I can't ever remember having such a mild start to fall or a summer garden that lasted as long as this year's garden did. It's hard to even say when summer ended and fall started. It really has been a beautiful time on the farm. I spent a lot of time enjoying the garden this year and all of the rainbow colors and harvests. I find myself becoming more of a homebody as time goes on. It's hard not to want to just stay on the farm when we've worked so hard to build our life here. I had an amazing summer with my pumpkin patch. I let it take over the garden which was really fun, and I started calling it Seymour (any Little Shop of Horrors fans out there?) The tomatoes finally came in big at the end of summer, and I loved the variety of shapes and colors that I grew. A fun new thing I tried for the first time this year was cucamelon (also known as Mexican sour gherkin). They are a one-inch long cucumber that look like a watermelon on the outside, but they look and taste like a cucumber on the inside. I made a bunch of refrigerator pickles with them, and I think they are the most adorable little things ever! In addition to getting in lots of garden time, there was also lots of time spent with the feather family, along with a little silliness as there always is. That comes with the territory when you're a crazy chicken lady, and I'm so grateful for the joy the chickens and turkeys bring me every day.
A farm project that 's been on the to-do list for years that we finally completed this summer was to build a big barn for the turkeys. The hubs did an amazing job building it, and it feels so good to see the turkeys enjoying a much larger covered space now that the rainy fall weather has arrived. Another exciting project that kept me really busy this summer was that I had a large wholesale account with a local farm on Sauvie Island that operates a big seasonal farm store where they sell not only produce they grow, but also products produced by other farms in the surrounding area. I sold over 1,200 bars of soap, and it was really exciting to see how well my soap was received! After a busy summer filled with lots of projects, I'm ready to start hibernating by the wood stove, and dream of next year when we'll do it all again.
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