Last week, Jim and I traveled east, far from the farm and even farther from the wide-open prairie where often an hour or longer passes between one car rumbling by and the next. We spent a lot of time crowded into subway cars being shuttled from one crowded big-city venue to another. It was a fun trip, but it’s good to be back where quiet calls home.It is hard to believe November is upon us already; November, the month when winter calls ahead to let us all know she’s coming for an extended stay. By noon, this morning’s brightness gave way to a blanket of grey downy. There is a biting wind now and all of the trees, except the four Cedars, have lost their canopies. There are still several hundred ducks floating in the lake, presumably safe now that the hunters have turned the barrels of their guns toward whitetail deer.
Jim, in his blaze orange vest, has spent the day mowing our vineyard. The grass we laid as seed on Labor Day is plush and as green as Ireland. The trim today should keep snow mold at bay. When he puts the mower away, it will be time for the two of us to take graph paper, pencil and ruler to sketch our trellis plan. Drawing the vineyard plan now will allow us to price out our trellis materials and get our order placed for spring delivery. Once the ground softens come March, we’ll need to make fast work of cutting rows and sinking line posts.
Other late fall projects include stowing the hammock and Adirondack chairs in the barn, running snow fences along the gully near our new row of spruce trees, finishing the chicken coop, installing the chimney for the wood stove, which will heat the stable, winterizing the power equipment, and clearing the frost-bitten flower stalks from the garden. It will be January before we can turn our attention to farmhouse chores such as painting the ceilings and maybe, maybe, redoing the bathroom.
So, dear friends, we’re back at it at Four Cedars, Jim and I. Back from vacation. Busy as usual, but never too busy to give you an update. Thanks for checking in.
