thirty days have September...

So, I’m really missing home today. I woke up this morning all snug in bed under my multitude of blankets longing for one of mum’s Sunday roasts; evoking the smells and warmth of a relaxed Sunday afternoon at home.

I’m not wishing my time away here, but at the same time I’m really looking forward to going home.  I’ve been here for five months now and I think that’s the longest I’ve ever been away from family and friends and I’ve still got another 7 weeks to go. 

I feel a bit disconnect from what’s going on with friends at home, I’m in a bit of a bubble here, and I wonder how that is going to affect my friendships when I’ve been away for so long and not been involved in their lives and vice versa.  I’m really looking forward to being regaled with tales of my friends lives from the past seven months when I get home; over a decent cup of tea and a slice of cake of course.

On the farm this week we’ve been doing a bit of clear up. a while ago we pulled up all the zucchini, cucumber and watermelon plants and on Tuesday we finally got around to picking it all up and moving it to the compost pile.  At the same time we pulled up the patty pans and delicata squash plants which had finished producing.  So that block is clear again now, looking like it did when I first arrived.

We’ve dug up the small patch of sweet potatoes, getting a modest harvest due to the fact that they were planted late, though there are still some good sized tubers.  I was surprised how deep they go, much deeper than regular potatoes and have a wider spread. Digging with bare hands in the soil felt like looking for treasure.

digging for pink treasure

pink beauties

We’ve carried on with the regular potato harvest this week and the next big push will be to get all the potatoes out of the ground.  It’s a very time consuming job as we do it by hand, and lifting heavy crates of potatoes certainly works the muscles!  I feel so strong with a season’s worth of work and lifting.

All the onions are now sorted and those suitable for storage have been bagged up and moved into the farmhouse basement, which again meant a lot of lifting; a good way to warm up when it’s cold!  On Friday, our day to harvest for market,  it was frosty out in the open fields.  It soon melted once the sun burned through the mist enough, but it was cold on the fingers when harvesting.

frosty clover

pre-frozen salad anyone?

The barn nestled amongst the maples

I probably warble on about this a lot, but I’ve been enjoying the autumnal colour around the farm very much this week.  It seems like the trees suddenly turned and there is a beautiful display of colour. I’ve been collecting and pressing fallen maple leaves, which the others poke fun at me for, to make some artwork with when I get home as a memento of my time here.  I’m such a magpie when it comes to autumn leaves,  the colours just bring me a lot of joy, I can’t help collecting them.

resplendant maples in the morning sun

The glorious 'Sacred Maple grove'

 Until next time

much love

Becky