SummerFall

It's been a lovely summerfall this year. Summerfall is that time after the worst of the heat when it's cool at night and warm during the day. We had one good rain at the end of September to wet things down a little, but none since. We got all the bean stalks out of sector 1 and put the chicken on it for a bit. We've just moved them back out so we can plant onions and garlic there. The tomatoes are about done (sector 2) and we're taking them out bit by bit, as we have room in the bin after tree pruning. I've got all the small trees pruned, and I'm working on the bigger ones. I pushed the gourds aside in sector 4 and planted some broccoli over there, as well as the brocs that are in sector 3. I do have two big gourds forming at the farm, and one at my house. In our backyard, I have onions, arugula, and broccoli in rows 1-3. I still have a lot of basil at both places, and I have been harvesting it and making herb salt. This was the last big batch (this is only one of the containers!).

I've also been making fermented vegetables. They are fantastic!

I bought some airlock caps to fit my mason jars. I also picked a bunch of jalapenos and serranos to make this amazing fermented hot sauce. Rick got me some supercool big glass jars with glass caps (on wires like a Grolsch bottle) so I can store all my bounty.

We got a pullet surprise when we checked the little girls yesterday. Yep, our babies have become hens. Now it's time to get rid of the old ones.

We got the doors up in the bar. Despite the setbacks, they look lovely.

Rick had extra peppers, so I froze a bunch. How could I manage to do that?

Because we got a freezer! Now I have a ton of room to store excess produce for the winter.

We had a fun party for Laura's birthday at Grana. We had a veritable feast, including Laura's homemade cherry pie cake. Yep, there's actually a whole cherry pie inside the cake.

After lunch we rampaged around town for a bit.

We went to Taste of Chico with Tom and Nancy, and it was a great time. They had an excellent beer garden with pourers who weren't overly diligent about punching your ticket every time. We drank lots of good beers. It was sort of Beer Camp light. Single, Fresh, Wet, and Wild is next weekend! Yay.

Then it was Catherine's birthday. Anne made her a cake and we had a party at the farm.

Tom and Nancy had a kick-ass Rocktober party, featuring Old Spice.

Rick and I took advantage of the good weather to hike around 5 mile.

I won at croquet :)

Because of the fires, one evening we had a totally red sun. It was redder than I've ever seen it. It was kind of scary.

We had a very well attended Rock Band this last week. Tom stopped by to see how awesome Lori is.

We had 14 people total! If you look closely, you can see the sheer intensity on Jacqueline's face.