This past week

The other night I woke to the sound of plastic ripping and Luba’s uncertainty. I looked out the window. It was too dark to decide what exactly was eating our trash, but it was huge, and enthusiastic. It bounded off through the garden and back again. Then I realized there were two of them, too small to be bears, too large to be dogs, my sister-in-law had mentioned seeing large wildcats in Maine, but the invaders seems to awkward to be cats.. I held the lamp a little higher and recognized them: Bonnie and Clyde. Our pigs were running wild at midnight. My husband and I threw on boots and sweaters and ran out to collect them. Fortunately, they can’t resist the sound of food pouring into their trough, they came running - all eager and delighted with themselves. It took longer to fix the fence - especially as Luba’s barking had woken Yarrow and one of us had to comfort her while the other worked. It was exciting, and a lot of fun, once the fear of losing all our pork to the coyotes in the woods had passed.

 

I spent the afternoon yesterday strengthening the fence, and extending it again. It’s amazing how quickly pigs destroy all growing things. They’re amazing rototillers, we’re trying to spread them around the kitchen garden, fertilizing and extending it as much as possible before sending them to slaughter. I’m excited to see that garden next year, it’ll be bigger than both our current vegetable gardens, and it will have more sunlight.

We had our first delivery of firewood last night. It isn’t as seasoned as I might like, but it burns long - ideal for winter, and it’s all cut, split, and piled in the yard. The man who sold it to us was friendly and willing to go out of his way, delivering in three loads with a pickup, because we didn’t have access to a pick-up ourselves to haul the wood.

I’ve harvested all the eggplant, we’re supposed to get down into the 20s tonight, too cold for eggplant. They aren’t really getting any bigger anymore, it’s too cold. This morning I have 15 little eggplants sitting on the potting table beside my beets and radishes. I’ve no idea what to do with them all. I’m still looking for a good recipe for canning them - water-bath only, I don’t have a pressure canner.

We’ve been sick the past couple days with colds, not Yarrow, I guess she’s got a better immune system what with all the extreme nursing she’s been doing recently. We’re eating a lot of soup and drinking tea to drive away sickness.

I made an autumn altar, full of all the things I’d like our season to be full of: wood, food, financial security, faith, and beauty.