The season continues to wind down here on the farm, and though it will be hard to leave here after next week, the cold cold mornings are making it that much easier to say goodbye to trailer life and
frozen fingers and toes. We've gotten a fair number of frosts already, so we're just harvesting the very heartiest of roots and greens still. We've gotten all of our cover crop seed in the ground, tilling under crop residue and broadcasting a mix of rye and vetch. We did our last chicken slaughter on Friday, and it started snowing midway through the process! Thankfully, we were able to move the evisceration station into the half-emptied tomato greenhouse, which was warmer and protected from the very gusty wind.
This weekend also brought some last-minute visitors to the neighborhood. Four of my six blockmates (roommates) from Eliot came up to spend what amounted to about 24 hours at Katherine's parents' house in Canaan. We had a great visit, catching up on over three years of adventures since graduation. I was able to do my favorite thing, which is cook food for people I love, made even more special by the fact that I also helped grow the very food I was cooking. I sent them all home Sunday afternoon with bags of leftovers, jars of stock, and bellies full of chicken noodle soup. Sunday morning, they came to the farm to see what I've been doing for the past seven months, and to try their hands at milking Patches. Zach, Nina, and Allison both had a ball milking and giving Patches some love, and Katherine was entertained enough just watching and snapping photos. We all decided that three years is much too long to wait for another reunion!
Thinking about: long drives, soup weather, old and new friends
Reading: Mostly NYT Monday Crossword puzzles, but also Wes Jackson's New Roots for Agriculture, John Cheever's Oh What a Paradise it Seems
Eating: roast chicken with carrot and radish salad, roasted delicata squash, sauteed kale and garlic, and roasted beets and celeriac, chicken noodle soup
