I’ve been meaning to write posts about each of the topics below, but other commitments and priorities have gotten in the way. Then I realized it would be fun to group all these pieces together and get you caught up!

We made it through Hurricanes Florence and Michael. I spent a lot of time meal prepping for Florence and stocking the freezer. Even though we had 20+ gallons of gas for the generator, we only lost power for 2 hours. Hurricane Michael, which I had no idea was headed our way, didn’t seem like a big threat when we learned about it. We did zero prep and lost power for a day. For Florence, we stayed pretty close to home and I used the time for reading and researching my new obsession…

Permaculture and edible landscaping. I’m loving Food Not Lawns. I picked up a used copy at our adorable local Circle City Books in downtown Pittsboro, NC. Since I love food so much and we have land to play with, I decided to start a garden experiment. I’m calling it an experiment because I fear I won’t have the time to weed and care for it. We tilled and fenced a 15′ x 24′ space. I’ve started a new compost out there, planted garlic, and we have rye and crimson clover as our winter cover crops. My plan is to make it a ‘sauce garden’ next spring. I already have all my seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange. We also tilled over two areas and planted wildflowers to see how much the deer bother them. If they do well next year, then most of the apiary will be turned over for wildflowers. I’ve prepped and started growing a space that will be a tea garden. It has anise hyssop, lavender, and bee balm, with a list of additions for next spring. We’re about to re-build a retaining wall by the chicken coop and I’ve already planted trailing rosemary there.

Even though it was a beautiful Saturday two days after Hurricane Michael left, my Pen & Paddle was canceled because the river was above flood level. 😦 I don’t have any open weekends before the end of the rental season, so the next paddle will take place in 2019.

We’ve had a revolving door the past few weeks. My parents and brother (yellow Labrador retriever) came to visit in between the hurricanes. Friends from Long Island just visited and I feel like I had a North Carolina staycation even though they were only here for one weekend. I’m really looking forward to taking some time off this winter and being a tourist at home!

As you know, I’ve been using all my creative writing time for querying literary agents. However, I’ve been spending my reading time on studying bees. I’m taking the next exam in the NC Master Beekeeper program this weekend!

I’m having a lot of fun making new bread recipes. We had a mild hickory nut harvest this year and I made a fall wild nut-honey harvest bread. I can’t wait to make this again next year–hopefully in bigger batches!

I got my hair cut and I’m donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

As you can see above, writing life and non-writing life are both full. I made a last-minute decision to close the fall open pitch period for Write Naked guest submissions. I realized my response time would not be realistic right now. Apologies for the change, but I’d rather you have a positive query process!