October's End

The third week of October is traditionally the start of distinctly fall weather, and this year was no exception, if you don't count the earlier hailstorm. Night falls early, the air is chilly, and the slanting sunlight glows of autumn. Leaves are falling and the lettuce that survived the hail is starting to head up nicely. Often the third week of October also means the start of the fall rains, but so far it's been dry and sunny. Actually, it's been some of the nicest weather we've had this year!

My parents came up to visit last weekend. We had a lovely time. We ate various produce from the farm, including some tasty red bell peppers.

I also made edamame hummus with homemade pita bread and all the fixings, including homemade preserved lemons and homegrown onions and zucchini.

And here we are, eating again! It's not all we did, but eating seemed to provide the best photo ops.

Rick got Thursday off unexpectedly when they took down his computer system at work, so we stopped in to the pub. They had 20th Street Ale hopped with three different varieties of hops that they grew in their experimental field: Citra, Chinook, and Cascade. We tried mixing them and liked all three hops in conjunction.

Catherine gets started on her Halloween costume. The theme this year is Superheros: What's YOUR Superpower?

Bill and Laura came to town and we carved pumpkins. This is Laura's pumpkin giving birth...

I can't claim any moral high ground, as I carved this pumpkin to "serve" the edamame hummus with.

Then I carved a chicken pumpkin to go with my superpower.

Rick and Catherine dug up the last of the potatoes yesterday, and we discussed all the delicious ways to cook them up.

Beer Tasting: India Pale Ales

Last night we had a beer tasting at the farm. I had 11 different kinds of India Pale Ales, and Glen brought a 12th. I had sheets made up with the names of the beers, and also quotes from the bottles. The beers themselves were wrapped in newspaper, and numbered. I poured the tastes behind the bar so nobody could see the bottle size. Everyone could taste the different beers, then try to guess which was which, and also guess which quote went with each taste.

Scoring is serious business, as you can tell by these grim visages.

This was the star of the show:

And here are all the contestants.

Last weekend, we got to enjoy a different sort of beer tasting when Glen's brother Barry came to visit and we all met at Sierra Nevada so he could try the sampler.

New Roof

We knew we couldn't go another year with a leak in the roof, so we had the whole roof replaced. They tore off the old roof, and made a big mess.

The truck had to drive on the verge to get the shingles up to the rooftop.

I am sure glad I didn't have to climb on the roof.

I tried out my new Weed Dragon, and it was even more fun than I expected it to be. I burned all the weeds growing up through the edge of the patio, and dug more bermuda grass out. I need to reflame it, but it certainly knocked back most of the weeds. The summer harvest is over, so I have started letting the chickens out to do their thing. I'll dig up more bermuda, rip out the remaining vines, and start some lettuce and other greens for the winter.

Rick C. pulled out the last of his peppers, and made some more pepper sauce. I have a bag of his habaneros to add to my serranos for some strained red sauce, which I'll make today.

Hailstorm!

Last Wed., 10-5, we went over to the farm. Tues. had been rainy, so we played Rock Band with Titus and Jane rather than farming. So we figured we better get on over on Wed. to feed the chickens and such. It was cold enough that a cheery fire sounded great. First fire of fall!

Soon we noticed this weird dark swirling cloud approaching. It looked ominous, and we kept an eye on it.

Buddy hurries to get the chickens in before it cuts loose.

We could see a definite edge, and it looked like we'd miss the brunt of it. We pondered running home but we didn't see any funnel clouds, so we stayed.

We got a few moments of that same lovely golden glowing precipitation before it actually hit us, but when it did, it hailed like crazy! The yard was totally white with hailstones the size of marbles. Rick, me, Buddy, and Catherine all took shelter in the bar, and the sound on the roof was deafening. We had to shout to be heard. The hail tore the leaves off the trees, so it was raining green leaves as well as hail. I was a little concerned because I was afraid the hail would get bigger and punch through the roofing, but we were all safe. The hailstorm was just that one cell, so when it passed over, the storm subsided, but we still waited a while to drive home so the hail could melt a little.

The temp. dropped to about 48 degrees.

Sadly, the garden took quite a lot of damage. We'll have to see what bounces back, but all the young starts, such as the lettuce and the broccoli, were just devastated--torn to ribbons, smashed, and frost damaged. I can't go back to July to plant more broccoli starts, so we may be eating a lot of chard and kale this winter.

Fall Catchup

Over the last couple weeks, besides the party, we got a few things done, although one of us was still working way too hard. Bill got after it and cut down the big mulberry in the front. It took many loads to get it all hauled away.

Bill enjoys a well-deserved beer later. Bill has rather a houseful right now, with Jade and her family and animals staying with them. And he told us they are tearing out their beautiful redwood deck to put in cement instead.

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RIP Doc
Our friend Doc Cottle died last Saturday. He was 64. He'd had vascular problems for a while and had been declining. We're sad to see him go.
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We continue to harvest peppers, but I think we've gotten most of what we can get. It probably won't be hot enough to ripen any left on the plants.

We got two more rows worked and planted. Row 2a has a lettuce mix and row 4a has a chard/kale/bok choi mix, essentially braising greens. We also dug out row 2b and put in some onion starts I got at the farmer's market. When this picture was taken, we were feeling pretty good about our fall garden prospects.

We had a great stand of lettuce in 2a, the onions in 2b, newly planted greens in 2a and 4a, and a big triple row of broccoli in 6b. We're still harvesting tomatoes from 6a and 7b, and peppers from 1a and 8. The drying beans are still ripening in 4b and 5b, and all we really needed to deal with was the old green beans in 3b. The plan is to plant peas and fava bean in the rows that now have peppers and tomatoes. But nature is surprising, and one essential fact about farming is that you must work with the weather you have, not the weather you expect.

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What We're Eating
Stuffed Peppers!
There were these ginormous peppers in the Farmers' Market, so I bought 4 huge ones and stuffed them.

I made a pot of Lundberg organic wild rice blend in the rice cooker, browned some grass-fed ground beef, sauteed our homegrown onions, and tossed in a jar of organic spaghetti sauce. I spiced it up with fresh oregano and basil from the yard and plenty of our homegrown garlic. A sprinkling of parmesan on the top and voila! Beautiful and delicious stuffed peppers. I had extra filling so I made calzones out of the leftovers. These were so good that I'm dreaming up new filling ideas.

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We got this graffiti on our sidewalk. I rather like it because it's artistic.

Fall Birthdays Party

I've still been crazy busy with book projects, but meanwhile, life goes on.

Because Catherine, Laura, and Jane all have September birthdays, we decided to have a party at the farm.

We invited the usual suspects, and even the Gullicks!

And enjoyed a nice sunny day at the farm.

David and Miho showed up with Cosmo.

Laura made this cute birdhouse.

Complete with bird.

Got to start them young! Here's Cosmo and gang hanging out at the bar.

The mums look lovely next to the day lillies.

Lori arrives to a welcoming committee.

And she was the only one with a corkscrew!

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Weather Note
The party was on Sept. 24, and the day was partially cloudy, but warm. And yeah... cloudy in late September? That can sometimes be the hottest month.

The temperature was perfect: about 78 degrees.

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