Thanksgiving and Beyond

Thanksgiving came very late this year, so I'm not as behind as it looks... We feasted with Titus and Jane again, and it was a wonderful meal and a fun party.

I made the rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, and farm-fresh green salad.

Jane roasted the bird and made side dishes and yams. There were also plenty of pies! I scraped together a pecan pie with the last of last year's pecans from Buddy and Catherine. Kim made her delicious pumpkin streusel. Lori and Becky were there, and Rick and Catherine, Kim, and Cindy.

On Friday after, my folks visited. We had pizza and salad with foraged greens, then toured the farm.

And we got to meet Ann's brother Richard's family: His wife Chris (center left), their daughter Valerie, and her husband Jeff.

Then last Tuesday, when it was safe to go out on the streets again, I brought these hats to the 6th Street Center. It's a place for kids who are on their own for one reason or another.

I was worried that the hats might seem dorky, but the kids loved them. They immediately began trying them on. I hated to block out this gal's pretty face, but I don't know what her situation is, and don't want to put her at risk.

And, Catherine showed me this neat scarf pattern, so I had to recreate it by making her one.

So we've been feasting, visiting, and knitting, but... this is a farm blog. Are we doing any farming? Yeppers! I picked this lovely daikon last week. There are more to come!

With a long hard freeze predicted, we winterized the house and the farm. Rick wrapped the pipes. We also unhooked and opened all the irrigation and any hose fittings.

We had to pick the citrus. Here is the mandarin "before" picture.

And the "after" picture.

And we got the tree wrapped in frost cloth.

I also picked lemons. I picked about 200, but it's only a fraction of what's out there.

I had to stop because I had nowhere to put them all! Finally I resorted to this. I'll keep this first picking for fresh lemons, because I picked them before the freeze. The ones I pick from now on, I'll juice.

And now the freeze is upon us. It was barely above freezing at sundown yesterday, and it's getting into the mid 20s at night. Our fountain is totally frozen, and everything is looking frosty. We may get "freezing mix" later this week.