Final Week

This morning, while the outside temperature was hovering near 20 degrees Fahrenheit, it was a balmy 70 degrees in this little piece of heaven on earth:

The barren beds on the left are bunny-ravaged spinach and kale (*sob*). On the right, we have salad mix, arugula, braising greens, and turnips.

It's one week until Thanksgiving. I am on the schedule two more mornings. After that, the work is volunteer only and exclusively as needed until mid-March. Most everything will stop growing, even in the high tunnel here, because of low temps and a day length too short to keep the plants interested.

The earth itself will take a pause.

I was worried earlier about losing my time at the farm. It brings me balance. But that was when there was so much farming to do so urgently and lots of daylight in which to do everything else I wanted to do. Now, though, with much less farming needing to be done, and dwindling daylight hours, I'm feeling that a pause could be a good thing.

What will I do with those 9 hours a week? Hm. I've given it a lot of thought. The wisest course would be to put some sleep back into my schedule. Then I will add regular gym time back as I look around the corner at the triathlon. And some time will probably be spent running the errands that Matthew no longer enjoys: grocery shopping, going to the library, visiting the farm store that doesn't have free popcorn.

And then, come March, I can start again :)