Transition Time, Again
Sunshine Squash (not Pumpkins) Curing in the Greenhouse
In my last blog, I announced that I had listed on Facebook our home quarter for sale. We had almost a dozen inquiries and one visit, but the outcome came as no surprise—the farmstead is too far from Saskatoon. Most of my FB friends are urban folks. Although some of them long for rural life, they want to live within easy commuting distance of an urban centre. I understand their desire. Cities offer access to jobs, to the arts, and to educational opportunities. I may have to change the parameters of my search. While people interested in regenerative agriculture would be wonderful, the most likely buyers are conventional local farmers.
Until we sell, however, we continue to enjoy our home place. Adequate rainfall made our vegetable garden unusually productive—we had a magnificent harvest of everything except onions. (Some critter ate half the onion crop.) And the flower garden is still looking lovely unusually late in this season.
Now we are preparing to spend most of the winter in Saskatoon. Before we move there are carrots to dig, beets to pull, cabbages to pick. Sauerkraut and pickled peppers to make. Begonia tubers to bring in for the winter. Spring-flowering bulbs to force for blooms next spring. Then we will close up our house and return periodically for weekends until spring work draws us back to the farm.
In the meantime, I have interesting activities in the city. Weekly classes have started at the Community Police Academy and continue until late November. So far, we’ve heard about the organizational structure and history of the police service and listened to speakers from the recruiting, canine, and traffic units. And the theatre season has started, with our first Persephone mainstage performance this coming Saturday. Certainly, our move has brought compensations.
Winter, I hope, will bring more time for writing. I’ve embarked on a major revision of A Clear-Cut Case. Right now, I’m making notes on the margins of my manuscript, adding an important new character, and preparing an outline of the revised plot. If all goes well, I should finish sometime early next year.
Wishing you happy reading,
Betty
Peppers Fermenting on the Pantry Shelf
