Leaves

We aren’t done yet, but it is slowing down. The past few days have been, most definitely fall. There were days in October that felt like summer and I was loving it. The transition between seasons, uncertainty of weather and therefore clothing decisions, is actually one of my favorite things. I am the consumate under-dresser. I dress for the warmest possibility of any given day and hope that I am not terribly wrong. I am often happier chilly than over-heated, so fall is perfect for me. It was only in 2008 that I bought myself a winter coat after half-a-dozen New England winters. Once at farm school, I bought myself quilted coveralls, which, of course, I can only stand to wear if it is close to zero out. They hang in our front hall, reminding me soon it will be cool enough, and I will want, some days, to stomp through the snow from house to farm, on a freezing winter dawn, to let the chickens out, or at dusk to shut them back in.

This post is supposed to be about garlic & leaves.

The garlic planting was superb. So full of old friends, and new friends, and laughter and hard-work that we finished the job all too soon and ended up having our potluck lunch, instead, as brunch.

Aged 1 – whatever we joyfully prepared and planted garlic, lay burlap in the lanes, told the garlic to grow.

Then we ate.

The next weekend, we were joined by some of our farm family to mulch the garlic beds. Last year we used straw. Straw is expensive and tends not to compost itself over the course of the year. This time we chose leaves, which are free, decompose nicely into the soil over the course of the season, and look beautiful to boot. Our neighbor farmer, Fran, who is constantly on our side, told us he had “a bunch” of leaves on his already in piles and we should feel free to take them. It was more like a small leaf mountain range. A child’s fall paradise. All we had to do was scoop them into the truck, back up over the beds, scoop them out, pat them down, repeat, repeat until the whole thing was done.

Mulching should always be this much fun.

So the garlic is done. Planned, planted, put to bed. It is sleeping under a quilt I am majorly envious of, in a field that is still producing delicious broccoli and bok choy, kale and carrots. The farm is still growing even as we start to plan for year two.

Ariel