Today, day 7 of the fermented fruit experiment, is also the predicted night of the first frost. To mere mortals, this may mean nothing. To gardeners like me, this means one thing: bring in your tender plants, or lose them. Ironic that the decanting of the wine and the decanting of the garden fell on the same day. It seems meaningful, somehow. Perhaps the waning moon has something to do with it. Poor, bruised moon. How dare we plunge a satellite into her?
The fruit has been removed from the wine, and it will age until Thanksgiving, when we'll try it for the first time. It's going to be a very festive Thanksgiving.
The frost-fearing garden yielded the following goodies today: tomatillos, cherry tomatoes, green tomatoes, rhubarb, Swiss chard, kale celery, okra, onions, leeks, mint, peppermint, rosemary, parsley, thyme, sage, marjoram, lemon thyme, lemon balm, basil (English, Thai and purple), two green cutting tomatoes, and three miniature sweet peppers. Then there were the pots that will come in:
Patchouli and lemon grass, buttercrunch lettuce, rosemary, sage, basil, thyme, marjoram, chives, oregano, Thai basil...
Swiss chard, and tarragon. I have been plowing through the pile tonight, but I believe I'm done for now. Back to it when I have some time tomorrow.----------------------------------
Farming is a full time job, especially when the seasons change. The goats are enjoying a conjugal visit with their one husband George this week; I've never wrestled a stinky buck before. It took a little imagination to separate him from the does for the night (the bucks sleep separately because of the smell in the barn). Their other husband, Herve (AKA Elvis) had to be brought in from HIS visit with the supposedly pregnant growers (he was lonely alone and cried, so Kathy brought him up to visit the girls). The boys like the girls, as is the way of the world, and preferred not to sleep in bachelor quarters, but I eventually won, and left intact, but odoriferous. That's OK. I kind of like the smell of goats, though I did undress and shower IMMEDIATELY when I came home today. I'm hoping for a crop of pretty kids from this week's goat planting. We'll see in the spring! I'm hoping Faith will produce a little Toggenburg/Nubian doe with potentially full udders and good breeding capabilities. Pretty Faith...she seems so delicate for those big bucks. I chose not to breed her to a registered Nubian, even though she's registered, because I'm more interested in working stock than show stock. We'll see how it turns out.
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