Snow on the Mountain

Ahead of the rain I decided the most critical task was digging the remainder of sweet potatoes. Mason sat patiently and close, hoping I’d unearth a critter or two from the depths of the garden bed. Perhaps there were squeaks and sounds of scurry that only his supersonic ears could hear. Alas, no critters came into view. In fact, of all the sweet potatoes that I dug, there was only one that had a bite taken from it.

In the end we grew about a dozen meals worth of sweet potatoes, which feels more novelty than true harvest. They are such a rare thing to grow with assurance up here, and I’m not really into novelty crops, but if ever there was one I’d consider fussing over again, sweet potatoes it is. What a nice, belly-filling addition to the garden. I’ve heard the variety of winter squash named Thelma Sanders is quite comparable in flavor and texture, I’ll grow some next year to see for myself.

We have one more row of white potatoes to dig, and our carrots of course, but those have not experienced a hard freeze yet which we are waiting for. That always sweetens them so nicely. Other than that it’s garlic planting and garden cleanup which I feel we have a lot of this year. Not because we are overrun with weeds, quite the opposite actually. We chose to put down ground cover in certain pathways, and while not something we felt great about adding to the garden, wow what a difference it makes in terms of ease of maintenance. To increase its efficacy and lifespan, the right thing to do is pull it all up at the end of the growing season and store for winter. Doing this requires pulling hundreds of ground staples by hand which is a bummer for sure. We still think the improved weed suppression and labor saved during growing season is worth the extra effort now. 

The rain came and continued for two and a half days. Steady, cold, gloomy, perfect. The last thing we need this year is another two and a half days of rain, but it feels sublimely October which makes it hard to be resentful.

The weekend was slow and easy with some great meals, Adam tinkering in his workshop building me a spice rack, and me starting to paint my office. The dogs were saturated by rain at least six times a day. One of their favorite things on a rainy day is to be dried off when they come inside with big fluffy towels, then take long naps by the woodstove. Between you and me, I think they go out in the rain more times than they’d like, just to enjoy that warm and cozy afterglow.

We had someone over this weekend that lives between here and Mt Washington, and he said there’s snow on the mountain. Apparently more than expected so there was a hustle to get seasonal equipment off the mountain. He added, “The old timers say two weeks after first snow on the mountain, we’ll see it in the valley.” That is alright by me.