October weekend

Well, we had another busy weekend down on the funny farm.

Saturday was farmer's market day. We're really going to miss the market when it ends for the year on Halloween. This time we found 3 little pumpkins (to eat!), onions, green onions, leeks, spicy peppers, lettuce, cilantro, free ranged, ground beef, winter squashes, apples, blueberries, hazelnuts, and raspberry brandy sauce. After a quick coffee with our friend Lisa, Alex and I did a quick visit to the used bookshop. We found lots of great bargains. I found a cookbook on cooking squash and pumpkins, perfect for the season!

Back at the funny farm, Ari and Anni were busy handing tissues to each other. They both have colds! After lunch, some of us headed to the garden for a session of weeding and planting. Out of the beds came the dandelions (and straight to the chicken coop where the clucky girls enjoyed them immensely) and into the beds went the little brussel sprouts, cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, kale, collards, onions, and leeks. Then came the challenging bit. Due to our upcoming weather forecast for freezing temperature overnight Saturday and Sunday, we had to protect our baby plants. So it was off to the hardware stores for plastic piping and clear plastic sheeting. We built hoop house covers for 4 of our raised beds (the ones with the seedlings). The next challenge will come on our first fall windy day. We'll see if those clothespins hold!

Today, we had a cozy day. We cooked. We made crab crepes for brunch while contemplating this week's menu. For dinner tonight, we made a delicious Argentinian soup, using local ingredients. It featured some unusual additions such as pumpkin, winter squash, and peaches. It was awesome! We also made a big batch of golden mole' sauce using lots of the dried and fresh peppers from the farmers' markets and many tomatillos from our garden. It was spicy!