A snapshot of some finished and in progress late summer projects.
Summer is winding down. Today (Sunday as I write this), our family was very excited to turn the page on our calendars. As I wrote about a few weeks ago, August is … challenging. I think I forgot, amongst all those challenges, to mention that it is also just plain exhausting. The excitement of the growing season has waned, and we rush around trying to do as much as possible before summer ends — play outside, put up food, weed the fall plantings. Busy busy bees!
But, September … September is divine.
At least, September is usually divine. This Wednesday is Dottie’s first birthday (how did that happen?), and the very happy occasion has us reflecting some on last September and last summer/fall in general.
Oh, what a different time. Dottie was, for better or worse, born into a very stressful moment in our farm and family. An understaffed, over-stressful summer, followed by a fall of intense personal challenges — new baby, sibling adjustments, and of course Casey’s melanoma diagnosis and surgery.
Today, our neighbor came to harvest this year’s oats, and as we watched the combine drive through our fields, Casey reflected on his memories of drilling them last fall — how he was working up that ground after the melanoma diagnosis and he remembers wondering whether we’d harvest them at all. Certainly, we assumed we would, but in such scary uncertain moments, one can’t help but consider the other possibilities. But, there we were — a happy, healthy, [mostly] relaxed family of four, watching a friendly neighbor turn our crop into food for people and animals.
Four kinds of prune plums, lined up for comparison.
It has been a good year. We are in good spirits. Casey and I have the emotional and physical energy to once again be filling our pantry with canned goods. Our “baby” is a running toddler, who is interested in everything in our world. Our “big” boy is an ever-growing preschooler, who is so spoiled by growing up on the farm that he takes bites out of freshly harvested Honeycrisp apples and then throws them from the truck where he is sitting (if there is any way for our kids to be spoiled, we are happy it is with fruit).
The season is turning. School starts this week. The rains last week were a preview of the rains to come (and stay) soon enough. We are content to be turning this corner — to be turning our energy toward putting up food. The cooler is filling with all kinds of fruit that is already mature and ready to be picked; the greenhouse is full of curing onions; and before the end of the month, we will begin bringing in the big loads of veggies to store.
Hello, September. We are ready for you. We are ready for your joys and your work. We are ready for the rest you offer us at your end, when the days will be shorter and mornings will grow crisp. We are ready to rejoice in your golden sunlight, and savor your most abundant offering of foods. We are grateful for a year of joy and the return of some sanity and growth and so much more.
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Basil
- Lettuce
- Red plums
- Beets
- Tomatoes
- Kale
- Beans
- Carrots
- Summer squash & zucchini
