November is my second-favorite month, next to the month of peak spring that spans the end of March and beginning of April.  What I love about November is how everything begins to get quiet and the natural world seems to take a deep breath with a long exhale before settling in for winter.

This year, the quiet settling of November has a different meaning because of the hard physical work Mike and I have been doing on the property over the last six months.  This past weekend, we finished up all of our major outdoor projects, which feels like a relief.  We’re closing in finishing the garage remodel.  Needless to say, we’re ready for a relaxing winter.

I successfully started romanesco, arugula, and Chinese cabbage in the greenhouse.  Wood rats ate the chard & the perpetual spinach seedlings, so I direct seeded some and covered the bed with fencing to protect the seeds from getting scooped up by birds.  We’ll see if they germinate.

In a year when our stone fruit, apple, and pear trees didn’t produce their usual bounty, the Fuyu persimmon tree gave us more fruit than ever before.