pics from sena's birthday

sena, about to blow out the big 6 on her cake (aiyana was getting ready too...)

the morning of her birthday, sena got a fairy costume from angela. aiyana was upset about not having one, and cried a little, but then she dug out her old horse costume and put it on (albeit a little half-heartedly). for the rest of the day, they pretended that sena was a wood fairy and aiyana was her horse. in this picture, they're cooking their breakfast together (not pretending).

this is not from sena's birthday, just a regular morning, sleeping all snuggled up together. just thought they looked too cute...

peace

Christmas

Christmas was a little different this year. On Christmas eve, we went to Ed's parents' house as usual. We got to see many people we don't often see, and we got to see ed's cousin's, Lisa's, new baby, born only one month ago. Sena and Aiyana were very excited about that. Ed and I got some nice presents - Eliot Coleman's book on winter vegetable production, which i can't wait to read; and a framed etching of a farmhouse, which may actually be our new house. It looks gorgeous. Ed found the etching when he was ripping up the walls of the house, as he was starting to work on it a couple of months ago. Clearly, the picture was very old, possibly from the eighteen hundreds just like the house. Ed's mom had it cleaned up and framed, and it really looks nice now. Can't wait to put it up when we move in.

Speaking of moving in, Ed and Jonnie have made great progress on the house. Ed's finishing up siding as we I write this, so the outside should be done by the end of today. Then they'll start the inside work. Ed's reading up on plumbing, electrical, insulation, etc. So far, he's been able to do all the work using non-toxic, environmentally friendly materials, which is great. It's also very exciting that he was able to buy all materials he needed from small, local businesses, instead of the big chain stores. Hopefuly he'll be able to do the same with the inside work.

Yesterday was Christmas day, and we were invited to Ed's brother's house, but Sena got a runny nose, and we decided that she and I would stay home. We had a great time just the two of us. We had a tasty, candle-light dinner of squash soup, English muffins with olive spread, and roasted red peppers with feta; we listened to Christmas music, including the Ramones, which Sena really liked. We did yoga, talked, and we went to bed early and read. It was one of the nicest Christmases I've had since I was a kid. Just really simple and sweet.

I hope you have a beautiful New Year -
Peace

solstice, and sena's birthday

On Monday, we celebrated Winter Solstice. Everyone was very excited. The return of the light, how can you not be? I love this time of year! Winter solstice is a good time to set an intention, to visualize what you'd like to see manifested in the coming year. The kids and I were talking about this while sipping some coffee and tea at the cafÈ. Sena said that what she wants in the new year is no pollution. Aiyana said that she wants us to be together. The intention I set is for our new field to do well. I hope for another great season, abundant and prosperous. I also set another intention - for me to get stronger, so I can work more efficiently. I've been trying this for a while, and I think it's already happening. Last night at yoga, I felt like I could do some poses I couldn't even think of before.

Tody is Sena's birthday. A really special day for us, I can't believe she's already 6. I took out the picture of her laying on my belly seconds after being born in the tub. It feels like that just happened, everything is still so vivid about her birth. Just like everyone told me, time flew by, and now here she is, cooking her own breakfast, doing head stands, reading full-length books about whales, and so on. Kids are amazing. I'm in awe. It's a happy day today.

playing in the snow on Winter Solstice

sena and aiyana had lots of fun in the fresh snow




peace

all dressed up

grandma and grandpa took sena and aiyana to a christmas party at the yacht club last weekend. grandma picked them up at our house, and she came prepared with two fancy dresses. they were quite a departure from the clothes we have. the girls were very excited about this. ed was not so excited at getting more stuff, but he rolled with it pretty well...

