We’ve been expecting a frost for over a week now and have been daily preparing, picking, and praying about that. We did well until the night before last, when we did get a frost. Then, last night, it dove down to 25 degrees F. Even covered crops froze, all but some peppers, covered by a sleeping bag. We worked our butts off for two days, especially after hearing of the cold front coming, along with clear nighttime skies. That’s a recipe for freezing up here in the northern tier. We hauled in hundreds of squash and melons, using our Kubota tractor to pick into its bucket, then Will would drive it out to the car, to unload for the ½-mile trip back to the house. What a lifesaver that was! We harvested over 50 nice Hopi Pale Grey and 25 beautiful, rare, Native Gete Okosomin squash. Some are sitting in our living room, where others are stacked in the greenhouse.
Last night, with the temps at 29, Will went out to light the propane heater in the greenhouse. No go! He worked for hours then finally quit. Thank God, the tomatoes and squash out there didn’t freeze. This morning, he went out and had it going in 15 minutes. Seems like a mason bee had plugged the orifice with mud, which set up like concrete. And, after we set up bee houses for them too. Bad bee!
I picked a bunch of Nelson’s Golden Giant tomatoes, a great heirloom favorite we think looks like our beloved Bill Bean slicer (only yellow, of course!) and we had bacon and tomato sandwiches for dinner. The juice ran down our chins.
Sarge and Hondo were tired out from all our running back and forth in gardens and crashed on the couch to rest up. Only some dry beans, corn, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli to go. Oops! I forgot the beets and hundreds more tomatoes as well. Then I have to start canning it all up! Wow, what a harvest. And we’re so grateful!
— Jackie
No freeze here yet but the garden is done. Planted garlic with next year’s garden layout already planned out. Almost done weeding the perennials – weeding is so much easier when it is NOT hot outside.
I see your newbie is like my 2nd newbie – no qualms about being part of the pack (my two newbies are felines). Sarge has a size advantage but size didn’t deter newbie #2 – probably a good thing she’s nowhere near as big as newbie #1!
Been cool enough to fire up the the wood stove and still fortunate that others in our area allow us to harvest wood from their property.
Yep, we have burned some wood a few nights lately. But now the weather’s warmed up and is so nice. I sure need to weed my perennials. A couple of the beds haven’t been touched all summer. Bad Jackie!!
What I lot of work for you and yours. I really do not know how you do it. I think I am busy, but it is nothing when compared to you. Love the picture of the dogs.
I know I’m slowing down, though. My knees just won’t let me get down to the ground to do things like pick potatoes and I have to pick bush beans sitting on a five-gallon bucket. Oh well…
This has been a crazy year here right up by the Canadian border in Washington state. My tomatoes have exploded so I’m canning all sorts of new things. V8 juice is one from your book Jackie & it’s so delish! I’m using a Champion juicer then heating & canning. Also canning salsa, whole tomatoes & making a lot of sauce. Potatoes are harvest & canned, most beets are canned but some in the ground for eating, Brussels sprouts are coming on strong still, onions didn’t do great but my cabbage was awesome! All canned in Amish Coleslaw! So tasty. Thanks for all your recipes & encouragement Jackie! God bless you & Will.
Isn’t canning all that yummy stuff wonderful??? And to know there are no chemicals or other nasties in your food! I’m doing cranberry sauce this afternoon. Yum!
I just put away most of my canning equipment; but now I have access to apples, so out comes the water bath tools! Farms here still have lots of green beans; Providers are my favorite. This summer I canned tomatoes, green beans, squash, pickled okra, candy onions, new potatoes, sweet potatoes, peaches and peach pie filling. I want to be canning up until I am too old to walk. I love it so much. Jackie, I took your advice and started canning meats and stews, too. I have a freezer full; but I am getting leery of the power supply. It was 50 degrees last night here in south middle Tennessee and we are all cold. LOL, I can’t imagine freezing in September. Stay warm and eat good! Remember to pray for our friends in Florida.
Believe me, I have been praying for them. Even my daughter, who lives in North Carolina, lost power for two days plus. I’m glad you are canning meat as well as all the other good garden produce. So easy, tasty and provident too. I never did trust the power; had many outages when a young homesteader, living on grid.
