We're in the midst of harvest season on the farm, gorging ourselves on things like cucumbers, watermelons, and lettuce while freezing masses of everything else.  So far this week, I've put away a quart of okra, a gallon of green beans, and about half a gallon each of pesto and pizza sauce.  Still on the horizon for tomorrow are broccoli and more green beans.

Despite plenty of other farm chores, I stole Wednesday afternoon to visit the intentional community where my movie star neighbor lives.  There, an ex-nun and I splashed in the river, counting critters to determine the water quality.  Stream sampling was my very favorite part about my old job, and I was thrilled to realize that when I'm not getting paid I can do the fun stuff (play in the water and count the bugs!) rather than just training other folks to do them.  In case you're curious, the river passed with flying colors, chock full of mayfly larvae.

It was even fun when the ex-nun's car got stuck in the mud and we had to call the movie star to bring the huge rusty tractor and pull us out.  He and I talked bees while she and I talked blight, then I headed back home to our own harvest.

Shame-faced plug: Check out the homemade chicken waterer that funds this blog.

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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