Quick notes

Well, this is just about the most chaotic December I've ever had. Usually December is fairly mellow for me because most magazines work about two months ahead, and just about everyone's February issue has a strong tendency to be thin and pamphlet-like. But this year is very different. Dunno why.

So if family members are reading this: Your gifts may be late. I'm sorry. And my odds of sending out cards are approaching nil. Sorry about that, too.

But importantly, fruitcakes are in progress. I know of one reader out there who wants two. Anyone else? They are $8 apiece plus shipping, and I may have a few to spare. E-mail me offblog.

Update: The fruitcakes are all spoken for. Thank you everyone!!!

We had a protracted cold snap last week that finished off all my lettuces and about half my escarole. Not even the hoophouse was safe--it spelled the end for my basil and sun-drying tomatoes. No matter. The other half of the hoophouse is planted in a nice winter mix (lettuce, spinach, beets, radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, etc.) that is at the "large sprout" stage. And the half that is now full of blackened tomatoes will be cleared in favor of peas. I don't know if peas can be grown well in a hoophouse starting at the winter solstice, but I intend to find out.

The Royal Palm tom turkey is completely healed from the post-Thanksgiving melee, and now he is more magnificent than ever.

For a while I thought Marge the Buff Orpington chicken sounded wheezy, but she is eating voraciously, laying eggs, and acting normal now, so if she had a cold, it must be gone.

Our friend L decided that she didn't want the three humongous muscadines in her back yard--her space is limited and she wants to plant blueberries instead--so the s.o. dug them out and we moved them into our vineyard. It was no small effort. The roots were positively Lovecraftian: giant grey tentacles that reached ten or fifteen feet in every direction. We really hope they do well, because they are way, way ahead of our puny transplants (a few of which croaked in the drought).

Tomorrow is the town Christmas party!