Shifting Perspectives

From atop the seedling house, a counterclockwise view of the fields, the first morning of fall:

This past weekend and the Commonground Fair in Maine served as the gateway into the fall season. What a fantastic time we had up there. Two full days of workshops, demonstrations, crafts, home and homesteading product information, food, sunshine and good energy! Among the highlights were the sheepdog demonstrations, which made kat's mind immediately spin off on sheep-schemes. There is something very appealing to me about human-animal teamwork, whether it be horse-human or dog-human.

Of course, no pictures of the festivities from me, but you might wander over to Caren's blog and see if she has posted anything. It's just great to come off of a weekend feeling refreshed, inspired, and joyful.

And so, it's back to work. It's fun to feel how my work-patterns shift with the seasons. In the summer, I get up early-early, work outside for a few hours, then come in for breakfast, then out till high noon, then in for "administrative work" (i love that word), then out for the cooler late afternoon. However, now that we're in full-fall mode (no killing frosts yet, but a few mornings where temps dipped into the mid 30s), I stay indoors early morning, go for a walk with Poe, and then hit the dirt, so to speak, when the sun is warming mid-morning. Without a substantial fall garden (some greens, a last succession of broccoli, kale, chard, some bunching onions), it's my time to tackle the lingering list of summer-wrap-up projects, plan for next year (oh eternal optimist farmers!)and to put certain areas into their next phase of soil-building.
Because of the increases in plot size I have decided on, this means a bit of time on the tractor. Since I have a small tractor, it follows that I have to go slower when, say, tilling. This low-gear-slow-moving fact of life for the small-scale (read: low budget) farmer makes for what could be downright boring hours on the tractor. What to do? Read!!! I have discovered that I can read and till at the same time, using my peripheral vision to keep my tractor going straight. Lovely! Here is the field, being tilled.

Here is the book, tilled.

"They" say women speak an average of 7,000 words a day, and men an average of 2,000. I definitely think that I have the man gender trait in this realm, since I get 15 minutes into a blog and say, yup, ok, that's enough. (I consider writing speaking)

Happy fall!