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.

Winter Gardens

 It might look like fall, but it's definitely getting wintery, with nighttime temps getting into the 30s.

Last Friday, with the sun on the thermometer, we got all the way up to mid-60s in the heat of the day.

By Saturday, daytime temps were a lot colder.

So with impending frost, we're pulling out the last of the summer plants and preparing for the winter. I put 3 rows of fava beans in our backyard. I added a couple of patches of onions today, toward the back. I still left room for peas in the farthest back.

At the farm, things are pretty well in hand. In the B section here, row 1b is lettuces and daikons. Both have been doing beautifully! That's what we'll be eating for the next month. Row 2b is red and white cippolini onions, with a little garlic at the row end. Row 3B is Spanish Roja (from Wilbur's) with a little Purple Easy Peel and Lokalen garlics (Territorial). Row 4b is Hamburger Red onions from Jerry at the Farmer's Market. The rest of the hamburger reds are what I planted in our backyard.

Row 5b is still lima beans, but they're just about done and can be pulled. I pulled all the peppers in row 8 yesterday. Row 6b is the broccoli patch, and 7b is fallow (with chickens on it in this pic). 5a was supposed to be braising greens, but it was already too late for them to sprout well. I replanted in garlic (volunteers) and fava beans. Row 7a is supposed to be mixed lettuces but I might only get arugula, as happened in 3a. Row 4a has a mix of broccoli and cabbages, and a few last crazy bell peppers, while 2a is still in peppers that need to come out. The arugula in 3a is maturing, just in time to go with the lovely lettuces.

We installed "window treatments" to the back window in the bar. We need to get that window in! Yikes, the cold air just blows through.

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What We're Eating
Salad! The lettuces are fantastic. I also had one delicious meal of fresh lima beans. Mmmmm!

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What We're* Wearing
Fun purple cowboy boots! Woohoo!

* And by "we" I mean me....

Halloween Party!

 This year's Halloween Party was a great one! I was still kind of worn out, but I rallied and got the party going.  Here is the table before all the food went on it.

I had a bat up on the window, and we got the bat alert!

The theme was: Superheros: What's your superpower? Folks really seemed to have fun with this theme. Bill and Laura came a little early to help set up the lighting and put the food out. Laura was the food pusher!

And Bill was Super Hippie!

I was Chicken Woman, the Chicken Wrangler, aka the Cock Plucker.

Rick was Dr. Molybdenum, Professor of Gimbology.

Buddy was Beerman!

Catherine was a Tea Party crusher.

And Rick was Super Salsa Man: Able to turn ordinary garden seeds into award-winning salsa.

Jane was the Voice of Reason. She even had little cards with quotes pertaining to reason that she handed out.

Titus was The Fiddler.

Keith and Noel were Clark Kent/Superman and Catwoman. I like to think that this is Clark after he became comfortable with who he was, and "came out."

Delina and Donna came as... a hetero couple! Hilarious. Delina is wearing makeup, and she even painted her fingernails and toenails.

I'm not sure what Tom is, but he looked freaky.

Lori was Super Procrastinator. She has makeup on one side, hair fixed on one side... generally she is going to get around to finishing her costume later....

Rene and Cooper came. Cindy came with a couple of friends, but I didn't get a pic of her this year.

Even Captain Gilhooley showed up.

Here's Kim with Tom.

And three goddesses

Everyone brought great food and the table was just filled!

I scattered candy corn and other candies on the table like confetti. The centerpiece is made of rose hips from my roses, broom corn, and my painted gourds.

 Notice the hand rising up out of the dip.

The pumpkin puke (actually edamame hummus) was delicious.

Ok so we had fun guests in clever costumes eating delicious food. What else do we need? Live music! Fortunately the temperatures were surprisingly warm that night, and we were able to enjoy the patio.

Rick and Tom get things started. That's Gullick's arm in the corner.

Rick and Tom sang lots of songs together.

The audience is enjoying the music.

Then Melinda arrived and did a set.

I danced!

Tom and Melinda and Bill play.

Tom takes a break while Nancy casts a spell on him.

It was a really fantastic party. I sure had a good time, and I hope everyone else did also.