Autumn

My favorite season has always been Autumn. The glorious colors, crisp air, crunch of leaves, sweaters and of course Halloween. It's a cycle of life, the time where many things start to die off with visits from Jack Frost. 

Only the cold hardy vegetables are still growing up in the fields except I'm babying some beans and young beets. Also there are plants in the little greenhouse. The part of Autumn which I am finding difficult as a farmer is the death of the animals. I made sure this time I was there for the pigs, chickens and the turkeys. I always watch and thank them making sure they are well taken care of. They've all had good lives and this part to me is very important. It was a nearly instant death for all with little to no stress on the animals. Still I took it pretty hard, especially the pigs. Thankfully a wonderful man helped me through saying to keep my chin up and how great it is that I care.

Running this farm on my own with 2 boys is a daunting task. I'm still working on the greenhouse and just when I really can't handle anything else, torrential downpours hit and my driveway washes out again. Yep that day went from bad to worse to horrible. 

Each day I'm picking away at what I can, never seeming to catch up but I've been told "You can only do what you can do. Stop expecting too much of yourself. You are doing great." This gets me back on my feet and ready to go at it again. 

I'm very happy to have sold all the chicken, most of the turkeys are spoken for and over half of the pork is sold with hopefully lots more interest in the remainder. 

My kids are doing awesome. Navarre is adjusting to the new routines and Anthony is now in soccer twice a week. It's a real joy to see how happy they are here and that makes it all worth it. 

Tonight the boys went up to the barn with me to collect eggs and close up. We also went up to the garden and checked on row covers. On the way out, we saw deer tracks. OK, lets deal with it. I took the boys for a walk around the fence line. It was getting dark but with the sunset we managed to find 2 breaks, one very bad on a corner. We went back down to the workshop and I found my tools. I gave Anthony the flashlight and Navarre the drill to carry. Each were talking away, a little nervous out there but knew they were fine with Mom. 3 wires had been knocked off at the southwest corner. I was able to refasten the top one and temporarily secured the other two until I fix them tomorrow. 

As we all came back down, the topic was "What is the cat hunting tonight?" We got inside, up to brush teeth where I pulled out Navarre's loose tooth. Then off to bed with them looking forward to a visit from the tooth fairy. 

With the nights getting cooler I'm wondering when to start up the wood stove. Wood and oil are still on my to do lists. As for now it's down blankets and fun fur quilts keeping us warm. At least the sun still has some heat and I'm really enjoying the stars at night. Everything is going to be great, just have faith.