The fall garden (this is one of the three beds). The plants, left to right: Southern peas, snap beans, cabbages, English peas, carrots. I plant close, and will interplant as the season goes on. Our official first frost date here is Nov. 15, but that's been sliding in the past few years--last year, we got our first freeze on Dec. 10. It's possible that we'll have regular harvests through early December and likely (with row cover protection) we'll have spinach and other cold-hardy things through February. This week, we've been eating beans, Southern peas, and squash. I'm planning to add another 60+ square feet for the spring garden.

Potato tower. Somebody asked about this. It's a substitute for growing potatoes in a neat row, with soil hilled up as the plants grow taller--the way I learned to do it in my Illinois garden years ago. Here, I've made a container of hog wire, joined into a cylinder. I've planted the potatoes in about 10" of good compost at the bottom and will add compost and grass clippings as the plants grow taller. At harvest, instead of digging, I'll pull or dump the compost out and gather the potatoes. I have three towers, each with three plants--sprouted supermarket russets. My seed potatoes are set to arrive next week, but I think I'll save them for spring.

Medicinal herb post at Hen & Harvest. If you haven't visited this great blog, it's time you did. You'll learn some helpful things about becoming more self-sufficient and creating sustainable lifestyles--an important topic now, as many of us are trying to move away from the lifesupports of industrial agriculture. I've posted the first of two articles on growing your own medicine cabinet over there. The second will be up next month. While you're there, look around at the other helpful posts on lowering energy consumption and minimizing your carbon footprint: big words for living lightly on the earth.

Oh, and speaking of that, for our wedding anniversary (married 22 years ago, on the Fall Equinox), Bill gave me the solar stove (a Sun Oven) that I have been coveting. I made my own home-crafted version out of cardboard boxes (with an uncarded sheep's fleece for insulation) a while back, but this one is less bulky and easier to manage. I cooked chicken and rice in it this week--very tasty.

I have another important book to recommend to you: Sharon Astyk's new book, Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front. If you don't read another book this fall on the problems our families are facing, this is the one you want. Worth the price of the book: the appendix with hundreds of concrete, specific suggestions for ways to bring your own life down to earth. You can read my review of Sharon's book here. If you buy it from the review page, Story Circle will earn a few pennies from your purchase. (And yes, every penny counts!)

Writing news. I finished the copyedit of the memoir, and passed along your title comments to the editor. I like both titles, and am leaving it to the wisdom of the Press (they're pretty smart folks over there) to choose the right one. I'm working on the journal book (working title: An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days) and thinking just how extraordinary this year is turning out to be. Last week's financial crash alone would qualify it as a significant week; add Ike and its impact on oil, gas, and gasoline supplies, and you've got a humdinger. Coming up in two weeks: the publication of The Tale of Briar Bank (if you like dragons, I think you should read this book--if you don't, you should read it anyway!). So September is a busy month, and this week has been a busy one. How do we manage to do all the things we want to do in this life?

Reading note. The thing is, being involved with your food means revisiting a life of seasonality, with a time to plant, a time to sow, a time to harvest and a time to rest. It isn't just a song or a Bible verse; it becomes a way of life. And that's okay, because that link to nature may be the thing that we've been missing in our lives.--Sharon Astyk, Depletion and Abundance