As I sat at the kitchen table shelling dry beans Friday afternoon, idly gazing out the sliding glass doors to the deck. Spider Squirrel came for a visit. The daytime temperatures have settled into crisp autumn and the glass door was closed, but the screen door was open, pushed back almost all the way to the other side of the windows. Spider Squirrel hopped along the deck toward the glass door and leapt at it, expecting to latch onto the screen that wasn’t there. They splatted belly first against the window and slid back down to the deck.

I saw the whole thing and was having a great good laugh. Meanwhile, Spider Squirrel sat there a bit stunned for a few seconds before looking at the window in what I imagine was puzzlement. Then they turned around, climbed up the deck railing, jumped into the witch hazel, and scampered away.

I suppose it is too much to hope that Spider Squirrel learned a lesson and will, henceforward, cease throwing themself at the screen for the fun of scrambling across it leaving tiny claw holes. But at least for a moment I got to enjoy a bit of just deserts, especially since I’m pretty sure it was Spider Squirrel who demolished the large pumpkin in the garden.

After almost a week of “it might frost tonight” forecasts, we finally got frost Thursday night/Friday morning. This means the growing season is now officially over. Oh, I still have collards in the garden and in a week we can probably start digging sunchokes, but the growing garden is done. Also, I can finally plant the garlic and cut the stinging nettles for winter retting.

Earlier in the week James and I were out picking all the still green tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos. I also picked the Ukraine winter squash—first time growing it—and a very small not ripe butternut that may or may not ripen indoors, we’ll see.

After all the final things are done, it will be nice to have a little break. How long do you think it will be before I start planning what to plant in next year’s garden? Heh.

Something new I will plant came to me last night as a gift from one of my Beloved Community Circle members. They had attended the funeral of a longtime friend who was an avid gardener and the family gave out little packets of seeds from his garden as a remembrance. Isn’t that a marvelous idea? I hope someone is able to do that for me when my time comes.

The seeds I was gifted are a crookneck smooth butternut heirloom winter squash. Since that is all I know, other than he originally got the seeds from his brother in 2022, they are now called “Jerry’s Crookneck Butternut.” I am honored to receive these seeds and look forward to growing them next year. I will be sure to give the non-gardening Circle friend who passed the seeds on to me a squash.

I do have a small complication though. Since I already grow a variety of butternut that I really like and that does well, I need to keep the two at a distance so they don’t cross-pollinate. Because of two large branches that died on one of the apple trees in the front yard, there is now a nice sunny patch that used to be shade. I believe it is big enough and sunny enough to plant a couple of Jerry’s Crookneck. I will need to be vigilant when the squash grows and make sure to protect them from Spider Squirrel and other miscreants. Hopefully front and backyard are far enough apart that the friendly bees don’t end up creating a whole new squash variety, but if they do, well that could be interesting too!

James and I are celebrating 34 years of wedded bliss this weekend. To celebrate we had lunch at our favorite plant-based diner. I took a chance on their burger of the month that they dubbed “Demon Burger.” It has smoked serrano aioli, ghost pepper mustard, pickled Granny Smith apples, Chao cheese (vegan), and arugula on a black sesame bun. I asked how spicy it was and was told, well it’s not Minnesota spicy. That didn’t scare me because “Minnesota spicy” is code for spice was waved around in the general area of your meal but not actually applied to it in any sort of quantity to make it above hint of spicy.

So I asked whether after one bite my mouth would be on fire and I’d not be able to taste anything else the rest of the meal. Oh no, the server said, it’s not that hot. It’s hot enough to make your nose run, but you will still be able to taste all the things. Ok, let’s do it!

I can report that my nose didn’t run but my eyes watered a little bit and my mouth and lips tingled pleasantly the whole meal and for a little while afterwards. I was indeed able to taste the flavors and not be overwhelmed by the heat. I enjoyed it very much and hope I get to enjoy it again sometime, maybe next October.

Meanwhile, James has been on a kitchening tear, making some amazing meals. Friday night for dinner he made sweet potato apple soup which we ate with multigrain sourdough bread that I had made. Earlier in the week there was cous cous chick pea skillet, smokey bacony potato quesadillas, and savory whipped tofu and avocado on sourdough toast. Saturday I made a basic sourdough focaccia that James used as a pizza base adding leftover whipped tofu and hummus, bell pepper, sweet onion and garlic from the final farmers market of the season, some collards from the garden, and homemade “cheese.” So much yum!

On the reading front, I just finished a book called Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer. Our protagonist, Ruth, is caught shoplifting in the megachurch-owned craft store in her small town. The store goes into lockdown and she is strangely the only person in it except for the “employees” who have nefarious plans and are now trying to catch her. The book will not be winning any prizes, but it is amazing how much damage a person can do with craft supplies as weapons. It is horror light, though a bit gory at times, and I was getting a bit bored by the end and admit to skimming, but it was entertaining enough for spooky season. I passed it along to a coworker who accumulates new crafts and supplies even faster than I do.

A book that is very good is Madeline Thien’s The Book of Records. Lina and her father arrive for an extended stay at The Sea, a stateless place where migrants from all over gather until they can get a boat to somewhere else. There are four stories running through the book that speak to and echo each other, the main story of Lina and her father, and the stories of Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu, seventeenth-century Jewish scholar Baruch Spinoza and his exile from the Jewish community in Amsterdam, and twentieth-century philosopher Hannah Arendt fleeing the Nazis.

The narration moves between all the stories as well between past, present and future in Lina and her father’s story. It might sound like it is confusing but it is so well written I was never once lost. It also sounds like it might be heavy, but is often lightened with jokes like this one:

Q: Does anyone know why Beethoven got rid of his chickens?
A: They wouldn’t stop saying Bach, Bach, Bach!

The book has much to say about time, memory, art, resistance, migrants and refugees, family both blood and chosen, survival, and much more. Here is a more serious quote from Du Fu’s story that rings all too true for out present moment:

Politics is dead. Integrity is dead. Art and ingenuity have been assassinated. Rot festers everywhere, and its source is the imperial capital. We live in an age of corruption. Haven’t you been paying attention? Don’t you see how abundance has created extravagance, which has necessitated scarcity everywhere, and the men in the capital are up to their necks in extortion, and that’s just the beginning? What’s left for you and me, a bit of poetry? If so, we should wear our learning with a bit more disrespect, do you know what I mean?

If I’ve piqued your interest, or you have already read the book, be sure to listen to (or read the transcript) the Between the Covers podcast interview with Thien.

Finally, in some potentially worrisome news, Ecuadorians will be voting on November 16th on whether to rewrite their constitution. The current constitution was written in 2008 and became the first in the world to enshrine the rights of nature. However, the current president is a right-wing anti-environmentalist who sees the 2008 constitution as an obstacle to business development. Indigenous people and plenty of others in Ecuador, are concerned not only for the environment but also for the future of the country’s democracy. Let’s hope the voting is free and fair and an overwhelming majority refuse rewriting the constitution.

So as not to leave you on a down note, please enjoy “This Joy” by the Resistance Revival Chorus

Until next time, keep well and be excellent to each other.