All of a sudden, a cold front hit us with highs in the low fifties F plus very high wind. Boy was it cold! And, unfortunately, our son, Bill and his family, were scheduled to come for the crate of tomatoes we had for them and to help us dig some potatoes and pull onions and carrots to share. Even with sweatshirts and gloves, that darned wind was cold! But, undaunted, everyone pitched in cheerfully with the harvest. I wasn’t sure what our carrots and potatoes were like as we are in drought, with no decent rain for weeks now. The potatoes simply amazed us! Some were as large as a big man’s fist and had no hollow heart. And there were plenty of them too. Bill and his family took home two sacks full, and they harvested two pails for David’s family and one for us. Of course, we still have several hundred feet of potato rows to go but Will is going to dig those as he has time. The onions were so-so, some having been washed away by the spring torrential rains. But we had plenty for everyone. The carrots ranged from awful, some hairy, some with many “feet” but many decent, fairly straight ones. We’ll all have enough for canning.
While our friend, Heather, was here, helping with the PBS photo shoot, we gave her our habanero crop. They love really hot peppers, and I think I just grew them because they had awesome shapes, with gnarly bodies, bright colors, and even “tails” like a scorpion.
We’ve still got plenty of harvest left but we’re getting there. And, I also have lots and lots yet to can up. Even with the drought, we had a very nice harvest, overall. We’re very grateful for that.
Our prayers are still going to all of the folks impacted by the hurricane. Overcoming the vast destruction is simply awful. — Jackie
I really enjoy your blog and your articles and book. Like Elizabeth Johnson, it feels like a letter from a friend! I am anxiously waiting to plant my first garden in our new home place. It is all virgin ground. My grandson cleared the land for us with a huge excavator. We are amending the soil now for next spring. I was able to plant some provider beans and some butterbeans in my daughter’s garden. Getting ready to pick the last of the butterbeans. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and knowledge.
It certainly is fun to share the love of gardening with family, especially grandchildren. It’s nice to see Ava helping and knowing she will gain a lot of knowledge and have warm memories of these activities. (even if it was cold out) Family is the most important and one of the reasons I like to garden, so I can help them out with their food supply. We have been chilly here. I had 34 degrees the past two mornings and it is 38 this morning. It has been warming up to the mid 70s during the day, so really nice fall weather. We too are very dry here and no rain in the forecast. I wish we could send a little of our dry to the parts of this country that are flooding. Prayers for them all as hurricane Milton bears down on them. Sending prayers for a blessed week.
Boy, I wish we could trade some of that horrid rain down south for our drought here! We still haven’t had any rain, and the soil is like flour. We love sharing our garden with family and friends. That’s one of the reasons we garden! And have a seed business.
Yes everyone, pray for the hurricane victims! Ava sure is a cutie!
She sure is! And what a farm girl too. I love that.
Annual digging of potatoes (September, usually Labor Day weekend) is one of my childhood memories. Somehow my dad’s brother never helped yet got a small share. And I was the only grandchild to help (picked them up). We hauled potatoes home in gunny sacks (I still have some of them). And had a bin in the basement. Fetching potatoes from the basement for mom is another memory. Come late March, early April what was left was starting to wrinkle but still highly edible.
These days, better half and I dig ours. We don’t plant anywhere near as may potatoes as many as grandparents did. We do share a few. It is still fun for me.
I love digging potatoes! It’s like an Easter egg hunt. You never know what you’ll find under those dead plants. Of course we love to eat them too!
Bless you, Jackie. You feed so many, and we all are so glad to have your gardening wisdom in this blog, magazine column, articles, and seed company. I’ve said it before, getting this blog email is like getting a letter in the mail from a dear friend. And now I’m getting to recognize many of your fans who comment. I’ve watched many a vlog about the hurricane victims, and cried and cried. I pray for them. Different areas have their own natural disaster types.
Love from far north California.
Back at you, Elizabeth! All of my blog family is so treasured. I love hearing what everyone is doing too.
Nice pictures! Isn’t great to share one’s harvest. I’m still picking green beans I planted July 10th. Cool nights now mid 40’s in Southern Wisconsin. The leaves are beginning to change color. The soybean harvest is complete -soon the field corn. With the wind 2 more trees went down-more wood to cut up.
Our Providers are still producing beans, even though they’ve been frosted. Amazing!! We love sharing our harvest with family and friends. We got down to 24 the other night and that was a killing frost, for sure. Wouldn’t you know, we forgot to check the weather and even the peppers in the hoop houses got frosted because we didn’t turn on the heat. Oh well, at least the peppers, themselves, didn’t freeze!
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