…but we’re also still harvesting seeds. Today Ashley and I shelled two gallons of beautiful Bear Island Chippewa corn. I just can’t get over how beautiful it is and how fat those colorful kernels are. Most ears have 12-14 rows and are nice and long. I can’t wait to grind some cornmeal.

Isn’t the Bear Island Chippewa corn pretty?

I also canned some tomatoes today although our high was only 45 degrees. It’s so messy I do it out on the porch. But I can tell you I didn’t spend a lot of time out there with wet hands! Brrrrr — they’re even saying the S word.

Here are a few of our New Mexico Big Jim chili peppers.

As the night temps are getting so low and remaining low, we’ve decided not to heat the hoop houses any longer — since we use propane it’s too expensive. So I picked all the assorted peppers in the farthest hoop house and then hit the nearest hoop houses where our seed peppers are grown. Besides some old ones for us, like Early Red, I harvested a bunch of Fresno peppers and New Mexico Big Jim Chili peppers I used to grow in New Mexico. The Fresnos are pretty hot where the Big Jims are a more a medium hot. We were impressed with both as our growing season really was horrible.

These Fresno peppers are pretty…and HOT.

Will’s busy hauling manure out to our north garden; he’s got about 1/2 an acre well covered now. The horses are busy watching him run the tractor; it’s their reality show, I guess!

Our Friesian mare, Ladyhawk, is very interested in Will hauling manure.

— Jackie

21 COMMENTS

  1. I’m curious about your grinding process. How do you separate the covering of the corn seed. I ground some corn a year or two ago, but it wasn’t anything like the corn meal you buy. Do you have any You Tube videos.

    • We use either our Victorio hand grinder or the Nutri-Mill electric grinder. Both grind our corn so it’s as fine as we need. Home ground corn isn’t like cornmeal you buy because, like whole wheat flour, commercial cornmeal has the germ removed….and a lot of the sweet, nutty flavor. If you want finer cornmeal, just run the cornmeal through your mill a few times. No, sorry, I don’t do many You Tube videos.

  2. Down here in Oklahoma, we just had our first frost. Everything in the garden has gone to black. My mother always planted swiss chard and the frost may have killed the garden but my swiss chard is still thriving. Maybe that’s why she grew it in Michigan.

  3. Great Post!

    It was our fist year and our Bean seeds were excellent. Very happy and will order more for next year
    Thank you,
    Kendall– St Louis

  4. Glad to have you with us, Jerry. If there’s anything I can ever do to help you along the way, let me know.

  5. Jackie, are your Friesians hauling/ploughing horses? What a beautiful mare!
    Boy you must be working long hours to get everything harvested before the frost hits and such a late harvest season for you! Good Luck!!

    • While Frisians have been used for draft purposes for centuries (in fact it is thought that one of the parents of the Morgan horse was a Frisian, then called a Dutch Draft Horse), right now, Ladyhawk just dresses up our pasture as she is not yet trained. But as both Will and I have driven and worked horses for decades, it IS in her future and we are sure she will do a great job as she is very quiet and not easily excited.

  6. Sorry I accidentally uninstalled for emails I’ll try to get it back. I really like hearing from you.Even though I had to sell my farm and move to a retirement community I still grow a garden using garden patch boxes and I still can.My patio is covered with the boxes.
    .

    • I hope you can get the e-mail link back working. Just fill in the boxes above and it should put you back in business. I’m glad to hear you’re still growing, even if in a smaller garden. Keep up the good work!

  7. Jackie, cannot access Seed Treasures for some reason. Can you please email or snail mail list to me. Want to order more seeds. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

  8. Here in southern Iowa,we had snow flurries yesterday, but clear,and a cold 22 this morning! Enjoy reading all you do, you busy lady! But I do get ever so tired from reading it all! Lol!

  9. Miss Jackie, Looks from the weather channel that you all are getting what appears to be a significant snow fall.
    I was wondering if Ms Wild Turkey has been observed with her spring poults near your birds, the orchard, or your corn.
    The tree with the red apples looks great.
    I am wondering what the beavers indicate about the winter ahead. Nat’l weather service seems to think we will get a warmer than usual winter here in Pa. Rick

    • Hi Rick,
      Our wild turkey showed up mid-summer without poults. So we think something got her eggs or babies. We were hoping she’d mate again and make another nest. But that didn’t happen. She is still here, getting more tame every day. Hopefully next spring she’ll raise a batch.
      Our beavers tell us we’re in for lots of snow and decent amount of cold but not extreme. We’ll see……

  10. Jackie, I have bought seeds from you for three years but this last years selection of seeds were awesome. The carrots are the best I have every grown and the lettuce was by far the tastiest I have ever grown. Looking forward to your catalog this year for more growing goodies.

  11. Jackie, I’m very impressed with all you get done each day. You are a very busy lady. Your produce is always so beautiful. And your mare is beautiful. I’m still watching for another book from you. My plans are to re-read the other ones this winter. Hope winter isn’t too harsh this year. Best wishes.

  12. Jackie, Those are some really good looking peppers. There are several things I will need to get from your catalog that you have showed here. Your large size zinnias this year were so beautiful. I am glad that I got the seed from you. They were beautiful!!!

    So what do the Beavers say about this winter? So far I have heard normal cold but SNOW. So what is their opinion?

    Thank you for blogging. Greatly appreciate it!

    • Check out my reply to Rick, above, for the “beaver forecast”. I’m so happy your zinnias were so nice! They’re one of my favorite flowers and always put on a show even without perfect care at our house.

  13. I enjoy reading about the life you guys live homesteading.I am just getting started and have been a successful at gardening with my daughter for quite some time.I would like to learn canning and dehydrating foods.

Comments are closed.