Tuesday, October 23, 2007

hooray for rain

There has been a drought in our area, and for once I'm not alone doing my little happy dance to see the rain clouds gathering. I heard through the grapevine that Craig Creek is at its lowest level in over 70 years, and while that is unverified, it remains attention-getting. Morris wrote that the drought has cattle farmers unloading their stock, driving the price down. The prediction for the coming winter isn't very wet either, and while I'm not looking forward to managing a bunch of snow days with us both working, I know that snow is something we really count on in the mountains. Morris reminds us that beef (and other meat) prices will be going up as the droght makes livestock more expensive to maintain in the coming year. Personally, I am looking forward to a week of grey cloudiness and middling temperatures simply because it's weather at which I feel most myself. It could only be better in my book if it were about ten degrees cooler, but I'm certainly not complaining.

On a drive-about this weekend, David and I passed a meat market right next to a stock market up in West Virginia. Looks as though it might be time to break down and buy a couple freezers for the garage. We have also talked about expanding the garden. I can't wait. I'm looking forward to thinking it through together, planning, preparing, playing in dirt. When we went to take a gander at the beds, we found that the basil is ready for another harvest, and the garlic have been replanted in a container so we can treat the beds. We currently have nine beds dug and planted, with three in the wings just waiting. Every time I think of what we want to grow, though, we end up needing more space (not really a problem, since we do have twelve acres after all). The biggest challenge are the deer, and we have been talking through all sorts of ways to deter them. Not to sound cliche, or anything, but this time it's personal.