November Hill farm journal, 194

 It’s been a beautiful week here on November Hill as the autumn season is really kicking in. We’ve had cooler temperatures, the leaves are changing and blowing in the breezes, and the horses are growing in winter coats. The temperature tonight is going down to 39 if the predictions are accurate, and can you guess who has NOT YET laundered horse blankets from last winter? Sigh. But I’m going to do Keil’s single weight sheet today and let it dry in the house since there’s no sunshine and a decent chance of rain. He likely doesn’t want the blanket but if it’s clean it will be nicer to put on if he ends up needing it.

The swamp sunflowers are so prolific this year. The terraced beds are amass with their flowers. 

The passiflora incarnata is HUGE and has grown from the ground to the roof of the house this year, as well as over the tops of the three hollies in front of the porch. There are many maypops hanging on the vines too. I’m still waiting to see if any gulf fritillary caterpillars and butterflies show up, as this is a host plant for them. 

This week was sport cut time for Keil Bay and Cody. Little Man removed himself from the barnyard so I’ll catch up with him another day. The donkeys have year-round sport cuts already! It’s nice to be doing these early autumn tasks. 

This week I’ve also been busy submitting flash nonfiction and brainstorming a third book in the Magical Pony School series. I’ve been working on different writing projects like a honeybee going to different flowers lately, though not with the same focus and intention the honeybee brings to her work. Still, the start of fall has given me a boost of energy and excitement about creative work and I am so relieved to be out of the summer doldrums.

In other big projects, it’s time to continue the process of sorting through the garage bay that is full of stuff that was in the garage storage room. This week I did an initial culling and sent one truck bed load away. The next layer is stuff we’ll keep, so it needs to be wiped down and moved into the storage room. I’m replacing the 27-year old fiberglass insulation with new wool insulation, but as always seems the case, that is not going to happen all at once and immediately (which would be so much easier and satisfying) as I have to order it and do it in sections. At least it’s a better time of year for doing that task - summer was absolutely not the time.

In one other big chore, the custom barn windows I ordered a year and a half ago were delayed for several reasonable reasons but are now at our feed store awaiting our pick up. I have no idea how hard the process of installing them will be, but our contractor will be doing it, so I’m thankfully off the hook for figuring anything out. There are only four of these windows in our barn so I hope it will be a reasonably quick job. They’re a big upgrade from the existing wood windows and they will also add a slightly different look to the barn. I hope it turns out well. 

We’re still searching for the new home but thus far there hasn’t been anything that really said “this is us.” I think with horse farms there are so many factors that need to align: the house, the barn, the land. And while we’ve looked at houses with no barn with the intent to build exactly what we want, the positioning of the house and the land all have to fit. We’re not looking to clear forest to build a barn, and that adds a level of complexity to the whole search. That said, we’re fine here for now and as I have promised myself, we will not get into the limbo of not doing work here because we may be selling in the near future. We’re fully here until we’re not. 

In my therapy world, I’m excited to say that after many years of referring out EMDR work with clients who need it, I am doing the training this month and next to be able to do EMDR myself. The training is intensive, but it’s virtual, so I will be holed up in the garret next week soaking in and practicing new skills. 

Life is good.