I’ve given up waiting for the first light frost I thought I was waiting for and put the plot in the p-patch to bed for the winter. One last weeding, tucking in the garlic and asparagus under a mulch of maple leaves, raking in a sowing of cover-crop seeds (thanks to Celeste!). Maybe I misread the how-to sheet that came with my garlic, but I thought I needed to wait for a light frost before putting the garlic in; now I’m wondering if I misremembered, putting in the garlic three weeks late. The cover-crop labeling certainly seemed to think we were late. Oh, well.

Anyway, this means that the garden and the p-patch, with the exception of some carrots and kale in the backyard, are shut down for the winter. I’ll pull carrots as we need them or after their greens freeze (although I suppose if I pull them just before a freeze, I can donate the greens to the rabbits across the alley); I’m not sure if we’ll get any of the kale since it is being thoroughly consumed by something else. I keep thinking that whatever it is will stop eating the kale once the weather gets cold enough and since kale is cold-hardy, it will bounce back and we’ll have kale enough come March. But perhaps the hungry critter is cold-hardy, too…

It’s been startlingly warm over the last week. I expect it won’t last. In fact, Caitlyn and I read the week’s forecast this morning after breakfast, Caitlyn interpreting the rainy icons and reading the high temperature numbers. NOAA has since revised our expected highs down to “high 40s” all week. I’m ready to turn inward and do inside things for a while, I think. Check in with me in January and see if I’m over-eager for spring.