Titus. Everyone came.

And Titus was surprised. It was the weekend after his birthday, and we'd already taken him out to dinner, so he had no suspicions.

Lori decorated her house, and set up Pictionary for us to play, with paper on a giant easel.

Miho helped me make pizzas on site and she quickly got the hang of it. That's another thing to be thankful for: Pizza!

We had a week or so of really glorious fall weather. The leaves turned great colors, and it didn't really rain until Sunday night, so we got to be outside enjoying the cold, crisp weather. Laura suggested a day of leaf paper making at the farm. I picked a bunch of leaves, and Laura brought everything else, although Catherine was quite clever to bring a spare ironing board.

Laura made a lovely piece.

I'm thankful for art and beauty. This time of year, when the fall colors just make your jaw drop, I'm so grateful for the ability to appreciate beauty.

And of course, the farm is a big source of thankfulness. It helps us appreciate the abundance of the earth and the harvest. Here is a good spread of how it looked on 11-19. We brought the tiller over and tilled up 7 and 8 and also 5b and 6b.

Since this picture was taken, we pulled a bunch of the chopped leaves out of Q and piled them all over rows 7 and 8. That's the area we plan to leave fallow for a season. We're sheet mulching it with leaves, and we'll put the chickens on it later, after it has a chance to start to break down. My thought is that it will attract worms, and the chickens will eat the worms and turn the compost.

The lettuce and daikon in 1b are producing like crazy. We've been eating fresh salad several times a week. I picked the first baby daikon, but they're still a ways from harvest size.

The baby arugula goes great with the lettuce, or as a pizza topping.

A bit of parsley came up in 2a. It's very delicious, and much more flavorful than store bought.

The sage is also growing like a weed.

Here's another view. A big portion of the back area is being fallowed for a bit.

The mandarins are starting to color up.

As are the very tiny fruits of the Algerian mandarin.

The geese have been migrating through, and I had fun trying to get some arty shots.