November

I'm back. It's been a couple of crazy weeks, busy-busy but nothing much new.

Here's what happened: it frosted. I came back from a brief trip to Seattle to find the dahlia patches severely damaged; yet we still had to provide florists with special orders! It was depressing and frustrating trying to hunt for good stems amidst frost-bitten blooms. At the same time I think that the death and decay showed a different, bitter beauty. Even the dying plants give off a sweet, earthy aroma. Nature and its processes are so strong and overwhelming in the country. I feel the earth falling asleep; at the same time it is brilliantly ancient and enduring ... like the cold clear night sky.

Almost the only fresh flowers are the ones that are protected under hoop houses. We are narrowing down to a lot of autumn/wintery plants. Berries, willow, mums, peppers, kale, grasses. Lots of dryable plants. We've begun making these beautiful wreaths. We are selling a lot of pumpkin bouquets, too.

After Sunday's market, we have completely changed pace. End of season tasks are cropping up. Today we dug dahlia tubers to be cleaned and stored. This is a more labor-intensive method of propagating dahlias (they can also be propagated as cuttings). At the end of the day we harvested the rest of the pumpkins. I will try to take pictures of the pumpkins because there are many varieties and they are very beautiful!

Last night I went to the All Saints Vigil at the priory in the Dominican House of Studies across from CUA. It was beautiful. They did readings from the lives of saints, interspersed with chanting, and closed with a meditative litany of saints while we made a contemplative procession through the halls. I met a girl there who lives in Warrenton (the town near Jeffersonton), she graduated from Franciscan a year ago and is really neat. Very excited to make a friend. She's thinking about moving to D.C., like me.

I got a used SLR on ebay and am slowly learning how to use it. So, photos are here at last!

If you believe you'll come to know Love's power.

Keep us in the harbor of your peace.