We had less than 26 degrees F early this morning. Luckily, we’d been keeping a close eye on the weather forecast and were prepared. Will lit the heaters in both hoop houses, where our peppers are still ripening, and the greenhouse, housing squash, onions, and misc. crops. Our entryway is stuffed full of crates of veggies as well. Yesterday, our friends, Sherri and Dara, came to help. They and Will dug most of our remaining potatoes. We still have most of one row left and a partial row of Dakota Pearls to dig, along with the carrots. We sent our valued helpers home with lots of beets and potatoes, as well as some Hopi Pale Grey squash, everyone’s very favorite for baking and pies.
Yesterday I was busy seeding out more Venice Bootleg peppers and many Striped Sugar Rush Peach hot peppers. (Boy are these ever beautiful as well as extremely tasty!) The last ones were chopped and mixed with Cowboy Candy syrup and canned up in half pints. I’m pretty sure this is our very favorite relish. I mix it with sour cream, cream cheese, and a little grated sharp cheddar cheese and that dip is to die for! Even people who “don’t like hot peppers” love it. It’s really not too hot, just spicy and fruity.
Will was busy after the girls left yesterday, hauling home more big round bales of hay. Today, he’s only got three trips and he’ll be finished hauling hay. Then we can get busy with more wood splitting, stacking, and garden stuff like hauling manure, pulling tomato cages, etc. Of course, I still have lots more seeds to get out of crops to dry, canning to do, and (yuck!) house to shovel out. Ahem … I mean clean… I seeded out two big Hopi Pale Grey squash today and will be baking them up. We’ll have it for dinner, and I’ll be making “pumpkin” pies too. Yummm! We’re supposed to be in a warming trend so I’m hoping to get the rest of the carrots pulled and cleaned up to can and store away for winter, along with the beets and potatoes. Busy, but oh so satisfying!
When I got in for a break yesterday afternoon, our rescue cat, Buffy, climbed up on me and insisted on getting comfortable. Upside-down, like she prefers. She’s so funny! — Jackie
I may need reminding. Jackie, do you raise anything for your meat supply, or are the “cows” for milk? How about the goats? What purpose do you have them? Just wondering. Thanks, Jackie P.S. I love your recent article in Backwoods Home magazine!
Oh the delight in your eyes as kitty stretches out is just wonderful!! This picture makes me smile. I will come back to see it again I am sure. I am looking forward to this weeks warming as well. The hard frost the other night was a bummer as my cosmos had just finally started to bloom. I got them in too late but got a few blossoms in before the frost.
Gee, that’s too bad Nancy. Last year I got my cannas in too late, and they had barely started blooming when they froze. But there’s always next year!
We had our first light frost yesterday at 36 degrees. A bit heavier this morning so we’ll see. Yesterday the unprotected peppers did just fine but the squash had some crispy edges on outer leaves. The last row of bush beans got in late and has tiny “toothpicks” all over them so I’m trying to protect them with old sheets a while longer. After today low 80’s next week. Go figure. Killer frost usually around Nov 7-10. Glad you got all your stuff safely in.
Buffy sure is comfortable! Our Lester has to occupy my chest when I’m in the recliner and then snuggles up under my neck. So spoiled!
Aren’t they though? We’ve warmed up after that killing frost and it’s so beautiful outside!
Here in Copper Basin Alaska we had 9 last night and we had a couple nights in the teen the last week of September! We got everything out of the green house to save propane cost. We have free standing propane heaters and use small tanks in the hoop houses and have a wood stove in the green house. It was a bad year to spend all of May in the hospital with a stroke! Our potato crop failed because I wasn’t up to tending them, one son planted them but I couldn’t till between the rows to suppress weeds and my daughter and the son that planted them just didn’t have time between work and other commitments so they didn’t get hilled at all. I just pray that the potential political upset doesn’t affect regional potatoe supply ets! Glad you are doing well!
