This dark, wet, and cool season has slowed the pace of the garden. On Saturday we will have a work party at the community garden to get all of the gardens and shared spaces cleaned up for the season. For the most part my plot is in cover crop. A couple of peppers, a tomatillo, several tomatoes under cover, and a few shell beans remain. The refrigerator now fills with beans and cheese, while the crisper holds but a few carrots, beets and peppers. It is time to start shopping at markets again, and that is a strange thing to face after months of not purchasing produce.On the farm, I’m experiencing the change in weather acutely. The scale of the rural landscape is so different than the city where the flaming color of turning leaves is interrupted by the built environment, and where the sound of rain drops isn’t heard so much as the sound of car tires sloshing through the water filled streets. On the farm, I see acres and acres of yellow as the grape vines turn on the gentle hillside across the valley. I see bands of bright green where fresh weeds shoot up from recently tilled fields. There are giant patches of dusty air where the filbert orchardist has begun the harvest. At night, I think I may actually be able to hear rain fall through a silent dark sky; nothing more than the sound of drops hitting tree leaves and the soft dirt of the land.
Posts
