End of Season Soliloquy

The party’s over for Summer, 2024….. no shouts coming up from the river, no stray soccer balls bouncing into the flower beds, no one studying the wall of cups, trying to choose just the right one for the day, the ping pong table is quiet, children aren’t vying for being the next to churn ice cream….. we haven’t seen a bear or bear poop for two weeks around the dining room, and we’ve taken the electric fences down from around the apple trees. Yes, it’s a quiet time on the farm….. but no less busy. Besides trying to put together next year’s schedule, we’re looking forward to our Pizza and Wreath Extravaganza the Saturday after Thanksgiving…… while canning and drying tomatoes, harvesting and pressing apples, prepping the garden for cool and cover crops, pounding nails, painting paint, fixing all sorts of little maintenance issues in camp and around the farm. I thought we would begin jamming yesterday….. BUT, lacked the needed pectin. Jars and lids we have…. sugar and fruit we have….. and now pectin on Tuesday. Transitioned to Pear Chutney, Eggplant Relish, Tomato BBQ Sauce, Plum Chutney, etc., things that don’t require added pectin.

Swallow Rock, sans people

Canvas chairs, devoid of human contact....

2024…. a beautiful summer season. A Whiskey Weekend in March; a writing retreat in April; Lynn Dee’s 70th Birthday Party in May; field trips for Willits 2nd Graders and the Charter 5th; the Mendocino County Bar Association Retreat; 3 ArtStays; a 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration for Geri and David in August; a Yoga Retreat in September…… but with the majority of time spent with family camp groups from early June through Labor Day.

Below, pictures from the 50th Wedding Anniversary….. at which the grand children figured prominently! Swimming, crafts, an evening “Beatles Sing-a-long” with Geri’s sister Jenny at the piano, and an afternoon of Petanque with the area in front of the mosaic converted into a professional court (we moved the Kubotas)

It’s truly amazing how people on Youtube record so much…. I can’t seem to photograph even a fraction of what goes on here! Below, photos from our September ArtStay….. Natural Dyes, Baskets from Nature. Kate’s Oak Woodlands I know was photographed…. but I don’t have any of them! And as for August, here’s the ONE I managed to take! The one with the glorious quilts….

Here are two long-time Family Camp Groups…. Each takes over most of the camp. We have a bit of leeway with the houses…. but mostly, the camp is theirs….. Old Week 5, and the Grand-Daily Group. I get a real kick out of seeing them year to year…. the kids grow so fast!

Right now, end of September….. tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers, winter squash…..

Kashaya’s English Muffins….. yummm!!! The best you’ll ever have, truly! At least that’s what we’ve been told. Unfortunately, her starter fell out of the refrigerator about a week ago… the glass broke into a bajillion pieces. She began anew, however…. and has a batch rising right now! Tomorrow she’ll put them on the griddles…..

Cast iron is hard to beat for cooking these delicious sourdough morsels....

Trying hard to do bouquets each week for our Natural Food Store in Willits…. needless to say, it’s a challenge. They want cheap, local bouquets. I love doing them, because I know it makes people happy to purchase something that isn’t outrageously priced. However, it takes a bunch of time. When I make them small…. they want larger. Driving them into town for the amount I get, isn’t a really good business plan. We’ll just see how it goes for next year…..

Most of our apples have been harvested. We had to pick some quite early, because of the bears. A group from the Waldorf School (all boys but for one girl) purchased an auction item we donated…. a day at the river, with apple pressing and ice cream making. It was lovely, really, but answering all their questions was exhausting!

Kashaya did the rest of the apples today…. earlier than we had planned. Some have gone into the freezer for juice (we’re thinking mulled cider for our Pizza and Wreath Event), but most has gone into 50 gallon barrels for vinegar.

If you enjoy a good, stout, sharp vinegar, you will certainly LOVE ours! We plan to bottle it (the first batch is 2 years old!), and have it for sale at Thanksgiving time. I don’t think it’s feasible to ship it….. but we should have it on hand next summer. It’s natural, not pasteurized, organic. And talk about it cleaning your mouth… woohee!

Apples on the tree, apples into the grinder, juice coming out of the press, mountains of boxes that used to contain apples, with the left-over pulp in front.

Lucky are we when folks return to the farm…. Sam worked with us here prior to Covid, and has since been on Whitby Island, farming, cooking, designing, learning, teaching….. she painted our original “General Store” Sign. This visit, she brought Max, another artist with her, and together they painted a much LARGER GENERAL STORE sign…. which still needs a few coats of varathane…. but will then replace the old sign, which will end up on the wall…. still visible. She has her own portable pizza oven on Whitby, and helped us with a pizza party while here….

Ranunculus plants ready to go into the garden…. but essential to wait until the end of the week…. after the next hot spell.

Looking forward to the DEBATE on Tuesday….. this week there shouldn’t be a conflict with Trivia Night at the Brewery. Hooray!

Get out and vote, for goodness sake!

In hopes of posting a bit more frequently…… but, we’ll see about that….