Potato harvest

Low-lying fog blanketed the yard when Cooper went out for his usual after-7 bee break. At -6°C, it was brisk, so he wasn’t out long. S made coffee as I read in bed, then I moved on to publishing a blog post from our trip and starting a few new ones. Laundry was already underway.

saw this great t-shirt online, think I need one :)

After a couple of coffees and breakfast, S headed out to wash the truck and trailer. I brought in more items as it was nearly emptied, tossing the trailer sheets into the wash.

B stopped by before noon, still dealing with her car tire issues, and to feed her horses. S helped her patch the tire again while I cut down and dug up the dahlia tubers. I also bagged the beets—remembering they need to stay a bit moist—before B grabbed her things from the trailer and left for work.

B with her horses, Mr J and Cooper

After putting Shaina’s items away in her room, I re-pressed the flowers she’d asked me to preserve, then went out to start digging the potatoes. Before long, the coat and toque were off—it had warmed up beautifully to 12°C.

I came in for a cold drink while S napped in Big Brown, then went back out to finish the job. The russet potatoes were enormous this year! I left them to dry in the sun, pulled down the sweet peas, cleared the frostbitten planters, and began tucking away the garden décor for the season.

Seems I created mutant cross bred potatoes- fingerlings X red (L)

and look at the size of some russets!! (R)

When S woke, he graded the road after dumping the full quad trailer at the pit. I boxed the potatoes by variety and loaded them into the ranger with the beet box—my back was protesting all the digging. I filled another box for Amanda with the small or nicked ones that needed using soon. S carried everything into the tack room, where I’d swept and made space, hoping an insulated horse blanket would keep them cool but not frozen. He also set a bale on a pallet for the horses in the diet pen.

By 5:00, I was inside cleaning veggies for a fall roast—cabbage, beets, carrots, and potatoes—to go with pork chops in mushroom sauce. The vegetables weren’t quite ready when S ate his supper and left for a rodeo meeting at 6. I finished mine while watching the rest of the Victoria Beckham documentary on my iPad.

never tire of these sunsets

Later, I relaxed with a Netflix comedy special and used the Dr. Ho on my back—until I remembered the two big dahlia tubers I’d left outside to dry. I brought them into the garage around 9:00, just in time, as it was down to 4°C and heading toward freezing overnight.

S returned from his meeting—and a stop at the bar—around 10:00 for a snack and some sports. I read a few more chapters of my book before calling it a day.