Here’s this year’s Thanksgiving family picture—I feel so lucky to have such a motley crew great family!
ED’s Newly Finished Sweater
ED has been working on a sweater since last winter. She has shorn the sheep, carded, spun and plied the wool, and knitted the sweater. She finished it last night. Isn’t it just beautiful?
A Poem for Late November
Praise the light of late November,
the thin sunlight that goes deep in the bones.
Praise the crows chattering in the oak trees;
though they are clothed in night, they do not
despair. Praise what little there’s left:
the small boats of milkweed pods, husks, hulls,
shells, the architecture of trees. Praise the meadow
of dried weeds: yarrow, goldenrod, chicory,
the remains of summer. Praise the blue sky
that hasn’t cracked. Praise the sun slipping down
behind the beechnuts, praise the quilt of leaves
that covers the grass: Scarlet Oak, Sweet Gum,
Sugar Maple. Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy
fallen world; it’s all we have, and it’s never enough.
—Barbara Crooker
November?
The weather has been gorgeous—yesterday was incredibly lovely—the sun was hot on my face, and the breeze was so warm. Last night we had no fire, and left windows open.
Last year, November was very much a winter month. And it looked like winter here starting September 9th, when we lost all our leaves to the hail storm.
I’m very grateful for this beautiful weather—I’m trying to store it up.
Bernard, aka PsychoSis
Bernard has been skating with a junior roller derby team called the Madison Junior Derby Divas. She went from not being able to skate in March when they started, to actually jamming one round in their last game in Johnson City! I wasn’t the most enthusiastic of parents to start with, but now I am completely won over. She has worked hard, and so have all the other amazing girls, and the coaches, too. I can’t wait for next season to start in March!
Firewood
Autumn Milk
Check out the cream line on that milk! This morning I got just under a quart of cream from half a gallon of milk. The milk itself is—really—like drinking half and half. It’s wonderful!
Maude
Yesterday our friends who live in Virginia came and got Maude. It was hard to see her go, although we know she’s going to a really cushy and comfortable home. It was a difficult decision to come to, but with a farm as small as ours it is important to figure out which animals (or vegetables or fruit or anything else) work, and which don’t. And then to take action on that knowledge. So, for us, Maude’s size and difficulty maintaining body condition on grass alone in the spring and summer made her not the ideal cow for our farm.
We sure are going to miss her silly self, though.