DH and I went over to the house yesterday, ostensibly to give S*, the lady who owns it, an idea of what we would like to keep and use. I think maybe we were actually just free labor, as everyhting that has any usefulness or value she is either taking with her, or giving away to neighbors. It was a frustrating day! We watched her give away all the garden tools, pots and pans, antique linen dish towels, etc, while in the box of stuff for us, she was putting torn out calendar pictures from 2001 that she thought the girls might like because they were pictures of puppies. It would’ve been really funny, except that we were hot and tired, and there is so much to do here, with our own stuff, that we’re completely overwhelmed. And it was B* and M*’s last day here. So yesterday felt like a huge waste of time and energy, and I felt taken advantage of. She wants us there again today, but I plan to avoid being there with her again, as I get depressed and start really questioning the wisdom of buying this place. Going over there when she’s not there is fine; she lives in Atlanta, but is here until Monday the 22nd—closing day.

DH and ED and B* and M* went to Boone a couple of days ago, visiting DH’s lovely daughter and son-in-law and grandboys. They brought back lots of goodies from M* and C*’s bakery, which I found irresistible, and so now my diet is shot all to hell! Back on today—diet, exercise, the whole shebang. It’s hard work losing weight!

We’re waiting to hear from the appraiser today; if he calls, I’ll run into Asheville and pick it up, along with another five gallon carboy so that we can get some of these giant pots off the kitchen table!

DH and his buddy B* are planning to pull fence posts today—both locust posts and metal t-posts—and roll up any of the wire fencing that’s worth saving. All while simultaneously cooking a giant brisket on a slow fire all day. These boys are amazing.

Tomorrow we meet the current owner of the house over there and go through all the stuff that’s there, so that she knows what we can use, and what she should throw away. There are lots of canning jars, and some tools, but unfortunately, the few things that we were really hoping thay would leave, they’re taking. Such as a scythe with a grain cradle, and a crosscut saw, and a horse-drawn plow. All things that we would love to actually use, but that will, instead be gracing the walls and lawns of suburban homes in Atlanta and Knoxville. Oh well; I have to remind myself that these things have serious sentimental value to these folks—this is, after all, their old home place that they’re selling us. I’d still love to have those tools, though!

Monday DH and I bottled the Honeysuckle Rose Mead and made gallons of blackberry jam. The kitchen is redolent with the scents of fruit and yeast; it, unfortunately, is also a huge mess! There are two five gallon stainless steel pots of yeasty blackberry wort bubbling away on the kitchen table, and a five gallon glass carboy of wine fermenting merrily on the cold wood cookstove.

Yesterday our friends B* and M* and their granddaughter A* arrived from St. Pete. This is the first time we’ve seen them in three years, so we feel like we have a lot of catching up to do! It’s so nice to see old friends…

We also had to go over to the new place yesterday, as we had an appraiser coming over. Now, when we first looked at this farm, we knew we were buying the land, and not the house, so much. DH knew the house wasn’t much; he had worked on it a little a couple of years ago. Our hope has been that living in the house would allow us to build a cheese kitchen before having to build a house, but that we would eventually build a new house. After our visit there on Sunday, however, we were having grave doubts about that plan, and the reason I was so depressed was just that I was being forced to rethink it. See, with a cheese kitchen, I can support our family and pay the mortgage, thereby freeing DH up to build a house; I’m not sure how we could afford to pay the mortgage and build a house otherwise.

So anyway. Yesterday we were there without the lady that owns it now, and we realised that she takes up a lot of pyschic space! The house seemed so much bigger, and more spacious without her there! The floors are saggy, the house is only about 700 square feet, and the layout needs to be changed around a great deal, but, hey! I’m married to a carpenter! I think we can do this!

The first thing we’ll do is turn the little dining room addition into the girls’ room, and that second bedroom that you now have to walk through to get to the kitchen will be the new dining room. Floors need to be shored up, and some ceilings removed; oh, and the kitchen has to be completely gutted, but it’s all seeming do-able.

