4th week of October 2007

After a bit of a dry spell we received 3 1/2 inches of gentle rain. The greens in the cold frames really needed a good soaking before we add their covers next week. The rain will also give the Swiss chard, mixed greens and spinach I just planted in empty corners of the cold frames a good start for overwintering. We began preparing garlic beds and got 300 cloves planted before the rain, the rest will have to wait till things dry out. My goal is to plant 2000 this fall. The last batch of broilers were just butchered and it feels good to have them tucked away in the freezer. Tonight I actually worked on a knitting project for a bit and am looking forward to more winter activities after a summer of hard work.

We've had time for some fun outings lately. Field trip to David Kline Farm Last week we joined a homeschool field trip to David Kline's farm in Fredericksburg. We took a long hike back to the fence row and through the woods while the children chased crickets and David told stories along the way. After reading his books and Farming Magazine which he edits it was interesting to see the land where he gets his inspiration from. At another event we helped a local church girls club to make corn husk dolls and swags to feed the birds. I enjoy watching the creativity of others in action and the gals were extremely creative in adding cornsilk hair to their dolls. Our next planned outing is to spend a few hours helping our Cornhusk Doll Amish neighbor pick and husk corn so we can have more corn husks for our creations. He was pretty confident his children would welcome some help on the 5 acres of corn that needed picked.

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