Whoa! October!!?

Can it really be October? I really cannot believe it. I am not finished harvesting! I am not 'feeling' it this year. What is up?

I do love the light that is coming in my windows this time of year. I love the temperatures. So nice. So sunny. So very warm in the day and cool in the day. I do live for this time of year.

With most of the putting food up for the year done (still have applesauce and pickled beets to do) I am starting to feel that October might be here. Really though, maybe it is global warming but it just doesn't seem like it.

The leaves all look so pretty though. Our weekly ride through the hills and fields were so pretty today. (Pictures to come at a later post)

What is really exciting is that I found this tomato flower in bloom in the greenhouse. I wonder if I keep it closed up will more tomatoes form and grow through fall and early winter. That would be so cool!!

Look at that pepper! There is more coming too. I am just so excited that I am still getting veggies and it is October!!

Here are my Everbearing Raspberries. FEDCO seeds said they should ripen in late August or September. Well, here they are ripening so nicely in October. I may have to cover them so they do not frost. I think it may be a sun issue, not a false advertising issue. I will be checking into it.

Really, I do more than just gardening. The kids keep me very busy. I am working on several different hand work projects and I am teaching a class this year!!

Oh October, I can't believe you are here but there is no denying it.

Happy Fall!

The Asters are in full bloom! It is fall. I am feeling pretty good about the progress that I have made to get ready for winter.

The pantry is full. I canned two kinds of pickles, and dilly beans. Dean made his amazing salsa, some hot, some mild. I froze lots and lots of wax and green beans. I froze zucchini and summer squash. We have home grown chickens and natural grass fed beef in the freezer.

My girls are now laying. Yeaaaa! Now we have a mixture of brown and blue eggs. So pretty! Sorry for the blurry picture. They just wouldn't stop moving among the greens.

There is still much to be done in the garden. Raspberries are coming again, eggplant, beets, and kale. Oh, those beans, they just keep on coming. Not to mention I am still getting some tomatoes and peppers and cukes! What a year it has been. I don't feel as rushed now to get it all picked and processed. I figure now that the larders are full, I can go at a more leisurely pace and not stress over it. I also need to plant some spinach and lettuce and I will try broccoli in the green house. Hmm, the more I list the more my stress level rises. No, really I am feeling pretty good about what stage I am with the garden.

It was a busy, busy weekend at the Common Ground Fair and now I am really feeling my thoughts are moving to the next season. There is home school Co-op, music lessons, and pies and applesauce to make. I love this time of year. It is such a mixture of inside and outside things going on.

New Place for the Ladies

Thank you Dean and Aaron! The chickens now are safe (we hope) from the fox and anything else that may try to get at my wonderful ladies. They are getting so close to laying now. One just started! We know it is just one because it is a little blue one and we only have two Americana chickens.

It has a top and Dean put chicken wire all the way down into the dirt and covered it.

They have two roosts that they found right away.

The ladies are very happy. Me included. I am so glad to have this area for them. Bring on the eggs!!