First frost 2011
The first frost of fall 2011
was gentle (albeit early --- October 3.) It barely nipped the
basil and summer squash and I suspect even our uncovered tomatoes might
keep right on ripening.
The sudden cold was a
shock to our systems, though. I cleaned out the wood stove nook
and lit our first little fire. I just burnt five or six sticks of
leftover kindling, but the wood was enough to take the chill off until
the sun came in our south-facing window, and to remind me how much I
love our efficient
wood stove!
The frost is our cue to
get ready for our first little "staycation" of the year, slated to
begin October 11. We realized after last winter's trip that the
vacation had been too long and that we started missing home pretty
fast, so we're opting to take two half weeks off at home this winter
instead. I've always loved the idea of a staycation, but didn't
trust myself not to work right through them. Let's see if Mark
can keep me honest so that I get the same deep relaxation during a
staycation as during a cruise.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I'm North of you guys, but not in the mountains. So while I had colder temperatures, I didn't get any frost. Unlike you, we already pulled out tomatoes.
Good idea about the staycation. I like those, but I do end up working on the homestead throughout those weeks.
David --- I know what you mean. With the unusual heat extending into September, our broccoli and cabbage pretty much got eaten alive by cabbage worms and the blister beetle infestation in our swiss chard never seemed to stop. Hopefully the frost will put a damper on it!
Greg --- It's amazing the effect the mountains have. I went to school outside Pennsylvania, and was surprised to realize that the weather there is a hair warmer than I was used to, despite being about 500 miles north....
As usual, I biked to work yesterday. But it was so warm that even in the morning that a jacket was too hot, and just a t-shirt was fine. And in the afternoon we hit 24°C!
But then again, last year in November we had around six inches of snow!