November: the Edge of Winter

November is the time to prep for Winter. I have been collecting fallen ash trees for our winter's heat. Because of the ash blight, we have our woodshed full and have burned only pulpy wood so far.
      
We also had a bumper crop of apples. Gretchen put up 21 pints of delicious apple sauce.

We had apples to share. This adolescent Black Bear was with us at least 4 days in November eating drops by the lower garden.  He wasn't bothered by me, much.

He even tried to help in the shed repairs

Here's a great surprise from the garden. Our soil tends to be rich in humus, but yields 'just ok' carrots . This year I added three 5-gallon buckets of sand to one bed.  Guess which carrot came out of the sandy soil!

The results were shocking. All the "sand"carrots were 14" up to 17" with no off shoots. Next year I will be mixing of sand for carrots.

We are approaching a peaceful time of reflection and snuggling-in. I hope to find more time for sharing stories with friends  and focusing my life on the good things we can do to build Sustainability throughout this great planet -- which I'm not sure we humans deserve.