here are some pictures (ed was in the background, scowling, in some of them, but i cropped him out)

peace

compost

i just came back from Blue Slope Farm, where i went to inspect compost piles. i want to order a truckload from them so i can have it ready in the spring as soon as we can start planting.
it was fun being there. Ernie, the man whose farm it is, is 80 some years old, and he took me around the farm in his truck to show me the compost piles. i'm glad i came prepared, dressed appropriately, bc it was really mucky, but at the same time kind of fun, riding in a big truck with this old man who called me miss... we checked out 3 compost piles, and the last one had a lot more earth worms in it than the other two, so that's the one i want. ernie makes his compost out of cow manure, horse manure, some chicken manure, as well as wood chips, leaves and hay. the piles all looked beautiful, very rich, dark earth. but i'm no expert on this. i need to learn more about compost and how to tell apart good from bad. i know earthworm activity is something you want lots of, but i still have lots to learn. i read somewhere that making compost is the most important thing on a farm, since good compost will bring health to the soil, and everything else will stem from there. i hope to be able to make our own compost one day, instead of bringing it in from the outside. that would be really cool, and then our farm would move towards being truly sustainable. i love the idea of being self sufficient, of recycling and reusing everything on the farm, so that nothing is wasted and there's no need for outside input. that's the ideal. anyway, we are thinking of getting sheep someday, which would help towards making our own compost, but we have enough on our plate right now, so that will have to wait a while....

i had a dream last night. i had moved back to montreal and i had to find a job. i was really upset by the idea of having to go to a job every day, and i could not think of anything i'd want to put that much time and energy in. but i knew i needed money. so i was very anxious. at the same time, i vaguely remembered doing something that i really enjoyed not long ago, but i couldn't remember what it was. all i remembered is that i used to be outside a lot, that i really liked it, and that whatever it was i was doing brought in enough money to live on. i was crying because i could not remember what it was, or how to get back to it.

i woke up and felt so relieved to be out of the dream. it also made me so happy to realize how much i'm really enjoying what i'm doing. i had a lot of doubts when i left engineering, and when i left the concept of a "job" behind. i had even more doubts when ed decided to do the same. it felt like such a huge leap to be out on our own, and there were so many people telling us we were crazy (and also so many encouraging us). but i am so glad to say that at least this far, it's been amazing, a great experience, and so much fun, and so hard at the same time, but in a different way than a "job" can be hard. it's been very positive from all aspects, i think, including financial. we took a loss this year, as expected when first starting a business. but next year, our expenses will be a lot lower (since the greatest part this year were one time investments), and even if we have the same income as this year (which is unlikely, since we planning to expand a lot, and hoping to maybe double the amount of money coming in), we should still come up with some net gain. we've had such encouraging feedback at our markets, and i can only see it getting better.

peace

when the sun dies

aiyana's been saying this to me:
"mom, after you die, and i die, and even after the sun dies, we're still going to love each other". then she smooshes her face right into mine, and kisses me.

peace

sena's first meet

sena had her first gymnastics "meet" (competiton) last saturday. she did well on the beam, and floor, and ok on bars and vault. but most importantly, she had fun, and really enjoyed herself, and we did too, watching her. she was the youngest one there, so cute...

i'm not too crazy about the whole competitive thing, but i find that sena did really well with it. she was a little nervous, just enough to keep her focused, but not to the point of feeling too much pressure. when she did her first try on the vault, for example, she fell, but she wasn't upset about it. she just got up, ran back to the starting position, and did it again. she seemed to be enjoying herself the whole time. i was more proud of her attitude, than anything else, i think.

i also like how the competition was ran. each girl got a medal at the end, and there was no 1st, 2nd, 3rd. but along with that, they also got scores for each for the trials, andthat allowed everyoneto see which area they are strongest in, and which needs more work.

here are some pics of all the girls at the end of the meet. sena is in pink.

peace

snow

it snowed a lot last saturday night. on sunday, they were announcing a low of 18F, so ed and i spent all day pulling our vegetables out of the ground, at least the ones that would not survive being frozen, like turnips, radishes and chard. too bad we didn't have a farmer's market this past saturday, we would've had a lot of stuff to bring; instead, there's a market coming up at the end of this week, and now with the weather change we'll have half as much if we're lucky. but i never expected to have anything at all this late in the season, so i'm happy.

