In which we go on a journey and grapes attack - by Amy Zhang, Garden Intern

The last two weeks have been busy at Songaia—it seemed like there was a never-ending stream of grapes coming from the arbor in front of the Common House. At one point, I asked Patricia and Doug what they’d been feeding the vines (ogre blood?). Turns out, it was nothing. How crazy is that?

New experiences!

• Weeding. Ok, not a new experience, but it’s one that’s (ahem) grown on me. Weeding on a sunny day with a light breeze is somehow incredibly satisfying. (But you know what isn’t? Picking grapes off of their stems. Those things can hurt—I have the cuts to prove it. Parth, if you’re reading this, stop laughing.)
• Women’s permaculture gathering, and seeing the Milky Way for the first time. I don’t go camping. I hardly even go hiking. So this was my first time seeing constellations other than Orion—so many stars the sky seemed dirty with them. 

At the permaculture gathering, we met a lot of incredibly passionate women. It reminded me of some of the poetry festivals I’ve been to, people who gather together because of a shared love.

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[If I'd had some foresight, I would have taken pictures of the gathering. But instead you get this picture of the sunflowers, who were getting too bold. So we tied them up.]

Once we came back, we got back to prepping for the winter, cleaning up beds and planting cover crop.

Covered and ready for winter.

Doug and I have also created a plan of attack for winterizing one of the water lines in the garden, so that we don’t have to carry buckets from the pump to water the winter beds, and we’ll start working on that this week. 
Cheers,
Amy