And I have a beaver report. The beavers in our pond say we’ll have a pretty “normal” winter with plenty of cold and snow, although not as bad as last winter. We’ll see how the “little guys” forecast turns out this year.

As the leaves are turning and the night time temps are getting to feel sharp and cool, it’s putting pressure on us to harvest like crazy. I’m still making jelly from the wild plums, with another batch in the Mehu Liisa tonight.

Wild-plums

Tomorrow at 6:45 we have to be at the hospital and by the time you read this blog I will be gallbladder-less. Finally! I hope…

Will and I went down to his corn and pumpkin patch in the old pig pasture. We have ripe Seneca Sunrise sweet corn (the corn Will has bred back from hybrid to open pollinated). It looks great and I can’t wait to give it a taste. We also checked out the Howden pumpkins we planted down there and found dozens of BIG, round green pumpkins! Wow, how productive they are! We raised them for seed for our little seed business but we’ll have lots for the animals and chickens, too.

Our Hopi Pale Grey squash are also very productive (like that’s a surprise!) and getting big. Next to them, we planted Winter Luxury pumpkins, a medium-sized beautifully-netted pie pumpkin (C. pepo), and Canadian Crookneck which looks like a long-necked butternut that’s early, large, and very tasty (C. moschata).

The Glass Gem popcorn is still growing. It’s like Jackie and the beanstalk! Most stalks have at least four ears, many five and six. And the tillers that have stooled out from the mother plant also often have ears. The funny thing is that on the mother plant, newer ears are popping out between the stalk and the older ear! No, it’s not GMO corn!

Firefall

Our Early Firefall tomatoes that are of our own breeding are now producing like mad. They are a medium-sized plum tomato that I use for tomato sauce — very meaty and flavorful. They also have a point on the blossom end and are pretty, hanging in groups. — Jackie

16 COMMENTS

  2. All,

    Thank you for your well wishes and prayers. I am doing fine following my surgery and feel a bit better every day. Will’s been helping out with the heavy end of the harvest and we’re doing what we can. And praying for a few weeks before it frosts heavily or even (horrors!) freezes……

  3. All,

    We still are taking orders from our 2014 seed listing. Any of you who don’t have it, let me know and I’ll e-mail you one. And if you want, you can add the wild plum pits to it for $2.50 for 20 pits, which should be planted this fall yet. If you only are going to order plum pits, the cost will just be $3.00, including postage as they are fairly small and light. Our new seed listing should be ready in about late October to early November. Be ready for a lot more varieties to try! Our crops have been fantastic this year.

  4. Jackie, Hope you are on the mend from the gall bladder surgery…..prayers are with you!!!

    I would have already sent an order for the wild plum seeds, and hope to get some planted before cold weather gets here…..I couldn’t find where to mail my request……Can you enlighten us when you are up to blogging again???

    Rick

  5. Our wild plums are called sand plums. They are a peachy/orangey color. I find they have little taste, but they make jelly out of them every year. My folks
    would purchase a few red plums from the grocery to mix with them, and give the jelly a better flavor. They are a very tiny plum, between the size of a nickel and a quarter.

  6. Your wild plums are a different color than mine. Mine are yellow with an occasional orange or purple blush. I might order seeds just to add some color variety. Wonder what they look like when they cross?

  7. I am so behind…it’s already Saturday and I just now read this. By now you are home. I sure hope all went well and please don’t overdo it. Wish I lived closer. I would come help you…and terrorize Will!
    Pyro

  9. I feel completely overwhelmed working on getting the garden in. I can’t imagine how you feel. I lost a month being sick this spring but I think being sick in the fall would be worse. Truly hoping you have a great recovery.

  10. Well my last glass gem corn plant went down the other day… those darn chipmunks couldn’t leave me just one!!!! so I guess i will be chatting with you about that next year! Feel better and get a least a day or 2 of rest prior to getting back to canning!

    Lisa

  16. Jackie:
    Will you be letting us know again when you’ll be doing seeds for sale? I did well on my 1st year garden at the new farm in a new state and I’m ready to try some of your tomatoes, corn and that Hopi squash!

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