Like everything this year, Halloween was different. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, I’d still planned to dress up for Halloween just to participate in my office remote costume contest, but when a migraine struck midweek, leaving me feeling achy and tired for the next few days, I no longer had the energy. I’ll just have to save the idea and supplies for another year. By the weekend, I was feeling mostly back to myself, a good thing too since we’d had a mountain of mulch deposited in our driveway courtesy of a free service Andy discovered - ChipDrop. Since I first mentioned my plan to convert a large area under our two apple trees into a new flower bed through the magic of sheet mulching, Andy argued that ChipDrop and their promise of ~20 cubic yards of free woodchips would be the perfect solution, and while I initially had doubts, he of course turned out to be right. Still, it turns out that a pile of wood chips almost as tall as me takes a lot of time and energy to spread around so my mother-in-law’s offer to come help with our project on Saturday was greatly appreciated. With her help, we were able to complete most of the project in just one day. Of course, even covering an area of around 450 square foot in a roughly 6 inch deep layer of wood chips barely made a dent in Mt. Mulch, and even now, many weeks later, we have a least half left. Still, no regrets. We’ll get through the pile eventually, and it’s hard to beat free!
Read moreLife: Week 41
With family stopping by Saturday afternoon for what could be one of our last backyard meals of the year (at least the last one that won’t require lots of blankets) I finally had the excuse I'd been waiting for to bake our homegrown apples into a pie. They did not disappoint! After realizing I don’t have a standby apple pie recipe, I went with this one, and while I didn't have tapioca flour or starch, I really didn't think the pie needed it. While I don’t see myself baking another of these pies to eat all on my own, I’m definitely looking forward to adding this recipe to my seasonal pie repertoire! In addition to the pie, we made pizza, including one topped with butternut squash, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and prosciutto - definitely a new favorite! The flurry of social activity on Saturday aside, it was a quiet autumn week, spent mostly indoors keeping cozy as the days shorten and temperatures start to drop. For the moment, I’m really enjoying the feeling of slowing down and bundling up, but I worry that I'll struggle through what is likely to be a long, lonely winter. It may be time to revisit some of my favorite Alpine Trails Book Club reads like The Nature Fix, The Little Book of Hygge, and Forest Bathing to prepare myself!
Read moreLife: Week 37
Another week of burning eyes, a scratchy throat, and constant worry that these could be symptoms of COVID-19 I'm feeling and not just the effects of the toxic air. By midweek, being trapped in our sealed up house had me feeling mentally and emotionally exhausted. Obviously that meant it was a great relief when a fall storm blew through late Friday evening and finally wiped out the lingering smoke. Over the two weeks we spent shrouded in smoke, summer gradually shifted towards fall, and Sunday afternoon, under blindingly blue skies we pulled pound after pound of perfectly ripened apples off the larger of the two trees in our backyard. Now that I don’t have to worry about the possibility of further contaminating the already stagnant air inside our house by baking, I’m now very much looking forward to experimenting with all things apple - pie, sauce, tart, muffin. If you have a favorite apple recipe you'd like to share, I'm open to suggestions for using up our bounty!
Read moreLife: Week 33
The bruise colored sky of a welcome summer rainstorm
After the brief retreat of uncomfortably hot and humid weather, summer returned this week with extreme vengeance. Temperatures climbed to nearly 100°, leaving both me and my veggie garden feeling horribly wilted. Thankfully we had a dramatic summer storm roll in Friday evening, followed by a cooler, rainy Saturday. I was so happy to hear raindrops drumming on our covered patio that I ran outside to stand in the dark, soaking up every bit of the rainfall. The one upside of this latest heat wave — it ripened the first tiny but delicious plums from the unruly tree in our front yard. Still no progress on my many green tomatoes though. I may need to start searching for green tomato recipes!
Read moreLife: Week 32
This feels like a particularly peculiar moment to come back to weekly blog posts. With Covid-19 keeping me close to home, aside from the slow and subtle shift in seasons my life week to week changes very little. Then again, it seems that now more than ever I'll be thankful to have a record of the subtle shifts in my life through this pandemic. It’s also a reassuring reminder that, while so much remains unpredictable in the world right now, nothing will last forever. It may feel slow at times, but seasons change, and life goes on. Last week's heat wave broke, and over the course of this week, I found myself happily digging out more than one sweater I'd stashed in the back of my closet. We had a few delightfully rainy days, enough that I had the chance to do some Saturday morning weeding in a warm rain. The weeding was long overdue - our backyard has rapidly become a broad sea of yellow, and it feels as though I wouldn’t grow dandelions more effectively if I were to actively try!
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