The cover crops we planted last week are germinating! That is where I am finding hope. Look how much the rye has grown between Tuesday (left picture) and Thursday (right picture)! Hope that our remaining soil will be held in place over the winter.
This has been a challenging week. We are exhausted. We are at the point in hurricane cleanup where the easier tasks are finished. As a farm, and as a community, what lies ahead are big things.
Things that take time. Effort. Resources.
There is so much rebuilding to do in Western NC that it feels overwhelming. When will we be “back?” The destruction around us wears thin on our minds, bodies, and hearts.
We are grieving beloved places that are gone or destroyed. Some days life feels normal. Other days, life feels turned upside down.
Our children had their first full day of school on Monday. Then, no school on Tuesday. I am just so ready to get back into a routine. It will help things feel normal.
On Wednesday, we rented a chipper to begin to work on some of the piles of branches. I highly recommend renting a large machine to do manual labor on the day after an election. Whether you are celebrating or mourning offices won or lost, putting branches into a machine and watching those limbs turn into little wood chips felt really good after a stressful fall.
There is so much we can’t control, but it sure felt nice to feel in control of making a small dent in the piles of trees around us. Of turning something lost into something gained. We lost trees, but we can now use those wood chips for mulching the aisles in our vegetable beds or to add to our compost.
I have also been collecting bags of leaves from around town. We shred them, let them sit for 6 months or so, and then add them to our compost pile. Composted shredded leaves are wonderful for adding organic matter to soil, increasing fungi, and retaining water in the soil- all of which make the soil more drought resistant. If you see me lurking in your driveway, I am probably just checking out your leaf bags. I only pick up the ones with all leaves. No grass clippings- we don’t want to add weed seeds to our beds. Then we have to weed more!
On a lighter note, we let our chickens carve a pumpkin over the weekend. We just scratched out the places we wanted them to carve, and they went to town pecking just those areas. Within a few hours, we had a mouth, nose, and eyes! The chickens were hilarious and provided entertainment to children and adults at our neighborhood gathering on Sunday. I am thankful for our neighbors and that this storm has brought us closer together. Another silver lining.
This newsletter was a ramble. But that is what I have today- a ramble.
Be kind to others and to yourself. Thanks so much for your support and love. We appreciate you!