No, not that “F” word — frost! Tomorrow night, the temperature is diving down to a forecast of 35 degrees F. That’s fine, but we usually have temperatures about 5 degrees colder than what they say. That means 30 degrees! Eeek! And they have frost advisories for our area. Guess what we’ve been doing all day? Yep, picking tomatoes, beans, and squash. Tomorrow, it’s many more tomatoes, beans, melons, and more squash. We are so fortunate to have our wonderful electric golf cart. It’s so handy for hauling in produce as well as hauling us around. After all, one of our gardens is half a mile from the house! Yes, I know walking is good exercise. But I dare you to tell that to my knees.

Our little electric golf cart is a huge help around the homestead.

Picking stuff is hard work, as all has to be labeled so we keep it straight. But we are constantly amazed at some of the crops. This year, we planted the first open pollinated, naturally bred super-sweet, sweet corn, Damaun. The first patch ripened, and we ate an ear each. Now, our second patch is ripe (and we hope the frost doesn’t come and kill the plants!). Those cobs are at least 10 inches long and the taste is very good — sweet but still “corny.” We’re real excited about that. Then the Goat Bag paste tomatoes are really big. Some weigh almost 3 pounds and are very meaty and flavorful too. Such a great paste tomato. You sure don’t need a bushel to make a lot of tomato sauce!

This is a cob of Damaun super-sweet, sweet corn. Cool, huh?
These are some Goat Bag tomatoes; that’s Will’s gloved hand at the top.

We tried a new tomato this year that is simply gorgeous. It’s called Girl Girl’s Weird Thing and it’s both colorful and strange too. Many have these little points emerging from the blossom end like cow’s teats. Yep, weird! Then there’s an old standby, Gargamel, which is also a very beautiful larger-than-plum smaller tomato. Flashed with red and stripes of dark purple, it’s a knockout. Gorgeous in a salad! Of course, we’re eating tomatoes like crazy while picking.

The squash crop is great this year. Our Canada Crooknecks are huge! And boy do we have lots of them. Will picked the biggest to bring home tonight. The necks are so long it’s easy to just slice them in three-inch slices and bake them on a cookie sheet. No seeds, except in the bulb end. Lots of Hopi Pale Greys, Sweet Fall, and Lakota too. We tried a new-to-us Native squash, Hidatsa, and love this large roundish tannish squash. Very productive and quite early, too. I can’t wait to taste it, but I figure if it’s been around for centuries, it must be good.

Will’s holding our biggest (to date) Canada Crookneck squash. This is one of the ancestors of the Waltham Butternut squash.

Pray the frost misses us! — Jackie

29 COMMENTS

  1. I’m sorry to hear you did get the frost it was so deep. I lucked out twice and didn’t get below 38. I am thankful because my plants are all so behind from the last of rain. It’s time I start picking squash and pumpkins. But I have all my sweet corn to process today and tomatoes and beans calling my name. I hope you got lots picked! I have a question though, have you ever tried to over winter pepper plants? I am thinking or trying it this time because I don’t have the best luck with them growing super well. I’ve watched lots of videos and have some King Of the North that would be good to dig up as the plants are huge, just never set any flowers. I have a jalapeño that I could try too. Just wondering!

  2. We are all anxiously waiting to hear if you did get frost, or managed to luck out this time.
    If you two actually were able to ever haul in all your garden produce, would there be any room left for you and the pets in the house? Maybe David’s could take you in, ha!
    Super happy you have the golf cart. Wish I lived closer so could come help with the work.

    • Yep, we did get frost; worse than that, 28 degrees F, which is a freeze. It did kill all frost-sensitive plants but didn’t seem to damage any of the veggies. We’re still picking like mad. The house is getting full, but there’s plenty of room yet. We’ve gotten good at piling! David is safe.

