final touch for the 2023 harvest.

November 15 ~ exactly midway through the month and it finally feels like we are entering the season of hibernation. The mornings are chilly, the leaves are turning, outdoor fires are frequent, warm drinks are had through the day, the garden is cleared, the yard is cleaned, all the vegetables have been gathered, the garlic has been planted, and the venison has been harvested. 

Jesse and Roone were welcomed to hunt on a friend's property last weekend. They arrived early with a specific strategy and were home before lunch time with meat ready to hang and cure for the day. It really is something of a task to process two large animals, but two men to cut and prepare the meat made my job of rinsing and packaging quite manageable. Fifty-nine pounds of roasts, steaks, backstraps, tenderloins, stew meat, and organ meat (for the dogs!) is not guaranteed every year, and we are thankful. 

This brings the total harvest of gardening and hunting for this year to 761 pounds.