On September 1, Meteorological Fall began, as it does every year on this same day. I understand that it is based on cyclical temperature changes and a desire for easy record-keeping among weather people, rather than astrological shifts, which change each year. Interestingly, Sept. 1 this year brought immediately noticeable color changes in the canyon, green leaves creeping toward gold in the cottonwoods, along with an unfortunate resurgence of hot, dry days. I’m ready for cooler temps, but they haven’t quite materialized, still reaching mid-80s during the day.
But the warm weather has given the garden a second wind, after being rather beaten down by days of rain. All of a sudden, my second planting of broccoli, peas, and lettuce, are producing a bumper crop. A rare experience at this altitude, and very welcome. I spend time every day harvesting and processing stuff for the freezer and store room: 25# of carrots, 70# (!) of potatoes, beets, beans, spinach, broccoli, celery and, finally, tomatoes. There are actually large pumpkins and spaghetti squash, too, winter items I have rarely been able to grow successfully.
Alan says spring planting is the first step to cooking dinner in December and harvesting is the second.
We have had a little time to get out for hikes, enjoying one long day in the Rio Chama Basin, taking the new truck for its first off-road spin (other than OUR road, of course). I’ve also gotten back to walking the dogs up and down the canyon nearly every day, getting ready for another backpack trip in a couple of weeks. We wander 3 or 4 miles, checking out where the cows are hiding, looking for unwary squirrels, and watching for elk or deer. Hunting season is here for bow and black powder so we also keep an eye out for hunters. It’s almost time to bring out the orange clothes and dog jackets and post shiny new No Hunting signs all over. We got a cow elk permit this year and sold it with a promise they won’t hunt on our land.
On a different topic, I had a reader ask me about how we do laundry here at 4Fords. We do not go to the laundromat, and have our ancient but trusty washer and dryer set up in the sunroom. At this point, to do laundry, we take a hose from the outside spigot and attach it to the cold water hose on the washer (there is no hot connection). Alan hopes to get a frost-free spigot installed soon in the sunroom to eliminate the need for the hose, which tends toward wanting to leak. From there, I do a load just like normal. The truth is, most of our clothes are work clothes: dirty and old. It’s part of living this way. I no longer own any “office” clothes! Our dirty laundry is mostly jeans, tee shirts and rags.
It gets interesting with the drain. As long as we’re using biodegradable soaps, wash water makes awesome garden water. The washer drains into 3 connected tubs (which also catch rainwater from the sunroom roof), which I then pump to the sprinkler in the garden. It’s a system that has worked well all summer, saving hundreds of gallons of water.
It gets more complicated in the winter. Because the sunroom is not insulated, it freezes at night (although warms once the sun is out, sometimes hitting 70 degrees, even if it’s below zero outside. We can only do laundry when the sun is shining, allowing the water lying in the bottom of the washer to thaw. Sometimes I turn on a small heater to hasten the process. Because there’s no garden to water, we simply run the drain into the driveway to filter through the gravel, or I’ll drain it into the trees and shrubs, if it’s been dry.
I have always hung my laundry up, using the dryer only if we’re in a hurry. But here, I’ve found that there’s often too much wind or dust in the air to always hang things outside, so I’ve rigged up a line in the sunroom. In the summer, when the room hits 110 degrees in the mornings, the first clothes we hang are bone dry before we hang the last.
Anyway, it will be nice, and feel like a huge luxury once the spigot is installed and I don’t have to haul a hose outside when it’s 0 degrees.
One of my favorite sights as fall approaches are the blooms of cornflowers that dot the landscape, creating a lavender hue to the land. It always brings a smile. They are my favorite flower.
Namaste
4Fords Journal 