-Posted by Isaac

Is the harvest over?

Maybe for the grain farmers. Maybe for the bee farmers.

But not for the produce farmers.

Becky and Justin are still going strong.

In fact, if you want to load up on your greens, you can catch Becky at the Worthington market on Saturday. New baby in tow.

Was I right? I wasn’t exaggerating last week, was I? Just three days after having miss Louisa Mae, Becky was back in the fields. And she invited a bunch of friends to join her.

Not a baby shower.

A carrot picking party.

We worked the warm Sunday afternoon away. There was a sense of urgency in the air, because things were about to change.

With the air.

A drastic turn for the worst, in my opinion.

That was the big story this week. About two months too early, record cold on November 12th, 13th and 14th. Nasty wind, sleet and snow. A big fat blast of winter. And it lingered.

No sun.

No fun.

I used to complain my way through stuff like this, but Jayne’s tired of hearing it. Now it’s more of a private hell. I’m shell shocked. It’s so overwhelming. It shouldn’t have such an impact on my mood, but it does somehow. I slow down to about half speed. Sputtering along. Can’t think straight. Depressions, thoughts of past failures, embarrassing memories, excuses and inadequacies come flooding in. It’s a dark place. Took me a full minute the other day to figure out which credit card to use pumping gas. Which I guess would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. If it wasn’t me. I want to hide somewhere in a fetal curl and cry. It feels like an end to everything, and telling myself to suck it up and get going does no good. Who am I? Am I not a grown man? Crying about the weather? And are we really doing this again? Winter? In Ohio?

I don’t know how you people keep going.

I need the sun.

But obviously not everyone shares my gloom.

The kids made the best of it. They were out of school on Monday and Tuesday.

Which was a welcome distraction. Even in my compromised mental state, I was able to putter along. And with Mason being free, I took full advantage of his willingness to help with firewood.

We’ve now put up six loads on the porch, starting just two weeks ago.

I’m proud of him. And I have to laugh when he hangs it over the other kids. “Hey Maizy, do you like reading by the warm fire? Hey Bridger, is it fun to play with your toys in the comfy cozy living room??”

I wonder where he learned that tactic?

The firewood harvest will continue as long as the cold continues. And like it or not, it’s looking like a long winter.

At least yesterday we saw some evening sun.

Maybe this winter won’t be quite so hard on the bees. They’re going on vacation. In fact, it’s exciting to think about. Improves my mood immensely.

Next week I’ll tell you what we’re getting into.