Saturday the girls and I gleaned the D*’s thornless Triple Crown blackberries; we piked somewhere between ten and twelve gallons of berries! Holy cow! DH and I have started another two five-gallon batches of wine: blackberry and elderberry (M* had a bunch of elderberries frozen from last year—the cedar waxwings are harvesting this year’s elderberries as quick as they ripen). That was also enough to freeze a gallon or so, and make a truckload of jam, which is today’s project.

Like a dummy, I also got a killer sunburn. Call me clueless: middle of the day, full sun, sleeveless tanktop, and about two hours picking berries—maybe I could’ve figured that one out?

Yesterday we went over to the new place to meet with the present owner. She started by taking us on a tour, with umbrellas, through the rain and mist, of the cemetery at the baptist church next door. It was decoration day, and the place was astonishing, covered with a sweet and gaudy display of flowers, both real and artificial; it’s a nice thing to honor your beloved dead, I think. She took us grave by grave, and told us who everybody was, and how they were all related to her and to each other. I must confess, I don’t think I’ve retained a fraction of the information she gave us!

Afterwards we retired to the relative dryness of the house, which I had never been in (DH had, a couple of years ago), and I have to say, it was a little depressing. The house is little and old, the floors are sagging, and the layout is atrocious! There are two bedrooms, one of which you must pass through to get to the kitchen! We’ve been hoping that we could live in the house for a few years while we build a cheese kitchen, so that I could be making money while DH built a new house, but now we’re both wondering how possible that’s going to be. Also, we don’t want to pay our good money for quite such a funky house—we have an appraiser coming out tomorrow. Of course if the house appraises as low as we think it will, it means the relative per-acre cost is going to be a lot higher! Land prices here are out of control…

DH and I are running on some heavily stressed out energy today, but if the recent pattern holds, we’ll be all mellow again tomorrow. Here’s hoping!

Hey! I think we’ve found a farm! It’s a gorgeous place, and we’ve been working on it all summer, and I think it’s actually going to happen: we close August 22nd.

It’s a twenty acre farm, which a friend is buying; we’re buying five acres and a house and barn from him, with an option on more, and the use of more right now. There’s a tiny but well maintained house, a nice big barn in pretty good shape, a big woodshed, and a functional root cellar. It has spring water, and pasture, and a huge garden space, and fruit trees and bushes, and so many dogwoods and redbuds. And, I must say, the neighbors are a dream come true.

You can’t imagine how excited we are; we’re absolutely beside ourselves.

Moving ought to be somewhat of an ordeal—we’ve collected a lot of stuff in the nearly six years we’ve been here. Not to mention animals! I hope the girls and I can move most of the little stuff while DH is working, and then have a big moving weekend for big stuff and large animals; we are fortunate to know lots of big guys with big trucks— like my dad, for example.

Anybody want to come to a moving party?

Summer’s over: Today is Lughna Day,
the night stretches.
—Cape Clear saying

Yesterday was Lammas (“Loaf Mass”), or Lughnasadh; the first day of autumn. DH and I, once again, started noticing the tiny little changes sometime last week—it’s getting dark a little earlier in the evening, and light a little later in the morning; and there is a definite though subtle change in the quality of the sunlight. ED noticed Goldenrod blooming, and I’ve been seeing Joe Pye Weed for a week or so. We’ve put the down comforter back on the bed, and this morning I’m drinking my tea while huddled under a wool blanket (it is, however supposed to be in the 90′s again today!).

Lughnasadh (pronounced loo-na-sa) was traditionally an early harvest celebration, or the beginning of harvest season, which gives a clue as to how it may best be celebrated: outdoors, with sweet corn, tomatoes, melons, squash, etc.

From School of the Seasons:

The Celts celebrate this festival from sunset August 1 until sunset August 2 and
call it Lughnasad after the God Lugh. It is the wake of Lugh, the Sun-King,
whose light begins to dwindle after the summer solstice. The Saxon holiday of
Lammas celebrates the harvesting of the grain. The first sheaf of wheat is
ceremonially reaped, threshed, milled and baked into a loaf. The grain dies so
that the people might live. Eating this bread, the bread of the Gods, gives us
life. If all this sounds vaguely Christian, it is. In the sacrament of
Communion, bread is blessed, becomes the body of God and is eaten to nourish the
faithful. This Christian Mystery echoes the pagan Mystery of the Grain God. …more

Happy first day of fall, everybody!