Summer's End

So it would seem, after a few months, that I suddenly remember that I have a blog. And that I haven't updated or posted said blog in a while. I think to myself, "What can I write about? Isn't it enough to just have pictures of an adorable (and extremely vocal) toddler? What? No, you say?! Fine then, I'll talk about my boring self, whoever that may be." Most of the time I'm prompted to post because I just emptied pictures from the camera to the computer and I need some place to put them and gloat.

We had a lovely unruly summer. We let our hair grow wild. We visited swimming holes on a daily basis. We ate a lot of strawberries and Goldfish. Not to mention sun gold tomatoes from the garden, which covered our chins with seeds. We got brown and displayed awesome flip flop tan lines. We (us grownups) worried about money (as usual) and jobs (as usual) but we did our best to enjoy each other.

Now it is fall and I get excited to put on sweaters! Leggings! The slow cooker has been dragged from the depths of the cabinets and put to use on a pot roast and soon, a roast chicken. And best so far, is the job I garnered last minute. (Though not the waking at 5:20 am. How soon we forget those early risings!) I'm covering a maternity leave position until January teaching HS Photography and Media Arts. It has been overwhelming, exhausting but extremely exciting, planning lessons, being in a classroom consistently and teaching art no less! Blessedly, there is also the paychecks, that while starting meager, will gain and make my financial woes decidedly smaller for the time being. It's the best one can ask for it this economy.

We did not get swept away in the vast floods of our area, but we've observed our neighborly farms and communities struggle to pick up and begin again after all that rushing water subsided. A few weeks of driving detours and small weekly farm shares have been the most of our inconveniences, but many were not so lucky. Our CSA was one of the few to not completely lose their crops, though it looks like our fall harvest might be kaput. Most farms in the area lost everything. Water stood standing in the fields for days meaning crops were left to rot, not to mention the crucial top soil that was initially washed away. There were pumpkins floating down the Rondout for hours the day of the storm. Fall harvests will be pretty meager which also means it'll be a tough winter. Lesson learned: Never mess with Mother Nature.

Check here for events coming up to aid those farms and growers in need.

Here is also Brook Farm Project's fundraiser.