The Rain Sets In

I think it has happened: the rain has come. Today's forecast was "partly cloudy" which is giving us drippy, moderately showery skies. From now on, I'll expect water to fall from the sky every day, unless the forecast calls for sunshine. What this means is that the soil is already wet enough to be difficult to work, which I'm told will last until March or so. What are we to do then, when we can't be out working the land?

Yesterday Jay and I measured the garden space immediately adjacent to the house, and marked out where we want to build a deck. He will take these figures and make a grid that we can use to plan the house garden, experimenting with moving paths, building beds, keeping what's there, moving it, cutting hedges back, and all that fun stuff. Then it's a matter of deciding what we're going to grow there, and perusing seed catalogs. The next dry day we will measure another section of garden, just behind the truck box. Slowly we will have a more accurate picture of the space available, and be better able to design gardens for the long term.

Jay is planning to spend some time tinkering with the small engines that aren't working, which he can do under the truck barn roof. It will be cold, but stays quite dry, and it will be nice to have the chipper/shredder, gas weed whipper, and chain saws up and running. I have indoor projects pending, working on finishing several knitting and crocheting things, and we will continue making Christmas gifts as well.

Will these things occupy us all the way to March? Don't know; don't really think so. If you see posts in a couple of months begging for your movie suggestions, please be kind and send lots of advice our way. I am also looking forward to attending more North Coast Parents events, which will take us to Eureka several times a week, and Alma will start her music class at HSU on December 4.

We planted the next set of starts in the ground this morning, just before the rain started in earnest. Hopefully we have enough onions, leeks, carrots, beets, and various brassicas to keep us in vegetable matter until spring. Jay picked wild mustard greens yesterday, which were delicious with roast beef, so if our starts fail, at least we'll have some wild greens :)

Here's a photo of Miss Alma on her second birthday, in her new wagon. The tricycle we bought to go with it was a victim of a hit and run (well, not exactly, but let's just say that Daddy couldn't see the poor cycle from the cab of Oscar) the very next day, and we haven't replaced it yet, but expect photos of Alma speeding along on her cycle soon.