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unicorndukeTook today off work. Yay!
Monday was another cold night, so I knew I'd be putting frost covers out anyway, wasn't worth even pretending to take the day off. I did spend all day getting frost covers out, but it went extremely well. My dad had a little time in the morning, so we spread the covers that were already out in the West fields. Then I fetched more covers and pallets and put them out in the Home farm field. My uncle happened to coming by and helped me pull them into the field. Then the wind died down around 2pm, so I just was able to spread them all out and get them weighed down in time for crafting.
After crafting, the wind had picked back up, so I went out and readjusted the edges although I don't think it helped much. Low was 29.5F so solid frost. I think this is frost event five this spring? Bonkers. Actually, went and checked weather station records and it was seven frost events since the strawberries started flowering around April 19th, which is weeks early and one of them was 20F which is so cold. The problem is that the hot weather at the end of March and early April pushed them so hard, then the weather cooled right down, which means extended flowering time, so more time to get frosted. My dad said he's never seen a spring like this.
My final guess is that we lost half of our strawberry crop if we don't get another frost. Augh. Blueberries appear fully fine with all of this even though some were close to full bloom on that 20F night and should have been hit pretty good. We'll see what develops after bloom.
It is currently thunderstorming, lots of nice ominous dark clouds. ETA: I just went and pulled the pumps from the creek because I'd rather pull them at 8pm and have the rest of the storm not be a problem than have to go out at 10 or 11 to pull them when there is a problem. Nice big chunk of storm left for the night
I have received several virtual pats on the head and reassurances that I'm doing my best, so that has helped quite a bit on the emotions front. I have started a small list of things to do to make the current stuff going on more bearable. They are:
Daily
- Put one thing away in correct spot
- Take one photo of something nice
- Spend 10 mins outside not working, not reading on phone
- stretching
Weekly
- Do one small house improvement
- Neaten something
- text a friend, schedule or do one social thing away from farm/house
On Sunday, I made dinner which was so freaking delicious. I took beef tenderloin, cut it up and pan fried it in bacon grease, added chickpeas, made gravy with the leftover grease. Made rice and added vegetables from the freezer. It is so dang tasty and filling.
With today's day off, I made another triple batch of pita breads for lunches, blueberry jam bars, granola and hazelnut cookies. Solid 4 hour baking session. It has been so long since I baked. (irritation note but I'm at peace with it: I mentioned to my mom yesterday that I was planning to bake this morning so she could clean the kitchen because if I just start baking, she'll clean while I'm in there baking even if I clean or tell her she doesn't need to clean. It wasn't done when I got up and ate breakfast, so I mentioned it again. She finally finished it up at 10am, came and told me, then did more stuff in the kitchen until 10:30 when she came and told me she was done for real. My ideal baking start time is 8am because usually I wrap up by the time someone else needs to use the kitchen to make lunch. I was resigned and simply spun yarn until she was done) I am so happy with the pita bread recipe from Baked to Perfection by Katarina Cermelj. It is reasonably tasty, good texture, easy to make and also to scale up to triple batches which I can do in my stand mixer. The triple batch takes about the same amount of prep time as the single batch other than baking time (5 min per sheet tray) and I can get 18-20 good size pita breads from a triple batch, so it's a ton of lunches or last second dinner foods.
I got two Adulting Tasks done today, plus one sidejob work task. Progress. A little at a time.
My brain did the swap back to reading books and I guess video games have been removed as a fun thing instead of having the brain power for both. I don't really understand why but the only games I've played since March have been during gaming night with the siblings. Weird. I have a strong suspicion that my brain is not handling things well even if I am functioning okay and just giving up on stuff is the way to help, so that's fine I guess.
Monday was another cold night, so I knew I'd be putting frost covers out anyway, wasn't worth even pretending to take the day off. I did spend all day getting frost covers out, but it went extremely well. My dad had a little time in the morning, so we spread the covers that were already out in the West fields. Then I fetched more covers and pallets and put them out in the Home farm field. My uncle happened to coming by and helped me pull them into the field. Then the wind died down around 2pm, so I just was able to spread them all out and get them weighed down in time for crafting.