the kids were really excited about the snow, and i would've been too, but i kept thinking about the vegetables... also, i still didn't get to plant the stuff i wanted to for next spring, and now it's a lot harder to do it with all the snow on the ground, but i think i'll try anyway today (i covered the ground i with plastic and i'm hoping the snow will melt by mid-day so i can seed).

anyway, here are some pics of the snow:

our field, covered w snow at sunrise

the moon was still up

and these are my radishes and turnips

peace

Thanksgiving and other stuff

things have been busy lately. i would not have thought that we'd still be farming this late in the season, but we are. ed helped me till and spread compost on 4 new beds last weekend, and i'll be planting carrots, beets, spinach and scallions on them this week. we'll be prepping a few more this week or next, sow those, and then i think we'll be done sowing for this year. i never knew that you could sow this late, but the idea is to get the seeds in the ground before the ground freezes, around the time of winter solstice, December 21st, when the days start growing longer again, then protect the crops with plastic tunnels, and then they should start coming up first thing in the spring. that's the theory, we'll see what actually happens.

i've been working in our new field, and it's hard because we're breaking new ground again, just like we had to do last spring in the field we've been using this past season. the thing that's giving me most trouble right now in the new field is quack grass. it's really tenacious, and it's everywhere. an invasive weed, it's difficult to get rid of, especially at this time of year, when the sun is not very strong. normally, in the spring or summer, we'd till the field, bring the quack grass rhizomes to the surface, where they'd be dried up by the sun. but at this time of year, even if we till, the rhizomes come up to the surface but do not dry up; they sprout again, and make new plants. so i've been raking them and picking them out by hand, and as you can imagine it's very time consuming. but i read that quack grass takes years to get under control, so you just have to persevere and do the best you can. we'll still get crops, just as we did this past season, but we'll need to keep on top of things weeding intensively.

another thing i've been spending some time on lately is making charts and graphs and just playing with data in excel. i have to admit being a little obsessed with data analysis, especially making graphs. i used to love it when i was in engineering, and i still do. i'm putting together a big planting schedule for this coming year. i think it will be really useful, allowing us to anticipate when we'll have the most work to do, and also how many beds we need to plant, how many seeds we need to order, and other stuff like that. i've also been looking at our sales records from this past season, trying to figure out how we did at each market we attended, which crops sold the best, etc. it's all really interesting, and sometimes putting numbers together in a meaningful way can allow one to make better decisions for the future. maybe i'll post some of my charts when i'm done, or maybe that would be too nerdy...

we had a nice Thanksgiving week last week, and i was going to write a post just about things that i am thankful for, but then i'd just write on and on...
but i've been thinking about it every day, how grateful i am for my life right now, especially this past year, when it seems that we finally took more control over our lives, living the way we want to, and really having fun with it. and every day i think about my kids, and how grateful i am for them, because they're just so amazing to have around, and they always surprise me with how funny and wise they are. on Thanksgiving day, i stepped outside to pick some turnips to bring to ed's parents' house for dinner, and i felt just how grateful i was for this whole amazing farming experience we've had so far, which brought me so much awareness and not to mention amazing food. so i'm grateful to the land for that and to all the forces that came together to make it happen.

peace

November 23rd, Mamaia's Birthday

Today was Mamaia's birthday. She would've turned 96. Sena, Aiyana and I had a little celebration for her. We lit some candles, which looked and felt nice, since it's pretty gray out today. I took out Mamaia china cups and saucers, which she got as a wedding present many years ago and later passed on to me. Sena asked me if there was anything special Mamaia would've liked for food, and I said jam, so we put out the jam, and we had it on some bread, and I had my coffee in her cups, and we just talked and thought about her. Then Aiyana wanted to sing happy birthday, and we did.

The rest of the day has been really slow and nice. I didn't plan it this way, but I realized that the way I spent today really fit in with the way Mamaia spent many of her days. I spent time reading books with the kids, and then we painted together. We also worked on some writing, and the rest of the day I pretty much spent cooking. I only went outside for a little while, to check on the plants in the field, and to get eggs from the chicken coop.

