It officially feels like Fall here in South Louisiana. Even with the 80 degree plus temps, the trees and natural bubble around our home tell me its time for descent. I must admit that I have a lot of resistance to fall, to less light, to the inner retreat that is inevitable.
But yesterday I found a lot of joy in spending my morning harvesting what feels like the last of the banana peppers and hot peppers, and lots of okra, beans, turnip greens, and buckets and buckets of pecans. We shared some with our neighbor who shared the front quarters of his deer with us. We fermented the peppers into a hot sauce and finally got around to fermenting the turmeric that T-roy pulled up earlier this season. The sweet potatoes found their way into our sand buckets for winter and I’m rounding up the leftover garlic to plant for the coming season. It’s very dry here this year and last weeks rain made the marigolds happy and I cut a few for the vase on the “new to me blue table” that found its home on the front porch.
T-roy continues to plant, ferociously, the fruit trees and native pollinators for the food forrest we are creating on our property. The dream is to produce food from perennials all year long. The chicken coop is coming along and we are excited about the new addition to our permaculture homestead. We’ve always resisted chickens in the past because we typically leave for a couple of months in the summers for cooler temps. Our plan is to either cull the chickens before departing or leave them for the neighbors to care for and enjoy.
I’ve recently started drawing something new in my morning journal. Scenes of me hiking or sitting with coffee are emerging. These are things I want to do but have been limited to because of a hip I am rehabbing and some digestive upsets I am working through. My hope is that by projecting what I want into the future, it will help me heal. That’s how we found our house. I sketched up my dream house, put it away and forgot about the sketch. Six months after purchasing our home I was going through a box and found the sketch. Our property and our home are identical to the sketch so much so that the oak is in the exact spot in the drawing as well as the garden and the pond. So, is the color of the door and the intricacies on the house. I was in amazement when it registered that I had manifested our home in a drawing months before.
I have been working very hard on this little art business lately. I’ve registered for our local fall art walks as well as the Sunset Herb Fest and Festival des Fleur in Lafayette, LA this coming Spring. I’ve been working part-time after school to make extra money to print new products and pay the coming event fees. I’m more excited than ever to share my work and creative pursuits with others. I can only hope its well received and continue to have the confidence and commitment to keep going.
That’s it for now. I wish you all the love and joy that you rightfully deserve. Rest well this season and revel in the the inner fires that this season reminds us to enjoy. Until next time…