  3. First of all, I love your humor, Jackie, and I pray often for your whole family. Do you and Will only eat what comes out of your garden? I watch a couple on yt and they only eat what comes out of their garden, orchard, and livestock; in season. What they do not have, they no longer eat. If so, what are your thoughts? We are set here on the mountain as far as income, but. . . even my husband, with his excavator and loader, can’t make enough gardens for us to live off of exclusively. And we certainly can’t raise livestock. So in the far recesses of our minds there’s been the thought for years, to move where we can provide everything, because of this nation’s and the world’s difficult times soon ahead of us. This year my knee got much worse (a fall years ago). I didn’t realize I was not straightening my leg/knee when I walked and the orthopedist said, You’re not straightening your leg! I immediately started getting my knee to straighten more and more. There’s a little swelling/arthritis/spurs. The horrible spasms (not cramps) stopped immediately. My muscles were not aligned and were severely over worked. So no knee replacement as yet, but will go to pt. I admire you and Will working hand-in-hand on your farm. I refused to let my husband help me years ago, because it took him so long to get around to it; garden and orchard. Now seeing your example, and my inadequacies and mistakes/failures in both, I’ve admitted to myself and look forward to his help and ideas; and his retirement, too, to be able to do that. I’ve often wished we were on the same page.

    • It is hard when a partner isn’t on the same page, but a lot of folks make it work, even so.
      While we eat mostly what we raise, we do buy some things at the store. One of the main reasons we left our homestead in Montana for here is that we knew we didn’t have enough room on 20 acres, to grow more of what we needed. We were pretty good with garden produce, but had no room for more pasture, many fruit trees, berries, hay, etc. Land, there is and was very expensive and you can’t buy mid-sized pieces; it’s 20 acres (or less) or else big ranches that movie stars are snapping up.
      We do eat seasonally and don’t buy out-of-season foods from out of the country as we feel they are laden with chemicals.
      I’m glad your knee is getting better; it’s great to walk without so much pain!!

  4. Wow! your vegetables look gorgeous!! I love squash and that Canada crookneck looks awesome! I had one butternut plant that grew after 3 tries at planting. It was so dry here this year that between the dryness and I think birds eating seeds I had quite a time getting things to germinate and grow. My squash are small this year due to the drought. Tomatoes were the same. Luckily, I had canned up lots last year so with what I got this year and the left overs from last i will have plenty. That electric golf cart is just the checker for you. Your knees will be forever be grateful. I know your harvest is in full swing hoping to beat the frost. I pray you get your crops all in. We are cooler here, but in no danger of frost yet, thankfully. Prayers for a blessed week.

    • Drought is hard on everyone! We had some this year, but also got a few rains that sure helped out. Like you said, canning extra sure helps when you run up against some unforeseen problem, whether it’s COVID 19 or a drought. I try to can up all I can every year. Just in case.

      I LOVE the golf cart and can’t wait until Will gets the solar roof hooked up so it charges from the sun while I drive. Now, it charges from the sun (our solar panels), but the change would be a direct usage. How exciting!

  5. I’ve never heard of the “f” word like that, but I agree. I pray both “f” words evade you for a long while so you can get your harvest in safely without pushing your bodies to their limits.
    Debbie in MA

    • We did have to hump it! We not only got frost but a freeze. Luckily, although the plants were killed, the veggies seem to have escaped serious damage. Whew. Now, we get to pick, pick, pick, more.

  6. Dear Jackie,
    I heard somewhere that multiplier onions would cross pollinate with regular green onion sets.
    Is this true?
    I knew you would be the one to tell me right on this!

    Thank You
    Brenda

    • They only cross when you save seeds from the plants. The onion bulbs do not cross. All onion family members can cross among each other, if planted too closely. Generally, 500 feet will provide enough spacing to keep two varieties from crossing as the flowers bloom.

    • We prayed also but God had other plans, it seems. All, in all, things are fine, even though we did get a freeze.

  8. Jackie,
    I watch your location whenever I watch the national weather. Got my fingers crossed for a pass on that forecasted frost and I’ll keep you in my prayers.

    Sherrie in Ohio

    • We did get hit; David even saw some snowflakes fall, early in the evening! Wow, that’s early for us. Things are fine, though; we’re getting it handled nicely.

