Octoberness

After morning chores and a delicious breakfast from the garden (potatoes,chard, onions peppers) I  took a walk around the farm with my camera. It has been too long!

It was a gray, drizzly day, making for muted yet saturated colors.

I am about  a third of the way through cleaning out the garden. Until last Wednesday, this was the tomato patch.

The greens (and purples) patch is still providing us with  kale, chard, celery, salad greens and  walking onions.

Gordita the scarecrow looks a bit faded and rather somber about approaching winter. That's exactly  how I feel.

A few flowers are still blooming -- ageratum by the farm store,

gaillardia out by the pond,

and black-eyed susans in the wildflowers strewn along the septic mound.

Pumpkinhead.

A dose of blue from the bottle tree.

Seeds from the blackberry lilies.

Wild cranberries by the garage.

A few straggling leaves remain on the serviceberries by the garage.

Hydrangeas and the trellis I made last year in the welding class.

Ducks squeezing in as many baths as possible before winter freezes the  pool.

Many of the hens are in moult right now, but these two look pretty good. Egg production is way down with the shorter days; today I only got 3 eggs.

One of the crazy color combo chickens that were Speckles' chicks last summer.

The guinea keets zooming past. When they pause and stretch up their necks to peer around, they look like a family of meerkats.

The cows are getting their fuzzy winter coats, and they are eating a lot more, which means mostly hay, since the grass is pretty much done.

Zinnie has extreme patience with Mojo, and I am so grateful for her  helping to wear off his boundless energy.

Zinnie hunting in the pampas grass.
She found a stash of eggs.

The pond has been very low and green since September, but the water  has risen a bit with the drizzle of rain the past couple days. It is not a very impressive pond, but makes me happy to have a successful tadpole hatchery. We had an abundance of young toads and frogs last summer!

 My walks always  turn into mental "To Do" checklists.  Must get the canopy off the  gazebo, put away lawn furniture and potted plants, mulch leaves, clean adn fill all teh birdfeeders, wash and cover windows with plastic film...

prune back hops vine, mow, weed, set up store for holiday fair, hang  xmas lights, make wreaths...

clear out stuff in garage stall to move the Willys truck and lawnmower in, tune up snowblower, deep clean chicken coop, spread compost on garden, shovel manure from loafing shed, extract honey from the frames, get another load of hay, harvest tilapia in aquaponics pond...

Fingers are crossed for a warm weekend to get some of this accomplished!

Cow Puja! A Cultural/MultiCultural/Agricultural Celebration

Puja ceremony photo by Chris Kasper

We could not have chosen a more glorious autumn day than yesterday for our  Farm Fair & Cow Puja. And with such perfect weather,  we had a tremendous turnout - we think 600 people or more -  enjoying an afternoon on the farm.  The heart of the afternoon was the Puja ceremony, performed in the authentic Hindu manner, by Rahul Kashyap, his wife and several friends. Rahul explained that actually,we are not giving a blessing to the cows, we are taking blessings from them.
When the cows ate their breakfast yesterday morning I had painted a huge butterfly design on LaFonda's  back, which you can almost discern in  this photo, and I covered her collar with sunflowers, some of which are still attached.

Last year, all the cows crowded around Rahul for the jaggery, a crystallized sugar treat that is part of the ceremony,  but this year LaFonda and especially Jitter were a bit more shy.  Incense was wafted around the cows,  red strings draped over their horns, and a red dot dabbed on their foreheads.

After the puja ceremony, we dedicated our  recently mosaic'ed wood-fired oven as the Mike Podulke Memorial Oven.  Mike was an amazing, kind, creative person and most of the mosaic pieces came from him and his wife Stephanie, who had collected them for their stained glass and other art.  Jerry Katzmann led the dedication. (Thank you, Jerry!)

All afternoon, people enjoyed the bands, browsed the artisan crafts, ate  kebabs and kettlekorn, and explored the farm.

Axolotl played Mexican son Jarocho music.

The Nodding Wild Onions featured many original cow songs in their set.

"Ukelele Girl" Linda Drozdowicz and

The Volunteer Tomatoes also filled the air with great music.

So many delightful vendors selling their beautiful and clever wares, such as this upcycled chandelier retrofitted with solar lights for romantic patio dining...

Cheri sold her jewelry, crocheted pieces and famous "LaVermes" worm juice...

Heather Jerdee's  lovely photographs...

Local author Debbie Lampi signed her  just published book, "Shadowplay"...

Laura Rice's gorgeous painted gourds and art...

Beaded jewelry and  bead-trimmed hats , Made by Mara...

Joel's made irresistible hot KetttleKorn...

Kim sold her beautiful fair trade imported Sutra Global by Design textiles and created beautiful mehndi designs on willing arms and hands...

Virginia opened her Poetry Store booth and composed custom verses on a vintage typewriter...

small, mystical, spirit dolls created from soft leather and semi-precious beads, stuffed with a blend of sands from around the world, by artist Mary Rivard...

Brenda demonstrated how she hand-sews the bindings of her beautiful handmade books as her daughter wove...

Nicole's necklaces...

Melissa's Don't Judge a Book bookcovers, nostalgic bags and such created from vintage linens, laces, coffee sacks...

sparkling stained glass, suncatchers and windchimes made by Laurel and Darin from vintage glass nuggets and prisms...

heirloom pumpkins and squashes grown by our neighbor Brian Petersen for sale in and surrounding  the Willys...

Bonnie's recycled garden art found new homes...

as did this horse puppet that was for sale in the Farm store...

and quite a few wonderful poems were created with the giant refrigerator poetry.

And those are just a few goings-on I was able to snap photos of as I raced around all afternoon!

We want to extend our deepest gratitude to the volunteers who made the day go so smoothly and successfully!  I only have this photo of  our joyful entrance greeters - Chris Cross and Betsy Ross.  How did I not get a photo of the intrepid shop keepers - Jonya, Kathy, and Debbie?  We owe you!  Also, a special thanks to Eric for last minute branch trimming, to Jack for making sure Zinnie did not get into too much trouble, and of course to our Hindu guests for performing the Puja.
Finally, THANK YOU to everyone who came to the 3rd Annual Squash Blossom Farm Fair and Cow Puja, supported the artists, musicians and food vendors, gave our cows a bit of special attention, and are helping us make our farm dream come true.  We are so blessed, both by the cows and by you all!