After crafting, the wind had picked back up, so I went out and readjusted the edges although I don't think it helped much. Low was 29.5F so solid frost. I think this is frost event five this spring? Bonkers. Actually, went and checked weather station records and it was seven frost events since the strawberries started flowering around April 19th, which is weeks early and one of them was 20F which is so cold. The problem is that the hot weather at the end of March and early April pushed them so hard, then the weather cooled right down, which means extended flowering time, so more time to get frosted. My dad said he's never seen a spring like this.
My final guess is that we lost half of our strawberry crop if we don't get another frost. Augh. Blueberries appear fully fine with all of this even though some were close to full bloom on that 20F night and should have been hit pretty good. We'll see what develops after bloom.
It is currently thunderstorming, lots of nice ominous dark clouds. ETA: I just went and pulled the pumps from the creek because I'd rather pull them at 8pm and have the rest of the storm not be a problem than have to go out at 10 or 11 to pull them when there is a problem. Nice big chunk of storm left for the night
I have received several virtual pats on the head and reassurances that I'm doing my best, so that has helped quite a bit on the emotions front. I have started a small list of things to do to make the current stuff going on more bearable. They are:
Daily
- Put one thing away in correct spot
- Take one photo of something nice
- Spend 10 mins outside not working, not reading on phone
- stretching
Weekly
- Do one small house improvement
- Neaten something
- text a friend, schedule or do one social thing away from farm/house
On Sunday, I made dinner which was so freaking delicious. I took beef tenderloin, cut it up and pan fried it in bacon grease, added chickpeas, made gravy with the leftover grease. Made rice and added vegetables from the freezer. It is so dang tasty and filling.
With today's day off, I made another triple batch of pita breads for lunches, blueberry jam bars, granola and hazelnut cookies. Solid 4 hour baking session. It has been so long since I baked. (irritation note but I'm at peace with it: I mentioned to my mom yesterday that I was planning to bake this morning so she could clean the kitchen because if I just start baking, she'll clean while I'm in there baking even if I clean or tell her she doesn't need to clean. It wasn't done when I got up and ate breakfast, so I mentioned it again. She finally finished it up at 10am, came and told me, then did more stuff in the kitchen until 10:30 when she came and told me she was done for real. My ideal baking start time is 8am because usually I wrap up by the time someone else needs to use the kitchen to make lunch. I was resigned and simply spun yarn until she was done) I am so happy with the pita bread recipe from Baked to Perfection by Katarina Cermelj. It is reasonably tasty, good texture, easy to make and also to scale up to triple batches which I can do in my stand mixer. The triple batch takes about the same amount of prep time as the single batch other than baking time (5 min per sheet tray) and I can get 18-20 good size pita breads from a triple batch, so it's a ton of lunches or last second dinner foods.
I got two Adulting Tasks done today, plus one sidejob work task. Progress. A little at a time.
My brain did the swap back to reading books and I guess video games have been removed as a fun thing instead of having the brain power for both. I don't really understand why but the only games I've played since March have been during gaming night with the siblings. Weird. I have a strong suspicion that my brain is not handling things well even if I am functioning okay and just giving up on stuff is the way to help, so that's fine I guess.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-14 04:07 pm (UTC)Brains are funny things. My brain shuts down in various ways when I'm stressed. A big one is creativity. I can remember years ago, when I was both in graduate school and getting divorced, that I "reached back" into my brain for a creative solution and got back an image of a hand going into an deep black velvet curtain. Nope, No solutions here! During the last 5 - 6 years my brain has gone on strike against music. Just forget it, it takes bandwidth to process and I have had little to spare. Getting better now. Anyway this is just to say you aren't alone in having your brain refuse to do activities outside of basic life maintenance.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-14 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-05-15 12:23 pm (UTC)Also I should investigate pitas, I might enjoy them now that it's warm enough for bread to rise in my house.