☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ Could this be the End?

There is a definite shift this week.  Cooler air, shortening days, things are slower to ripen.  I may just be able to catch my breath.  Well, atleast I can stop canning tomatoes.  I have opened my garden to a couple of friends to come glean the Great Wall of Tomatoes. It is hard for me to leave a vegetable unharvested.  I have an intense compulsion to put up everything even when I already have enough.  I have more than enough!  Sharing and letting them do the picking allows me to let go of some of that obsession.  I have gardened too big again this year.  I continue to search for a good balance.  I am happy to share but, by growing too much, other things in my life are neglected...including my very own body!  So as the harvest continues and I check things off the final Grand Garden List I am also taking careful notes on how I can do less next year.  I only managed one beach day this summer!  What's the point of living near the coast and not swimming in the ocean?

 Soooo Many Tomatoes!

 Some Potatoes Harvested ~ More among the weeds

Another fall activity, DH mowing the back field so it remains a field.  

It has been more than 2 years since that last mowing.  

He does enjoy his tractor time!

Here is a haul that actually took very little of my time.  Just 2 hills of each produced all of these Butternut Squash and Long Pie Pumpkins.  My first time growing these pumpkins.  I am excited to have found so many while I harvested....lots of weeds among the vines!  They are supposed to be good keepers and great for pie!  Here is a link to FEDCO Seeds with a description-->  http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/search.php?search=long+pie&item=1723&inde

Went out a few nights ago looking for the Aurora.  No luck but still very beautiful.  

A moment of stillness that was much needed during the frenzied fall.  

One of my most favorite bits of writing ~~~  

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

*Grateful*

I have needed quiet lately.  There has been a shift.  A dear member of our community passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack late last week.  He was only 62, a loving father, husband, & brother. One of a trio of brothers who adds light and joy to our neighborhood.  A wondrous craftsman.  A friend to many, A man that will be truly missed.

I am a professed hermit, I do spend a lot of time alone...but not completely.  I have lived in this area for 28 years now.   Lives intertwine, kinship is created.  There are gatherings for fellowship, fun, politics, or lending a hand.  There is true connection here.  It is hard for me to explain.  I grew up in the suburbs of Seattle.  I know what it feels like to be anonymous.  We did not know our neighbors that were a stones throw away even after living in the same house for 15 years.  Here I feel "well" known.  There are so many folks I could turn too if ever I have a need and so many that have given me a hand without my request in times of challenge.  These same folks respect a persons privacy and ones need to be enclosed in a private spot and will just leave you be.  

As our community prepares to celebrate this man's life and support his grieving family I feel my Self sad but deeply, deeply grateful to be here among so many extraordinary & humble folks.  There is a sense of deep love flowing.  There is gratitude for the life that is emerging all around as the winter world wakes up.  Spring is the perfect time to experience the continuation of life.  

The work of life goes on.  I plant, things grow, birds nest...my heart is with my community and the one who is with us no more.  

The world is always full of trouble and always full of joy.  I choose joy~~~~

Raspberry Work

Baby Spruces Planted

Garlic Emerges 

Ravens are Nesting!

I leave you with a poem that always brings me comfort..

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

Wendell Berry