Thanksgiving Farming

Finally, almost December, and I'm getting back into the farm work that's slowed down since Tilly came. Who knew Min Min would be such an inspiration!

The day before Thanksgiving, I finally got that garlic in the ground I'd been meaning to plant. I double-tilled a large strip in the center of the driveway turnaround, and started separating out the garlic cloves to plant. I soon realized there was way more to plant than I had room for! Even with the tightest spacing I thought was reasonable, I only managed to plant most of the Georgian Fire and most of the Chesnok Red, though I still have German Extra Hardy and Pskem River left. In preparation for Thanksgiving, Grandpa and I went on a last-minute shopping run for pie and ice cream, potatoes, gravy, stuffing ingredients, yams and marshmallows, cranberries.... and we did a little housework to get ready for my uncle and cousin. Our friend Fritz from Juneau stopped by to say hi as well. 

Thanksgiving morning, after a long bike ride with Tilly, I got the stuffing and marshmallow yams all ready before heading to Heidi and Launie's house (the previous owners of our house) for our first Thanksgiving. After some delicious crab cakes and a quick visit, it was time for Tim and Grandpa to head home to get the turkey in the oven and mash potatoes and boil cranberries, while I took the ferry to the mainland and headed towards I-5 to pick my uncle and cousin up from the bus stop. By the time we got home, it was well after 7pm and the turkey was just about ready. We had a family dinner, some local pie and ice cream, then with full bellies headed off to bed. 

Friday morning, the day of leftovers and crowded stores, Min Min, Tilly and I headed down to explore the beach, then Min Min, Grandpa, and my uncle headed across the water to retrieve the U-box full of Grandpa's things - which ended up being a full day adventure. I made serious progress on my schoolwork and Tim started feeling tingling in his fingers. 

When the trio returned from the mainland, Min Min came to find me saying "It snowed! There's snow on the porch!" We ran up stairs and looked out the back, but there was no snow. "No, it's only on the front. We came home and there's snow on the front porch!" I thought it was strange, but sometimes these things happen, so we opened the door and sure enough! Snow everywhere! Or at least in a big pile in front of the door. We threw snowballs for Tilly and built a snowman topped with raisins.

Min Min did a great job helping teach Tilly the right way to be, and after a long day of playing, Tilly finally collapsed on the floor happily asleep yet trying desperately hard to stay on her towel for some reason.

After stopping to admire mom's awesome packing job, I headed up the hill with the little dog and little girl for an outing while my uncle and grandpa continued ferrying boxes into the house.

Min Min had been doing an excellent job helping carry boxes, but was delighted to come along on Tilly's morning walk and my lovely uncle was delighted to have some time to focus on the move-in.

As soon as we got up the driveway, we ran into our wonderful neighbors John, Fay, Sandy, and one of their holiday house guests. We took our usual walk with the "precocious" seven-year-old in tow, and found ourselves wandering back past our house and down to their yard as John relayed stories of buffalo's and diaper changing to Min Min and I. Somehow the two little ones slipped in to the house in the blink of the eye, so with Fay's permission, we all stayed for muffins and play time.

Min Min only wanted to play tug with Tilly, and Tilly only wanted to snuggle with Sandy.

When there were clear signs of fatigue in both little ones, we gathered our shoes and headed home.

 Min Min lead the way down the driveway with a trail of treats.

Once home, Tilly took a nap and us human girls got to work in the yard. First, Min Min shoveled up 9 buckets full of pine needles - I did I think 2, plus the 4 I did the other day for a grand total of 75 packed gallons of needles!

While Min Min was filling buckets, I finally got my compost area straightened out. It's still a little fragile, but I'm hoping filling it full of compost will help stabilize things. If not, I'll have to figure something else out, but at least it's a start!

Once we cleaned most of the needles from the bottom parking area (oh yeah, 75 gallons just from down there without even clearing the driveway or upper parking), we headed into the grass armed with a bucket, hoe, and shovel, on the look out for deer poop. Together, we filled another bucket full of prime manure. I figure shoveling poo with a seven-year old-assistant is the one time it is entirely appropriate to crack as many doo-doo jokes as possible.

Oh! And I almost forgot! I finished my Alaska History class for my Masters today!! Now, only a fake research paper (very odd assignment) and my portfolio left! Woo hoo! I am hoping I will make the December deadline in two weeks.