It is so strange to hear others talking about having snow when we have none ourselves!  Usually it’s the reverse.  It’s been so mild here.  I’m thankful for that.  I never would have gotten my garlic in the ground otherwise.  I just barely managed to get it in before the ground froze solid as it was.  That’s a single one of our cloves up there next to the guitar pick.  Mammoth.

Before we left for vacation in June I planted a giant garden, the largest we’ve grown yet.  We came home and instead of growing vegetables, I grew ill and the garden was by and large abandoned.  As an organic space is wont to do, it was quickly reclaimed by the forces of nature.  Without my vigilance, weeds and pests swiftly over-ran everything.  I’ve been blue about that.  It feels like so much work and progress lost.  Next year will be that much harder.  I keep reminding myself that I’ve built gardens from scratch before, there is no reason why I can’t again (I just don’t want to).  Clearing a bed, albeit with much help, and planting our 137 cloves of garlic made me feel a bit better about things.  We have this much invested in next year at least.  There will be garlic.

There was still a bit color when these photos were taken.  Everything is brown, brown now, that dusty brown bordering on grey that’s a reflection of the sky and bare trees all around.  With crunchy earth underfoot and a bleakness all about.  And still it suits me just fine and I’m happy to be out in it whenever I can.