I know there are those other seasons, but for me I am either warm or cold. Warm means summer, cold, not so much. We are squarely in the not so much. I don’t mind it; I wouldn’t mind it if I had my work done. I don’t. But maybe there is time.

In years past the pond has been frozen by now and since it is not and I found a damsel fly yesterday, I am hoping we have just enough good weather left to fit everything in. I will give you the critical projects in order of distressed mismanagement.

After spreading the manure yesterday, today it is important to get the garlic field limed and tilled before it freezes solid. We are way behind in planting the garlic this fall and this is the top priority.

In between, I am making the large end doors for the gothic high tunnel greenhouse. I was going to have one end finished yesterday, but, I messed up. It’s shocking when I make a mistake, but there it was, irrefutable. Damned! “aHudfradammer!” as Pop’s German handyman, Fritz, used to proclaim like when you hit your thumb with a hammer. My old classmate, Larry Vandermark, would repeat the warning, “We measured it three times and it was still too short.” That’s right -- it was too short. I had to remake one of the doors. Set me back. Testimonial to mental decline.

But we are close, we are close to closing the structure in. The gothic high tunnel is 30 by 96 feet and if I had to do it over again I think I would have skipped it and gone fishing with Garcia on the New York City reservoirs. The forecast is for a very cold weekend, maybe too cold to stretch the top plastic. We shall see. The end doors should be done and swinging before the full-length top sheet goes on; we don’t need wind whipping through the open doors and creating an unmanageable wind tunnel.

About half of the garlic is cracked (separating the bulbs into their individual cloves) and the rest of that is on the menu.

So: prep, crack, plant. I am using two types of manufactured mulch this year – white plastic for some, and landscape fabric for others, to test it out. Our losses last year were due, we think, to excessive weed pressure from Canadian thistle. Just couldn’t get ahead of it. I am hoping the plastic makes the May-June weeding work reasonable and quick as there are so many other chores to accomplish at that time.
Finish garlic, finish doors, finish greenhouse, finish greenhouse landscaping. Simple! Bring in the road stand.

Then the fun starts. Rake the leaves of the yard, haul to garden. Bring in cut logs for firewood. Split wood, fill wood boxes. By then Thanksgiving will be far in the rearview mirror and I will still have honey in the field and bees to winterize.

Trust me, I’m not complaining. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy Thanksgiving.