Despite the freeze, we’re still in full harvest mode. It didn’t get cold enough to hurt our pumpkins, as they had lots of vine cover. It has warmed up quite a bit, so we are letting them finish curing out in the field as the buyers are coming soon to pick them up. We also have lots of dry beans to pick and, of course, shell out. lots of them! But that’s a good thing. We still have a few melons out there to pull in too. They were covered and the frost and freezing didn’t affect them, other than partially kill down the vines. (We used old blankets. Plastic just doesn’t protect against a hard frost or lower temperatures. The upside of it all is we now have beautiful fall colors everywhere.

Sunday, our friends Heather and Charis came over to help pick more beans. Heather also had been picking wild cranberries and brought me a nice bag full. As soon as the blog is finished, I’ll be busy canning luscious cranberry sauce. Because of the freeze, I had to pick the last of our sweet corn to can. It was still tender and sweet. But, in a few days, the sugar would convert to starch and the corn would be tough. So, also yesterday, I got busy and cut it off the cob and canned it up in half pints. I still have dozens and dozens of pint jars of corn but found I use a whole lot of half pints in various recipes. I often add a half pint to my cornbread or even chili. Yum! I ended up with 26 half pints.

This is the last bunch of our sweet corn that I canned up.

We’ve been busy splitting firewood, nearly every day so Will can stack it up in the woodshed. I run the splitter and he handles the heavy part. It works out very well. Winter is coming and dry, seasoned wood burns with much more heat than damp or green wood does.

The firewood is getting in, all nice and dry. Plus, it’s been dead for two years so there’s no sap to make creosote.

Our new pup, Sarge, is doing so good. He’s as smart as a whip and minds better than a pup should. He hasn’t even chewed up a shoe or any furniture, even though he’s teething. (He did eat a branch of my lilac bush by the porch but that’s okay. It needed pruning!) He has even made friends with Buffy, and she plays with that big clod. His best thing ever is lying upside down on the sofa with his bud, Hondo, after a long day, helping out on the homestead. I can relate to that! Nights are just too short lately.

Sarge has decided the best part of being a homestead dog is lying on the sofa.

— Jackie

26 COMMENTS

  1. I’d planned on a large picking of green tomatoes just before frost. However, I managed to get covid and so everything froze. Very disappointing. Now I’m still sick and looking at the sad mess in the garden with no energy to clear it off. Always something!

  2. Such nice dogs! My beagles both lay on the couch like that ? Your corn looks amazing! I can’t imagine how you and Will get so much done, even with occasional helpers! Hubby is splitting some wood also. Getting ready for another Northwest Wisconsin winter! Take care you two!

  3. P.s.I so look forward to seeing your catalog, each is a classic and packed with information. I save every one for reference. Thank you so much for putting so much love and care in each one. Bev

    • Thanks so much, Bev. We’re talking about what will make the catalog this year. It’s fun to put it together.

  4. Love how Sarge sleeps! My Ruby sleeps the same way, lol These dogs are good friends! Glad harvest is going well. That corn looks delicious. Glad you have plenty of wood. I have propane heat and am very concerned about the price this winter. Prayers for a good week.

    • Yep, it looks like heating fuel will be going up, along with gas. Bummer! The dogs don’t worry about anything except when the food dish is filled next or who is eating pizza???

  5. It’s called “fur”niture for a reason. My redbone hound sleeps just like that on the love seat.

    • Never thought about that. Uh huh. Luckily, we have two sofas so company can sit on one. Hopefully.

  6. Beautiful corn. I will be needing some new corn seed as Texas drought was brutal this year.
    Love the drive thru the woods. Looks like home.

  7. You are the busiest people I know of! Whew!
    That is truly gorgeous corn!
    Sarge is hysterical! It’s been a while since we’ve had a pup. Their exuberance is heart melting!
    I’m so glad he is such a good boy.

    • He is so much fun. As such a growing boy, he’s such a klutz. He stretched and fell over, got tangled up in a weed and fell down. He puts a foot on his food dish and flips it over, then looks up at us, wondering “what happened, there???”.

    • Uh huh. His mom was 200 pounds! So far, they share, but we do have a second sofa and Hondo isn’t so big so people can still sit down.

  8. Hi Jackie, had to laugh out loud at Sarge pruning the bush. Now he’s good for something besides loving. So happy he has made friends with the other pets.

  9. Looks like your dogs own you just like ours own us. My daughter bought a sofa pillow for us that says “Move over the dog sits here”.
    More like spread over three seat cushions!

    • Cool pillow!! Yep, we’re just doggy slaves. And kitty slaves too. They try to train us daily but we’re just so slow.

  10. Just curious, Jackie – do you let your corn dry on the stalk for seed, or bring it inside? I noticed the string of drying corn in the background. Been homesteading for almost 35 years, but still learn a lot from you! Thank you!

    • Love it. Pulled in my squash and potatoes just to get them in before the cold comes here. I’ve been letting them season on tables in the front yard. I haven’t weighed the potatoes yet, but I am excited for what I got!

      Onions, and all the other lasts have to be picked before that cold front on Thursday, as we have had nice weather since the last freeze last week. My peppers are gonna have to be done, even though I wish they could keep on!

      We put my dog down last week, which you know the pain with Spencer, and I dug a nice grave behind the house next to our tiger Lillie’s. But I’ll tell you, the ground was so dry that the clay beneath the top layers had huge cracks in it. I’ve never seen that before. I loved my Betty, but she was just suffering and I knew her time was done. 14 years was a good life.

      Glad your Sarge is adjusted like an old soul. My two younger dogs are trying to figure life without the old lady, so it’s been interesting the last week figuring that out with them. Here’s to a good week of processing!

    • We leave our corn on the stalk as long as possible, drying as much as it will. This year, the birds got into it badly, so we pulled it early, husked it and tied it up on hay strings to dry in the house, where there were no birds.

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