There is Always Next Year

Earlier this week, Georgia ran upstairs at sunrise to tell us that "the world looked like it was covered in sugar". As experts in Georgia-speak, we knew we'd been hit with the first frost of the year. It had arrived much earlier than we'd expected and walked out to a garden, indeed looking like it was covered in sugar and a heck of a lot of frozen plants. The beans hadn't finished, the pumpkins weren't ripe and I hadn't eaten my fill of courgettes yet. However, my own petty desires are no match for Mother Nature and our main gardening season was done, whether I wanted it to be or not.

Every year, there is something unexpected that happens. The goats get in. The sheep get in. Chickens eat all my seedlings. Mint takes over and strangles something else. A late frost, an early frost. A wet spring, a dry summer. Veg that did amazing last year are non-starters this year and we are drowning in things that didn't even sprout the year before.

But so is the life of a gardener. Because while every year something doesn't go to plan, some things do and, without a doubt, there is always next year. There is that famous Audrey Hepburn quote, "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow," and its so true. Thats what I love about it. Because while we have blips, overwhelmingly, we improve year on year.

And while that frost stopped much of our growing in its tracks, it also signalled the beginning of our season of rest. The garden is a demanding aspect of the farm, with hours spent most evenings tending, watering, harvesting and putting up. That sugar coated world also meant that the end of the busy season is in sight. The veg that covers my counters can now be frozen, canned or fermented, without being instantly replaced by new hauls from the garden. The freeze that killed the pumpkins also slowed the weeds that were slowly taking over. The shorter days mean less working time and more time in front of the fire with my book.

But not yet, I still have green tomatoes to can into salsa, green manures to tend and always, always cheese to make.

Kat