End of the Season

     Pulling my garden's last crop before days shorten and the first frost closes it for me, I today (in the sign of the heart) did something I've resisted all season: I broke down and asked for help as I began digging up sweet potatoes in the rain-drenched mud. (So large were these potatoes, and so full the vines sprawling beneath my soil, my first few jumps on the spade found me cutting them. I had miscalculated just how many and how far their reach.)
     One thing is for sure...I plant better than I plan. The planting, the weeding, the tilling, I love...the guilt that comes from being unable to eat it all, can it all or give away what's left -- not something I care to live again, though it poses for me, a puzzle to solve before spring.
     But between now and then, I rest.
     Farming is rewarding, yes. And the more I watch the news, the more I hear the fear, the more folks speak of "green" and "sustainable" and all things "life renewing"... the happier I am to be learning all that I am. But farming is, without a doubt, one of the most back-breaking, salt of the earth hard working jobs I have ever encountered, and one that (again, my theme) is best approached with friends in mind (both for helping and savoring)...mentors to guide...fellow gardeners in which to share....and helpful neighbors there for recruiting (and mine have been great).
     More to come on "Things I've learned this season" and "Things I hope to try next year." But for now I sleep...for tomorrow, I have (literally) hundreds of sweet potatoes to contend with (as they spend their first night above ground, sleeping on my deck, drying in preparation for proper storing).
     Goodnight Moon.
     Goodnight pups and goats.
     Goodnight cat, fish and frog.
     Goodnight and goodbye Karlen's Garden 2014. Thank you for your many gifts. May you rest to grow another season.