  9. Eeek is right with the coming frost.
    I’m so glad you and Will are getting all those wonderful tomatoes, squash, etc. in.
    That electric golf cart is a God send. Getting all that produce in would take a lot
    longer walking not to mention you knees would not be appreciative at all.
    That sweet corn looks so delicious and a nice size too.
    Love all the varieties you’ve grown.
    We don’t have frost in the forecast as of yet. I never say never these days.
    Since I did a lot of container gardening most of it is already in under lights
    and thriving.
    Thanks for sharing and do get some rest in between all this hard work of gathering
    the food in before the frost.

    • We didn’t get it all in, but a lot. Plus, the freeze we did get didn’t seem to affect the fruits of the plants, just the plants. I was expecting freeze-damaged tomatoes the next day, but they seem hard and fine. Whew!!

  11. Your vegetables are just beautiful! We have not had a frost here in southern Tennessee, but the Jar Flies started singing way too early. You can count 90 days from their first song and that is our first frost. Usually pretty accurate, too. They say October 15 for us here. We will see…

  12. Jackie I gave up on the other post your answer never came through.question, our hopi grey leaves are covered with white looking mold. Does it hurt to leave the squash on the vine or should we pick it? How do you get rid of the mold? Thanks for your patience, blessings Bev

    • Beverly, if you look on the right side, near the top, you should see a red box that says Ask Jackie a Question. Click on that, and you’ll be able to send her an email and get your question answered. :)
      Linda in Montana

    • Wow, I answered your question but see it’s not there! Computers!! Okay, when squash vines are finished they often have leaves that turn whitish or yellow. (See the photo of my Hopis on that blog.) This is a natural process. Just go ahead and pick your squash as they are mature. If the white appears earlier in the season, it may be Powdery Mildew, a fungus infection. You can spray a fungicide, such as Neem oil or Copper solution on the plants as early as you notice it to treat it. This usually works well.

  13. We had frost last night and I tried to cover much of the garden. The windshield on the vehicles needed to be scraped so I know it was chilly. Glad you are getting all your things in so they don’t freeze. The cows must of behaved this year and didn’t get into Will’s corn–at least I don’t remember reading that they did. I have had a few rabbits get into our garden and eat the tender plants when they first were growing but now not eating much or I just am not noticing they are eating items.
    Winter is not far behind I am afraid and I still have so much to gather and process before it does.

    • We sure didn’t get everything in but did haul in a whole lot. We got a freeze like yours, but although it killed the plants, it didn’t seem to hurt the veggies. We’re still hauling stuff in by the load!
      Nope, the cows didn’t get in; they’re in confinement as they took a walk down the driveway to the highway! So, it’s round bales for them. AND we get to harvest our gardens, not feed them to the cows.

  14. I knew what the “f” word was lol. Not that the Goat Bag paste aren’t that big, I had some regular old Amish Paste that were monster size (think as large as a slicing tomato).
    Breaking down most the garden this weekend – a few paste tomatoes worth picking to ripen in the house. Need to get ready to plant garlic.
    Colder and snowier winter than normal predicted for us so I may stock up a bit more. We’re not far from a main road and I can get to my folks via main roada. But I’ve lived through a couple of blizzards and some dangerously cold weather. Meaning if I can avoid going out, I avoid going out – especially if weather peeps say “don’t travel unless you have to”.
    Well you *could* walk to your garden but hauling home the harvest is another story. Work smarter not harder is my motto.

    • Amen, Selena!! We constantly try to think of ways to make our work easier as we have so much to do now. I know some homesteaders who insist doing everything the hard way; no tiller, no refrigerator, no water to the house, carrying all water from rain barrels, etc. We feel we get more done and stay healthier by enlisting some forms of help that’s economical, such as the golf cart, water lines, an LP refrigerator, and, of course, tractor mounted tillers for our 5 acres of garden. That’s a lot of garden to hand dig with a broad fork!!

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