Calm before the sea change

I have been thinking a lot about life now and life after the baby arrives. What will become of the Oaktown Farm? I hear different things from folks; some say there is no time for anything but raising a human being. Others say you make time for what moves you. Certainly Lottie moves me, and she will demand our time. But the tender fall plants cannot speak for themselves.

This chard I put in yesterday morning, which was not smart. It was one of the hottest days of the year, so they suffered in the unrelenting sun all day. I have lettuce, red cabbage and some flowers to put in, but will wait a few days till this heat wave passes. I think I will also sow some seeds directly in the beds too; more carrots, sweet peas. Those each will be a nice surprise in a few months, full of luscious smells and candy orange flesh.

This year at the OF, unlike last, we have a large number of pumpkin spiders. Really, they are everywhere. And so are their webs. This shot does not capture the beast in all it's girth, but I think the photo is cool (web is to the right). Their main gift to us is catching and eating flies.

So, the clock ticks down, while also winding up. Jennie finishes up work this week, and I am trying to wrap up all my projects at the office so I can be out for several weeks at a moment's notice. We are keeping our evenings free and fiddling with the last of the "prep list". Lottie is working on learning the difference between baby toys and dog toys. We are calm and happy and ready for this sea we sail upon to change.

Tom Tom Club

Summer has been an epic disappointment this year in Oakland. Very few warm days. While the East Coast baked in record heat, we watched our tomatoes struggle for the cruelly rationed sunlight. Our Italian squash produced nothing. Nada. We had two small meals out of the pole beans. And the tomatoes....one of the plants has set no fruit and the other two are *just* starting to have some candy to eat.

Suffice it to say, this has not been the summer of eatin' at the Oaktown Farm. Non edibles are doing fairly well: mexican sage, snapdragons. And I do have some carrot seeds that are sprouting in the back bed under the wisteria. Other than that, it's just us chickens. With the baby close on our heels, there won't be a lot more planting this year, 2010. But I have a hunch there will be a lot of volunteer seeds in the spring. We shall see.