Cleaning
Cleaning
I am not sure if this is just a “girl” thing, but I get the extreme urge to clean up the house, the barns, the farm, etc. in the fall. But then, precisely because I am a woman who came of age when the 1960’s – 70’s version of women’s liberation was peaking (I see that time period as another manifestation of one of many previous iterations of women’s quest for equality), I focused on ubiquitous “he” language, being someone’s Mrs. So and so, and thinking about having a profession alongside being a wife and mother.
The clincher for Jack’s and my relationship, the one which has been fraught with challenge from the start, however, was around washing dishes, cleaning house, and general day to day keeping things in order and tidied up. When I was growing up, that was all the purview of the wife and mother, period. I think because I grew up with that consciousness and then became part of a movement as a young woman that encouraged more sharing of these daily tasks, I have always had a schizophrenic relationship with house cleaning. Two years ago, when I retired from NOFA, I had an inspiration to really clean up the house, organize, throw stuff out, and better organize our living space as we have moved from parents of 4 children to living here by ourselves. But here I am two years hence and haven’t made much progress in the feng shui of our daily living space.
The whole situation here is more complex because our house is also an extension of our farm with hundreds of people passing through it in any one year. I am finally ready to make it happen this year, however, and to move forward with Jack in our relationship on how to organize and clean our space in a way that works for both of us. I look forward to integrating my upbringing with my adult politics over these next fall and winter months. I look forward to cleaning out this physic closet – it is well overdue.
Health Stuff
7 Day Autumn Whole Foods Cleanse
– Excess weight around your belly
– Sugar or salt cravings on a regular basis
– Skin blemishes and breakouts
– Can’t think straight or feel like you have brain fog
– Getting a late afternoon energy slump
– Waking up still feeling tired
If so, it might be time for a gentle whole foods detox!
I’m excited to be bringing my many years of experience supporting 1,000’s of clients through food-based Cleanses, to this Autumn’s experience! You are guaranteed to walk away lighter in mind, body and spirit.
The 7-Day Autumn Cleanse is perfect for you if:
+ You’ve never detoxed before
+ You’re really busy and don’t have time for a longer detox program
+ You want a gentle but effective detox
+ You’re looking for a whole foods detox program
+ You want to clean out your system before the holidays hit
+ You’re ready to hit the re-set button on your eating habits
+ You’re an experienced Cleanser looking for a reset and to go deep (there are extra materials I’ve created to take this Cleanse deeper if you wish)
Join me to see how 7 days of clean eating can make all the difference! Early Bird Discount is good thru today (October 3rd)! https://ellenkittredge.com/7-day-cleanse.php
Ellen
Ari Whitten Interviews Donna Gates This Week
One of the earliest leaders in the fermented food world. This in an excellent listen.
My Personal Health Journey
I have been thinking about taking up qi gong for at least two decades, but never gotten started on it. With so much available on the internet, it is easy to sample any number of exercise and self-healing modalities. I ran into Master Lee Holden and his 7 minutes per day qi gong exercises. You can look him up here – https://www.holdenqigong.com/. I am sure that many of our subscribers have been practicing qi gong and can probably share numerous practitioners. Practicing for just one week, I have been humbled by all the places in my body that hurt! I look forward to enjoying the benefits of qi gong as I stick with this for the longer term.
CSA Updates This Week
CSA Crops This Week
We have four more weeks left for the CSA with our last week being October 24, 26 and 28.
- Beets
- Chard
- Collards
- Lettuce and peppers for larges
- Hakurei turnips for some
- Radishes
- Dill
Dill
- Parsley
Parsley
- Garlic
- Tulsi
Tulsi
- Carnival or delicata winter squash
Carnival squash
- Sweet potatoes – please be advised that your sweet potatoes, and to some extent beets, might have some mouse damage. We have some very healthy mice and voles in our fields. Just cut off the bite marks if they concern you, or just scrub them clean before preparing. Fall is mouse time!
- Arugula
- We might send some flowers home with you this week
We dodged frost this past week and are looking at some touchy lows again this week. Hopefully we can keep lots of crops coming without too much damage. Regardless, grow back is slower now, so quantities are thinning out in the fields.
Fall CSA Share
Sign Up Now!
We have counted up our fall shares and we are at 58. We can take up to 100 fall shares, so there is still room. We will be picking on Mondays and Wednesdays and will determine delivery days of the week as we get closer to our start on October 31. You can join here.
Meat birds available for sale
The chickens are now in the freezer, so call or email to come buy some.
Now is a good time to order your Thanksgiving turkey
We only have 45 left available for pre-order. The kids are out there growing like weeds on our luscious pasture, certified organic feed and a regular treat of comfrey. Our turkeys are renowned as the tastiest and juiciest birds that will ever grace your Thanksgiving table. Birds are slaughtered the Monday before Thanksgiving (November 21) and are available for pick up on Tuesday the 22nd and Wednesday the 23rd.
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Working Shareholders Always Welcome
Yes, you can still add yourself to the MHOF workforce. Come any M, W or F from 8-12 and stay for lunch. We always have a great time.
Farm Doin’s
We started the farm week early last week. On Sunday Dan and the boys and I moved the pigs to a new pasture area with their favorite woods as part of it. Then we picked up 5 truck loads of wood chips from our neighbor Matt. The chips are highly valued here as mulch.
“Oh, do you have something for us?”
Dan and Raffi unloading chips
Skippy’s favorite job is to bark at the pigs as we move them in their house to their next location
This week felt like such a good one for fall accomplishments. We collected and sent off our soil tests, dried two large batches of tulsi and made two more ½ gallons of tincture (I was a bit embarrassed to dump three large empty vodka bottles into the recycling bin at the dump!).
We finished up our winter squash harvest (937!),
Hucking squash out of the tractor bucket into the second floor of the barn
prepared for and received a new freezer for the 2nd floor of the barn (two of our freezers bit the dust this past year), Jonathan tractor flattened the field areas that the pigs tore up and planted it to rye and then went on to mow and rake our hay in the pond field, which we collected on Friday afternoon. We will use the hay for garlic mulch and also chicken bedding all winter.
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Four nice loads of hay
Cathleen came over and helped us make our first batch of cider for the year.
Clare shaking the apple tree
We started sweet potato harvest – 5 rows of our 18 down. It is a good harvest, although the mice have been enjoying them also.
Thursday, we prepped half of the orange house and the blue house and got the blue house planted with Asian greens for the fall share.
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Blue house all planted
Friday night some locals dug into one of our chicken houses and one of our turkey houses and killed a chicken and maimed a turkey. Looks like Skippy and Dingo will have to do some night patrolling again. Lots of hungry wild animals out there right now.
We found Sadie’s kittens in the attic of the toolshed
Laurie ecstatic in the cilantro patch
Jonathan, Stu and John almost finished the south side of the garage this week. And as I write this, we are getting the trench dug and filled with the conduit for a generator that Jack has shepherded the installation of over the past several months.
Julie
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