the CSA is over for the season. i feel sad but also relieved. sad because i really like harvesting our vegetables, and knowing that people enjoy them. to me, there's no feeling like getting out into the field on a brisk, sunny morning like last tuesday, to pull gorgeous carrots, or beets, or salad turnips out of the ground. relieved because it's so much work, with no breaks at all. the end of last week was really hard. we had so much work to do just to get the field ready for the frost and snow storm that we heard were coming, and did come. we had to cover all the crops we did not want to lose, plus get the new greenhouse ready. on CSA days we had to pick and prep veges, and so none of this work could get done. to top it off, thursday was incredibly uncomfortable being outside. one of those cold rainy days, and we were out there all day, getting numb with cold and being wet all over. at the end of the day, we were serving customers, and whenever we had a break, i ran back to the field to harvest all the peppers before they got hit by frost that night, and ed was runnning like mad trying to cover whatever was still uncovered. we didn't even have time to cook lunch that day, but sena and aiyana made scrambled eggs for us, and warmed up some leftovers from the night before. they're amazing!

so now that the CSA is over i haven't really had time to stop yet, because of the snowstorm we had over the weekend. 7 inches of snow, and a lot of work to do to repair the damage from the storm. we lost power for a day, but that wasn't too bad. we're pretty well prepared for stuff like that, we have heat and can get water from the well if we need to. and we have lenty of food stored up. that feels really good. i really like the feeling of being self-sufficient, or as close to it as we are.

i spent all day today making pickled beets, and storing them, and i am planning to make sauerkraut tomorrow. i love both, and we have plenty of beets and cabbage right now.

when i think about it, i feel really good about the CSA. i am happy that all our major crops did well, and we had them available for people. we did our end-of-the-CSA survey, like last year, and the preliminary results were really good: 93% of respondents said they were very satisfied with the CSA, and 7% said satisfied. nobody said "so-so", or "unsatisfied", or "very unsatisfied". furthermore, 97% of respondents aid they'd be interested in joining our CSA again in 2012. there was more to the survey, and we still have to put the final results together, but so far, these stats are very encouraging and affirming for us.

so that's what's been going on. we really want to take a couple of days off, but so far there are still things that need to be done and cannot wait. like the greenhouses. ed's almost finished building the basic structure of the new one, but he has yet to build the endwalls, and we have to cover it. the old one only needs to be covered. then, i think we can take our little vacation. maybe it will be sometime next week. we'll see how it goes.

peace

a beautiful day in Madison, CT

last saturday, at the end of the market, i really felt that it would be nice to get away and do something different for a day. i knew that if we stayed home on sunday, i'd probably end up working, or at the very least cooking and cleaning. so i suggested that we go to the ocean instead, and everyone agreed. on sunday morning, we had breakfast, i did some dishes, packed a few things for the beach, and we were off. we went to Madison, CT, to Hammonasset Beach, and it was amazing.

i hadn't seen the ocean yet this year. it was a wild windy day, and the sun was shining bright. the waves were crashing on shore, and the sound of water and wind combined drowned out everything else. i felt so happy, and light. it was just perfect, and i felt like this was all i needed. like this was enough. like i could just be with this forever. sometimes, these simple but powerful things are all i need to feel ready to deal with the rest of life again.

here are some pictures from the day:

sena and aiyana, looking at the water when we got there

 waves crashing on shore

 just hanging out: sena and aiyana playing in the sand, and ed cracking walnuts  from the tree in our driveway

there were very few people there. that's one reason i love to go to the beach out of season. it felt like we had all this beauty to ourselves.
at one point i thought that maybe we really are here just to witness this fierce beauty. if we do nothing else in life but that, i think it is enough.

another family picture

 aiyana and i on the dunes

there were a couple of guys surfing with a parachute. with the strong wind, they were going fast and it looked like a lot of fun.

i sat by myself for a while, while ed and the girls were flying their kite. this one gull kept hovering above and around me, sometimes only a couple of feet away. i said hi.

peace

last week it was aiyana's birthday. her name means "eternal blossom" and it fits her well. she is a very creative, sensitive, spunky little trouble maker, and we are crazy about her. sena is the reliable, responsible one, with an unshakable, innate sense of right and wrong. aiyana adds the spice, and makes us all laugh with her nuttiness. we're very lucky.

last week it was also my father's birthday. he turned 68, while aiyana turned 6. i'm a little surprised by both.

Happy Birthday!!!

 and here's a picture of us from the Willimantic Food CO-OP downtown fest last weekend.

the season is slowly but surely ending. out tomatoes, summer squashes and cucumbers are done. we still have hot weather crops like eggplant and peppers and beans, but they will be done soon enough too.
we harvested all of the winter squash already, and brought them in to cure. the potatoes are almost all harvested. the onions and garlic have been in storage for a while. our house and root cellar are getting filled with storage vegetables, and that is a nice feeling. we have yet to harvest the sweet potatoes - hopefully later this week.

we only have 4 weeks of CSA left, and are putting together our end-of-the-CSA survey, as well as an end of the season CSA party.

we're getting a new greenhouse, paid for by a grant from NRCS. ed will be putting it up later this fall, and we'll grow over-wintered crops in there.

i'm happy that the season is slowing down. we certainly need it. harvesting the summer crops was taking hours every day, and while we appreciate the bounty and are grateful for it, there comes a time when we're just tired and need some rest from it. that's one of the nice things about farming. things are always changing. you're never doing one thing for too long, just when you're starting to get weary of being in the greenhouse, for example, it's time to start planting outside. and just as you start feeling tired of so much daily harvesting, the seasons change and the plants die off.

we still have a lot to do, but the pace is slowing down. crazy, but we're already thinking about next season. we've got so many ideas, all very exciting, about which direction to take our farm in. i am finding that owning your own business is certainly stressfull and exhausing, but also really fun. you can do what you want, and be creative, and take it into any direction you want, and that is really exciting. so we'll be doing lots of thinking and planning over the winter....

i have to admit that as much as i look forward to some rest, i am anxious about things slowing down too much. i really need to be outside every day, and i notice that when i'm inside even for a few hours at a time, i get grumpy and feel lethargic. but thank god for the greenhouse, i can be doing something in there no matter what it's like outside, and it's almost just as good.

speaking of slowing down, sena and aiyana and i are going on a day trip to new york city in december. i am really looking forward to that. it will be a great end-of-the-season treat!

peace