Dear Reader,
Your support has a lot of meaning to us. It keeps us looking towards the goal. Building something from scratch with little previous knowledge or experience is daunting. It’s had a lot of discouraging moments in its infancy. We want a lot of big things that will take time and trials to achieve.
The last weeks have honestly been difficult for me. I had high hopes for abundant harvests of sunflowers and yams. The deer had the abundant harvest instead. My feelings are mixed on the matter. I’m disappointed that all my hard work seems lost. Yet, understanding of the deer and their needs. This area was theirs just a year ago. Finding balance with the wildlife is going to take time and a lot of energy. We worked hard to get the electric fence in better shape. Glad to say, we haven’t seen them this week.
Another bummer is the loss of our honey bees. All 4 boxes are now vacant. We see honey bees flying around, just not sure where they have made a new home. It’s something we half figured would happen. Hope they have a nice life somewhere else.
I’m fighting these feelings of being bummed and trying to focus on all our abundance this year. I remain positive towards our future in growing food. I also greatly recognize that I need help. We want to hire someone part time and will continue to offer volunteer for food times. If this interests you or if you know someone wanting seasonal work, please reach out.
We’ve connected with some really great people we can’t wait to collaborate with on creating events. My goal is to have a rough calendar planed by mid winter. If there is something you’d like to offer don’t hesitate to ask; such as movement classes like yoga, teach a skill set, host a party, and so on.
EVENTS
Tea Time- Tuesday and Friday at 10:30.
Adding Tuesday this week for Garlic planting. Come help me plant garlic through out the whole orchard. Will provide refreshments
Friday- discussing Roots and Stems
Working on lesson plans to start space themed Tea times on top of our nature themed one. Possibly adding a cooking class eventually too!
ASTRONOMY
Earlier in the week look to the Southeast an hour or so after sunset. There will be a carbon star called 19 Psc. It is the color red because blue light is scattered away by its atmosphere. Here is more in depth info on Carbon stars.
https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~pberlind/atlas/htmls/cstars.html
To locate the red star find Pegasus, it’s higher in the southeast. The stars form a large square on the lower left side. Take your gaze to the lower right of the constellation to see seven stars forming a circle. This is the Circlet of Pices the Fish. The southeastern most star is called Lambda. 19 Psc, the carbon star, can be located just north-northeast of Lambda. Below Pices is the planet Neptune. It has a blue hue and appears flat.
In the Eastern sky a couple hours after sunset locate Jupiter in the Aries constellation, it’s the brightest object. East-Northeast of the planet is the star cluster Pleiades in Taurus. Between these two celestial bodies is a faint glow, that is Uranus.
Venus can be seen in the East near the back paw of Leo in the predawn hour, one of the brightest objects. Observe with a scope over the next week and see as it becomes more illuminated. It’s coming to what is called dichotomy, half lit. Observe through twilight.
This is a good week to see what is called gegenschein, meaning "counter shine" in German. This is the glow of the sunlight bouncing off the dust located in the second Lagrange point. This happens to be the location of the James Webb Telescope. This light is best seen at midnight in Spring and Autumn and in a low light pollution area.
Monday, observe Jupiters moons Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto transit over the Gas giant starting after 10:50 pm.
Tuesday, check out the moons of Saturn. Turn your scope to the south around 10:00 pm. It’s the brightest object in this region of the sky. Tethys, Dione, Rhea, and Titan can be observed through out the night.
Wednesday, view the waxing crescent moon in the southwest sky after sunset. South of the moon is Antares, a brighter reddish light. To the east is Sagittarius’ Teapot. Above that is Aquila, which houses the bright star Altair. This bright star forms a triangle with the stars Vega and Deneb which are higher than Altair.
SPACE FLIGHT
Not much going on this week.