Speaking of eggs, our chickens started laying last week. It's been so exciting - the kids eat the eggs as soon as we get them. They're small, and we're only getting two a day, but soon there will be more. They're delicious, and the yolks are bright orange. Sena and Aiyana never wanted to eat egg yolks before, but now they do, they gobble up the whole egg as soon as I cook it.

That's been my day today.
Peace

sena

aiyana, eating raw turnips. she gets really intense about it.

sena also loves these small Hakurei turnips

peace

sending this out

yesterday, ed and i were out in the field picking for the market (which went really well -it was our second best this season), when my landlady pulled in with two men. they walked around the property for a while, and when we finally talked, it turned out that one of the men was interested in haying about 10 acres of my landlady's property, which is where we're renting now, and is the neighboring land to the house and land we bought. the first question that came to my mind was whether he's planning to use any chemicals; the plan was that he'd put down a synthetic fertilizer first, and then spray herbicide to control the weeds. i expressed my concern about this right away, in the mildest and most respectful manner i could. unfortunately, i could tell i was getting nowhere. the other man who came with my landlady is in the fertilizer business, and my landlady already knows of my concerns.

anyway, i was up last night thinking about this, and it really bothered me. i feel very strongly that i do not want to poison this land. fertilizers are known for leaching and contaminating the ground water, and we have well water here and on our new property; i felt really concerned about all this stuff getting in the water we drink, and blowing on the crops we grow, as herbicides do. what would be the point of us not using any chemicals on the food we grow, when our neighbors are doing it right next door to us?

i guess what bothered me the most is that there's really nothing i can do about stopping this, other than trying to persuade them not to do it. finally, today, after talking to ed and brian (trying to find out more about fertilizers and herbicides), i called my landlady and offered to pay her whatever that guy was paying her for the use of her fields. to my great relief, she accepted and called things off with the other guy. money definitely talks.

i'm glad that the whole thing is resolved now. i felt so upset thinking about it last night. how the land would be damaged by the use of all those chemicals. i feel really strongly about this land now, even though it's not really ours, not the parts she was planning to hay anyway. i feel like i owe it to the land not to let anyone do anything harmful to it. i'm usually a pretty flexible person, and i rarely get worked up enough about something to really stand up to someone and defy them. but this felt so different to me, because it involves the health of my kids, and the health of the land that has already given us so much.

finally, i just want to put this out: i want to ask that you consider the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals when you make your food choices. i think consumer pressure is the only thing that will speak loud enough to make growers stop using this stuff. food that is grown using synthetic chemicals is bad for your health and bad for the land. it contaminates our drinking water and our air. i know from experience now that all these synthetics are not necessary, that much better food can be grown naturally, (using compost, natural minerals such as rock powders, etc). the main thing is taking care of the soil, because when the soil is healthy, the food grown on it will be healthy, and the people or animals eating that food will be healthy.

food grown with artificial chemicals may seem cheaper on the shelves of the supermarket, but it is not, if you consider the money you'll be spending in health care later on, or the cost to the environment, which will, in one way or another come back to you and your kids.

all of this does not mean that you need to only buy "organic". organic is only just another label, one that is getting more and more popular now. i guess organic is a good place to start if you don't know what else to do. at least you know that organic growers are limited in the chemicals they can use on their crops by regulations. but moving beyond organic, trying to figure out where your food is coming from, who grew it, and how did it get to you, all of those questions are what you really want to ask, i think.

well, my heart is torn between love for the beauty of the earth, and sadness that we're so careless with it (and with our own health). i feel that i can do so little for something that matters to me so much...

peace

another stunning sunset

i was thinking the other night, as i sat outside watching another stunning sunset, that maybe the purpose of our life on earth is just this: to be able to appreciate and enjoy the beauty all around us. this sounds so simple, but it seems to me that very few people are awake enough, and present enough, and just free enough, inside of themselves, to fully enjoy it, or even just to notice it.

