Life at Apothecary Shed is not always a bed of roses and formaldehyde. After staying up way too late with some visitors at Coal Stove Sink on Friday (4am?), it was up in the morning to split wood. Our fence recombobulation project this summer resulted in a huge pile of large cherry and locust logs too big to burn in the fireplace. So we rented a splitter from True Value (a whopper packing 2 tons of hydraulic pressure). Saturday was spent moving the same log multiple times. Must have split 5 cords (and moved 13).

Tote that barge, split that wood, stack it in the shed.

Sunday involved moving more wood, finishing up the solstice bonfire (save the date: December 17th), and attempting to clean out the pig pen. Our well meaning animal sitter threw about 4 bales of hay at our pigs (Berlusconi and Sarkozy) in June, resulting in a very wet, absolutely disgusting mix of wet hay, pig poop, and mud in just about equal parts. It’s so heavy that shoveling is not an option. We removed a panel from the pen and got the tractor in there this evening. Still pretty much a mess.

Five weeks and six days until the solstice fire is lit. Here it is in all of its idyllic Fall glory.

The weather was absolutely perfect.