A Bit More Done in the Big Garden - November 13, 2025 @goldenoakfarm

On Thursday I was up at 5:30AM and got my post up. The cat is finally resigned to the time change and is fed at the new 6AM/PM times. He still drives me crazy for an hour before each one, but that’s normal. I sat for a while until it was time to pull up shades at 6:45AM. I got the kitchen cleaned up and started setting up for the projects of the day.

I planned to have my helper friend make a chicken dish for supper and the freezer, Cranberry Balsamic Chicken and to make a chutney for Thanksgiving, Blueberry-Cranberry Chutney. So I collected all the materials for these and put them on the old island. It’s so nice to not have it covered in projects as it was all summer.

He also had to decant the 3 large jars of sauerkraut for the fridge. So I set him up to do 9 jars worth.

I went up to check the mail and the first seed catalog had arrived.

I finally got the laundry sorted and started. One must be supervised…

I was ready to go out to the Big garden when my helper friend arrived at 11:30AM. I sent him to the co-op for ingredients and went to the Big garden. My #1 intern and I had cleaned this area out a couple weeks ago, but never got it mulched.

I am still hoping to mulch it so I went out and started cleaning it out again. I got it about half done. I’d gotten the Gator and 4 totes and that was just what I managed to do. I’m hoping to mulch the area I cleaned out on Saturday.

I was in and out of the house for various things, checking and washing 2 lbs of cranberries being one. At one point Tom zoomed in to drop off cream from the milk order. He was on his way to Boston to pickup my general helper and they were flying south for my #1 intern’s 21st birthday.

When I’d finished outside I got my photos and cleaned up. It was 2:30PM and the wind was picking up.

My helper friend had decanted the sauerkraut and there were actually 13¼ quarts. I had to rearrange the spare fridge to get it all in. This is not all of it for the year, some has been eaten.

He had gotten the chicken in marinating and took it out and got it into the oven. He had to go back to the co-op for oranges, as I’d forgotten to have him get some.

I kept an eye on the chicken and it was supposed to be nearly done when he got back. But somehow we managed to burn the sauce. We salvaged the chicken which was good. I made notes about what we’d done so next time we hopefully won’t make that mistake.

He started on the chutney while I sat down for a while. I’d managed to keep the laundry going and finished washing and drying it but it was not folded.

He got the chutney done and in the freezer and cleaned up the kitchen. I got another load in the dishwasher.

I was so tired but I had the chicken and chutney for supper. I got both stoves going and I eventually found the energy to get a shower and went to bed at 7:30PM.

On Friday my #3 intern is coming and he will be getting the Little Trees prepped for winter. My helper friend will be here at 8AM and he has errands, chores, and shopping to do, plus making cranberry-orange relish to freeze for Thanksgiving.

I hope to get laundry folded, the kitchen cleaned up, and then must be ready at noon to go to the first Mom’s Night Out in a couple years. Last one was January 16, 2023. That’s the longest time between get togethers. I’m hoping the DVD for the last Downton movie comes in on Friday as scheduled. My friend and I plan to watch it on Saturday.

So another long busy day…