Two weeks ago the first hard frost cracked.

Two days ago the first flakes fell quietly on Brown Dog Farm.

We are deep in the season of Gathering In. We have been fortunate this year to have a wonderful harvest in so many ways.

This year I was finally able to have a bumper crop of sweet peas. Early in March I soaked the seeds and then planted them in their raised beds on St. Patrick's Day and waited, and waited, and waited...and lo and behold they came and were marvelous. Sweet peas are one of my first scent memories of the garden outside my Gramma's bedroom at Rito Alto Ranch in Colorado. My Grandfather planted them for her every summer. I have been trying to grow them for many years and this year we had many bouquets on the kitchen table and they were still producing when Granny and Grumpa moved here so she had some for her kitchen too. I am continuing to build up my collection of Dahlia tubers in number and variety and I tried several new varieties of Zinnias. We had enough flowers to provide altar flowers for church all season.

The highlights of the vegetable garden were kale, beets and jalapenos. We discovered Lancinato Kale is a favorite of baby Angora goats as well as our favorite for Kale and Currant salad. I finally got eggplant in and had quite a harvest. Ed would prefer I give the eggplant to the baby goats, they didn't prefer it. We have lots of eggplant parmigiana in the freezer and I made tons of Baba Ganoush. It will be back next year...if Ed doesn't pick off all the flowers.

The pears also gave us a bumper crop. The second line of Pear Espalier went in and even though Ed installed the wires I never got around to training and pruning them to the wires before they flowered and set a huge crop of pears. Finally after the harvest, I tied them to the training wires and only broke on branch.. it seemed strong enough though and I am sure it will grow in alright. We have gathered in all the Keiffer pears and are holding them for holiday deserts.

I think we had such good harvests of fruit and flowers because the bees were so active. We are blessed with Rick Salmann our bee guru and even though we had a swarm, Ed and Rick found the swarm, reinstated the queen into the hive and added more supers and a second hive . One day late summer I arrived home to find a huge box of honey on the deck. Now we are rich with the golden nectar!!

Our hay fields yielded well and we are full to the rafters in all the barns with a beautiful alfalfa/ grass mix. Thanks to the guidance and experience of Vern Greenquist we got 4 full cuttings and have enough to keep all the critters well fed through the winter months and extra to sell. He is truly a gentleman farmer.

Our critters are adding to our annual harvest also. Ed Jaeger came over in early summer and sheared again and I have 2 beautiful fleeces from Bella and Maya, and Ed and I hand sheared the new angora kids. Their fleeces will keep me busy this winter with spinning projects and next year I want to take on dyeing their fiber. The chickens are enjoying a hiatus following their yearly molt but the new Sue Runner Duck has just hit maturity and is laying beautiful grey/green eggs for us. Our new Indian Runner Ducks Bill and Sue have been the hit of the summer, they are a constant source of humor and are very personable and curious. They are voracious foragers and eat all sorts of slugs and ticks and other buggy things and are not troublesome at all. I highly recommend them. They have bonded nicely with the chickens and follow us around 'chatting' all day.

So the gathering in continues as we prepare for the deep quiet of winter. Gathering in the hoses, the garden tools and stakes, and tomato cages, gathering in the debris and leaves to add to the compost pile to feed it for the spring. I am gathering in all the winter supplies. The stock tank heaters, the heat lamps, the thermostatic outlets. Testing them cleaning them up and reinstalling them to aid in the chores that now are done in the dark. Oh yes, checking my favorite helpers, the muck boots, do they have holes in them are the liners around here somewhere? And my headlamp.. does it have new batteries, and my Carhartt bib overalls that I pull over my pajamas all winter for morning chores! I need to fix that one suspender...All these chores fill our free time in these days of grace before the deep freeze. Its a race, to get it all done.

I have managed to gather in a few paintings also to take to Gallery 220 in Lake Geneva for the Holiday show. You can see them there through January and also here in the gallery shop on our website. Art makes a wonderful gift for the holidays you know, unique and one of a kind. Lots of artists love to do commission work , investigate that for a truly unique gift! With the sale of any of my prints or paintings with animals I will make a 10% donation to the Livestock Conservancy, my favorite charity.

As the holidays approach my favorite gathering in occurs. This summer Granny and Grumpa arrived for their next big adventure. They moved into a small rental in town and we have been having a blast watching the building of their new house right up the hill here on Brown Dog Farm. Nick Monien and his crew and subcontractors have been amazing and the Monday after Thanksgiving the trusses will be lifted onto the exterior walls and they will be under roof before the holiday. There are wonderful benefits to living in a small rural town in a flyover state. The relationships you have with the small businesses and neighbors are truly based on good will and community. We are all connected to each other and we support each other in turn. It makes you glad that the world is not what you see on the news every night.

We will have Thanksgiving with them this year, and then have a chili fest with family from Chicago and New Mexico.The boys are arriving home from their colleges this week and any day now we await the arrival of Edward and Jenna's Harper Rose, the first grandchild! Then Elisabeth and Ryan will visit over Christmas.

When Ed and I sat down and thought about our Holistic Goals for Brown Dog Farm we wanted firstly to create a place for flora, fauna, art and family. We are so blessed that our goals are coming to fruition. My wish for you is that you throw your arms out wide and gather in all that your heart treasures. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!