We haven’t had any yet, but are expecting it very soon. That’s why we’ve kicked into overdrive around here. I’ve been seeding crops like mad to prevent them from getting rotten. When not doing that, I’m running the wood splitter while Will does the grunt work to get a lot of dry wood in the shed before it gets wet, wet. Yes, we did get some rain the day before yesterday. And, yes, it’s cold, with a high today of 43 degrees F. But thankfully, that darned wind died down today, and the sun came out from time to time. So, it wasn’t as cold, working outside as it was yesterday when it was cloudy, windy and wet.
We did pull the 50-foot row of beets yesterday as it’s supposed to be down to the mid-twenties tonight. Beets will take a lot of cold, but there is a point … Will ran the heaters in both hoop houses and the greenhouse, where we have a bunch of onions, squash, and some corn drying down. We wanted to be safe, rather than sorry. We’ve got a whole lot of peppers in both hoop houses that need further ripening. I especially love the Venice Bootleg hot peppers. They’re not only tasty but beautiful too. As they grow upright, they form a “flower” grouping on the ends of branches. They almost look like poinsettias!
Today I’m seeding out muskmelons and cucumbers. Boy, do my fingers get cold from squishing out the cucumber seeds as the cukes have been out in the cold garden! Will has been hauling loads of big round bales home, trying to get ahead of snow time. Fortunately, he only has three more loads to go. Wonderful! He put out two bales in the cow yard today. We’re thankful that our Catahoula dog, Hondo, taught our mastiff, Sarge, to work cattle. Sarge is not a cattle dog breed, but boy does he do a great job keeping the cattle away from the gate while the tractor goes in and out. It takes a lot of work off my shoulders, for sure! Homestead dogs are great partners as well as friends.
— Jackie
way to go go Sarge! (politics :( :( double.-)Fortunately we all have respectable writers to follow on her blog. Thank you Jackie! yo know the old saying,’ wood warms you more than once; splitting, stacking and burning! Fall is still my favorite season as garden is going sleep, hen houses stripped and cleaned for winter. its all a race against the wet and cold. the pantry full to bursting. you all take care and stay warm up there in the north.
Had our first freeze here in Northeast Kansas Last night. Got down to 27 or28. Killed the garden, what little we had left.
Yep, we’re done out in the garden except for some potatoes and carrots. Everything else has been frozen. Oh well, it’s time, I guess.
It is 24 degrees here this morning. Brrrr! We are still extremely dry and no rain is forecast in the near future. It sounds like you and Will are both working feverishly to get all the work done before the snow flies there. Hauling hay, splitting wood, seeding veggies, Whew! Don’t forget to rest and take care of you knees. I know its a race to get everything done, but you still need to care for yourself. We depend on you here on the blog for your wisdom and love hearing about your life. Sending prayers for a blessed week.
Thank you so much! Yep, it’s been cold. But now we’re having a warming trend with sun. Unfortunately, wind too. That puts our dry woods in a red flag warning, fire-wise. We live in the middle of miles of woods so that’s always a scary time.
Yes, I do try to take care of the knees. However, at this time of the year there’s nothing else to do but work through it.
Yep, I can’t believe some folks believe the “government” is controlling the weather to harm opposing political rivals. Wow!! There is so much misinformation out there today one can hardly hear the “latest”. We just keep harvesting and being very glad we’re out of mainstream nonsense.
We had the wind and rain too. Kind of nasty. But today it’s warmed up and is pleasant once again to be out working.
Prepping for winter is the busiest in October. I spent 1/2 day cleaning out my chicken coop. Fortunately I’ve cut and split all the winter wood. Next to winterize the small motors. Garden clean up is done. Everywhere I turn there more to do. I do take some moments to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves. I still like fall as the best season.
Fall is wonderful, although kind of hurried. We were supposed to get down to 24 degrees F last night, so at dark, Will and I carried in all the crates of vegetables from the front porch. Cool is great, freezing not so!
Our gardens are still being harvested so cleanup will have to wait. (Maybe till spring?) I hope not.
True to his name, Sarge has no problem being in charge. Hondo has good communication skills, Sarge is a fast learner.
We had nasty winds on Sunday also. I’ll believe it when I see it aka rain in the forecast for tonight.
Our harvest has been done for a while. We’re watering the garlic but I may need to just suck it up next weekend re: weeding. No where near enough weeds to warrant watering-2-weed. I’ll just use the weeder as a crowbar to get the few weeds that are “bugging me”.
With these weird weather (and no, no one is controlling it), might be best to early vote/absentee vote.