Sometime back, I titled a dispatch Slop and Glop. Funny how things circle around and become themselves again. This is true in this instance. It has never been sloppier and gloppier around here than it is now. This is not one of those winters that is beginning with thick flakes falling from the sky and then being somewhat dry underfoot. No, not at all.

We got 3 or so inches of snow/rain last night. It is the heavy, wet stuff. I shoveled off the horse pen mats this morning – pushed it off with the plastic grain shovel. Just didn’t want to be wading through the stuff when I went to feed, water, or pick up poop because it takes too much energy getting around in it. Also, I sometimes wear leather boots

– and for this reason, I wasn’t wanting them to get sodden.

Pete pointed out to me that we still have some gardening chores to do around here. So I took down the pea vines (the crop this year was negligible), picked the pumpkins (those that remained were small and green), and harvested the ripe tomatoes (if the weather holds, we’ll get more).

Together, Pete and I harvested our carrot crop, which was buried under snow. We had two full beds to pull. We uncovered both beds with the hedgerow rake and then pulled them. Then we broke off and separated the tops for the horses and the goats. I also gave the goats the pea vines. They were so pleased about this that they made that greedy grunting sound that accompanies getting something they presume to be really good.

The garden chores took some time, in fact more time than expected. So we didn’t get a ride in. Tomorrow we’ll fill 20 or so five gallon buckets with the really good compost, the stuff with the worms in it, and put it in the lower garden beds. We have to do this tomorrow because Mimi, our house sitter, is coming to get compost on Monday. This is sort of a happy problem – we have to strike a balance between what we are keeping and what we are giving away.

Once the compost facility stations are empty, we’ll begin filling them with the fresh stuff. We have twenty or so full buckets on hand – would like to give the contents of these buckets to deserving gardeners. We’ll see what happens. It would be good to start winter with no manure or compost on hand.

Next: 265. 10/5/14: Lessons Learned: A Different Outcome