peace

shiitakes are ready!

my mushroom logs are fruiting again. i'm making a soup with azuki beans, kale and shiitakes tomorrow, and i can't wait. i love when i can use my own stuff in cooking, and shiitakes are certainly a treat.

here's one shiitake, just about ready to be picked


and here are all the logs i innoculated. only 4 of them are fruiting, but when the rest of them catch up i should have quite a few mushrooms.

peace

sena, aiayana and giovanna, playing at our house last tuesday


practicing gymnastics this morning


i love this picture


this is aiyana, a while ago, at the downtown fest, at the Willimantic food co-op. she was listening to Jason the Bumblebee, her favorite artist (other than Rafi), and she was delighted.

sena

peace

update on homeschooling

homeschooling is going really well. the kids love it, they keep asking ed and i to work with them on workbooks and other things, and they're learning really well. sena can almost write her own sentences. and aiyana writes full sentences when you spell every word for her.

they love to draw and write a story about their drawing - i got them each a special book just for that and it's coming along beautifully. yesterday, sena's drawing was of our farm, and her sentence, which she wrote almost entirely by herself was "look at our beautiful farm".
we're doing math type of stuff too. both sena and aiyana love counting the cash in our cashbox when we get home from the market, and that makes for great practice. aiyana usually arranges the ones in piles of 10, while sena does the fives. then sena counts all the 10s, 20s, 5s and 1s. aiyana repeats after her. sena got really good at counting by 10 and by 20. she can also do all the quarters, and she's able to add the whole thing together at the end, with minimal help, and come up with the total for the day. then she writes it down in our record book.

every week we do stuff like this, whenever the opportunity arises. we also get together with clara and giovanna, on tuesdays and wednesdays, and the 4 girls homeschool together. the topic varies, depending on their interests and what works at the time. sometimes, they write stories, other times they make music, or take a walk in the woods and observe things, or make art, and of course there's always lots of play.
we're really lucky to live in a community where homeschooling is more the norm than not, and to have close friends that we can get together with on a regular basis.

last year i was reading tons of books, and any info i could find on homeschooling, and i found myself giving many reasons when someone asked me why we chose to homeschool. now things have changed. i have more experience, and i feel much more comfortable with our choice. the kids love it and are doing well, we love it, everyone is happy. if anyone asks me why i homeschool now, i will only give one reason: because the kids get to be outside. to me, that is most important - for their health and general well being, and for their education. i am convinced that being outside everyday, and being free to play, to observe, to just be, is crucial to health and happiness, and that's reason enough for me to homeschool at this time. the learning always comes by itself anyway, as long as you allow kids to explore and to follow their natural curiosity....

peace

us

halloween at the farmer's market (it was so windy, everyone and everything was blowing away...)

sena and aiyana dressed as beneficial insects: sena, a spider, and aiyana a honey bee.

aiyana usually has major bedhead in the morning

peace

i'm so in love with this land!

one gorgeous afternoon last week, ed took the girls to gymnastics, and i stayed home. johnnie was still working on our new house, but soon after ed left he took a break and came over and we had coffee outside. it was sunny and warm, and we sat on the picnic table, facing the trees that were so bright with autumn colors, as if they were on fire. the sun was setting, and at one point, we both noticed countless strands of spiderweb, stretched though the grass, glittering silver. it felt magical.

johnnie went back to his work, but i could not bring myself to go in the house. the sun was turning orange by now, and it lit everything in vivid flashes of color. i walked around our house and field, just being happy and incredulous at all this beauty. i took some pictures, and as usual, theyt're only a pale expression of the real thing. but i'd like to share them anyway:

peace

dreams

I've been having some rich dreams this past week, which left me with a really nice feeling.
One was just sweet and simple. I was riding my bike with Sena, Aiyana and Julia on the streets of Montreal. I was trying to get back to my old neighborhood in NDG, and as I rode with all three kids piled on my bike, I felt like each street, each corner, each doorway were so familiar to me. I just felt a lot of love for the neighborhood and the city in general, like I was coming home, not only to the city itself, but to a part of myself, and I was really glad to be able to share that with the kids.

