October came as somewhat of a surprise since our first freeze came weeks and weeks later than expected…in fact, I sold my last bouquet of the season on October 18! Because our growing season lasted so much longer than last year, it meant that all of our autumn tasks were put off until that hit, which set us back a bit. Another surprise came when one of the huge orders I’d put in earlier this year but then cancelled actually ended up getting sent to me anyway by mistake, which meant I was scrambling to find customers for 50+ peony roots to help offset the unexpected costs.
Once the hard frost did hit, our temperatures plummeted, and we’ve even gotten snow several times. All of that has made it tricky to do the necessary fall tasks for the flower farm, but we’re finally in decent shape after a free Saturday with temperatures above freezing 🙂
Besides all the flower farm tasks, October was pretty low key. We went on our Sunday walks in the mountains as long as weather permitted, and we celebrated Halloween at the end of the month with a family party, local trunk or treat / carnival, and trick or treating on the actual holiday.
October Goals
Get all the spring-blooming bulbs in the ground- We had about 700 tulips, 200 alliums, and a few other random odds and ends to get into the ground, which is not nearly as large of an order as I’d originally planned on, but with our uncertainty about whether or not we’d be moving, I figured it was prudent to cut it back.
Weed the front bed- It’s always insane what a difference this makes. Within a week of us doing this, we had hundreds of self-sown seedlings coming up (luckily mostly stuff we want).
- Rip out unwanted dahlias
- Well, we didn’t get to ripping out the UNWANTED dahlias, but Matt did spend a good chunk of last Saturday pulling up the tubers we DID want to keep, which was a huge item on our to-do list.
Pick all the apples + give away what we won’t use- We still have hundreds at the top of the trees that we couldn’t reach, but we’ve sure enjoyed having an abundance this year!
Go on one-on-one dates with each of the kids- So my “dates” with the kids weren’t nearly as exciting as Matt’s (who take them out to ice cream), but I’m counting this as complete since I spent intentional one-on-one time with each child during the month of October.
Go on a hike in Maple Canyon- Yep, and it was as gorgeous as everyone said it would be.
- Publish a book round-up post
- I did at least work on it…
- Paint and hang new laundry doors
- Zero progress. Sigh.
- Fix leak in master bathroom sink
- Nope. Most of Matt’s free time was taken up with helping me on the flower farm.
- Finish final photo session +
cancel Smugmug account- Sigh…no. And now since I’ve cancelled the account, I have to go old school and do picture c.d.’s again…plus I actually did another photo session for some friends, so now this to-do item is even longer…
- Fix doorbell
- Blergh.
Now that the majority of the must-do’s are finished for the flower farm, I’m really hoping that November can mostly just be a month of recuperative rest. I definitely got a bit burned out by the end of the flower farming season, and I’m in need of some serious downtime to just not think much about any of it for awhile.
November is also shaping up to be a month where I catch up on some nagging tasks I’ve been putting off for months, like getting a pre-cancerous mark on my face lasered off and getting a recent eye exam so I can finally order contacts. They aren’t the most fun to-do items, but they do mean trips to the bigger towns, which means we get to enjoy some decent gluten-free restaurant eating 🙂
Here’s what our (somewhat restful?) November is looking like:
November Goals
- Plant ranunculus in high tunnel
- These first two items on the list are the very last of our flower farming must-do’s before the winter. Once these are done, I will be breathing a HUGE sigh of relief.
- Finish dealing with dahlias
- Matt took care of the majority of them; now we just have the ones left in the high tunnel to sort out.
- Get oil changed in van
- Gotta include some easy wins on here.
- Vote
- I’m pleased to say I’ve already completed this one 🙂
- Sell at least one thing on Facebook Marketplace
- I have a few bigger things I want to try and sell in the next month so we can have some extra cash on hand for Christmas.
- Order contacts
- Funny story: I got a free contacts sample when I got my last eye exam back in summer of 2020. Then I “put them somewhere safe,” which meant I didn’t find them until super recently. I tried contacts about a decade ago and didn’t love them, so I wasn’t in a super big hurry to try them again. However, when I unexpectedly found the contacts after cleaning out my bathroom one day, I decided to give them a shot. And other than the fact that the prescription must work better since it looked like I’d aged 10 years once I put them on for the first time, I actually really like them this time around! Of course, now I’ve waited so long that I need to get another eye exam before I can actually order any…
- Finish laser work on my face
- I’ve already completed one appointment; now I just have one (maybe two) more to get rid of the mark.
- Publish book roundup post
- Rollover goal.
- Edit both remaining photo sessions
- Oh boy. This seems so daunting since I’m so out of practice.
- Paint and hang new laundry doors
- Rollover goal.
- Fix doorbell
- Rollover goal.
And that’s the official (somewhat restful?) plan! What’s your November looking like?
