November in a Nutshell

November is usually my least favorite month, so cold and dreary, days getting shorter and darker.   This November has whizzed by so fast, it might be the first year I have ever wished it was longer. Life has been too hectic to post lately, so I will try to do a hodge-podge blog entry to catch up.

There are always so many preparations to complete for winter -- raking, packing away lawn furniture and garden  gear and hoses, and stockpiling hay (an expensive challenge this year), harvesting turkeys and the last of the garden, covering the cold-weather crops in the greenhouse, winterizing the beehives, to mention just a few of the tasks.  This fall we had an additional ambitious project - constructing a more weather-proof enclosure around the fish gazebo and connecting it to the barn. Rog accomplished this over several weekends. I intend to write a more comprehensive post about the  aquaponics and fish gazebo developments, but this photo gives you an idea of how cool it now looks!

Since the turkeys and a few roosters were harvested, the coop seems so much more spacious.   We are down to about 50 chickens, three ducks and the goose in the coop, plus another dozen chickens who choose to rough it, living in the loafing shed with the cows. These little chickens are some of the chicks who hatched in mid-September.

You would think we would be done with preserving by now, but I have been making many jars of elderberry-sumac jelly for Kickstarter rewards, and also dealing with the boxes of green tomatoes that had been stored in the basement to ripen.  This was the final big bunch of tomatoes that successfully ripened, simmered with herbs and garlic into pizza sauce, now in the freezer.

Fulfilling the Kickstarter rewards has taken a big portion of my time lately,  bottling, packing and mailing jars of honey and jelly, music CDs, notecards, truffles, t-shirts.  And I have so many yet to go!  Some of the rewards, such as pizza garden  plants,  paintings, and dinners on the farm, are not scheduled until spring, but one supporter requested her reward, a painting, now so she could give it as a gift. The painting is a large, whimsical portrait of her friends’ beloved dog who had recently died (the fork is part of a story).  Happily, they liked it!

Two weeks ago, we gussied up the barn for a concert.  Cadence and Israel were performing with Zenen Zeferino, a well-known son Jarocho musician from Veracruz, Mexico, as a benefit concert  for Zenen’s mother, who has cancer.

They were  joined by cellist  Nickolai  Kolarov and percussionist Martial Hangbe, all playing together for the very first time that night.  What a great audience, great food, great music!
“Guacamaya” performed at Squash Blossom Farm

The Farm Store will be open for a Holiday Open House next weekend (Dec 6,7,8)  and  I have been sewing “Warm Hands, Warm Heart, Warm Mittens" made from felted wool sweaters to sell then.  I have sewn over 20 pair so far, but many sold right away when I posted them on Facebook. Must. Keep. Sewing.  I am also making tote bags from colorful chicken feed and wild bird seed sacks.

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents and both daughters here - guests for whom we are extremely thankful.  We feasted on one of our home-grown turkeys and other farm bounty.

Today, Rog and I helped move furniture and boxes up to Sara and Cadence’s new apartment - a vintage south Minneapolis duplex (it brought back vivid memories of the places Rog and I first lived together.) So sweet to have both daughters back in Minnesota.

Tonight we enjoyed more celebration - Thanksgivikkah with Don and Betsy’s family, complete with menorah-lighting and latkes.

Our life is so rich with family and friends, furry and feathered critters,  farm and fun. We are practically bursting with gratitude!

Snow!

Snow!! It’s not much, but it is sticking, at least for the morning. Even though I always feel a bit depressed during the dismal days of November, anticipating the long, cold winter, I do get a surge of giddy, childlike happiness when first the snow falls.

We spent all weekend preparing the yard and  outbuildings for winter, but aren’t quite ready - hope we get one more warm weekend before winter settles in.

After a week of battling with the  lawn mower not starting, I was finally able to finish leaf sweeping  Saturday. We have so many  deciduous trees that the leaves get pretty deep and smother the grass if not removed.  You can never get them all - they are still falling - so some will remain to replenish the soil.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the house and fence completely painted before winter. Before the leaves fell  you couldn’t really tell, but now it s going to bug me every time I take this walk. Oh well, that project will wait for us until spring.

After chores, the dogs and I took a little walk through the woods and prairie.  I especially like the first snow because there are still bits of vivid color bursting through the white.

Zinnie on the big rock--such a good lookout spot.

It  is a very good year for wild cranberries.

The barns barely visible through the trees.

These Frosty Mornings

This morning’s sky was so dramatic with the sunrise and contrails, I had to go outside take a few photos.

The sun rises so much further south now, just 6 weeks after the fall equinox, when it appears at the end of 75th Street. Pretty soon we won’t be able to see the sunrise from the house because it will be behind the garage.

The pasture was silver with frost.

In the vegetable garden, colors are  muted and textures accentuated.

Purple cabbage glows golden in the sunrise.

These radishes are almost ready to harvest, but not quite. Hope the ground doesn't freeze for a couple weeks yet.

Lacinato kale can withstand the frost. I intend to transplant  some of the kale and Swiss chard into the high tunnel today.

Zinnia remains.

More dried, frosted zinnias.

A cabbage leaf on the grass.

Weeds along the lettuce.

Cocoa waiting for Zinnie and Nutmeg to burst out of the pampas grass - a favorite place for dog hide-and-seek.

A new post light (made from an old 1970’s lamp with a solar light inside) for the driveway fence, etched in frost.

My windshield message to Rog melted away as his truck warmed up before heading off to work.