In another dream, I was driving with a friend, and we just passed a car and were coming up to a beautiful view of mountains in the distance, with the sun setting behind them. Just then, there was a big dip in the road, and we were going too fast, so the car left the road and was up in the air. I realized that we were going to crash, and my friend said so too. I thought that we would die, and I undid my seatbelt, but then I thought that it's better to leave it on, in case the car starts rolling. As I fumbled around nervously, I suddenly realized that the car was not crashing at all. Instead, we were going up and up, so fast that I could feel it in my stomach. I did not feel nervous anymore, and as I looked down I could see the earth going away from us. Everything looked so beautiful: mountains, green fields, woods, and a meandering, blue river. I felt so deeply how much I loved everything, how beautiful and precious it all is, and I was so moved that I started to cry. I woke up crying, and that feeling of beauty stayed with me the whole day. It allowed me to be more sensitive to my surroundings, and to experience them in a new way.

in case you were wondering

what a hoop tunnel looks like (i've been writing about them quite a bit lately), here are some pictures

there are salad greens, turnips and radishes under these two


and this is (delicious) arugula growing under another

the plastic cover adds about 20F, so some stuff grows well despite the cold fall weather.

and a quick update on the market: we're doing really well, sales have actually improved over the past few weeks, which was surprising given the rain, and cold, not to mention the wind... i am still very excited about the whole market experience, meeting people, hearing their comments, and just the feeling of being there and contributing something positive.

this week, the market will be moving indoors. we'll be at the mansfield library (on RT89), on Saturdays, 3 to 5pm. ed and i will continue doing the market as long as we have stuff to sell, probably through december. i'm not planting anything new right now (except garlic for next season), but we do have plenty of stuff still growing under the covers.

and speaking of garlic, i planted 400 cloves last week, and will do 150more tomorrow. that should be enough for next season, for our own consumption and my sister, for seed garlic, and maybe we'll even have enough to sell at the market.

peace

i like this picture

Sena and Aiyana with Grandma Joyce, at a party

peace

stronger

i'd really like to get stronger. not for looks (this time), but just so i can do my work without tiring so easily, or getting frustrated.

yesterday, i was preparing a bed for garlic planting. i had to put compost on, which involved shoveling the compost into a wheel barrow, out of the compost pile, and then pushing the wheel barrow over to the bed, only about 10ft away. doesn't sound too bad, but i found it pretty tiring. i'd like to be able to do stuff like this easily.

last night i went to my first yoga class in a long time (over 4 years now...). my friend jennifer is leading it,and she's amazing. the atmosphere was beautiful, very relaxing, yet powerful, and the class was long enough to actually feel that i got something out of it (one hour and a half). i think that yoga is one thing that can help me get stronger. so i'm hoping to keep going to this class once a week.

while i was at yoga, the kids stayed home with ed,and things went well. they read books, and carved their pumpkins. when i got home, all the lights were off, but i could see a faint glow inside. this is the image that greeted me as i walked in the door.

i was laughing, but i have to say that it did feel a bit spooky (which the kids were really glad to hear).

peace

gandhi

a few moths ago, sena and i read a book called Neela. it was about a girl growing up in India at the time of India's struggle for independence from the British. sena loved the book, and it was the first time she learned about Gandhi. since then, she occasionally brings him up, and wants to know more about him. she understands quite a bit about the issues between India and England, and she seems fascinated with Gandhi and his role.

yesterday she was asking about him again. she asked me if he's still alive, and i said no. she seemed fine with that. then she wanted to know how he died and other things. ed pulled out the encyclopedia, and he started reading about him. at the end of the passage he was reading, it said that Gandhi was assassinated by a brahmin. when sena heard that, she started wailing, ran to the kithen, and clung to me. we were all surprised by her reaction, especially since she was fine before, when we told her that he was dead. she said that she was really upset about how he had died, that if he had died naturally it would've been different. she was upset, she said, because he could've lived longer, if that man hadn't killed him.