Did you check those potatoes? One year kind of the same thing happened to us. (No stroke, thank goodness!) I thought ours were a no-go. But when I went out and dug tentatively, I found potatoes! They weren’t real big but were edible for sure. You might find a source for large bags of farm potatoes. Before things get politically dicey.
I hope you’re doing much better now!
Yep, Howard, all the more reason to prep constantly, ’cause you never know what’s going to happen, even when things look predictable. Regards from far north California.
Hi Jackie,
just want to say thank you for all the excellent teaching and example you and your family are and have been over the 15 or so years I’ve been following you. You guys have been an inspiration and a blessing to many not seen,but quietly following along. Blessings to you all.
Awww, thank you so much for your kind words Alicia. So sweet!
I wish I knew, Selena! It seems like it races by. It’s funny. Mittens is “Will’s” cat. She always jumps up and sits on his leg when he’s sitting down. She never sits on mine. But she does often come for lots of petting when I’m sleeping! Buffy is “my” cat. She will go to Will for petting but doesn’t sit on his lap. Pretty strange as both were added to our family as young kittens and had no contact with friendly people before.
When we got Mittens, Will tucked her under his shirt as it was cold. And when we got Buffy out of the rainy ditch, we went through McDonalds and got her a McDouble, which I fed to her all the way home. Maybe that’s it?
What kind of heaters do you use in greenhouse. We have a small one and my husband has to buy an electric heater every year to put in it. Sure makes the light bill go up.
He has tomato plants he likes to keep alive for a few months.
Love that Buffy and she is so lucky to have been found. Most of our cats have been rescues and make the best pets.
We have a wall mounted, ventless propane heater that is connected to a 250 gallon propane tank. We love it!!
Buffy and Mittens are so spoiled! They have us people trained pretty well. Out of water? Go get Mom or Dad. Food’s getting low? Get Mom or Dad. Want to go to bed? Yell for Mom and Dad, then run back and forth to the stairs to the bedroom. Need petting? Just gently bite them or stick your claws gently into their hand. They get the message.
Hi, Betty: You mentioned keeping tomato plants alive for a few months. I’m experimenting this year. I already am germinating bell pepper plants (and tomato would be good as well) that I hope to keep alive for years. I’ve heard others doing this in a green house or potting and taking into the house for winter. Maybe I could do it with tomato plants, too. And put both back into the ground of the summer garden when time comes.
Jackie…I seriously worry about our food supply. I applaud you for the hard work you do, and your bountiful rewards. I buy as much as I can from local farmers, even though it stretches my food budget to the max. This is the only way to keep from getting sick. They have never had a recall!
I’m very worried about the food supply and world situation all over, from China to North Korea and Iran, not to mention a contentious election looming. I know I’m stocking up on everything myself. Just in case. And that includes all the food we raise and I can up. As a cancer survivor, I’m just a little (ha ha) cautious about what we eat! Had food poisoning twice, both from eating at restaurants!!
Jackie, do you also can up fruit, etc. from an orchard? Or anything wild you’ve gathered?
We were supposed to get a frost, but instead got a freeze – at least 1/4″ layer of ice on the bucket I keep next to the back deck. Thankfully I had pulled the rest of the peppers out of the garden on lunch break yesterday. Lots of red raspberries that aren’t ripe yet that froze, but some of them will still be fine.
I sat on the deck this morning watching and listening to the leaves falling off the walnut tree and the kiwi vine.
Yep, our black walnut dropped all its leaves last night in the wind. Every single one! We got the freeze too. But luckily, we only have carrots and a few potatoes out in the garden, along with a few dry beans, still on the trellises.
We love our rescue cats. The big boy *finally* sits on my lap 2 1/2 years after we took him in. Of course he’s been sitting on my husband’s lap for a long time. We think his prior owner was my husband’s age/a little older who also liked to listen to music. The this-close-to-being-feral female can finally sit on my lap for more than a minute. And our feral is still doing well.
Was down in the high 20s here last night too but not for hours. The woods helps keep us a bit buffered as none of the bird baths froze. But soon will be time to get the heaters set for them. It is closer to November than October, where does the time go?
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