The last warm days

Our Fairbanks September has been surreal; cloudless blue skies, days in the sixties and nights in the forties, warm enough that the crops are still growing and ripening. Alas the weather forecast says that today is our last day of this trend and that the cold is coming. If summers here are fleeting, I can barely catch my breath before all the leaves have fallen from the trees.

I know that a lot of folks haven't had nice weather this summer, so I am hesitant to boast to loudly, but I have to say that we had wonderful weather this year. Our winter's keep getting milder, spring earlier, summer earlier and later, fall balmier and winter is coming later...I like it. This was by far our best garden yet. With the exception of no rain in June and therefor lots of hand watering little seedlings, we had a nice balance of rain and sun throughout July and August. Garden chores have been minimum; harvesting vegetables when they are ripe and when I have the time or inspiration to clean and cook them. Looks like iat is time to kick it into high gear. I think today I'll snip the oregano for drying and the thyme for freezing. Maybe I'll get the kids involved pulling beets and carrots today. I don't want to leave the root crops for too long. I've learned from experience that it is no fun digging a lot of carrots or potatoes out of frozen ground.

I've got about thirty pounds or more of pork meat and fat thawing for grinding tonight. My brother is bringing over an equal amount of caribou to grind and we are going to test out the new grinder and maybe get around to making sausage. I'm going to make sure we are outside between the hours of one and five as much as possible, as it might be our last sixty degree afternoon, ah...