i have to admit that i never cried over Gandhi's death before, but seeing sena's reaction yesterday, put things in such a new perspective, and i had to hold back my tears. we get so immune to killing... yet, it was very touching to see how upsetting this can be to someone whose heart is still open, like sena.

after she stopped crying, sena wanted to talk about why people kill each other. it was really hard to explain it to her, and i found myself saying over and over that it just doesn't make any sense. i tried to talk to her about some situations which may provoke people to act in extreme ways, but it was far from giving a rational explanation. she kept asking me why they don't just talk to each other, or if they can't agree, why they don't just do their own thing. it's so tricky to answer all these really good questions she was asking.

i feel that more that Gandhi's death, what she realized yesterday was a truth about people which i wish she didn't have to learn. i'll always remember the way she wailed, it was so piercing, and it broke my heart. i felt that in a way i let her down. i wish that we adults could live up to the simple and pure visions that children can have of us, and i am ashamed to admit that we are so far from it.

peace

sunny week

this week was so beautiful. after getting snow twice last week, finally, this week we had day after day of sun and warmth. i could not get enough of it. spent all day, everyday, outside. i got a lot done too. i covered almost all the crops, which doesn't sound like much, but it involves a lot of wire and plastic cutting to make hoop tunnels, as well as sandbag making (they are heavy!). the sandbags are used to weigh the hoop tunnels down, and keep them from blowing away in the wind.

we also had a beautiful women's circle. we had it outside, sitting around a big bonfire; as we spoke it, geese flew over our heads, honking in the clear blue sky; when darkness fell, the moon came up as a stunning, thin yellow crescent. we had excellent food at the end - tomasyn brought lebanese food, and my sister made a delicious plum crumble cake to celebrate shandra's birthday. she also brought home-made butter and bread, which the kids devoured. i made a vegetable stew with dumplings, and it came out really good.

ed and johnnie are making progress on the house. they work hard every day, and this week they put in two windows. ed called me one afternoon and he said to come over right away. so i did, and he wanted me to go in the livingroom(-to-be) and check out the view out the new windows. it was amazing. the red sun was setting over our new field, and we had a perfect view of it. we were both so happy about it.
i really am excited about being able to see the field out of the living room windows. next year, i'm planning to plant flowers to attract beneficial insects right in the field, and i think that that will make an even nicer view.

this week i planted some peonies by the new house, and i bought some spring bulbs - snow drops and narcissus, which i hope to get in the ground some time next week.
so that's what's been up with me....
peace

frost

we've already had frost 4 times this fall. this morning, ed said that the spinach was frozen stiff; i'm glad that i covered my lettuces and arugula yesterday. i spent all day doing it, making hoop tunnels out of metal rods and plastic, and looking for stones to hold them down; luckily, brian came over and helped me (a lot). he told me which crops need to be covered immediately and which can wait. and he helped me haul stones out of the woods. i needed a lot of them to hold down the plastic covers which kept being blown away by the wind.
i left the spinach, broccoli raab, kale, turnips and radishes uncovered, but i'll hopefuly get to them today. in any case they're supposed to be able to handle mild frosts.
today the sky is clear and blue, and it's cold, and so beautiful. i love this weather, i dress warm and i can be outside all day.

here are some pictures i'd like to share:

aiyana checking out a praying mantis. we were all very excited to discover it, knowing that it's great at eating crop pest.

i picked all my peppers and eggpants on sunday, before the frost hit. they're not frost tolerant at all.

the girls jumping on the trampoline

this is my rainbow chard. i grew it because it's so beautiful, and it turns out that it's also delicious. but i think it sells on looks alone.

chard leaf

and more chard

some of our chickens getting into their coop for the night

lettuces, before i covered them

spinach!

and more lettuces. people love our salad mix, which has these lettuces, and more, as well as some tatsoi and mizuna in it. i've had many people say it's the best salad they ever had. i love that.

peace