Weekending and E-Course Giveaway winner

Thanks to everyone who participated in the E-Course Giveaway. Of course I wanted everyone to win because I’m a feel-good socialist but…the winner, via random generator, is: #30, Brenna Larson. Brenna, please e-mail me and I’ll get you the password to join the course.

Also, if you didn’t win but are interested in participating in the E-Course, the cost of the entire 6-week course is less than one coaching call with Natalie, which is worth something like, I don’t know…your sanity, perhaps…however you want to calculate that.

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It was a cold and blustery weekend ’round these parts. We went to a Stone Soup party, where an entire soup—made inside a pumpkin with items brought by guests—was cooked with hot rocks heated by fire. Have you ever seen this done? It was mesmerizing.

~Dan, ferrying a hot rock from the fire into the pumpkin via deer antlers~

~simmering with onions, potatoes, carrots, zucchini and squash. Some wise-cracker mentioned that all it needed was a hunk of raw meat and a stick of butter; that wise-cracker might have had the initials, “RT”~

It was one of those nights where everyone was just so happy. Dan got to be useful with antler tools and gathering firewood from the surrounding forest, Col snuck flaming sticks out of the fire and then gamely put them back when reminded, I loved spending a cold Autumn night outside, warmed by fire and friendship, and Rose was strategically positioned between my lap and first crack at all incoming potluck dishes.

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Everything about our weekend was Octobery and sweet. We dug potatoes.

And Col (advocate for all beings, large and small), found several sprouting avocado pits (due to our semi-decomposed compost) in the soil while rummaging around for potatoes. “We have to save these! For Nana! She loves avocados!” Col potted them up and now they’re nestled in our unheated greenhouse dreaming of the equator. He also threw his body in front of my shovel, saving several volunteer tomatoes and this volunteer corn plant.

Arugula! Arugula! It seems to grow like unwanted chin hairs most of the summer, but now it’s one of the stars of the garden! (by virtue of being alive!). To balance out the spiciness I eat it with something sweet (cherry tomatoes, apple slices, balsamic vinegar). Swoon. Also, I made this arugula pesto from Stone Free Farm and it is divine.

~oh, and pecans and chevre go very nicely in arugula salad too~

Col, after playing golf and mowing the lawn with his dad, got to help him paint blended deer brains on the latest deer hide.

And now that the frost-tender gems of the garden have been picked, apparently the chickens are getting a few extra cracks at the insects before getting shooed out of the garden. Go girls!

Viva October!

How was your fall weekend?

*linking with the lovely Amanda for weekending