and if there's any love in me, don't let it grow

As we were helping Krista plant garlic this morning, we were agreeing how quintessentially fall planting garlic is. There's something about marking the seasons by the tasks in a garden. As the days get more crisp you find yourself composting tomato plants while harvesting as many green ones as you can find, putting in cover crops and covering your fall greens at night. It's a soothing rhythm... if something doesn't work, there's always next year.

I'm always amazed by how fast time flies when we come to a place that we just love. We've been mostly helping Krista (and Simmer, though she's been away and we've only just met her!) with their fall garden tasks and winter preparations. It's very relaxing here, compounded by the fact that I haven't been feeling well so have been taking it pretty easy and also cooking a lot of warm, comforting foods.

Making a living off of the land is difficult - I mentioned the troubles Prodigal Farms had with regulatory agencies in North Carolina. Here at Little Short Mountain, they've been aggressively campaigning to get a referendum passed to allow distilleries in their county. Luckily, on Tuesday, all of their hard work paid off! It was wonderful to be here after such a joyous victory. However, it's important to remember that the underdogs don't always win and that we still need to find ways to make starting businesses easier for those trying to undertake them.

I do have to say, deciding to postpone graduate school for a year has taken such a weight off of my shoulders. Having a precise end date to this trip was making it difficult to enjoy where I was, without worrying about getting to the next place to see it all as fast as possible before the year was over! I truly feel that letting this journey just take its course without imposing arbitrary deadlines on it will work out for the better in the end... in fact, it already is.


look at that wood-splitting action!!