To do: (autumn edition)
Autumn is here.
(Finally, finally, finally!)
We’ve just arrived home from a week camping down in far, far East Gippsland. Warm days, properly chilly nights, every meal cooked on the fire and wild roaming beaches without bumping into another soul. Excellent progress on my Éclair Sweater, which still smells deliciously smokey. According to Rodolfo, there was even good swell.
Back home to proper autumn weather. Today has been grey, dismal and drizzly, basically my favourite. The fire’s been on all day, all the camping washing drying slowly around it.
The winter veg seedlings I planted before we left aren’t faring too well, sadly. Many have been taken out by slugs and snails. I think I’ll replant with seed, not seedlings. Thankfully, the peas have quadrupled in size and are starting to climb nicely. Tail end of summer veg is still hanging on; a few giant zucchinis, capsicums that may or may not ripen, same with the lingering tomatoes. Autumn fruits still coming – figs, apples, pears, feijoas. The dahlias have gone completely feral. I don’t even know what I’m meant to do with them at this point. They’ve tipped from abundant towards something closer to mutiny.
One more week of school holidays. And I can feel it all starting – the pull towards autumn jobs, autumn rhythms.
And so begins…
TO DO LIST
Autumn edition:
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Medicines:
• Elderberry and rosehip syrup
• Fire cider
• Strain turkey tail tincture, need to get Jess from Heartessence to teach me how to do a double extraction.
• Mullein, sage (and/or thyme?), ginger elixir
Garden:
Peas, silverbeet, beetroot, lettuce, pak choy, garlic (garlic, garlic), broad beans, green broccoli, purple sprouting broccoli, purple cauliflower.
Plant sufficient narcissus, bluebells and freesias.
Ha.
There will never be sufficient narcissus, bluebells or freesias.
Weed out the never-ending couch grass from the cosmos bed.
Sow an autumn cover crop – will it help suppress it? Probably not, but here’s hoping.
Rake leaves, compost
Rake leaves, compost
Repeat
Propogate hydrangea cuttings from Mum’s garden
Sow nigella, scabiosa, poppies, sweet peas – where though? Running out of space. Need to work that out too.
Label all dahlias before they disappear
Forage saffy milkcaps – enough to dehydrate?
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Making:
Sew new merino layers for myself and Uma. Asha still living out of Uma’s hand-me-down glut.
Get all quilts ready for basting
“Slip-through jumpers” for Uma and Asha
Deliberating whether to sew them in organic cotton sweatshirting or to knit them?
Finish my Éclair Sweater and start the Baystone Sweater by Truly Myrtle – really feeling like it’s time to learn continental knitting.
Another pair of Arthur pants – corduroy? zipper fly?
Another Matchy Matchy Horizon Day dress – If autumn isn’t the season for a love affair with gingham, stripes and washed linens, I don’t know when is
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Wool and wood and wax:
Pull out all our woollies - deep wash, depill, mend.
Wash all woollen blankets (thanks Dr. Planet!)
Line dry when there is autumn sun
Refresh wooden things – chopping boards, bowls, spoons.
Scrub with bicarb and lemon.
Dry by the fire.
Light sand, then rub in beeswax salve.
Autumn leaf garland refresh – collect leaves, press for a week, dip in beeswax, hang in the window
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Eating:
Pumpkin soup
Dhal
Stewed fruit
Chai
Slow-cooked meaty things
(a new development after my mostly vegetarian life)
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Listening:
Why Women Grow podcast
Olivia Fern — Red Thread
La Mòssa — Wanda Pétrichor
Reading:
Heart the Lover by Lily King
The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell
Seed by Bri Lee
The Good People by Hannah Kent
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RThe list is long and will probably keep growing, but somehow in the magic of autumn, everything seems to get done.
