Howdy Folks, 

The farm is officially slowing down.  It’s a very good thing.  The last of our crew are going home tomorrow.  It’s muddy and chilly.  We’re planning for next season.  A full tractor trailer of potting soil is sitting in our garage..  Fertilizer, seeds, and supplies are next.  It’s an amazing amount of information to process.  We’re mostly used to it…but it is a sleepy time for us veggie farmers.

It’s introspection time.  Time to rejuvenate and relax a lot…and then I found rats. ugh…2 rats to be exact.  Every fall they are hidden somewhere.  If any of you have had experiences with rats, you know how terrifying and destructive rats can be. It’s something I take very seriously and eliminate as fast as possible.  So I did.  How do we eliminate pests as such?  They’re like little groundhogs digging long tunnels in the earth.  To get them, I use a shovel and 2 dogs.  

Dogs are critical to maintaining a farm.  The harsh truth is that dogs ferociously protect their home which happens to be where we grow food and will kill almost anything they can get a hold of.  So, they keep a lot of pests at bay.  Not all of them, but most of them.  Sometimes they need a farmer and a shovel to get the job done.  

I go through a withdrawal of feeling farm needed to not needed.  We metamorphosize.  We get to return to being decent parents, pancake cookers, book readers, hikers, and movie watchers.  Ya know.  All the things we love to do that we typically have so little time to enjoy.

I’ve decided I’m going to enjoy the winter even if it kind of sucks.  Winter affords me the time to remember how to have fun and live a little lighter…less serious.  We probably can all use a little more of that.  

Your Farmers,

Chris, Aeros and The Who Crew