Well it hasn’t froze here yet (about 100 miles from the Canadian border). I’m glad. In fact it got to 86 degrees here today.
So glad you haven’t had a freeze yet. That makes gardening so much easier; less rushing around frantically! Enjoy the warmth while it lasts.
Our low so far has been 28, I have a wood stove in the green house and have run that until about midnight the light the propane heater so I can sleep. Still have some peppers in there and onions drying for storage. I only got one winter squash out of four plants in the hoop house, don’t know what I’m doing wrong. We had plenty of summer squash!
You’re probably doing nothing wrong; sometimes stuff just happens. One thing to think about is that squash will not set fruit if the temps get too high. Could it have been too hot during the summer, inside?
We’re curing lots of squash and dry beans in our greenhouse right now. So handy to have. My house gets smaller every year, it seems. Piles of squash and pumpkins, strings of corn and crates of dry beans EVERYWHERE.
We had about 15 days straight in July that with both end doors open 24/7 I couldn’t keep the daytime highs below 100, it was mid to high 80’s outside!
Jackie, How do you fix the Gete Okosomin squash? It sure looks interesting. Sarge sure has blended right in. Like he’s always been there.
I usually cut it in two-inch rings, remove the seeds (and save them, of course) and “guts”. Then I lay them on a cookie sheet greased with a little olive oil, then bake until tender. You can also spread butter and brown sugar on top for extra sweetness. The Gete Okosomin also makes great “pumpkin” pies.
Yep, Sarge is now an old timer around here, fitting right in.
What a harvest! My garden produced poorly this year. Hoping for better next year. We have had frost the last two nights, but no freeze yet. Supposed to be a little warmer the next week. Prayers for a good week:)
Thank you. It’s warmed up nicely so we’re getting a lot more done.
Didn’t get much canning done this summer except for tomatoes. Ate all my green beans which are still producing. No freeze temps yet in lower, lower MI. I still have winter squash on the vine as I don’t think they are quite ripe. Planted in early July. I had an abundance of tomatoes. Onions all picked and curing. Made sauerkraut from my cabbages. Broccoli & cauliflower got hit with bugs and didn’t get much of anything there. My beets are still in the ground and about ready. Summer squash done & I ate them all.
I ended up in the hospital couple of weeks ago and there for 1 week due to heart issues. Doing much better now. Hope to pick some tomatoes today. Temp is 64 degrees and going up. Blessings to all and stay healthy.
Thanks and you stay out of the hospital! Please heal quickly. I love all the fall harvest although some days it seems like days are WAY too short.
You have hard frost, we’ve got a Ian. Wind stopped. Still dark, though. Waiting to see what survived. Corn is only 6 inches so should be ok. Bean tipis and tomato cages? Who knows? Least it’s not to late to replant.
Eeek! Ian!! We’ve been praying for all those affected. I hope you suffered no serious damage.
None at all. Lots of small debris. Never lost power. Veggies are recovering.
What a relief. We now have no bad temps in the forecast, so I have my squash out in the garden still and will pull them into the sunny spots to cute. We had a killing frost but not that cold! My peppers and tomatoes made it through mostly unscathed, as well as my eggplant, okra, and a row of beans. The sunflowers, peas, carrots, onions, lettcue, and potatoes all are pretty fine. I have tons to process though. We picked 15 gallons of green beans, and pulled three other rows for the beans to dry down- they are still fairly green.
My potato harvest is looking very promising! Only a row and a half pulled so far and I’ve got two or three full grocery bags. Very happy!
Also, my oda pepper plant is huge! I am just tickled about that. My peppers aren’t as fully purple as yours, but they do look really nice.
That’s so nice, Melissa! Our potatoes are looking awesome again this year. Will dug 1/4 of our rows and got about 75 pounds of potatoes, all nice big ones, too. We’re so happy. I’ve got to get at the onions soon.
Looks like your guys are best buds now! What a harvest! Congratulations! Now comes the rest of the work…..seeds, canning, storage…. Blessings.
They are good buddies now. We had to laugh. Yesterday, they were in the living room and Sarge stepped on Hondo. He snarled at Sarge then Sarge spent ten minutes kissing up to Hondo, asking for forgiveness. So cute!
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