I love how fall brings green back to our fields in a major way (via cover crops) and also orange to the trees. Such a beautiful contrast is formed between the two.
As always, it feels that so much has happened in a week of time. We’re busy laying plans for next year, tidying up loose ends from summer, and still keeping up with our regular CSA and restaurant harvests.
However, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Or, so it has been said! So we stayed away from the farm for two nights to experience a fall family adventure.
You know, we live in a beautiful place. Check out that photo above (taken this afternoon after the mists had finally burned off). Some days I just can’t even believe how blessed we are to live here, amidst the vitality of all these growing things. Watching the seasons pass over our farm each year is a never-ending joy. And yet, leaving every now and then — to visit other beautiful places — sure provides a lovely respite and important perspective on our home.
We also enjoy seeing places that are more wild than ours. I’ve written at length about the wildness that shares this space with us, in so many forms. But much about our existence here feels gentle. Not tame — by no means — but very hospitable to our presence. I like that feeling in a home. But there are other kinds of (deeper?) wildness that stir our hearts and souls too.
So, for our recent get away, we went to the mountains, to stay in a cabin at Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center. I know many of your are familiar with this gem of a place. (In fact, we ran into CSA members on our hike in and ran into the parents of former CSA members on our hike out!) But this was our first visit, and we found ourselves sucked into the magic that comes from hiking into a remote destination (thankfully the staff of Opal Creek drove out to pick up our gear and food, so the hike was a light one). We felt our worries and cares slip away as we entered the soft green light of the old growth forest.
The main activity of our stay was mushroom hunting. In fact, that’s why we went! Long-time readers will know that we got hooked on mushrooms two years ago (2013 — a phenomenal year for mushrooms). We still have so much to learn and were excited to visit a very different ecosystem to see a wide range of mushrooms first-hand. Every mushroom we find teaches us more about their anatomy and identification!
But, of course, mushroom hunts are really just a good excuse to go walk in the woods, which we did plenty. We also enjoy quiet time in our cozy little cabin (where no to do lists called us to tasks beyond rough housing with the kids and reading by the fire).
I thought I’d share some photos from our fall adventure:
The ancient, towering conifers are really the most awe-inspiring part of Opal Creek, but when I went to take photos I found myself drawn to the glorious fall color on the maples scattered through the forest. This trail under vine maples aglow was especially magical.
Farmer Casey got to put on his OTHER boots to explore trails and climb around on rocks around Opal Pool.
And the mushrooms! So many shapes, sizes, colors!
The kids were especially proud of these finds, which were right outside our cabin.
In between hikes, we rested and learned about our mushroom finds.
There were also lots of fallen leaves to pick up! There’s a reason they call this tree a “Big Leaf” maple!
The “town” at the center is called Jawbone Flats, and it is an old mining town. Old relics still hang out along some of the trails. Good backgrounds for making goofy faces.
Whoa! Rare Mama Katie sighting! I put our camera on a tree stump and used the timer to get this sweet family shot — one I know we will cherish for years to come!
And, now we are back. And, so happy about that. Really, the best part of leaving the farm is returning. We’ve found in recent years that these little mini-vacations are absolutely essential to our family’s happiness and well being, and the joy of coming home is a renewing feeling for all of us. We returned with replenished love to this place. Something about leaving to visit other magical places stirs that love in us in wonderful ways.
Today we jumped right back into the routine of homeschooling and farming — harvesting for the restaurants as well as finishing the CSA harvest. When the mist finally lifted after lunch, the kids and I wandered out to pick some field corn for a project we may do (stringing necklaces with corn kernels). The walk through two fields felt so short and gentle after our “big” hikes all around Opal Creek (by kid standards, very big indeed). Dottie even brought her baby doll in a stroller:
Dottie pushes Rosie through a cover cropped field.
We’re back in our gently wild place. Our place.
We hope you can join us here this weekend for our fall Pumpkin Patch CSA Open House. More details below. In the meantime, enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Pumpkin Patch CSA Open House this Sunday*! Join us on the farm Sunday afternoon, 2-4 pm, to visit, see your farm, and pick your pumpkins! As far as activities, we’ll have an apple variety tasting, a farm tour led by Casey at 3 pm, and a raffle for a free Oakhill Organics tote bag (all attendees will be entered!). We hope you can join us!
Directions to the farm: Take HWY-18 to the Dayton exit. Drive through Dayton and stay on Wallace Rd / HWY-221 for about seven miles. Turn LEFT onto Grand Island Rd. After the bridge, turn RIGHT onto SE Upper Island Rd. Our driveway is immediately on your LEFT. We’ll gather by our house, which is the brown 2-story one toward the back-right of the driveway. Questions? Get lost? You can call me: 503-474-7661
* And please note that this event is on SUNDAY, October 25 — in last week’s newsletter I mistakenly put a different date.
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
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I’m not sure if this photo can do justice to the massive size of this garlic clove I planted.
Apples
- Salad mix
- Peppers — Sweet, hot, and green!
- Spaghetti squash
- Acorn squash
- Tomatillos
- Roma tomatoes
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Carrots
- Beets
- Potatoes
- Garlic — We finished planting next year’s garlic today! We saved the best variety for last. Today we planted all of our “Music” garlic seed — this stuff is amazing. The cloves are so big that each large head only contained four to five cloves. Which of course means that this is expensive seed for how many heads we will get. Ten pounds of seed didn’t even plant one of our 200′ rows. But sometimes you just have to splurge for something really cool.
And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:
- Eggs — $6/dozen
- Ground beef — $7 for 1 lb packages
- Lamb — So much! We have a wide range of cuts available! Roasts, shanks, and ground lamb are all $8/lb. Lamb chops are $12/lb.
- Stewing hens — $3.50/lb
- Ham — $12/lb ~ No nitrates added! Deliciousness for your fall holiday meals!
