Well, time to get stuff done outside. The weather is surely right for it: a high today of 81F (27C), with storms holding off, giving me enough time to get out there and clean things up.
I don't cut back all the flower beds. That would be a waste of time and not especially good for the garden which appreciates additional organic matter. But I do pull out major weeds and I trim things in a way that gives a winter shape to everything. Sticks poking out look unsightly. But many dried perennials are quite pretty, especially under a snow cover.
So after a quick look around...
...I bring in the orchid pots and the rosemary, all of which need to winter over indoors, and then Ed and I sit down to a beautiful breakfast on the porch. Last one out there until April for sure!
And after -- hours of outdoor work. I'd like to say I finished all that I wanted to do, but you're never really done when there is so much land to take care of. I still have fields of weeds I want to attack before the ground freezes. And of course, the beds will need another comb through once all the plants are dormant. But for now, I'm satisfied.
(Toward the farmhouse...)
(Toward the barn...)
It's so warm! But it may rain. Or storm. Or neither.
Snowdrop, do you want to go to the playground? (This is after school. For a moment, she is too hot for her dress.)
She swings, we play "family..."
All in the very warm air of an October afternoon.
At the farm, Ed is chopping up felled trees. He'd been out on my moped earlier. She finds it.
Why is there a basket?
For the produce I bring home from a farmers market.
Do you like to ride it too, ahah?
I do!
Can I try it?
Here's a more age appropriate idea: how about blowing some bubbles?
Such a day! It should end with this light note of a girl catching a bubble, but no: Ed has roped me onto watching a crime drama (Bosch) on Amazon Prime and after a hurried dinner, we run through the remaining episodes of the season, late into the night, guaranteeing nightmares for months to come. But the popcorn was terrific!
I don't cut back all the flower beds. That would be a waste of time and not especially good for the garden which appreciates additional organic matter. But I do pull out major weeds and I trim things in a way that gives a winter shape to everything. Sticks poking out look unsightly. But many dried perennials are quite pretty, especially under a snow cover.
So after a quick look around...
...I bring in the orchid pots and the rosemary, all of which need to winter over indoors, and then Ed and I sit down to a beautiful breakfast on the porch. Last one out there until April for sure!
And after -- hours of outdoor work. I'd like to say I finished all that I wanted to do, but you're never really done when there is so much land to take care of. I still have fields of weeds I want to attack before the ground freezes. And of course, the beds will need another comb through once all the plants are dormant. But for now, I'm satisfied.
(Toward the farmhouse...)
(Toward the barn...)
It's so warm! But it may rain. Or storm. Or neither.
Snowdrop, do you want to go to the playground? (This is after school. For a moment, she is too hot for her dress.)
She swings, we play "family..."
All in the very warm air of an October afternoon.
At the farm, Ed is chopping up felled trees. He'd been out on my moped earlier. She finds it.
Why is there a basket?
For the produce I bring home from a farmers market.
Do you like to ride it too, ahah?
I do!
Can I try it?
Here's a more age appropriate idea: how about blowing some bubbles?
Such a day! It should end with this light note of a girl catching a bubble, but no: Ed has roped me onto watching a crime drama (Bosch) on Amazon Prime and after a hurried dinner, we run through the remaining episodes of the season, late into the night, guaranteeing nightmares for months to come. But the popcorn was terrific!
