How the weeks and months have flow by, but each day has a full 24-hours. Days are long and hard. We are days away from Fall now, but the planting and weeding and harvesting continues onward. But, I hear and hope that it will slow down soon. I've threatened to till under the squash beds myself. And harvesting tomatoes in mid-September is just plain weird. But I'd still like to can a few more.
New England is a weird place for a Southern girl. So was New York City, but that's entirely different ballgame. It's a world of it's own- no matter where you are from. Although it's something I can't exactly lay my finger on, it's just not the South. It's in the style of farming, the old homes with huge porches, the way no one has central air-conditioning, and everyone wears NorthFace and Lands End clothing.
Communities seem different, not better, not worse, just more New England-ish, no doubt. Working on The Farm six days a week leaves very little room for getting out and doing anything, but I feel very much like I'm on the outside looking in. I imagine families grilling in those nice yards, and friends playing volleyball under those trees, and church groups having fall festivals with large pumpkins next to those steps. And I'll be observing it all. I miss my community.... But this time in my life has been wonderful in so many ways.
I will be nice and cold and read to leave by mid-November. I am not strong enough to survive a New England winter. Litteraly, I'd probably lay down and just die. Have I mentioned we are twenty miles East of Vermont. Vermont in winter? No thank you. BUT Chris and I will be making our annual anniversary trip to see the leaves in a few weeks, before it's that cold. The leaves will be all around us. I actually ask Chris if he thought we would be "right in the middle of it all," as the season changed. He said we would, and I guess I should have known- but it seems so perfect. Too good to be true. Fall in upstate New York and I get to see it unfold since we are outside all day everyday.
I like making people smile when I tell them we do have kale at market. Or that yes, we have broccoli (finally). I love letting little girls dig through the yellow, red, orange and purple bell peppers and putting small, paper sacks of cherry tomatoes in the hands of a small boy. I like the regulars at market: chard man, lettuce lady, the woman to pokes every tomato, garlic guy and the bearded woman.
One of the highlights of my week is seeing Andrea when she and her mother come by the farm to pick up their CSA share (eight of the families pick up at the farm versus a drop of point). Andrea is about three and she loves "cherry 'matoes." I chat with her. I chat with her mom. Seamus the cat nudges his way in for attention. Andrea loves going through the box as soon as they get it out of the cooler. She names each veggies and asks the names of ones she does know (Bok Choi, chard, turnip, I mean come on!) I try to catch them each week- which isn't hard since we live in the basement / packing room ten steps away from the cooler.
People make me happy. I miss people. Chris: not so much.
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