Yes, I realize I have been a bit absent as of late. You see, on top of apple harvest (my first one ever as an orchardist), it is also garlic planting time. Wanna know how much garlic the man and I are planting? I don't even want to think about it but I'll tell you--approximately 500 pounds. And he keeps talking about buying more. Zoinks!
Now, garlic planting is kind of nice. You get to be outside in the sun and soft dirt. There is the Diatomaceous Earth. It's basically fossilized remains of algae. You can eat it, but it has silica in it so you should not breathe it. We wear bandanas over our faces. Yay, we look like garlic planting bandits, which is fine as long as it's not too hot. What Diatomaceous Earth does is dehydrate bugs' exoskeletons. It also seems to dry out skin. Yeehaw! I'm really gonna look like a sundried cowboy if I'm not careful!
I do keep thinking about how nice it will be next spring when all the garlic is growing and how it will be great to work for ourselves and actually make a living, assuming all goes well of course. I also like that there's really nothing else I have to do in that moment when I'm planting garlic. I'm just planting. And talking with my husband for an extended period of quiet time, which I really don't get to do often enough these days.
It doesn't take long to slip from garlic planting serenity to the regular rush of life when the alarm goes off and it's time to rush down to school and get the kids, coach the soccer team, do the laundry, cook the dinner, get the kids to bed. Time has been going so quick lately. Here I am at almost two in the morning just finally caught up on emails! But life is good. And I have lots of time to think up stories. Mine is the notebook with all the dirt smudges on it.
Next year will be wonderful for you guys! So glad you have that quiet time with your hubby and your thoughts. :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the apple harvest and planting 500lbs+ of garlic. I can't imagine how busy you are, but it sounds lovely to have those quiet moments with your husband, even if it means getting dried-out skin as a result. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've been watching your blog for some time now, but it's the first time I've commented.
I'm a Washingtonian, too (from Yakima), but I now live in Burma/Myanmar (it borders Thailand). While here, the Monsoons are slowly ending, but humidity is still high, your talk of apples reminds me of home, of fall. I miss it! Enjoy those crisp, clean mornings. ;)
Also, thank you for blog + all the writing resources for kidlit. You're incredibly generous.
-Becky
Hi, Heather! I love garlic. I've tried planting it, and it takes a very long time to produce! But so worth the wait. Thanks for visiting my blog. I wanted to tell you I think your niche, brand, platform is very obvious when I visit your blog. You've done an excellent job of building our brand. :) And thanks for always providing your readers with great agent info!
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth, Becky, & Candi! *waves*
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you came out of hiding, Becky.;) I tend to lament the lack of children's book writers where I live. Yakima would be fairly close! Ha! I can imagine there aren't many children's writers where you are now either. It's so great to have the internet!
We had to do an emergency apple picking the other day because it was terribly windy. I have so many lugs of apples in the house right now. It smells really good! I have been making apple everything. And this morning was a little too crisp for garlic planting. I was freezing! Tomorrow we are going to wait until the sun warms things up. It' been fun, in a hard work sort of way but I am looking forward to being finished and getting back to writing! Feel free to comment anytime. As you can see, I can get to be a bit of a blabbermouth.