It’s the same every year: we think we’ll have so much time to do other things once the vegetable season is over. Ha! It’s still a mad rush.

The pigs are thriving and still busily ploughing up the big field garden. We’ve removed the fence posts from around the old grass ring, where the new garden is going, and have started hauling them to piles near the fire pit. Heavy! The lean-to, where tools are stored, is tidied up, and the driveshed nearly so. Still to go: the stable, machine storage shelter and garage. I’m saving the garage for last, because we can warm it with a wood fire.

Preparations for the coffee shop in Rockland are at the front of the stage. Although Jean-Pierre and I aren’t the main players, we do have supporting roles in the accounting, graphic design, planning, and general labour departments. It’s an exciting and challenging project, and we are enjoying ourselves tremendously. If you do Facebook, you can follow the adventure here.

In addition, we are hoping to complete a business plan for the farm operation before Christmas (this year)! We will need to think things out very carefully because Joël won’t be at the farm full-time anymore. All options are still on the table: reducing garden size so that we can manage things on our own, all the way up to increasing production and moving to more field crops, but with greater mechanization. Interesting, eh? If you have an opinion, don’t be shy about sharing it.