I knew true contentment yesterday as I peeled apples to turn another bushel of apples into sauce (and some of that sauce into fruit leather, when I'm running too low on jars), working by the light of the soon-to-be countertop garden, listening to the hum of the dehydrator working to dry out the latest batch of garden herbs. In the corner of my eye, I could see watermelon seeds still drying on the counter for planting next year (or giving away in TPH seed assortments), a few unripe tomatoes that had fallen from the vine in the winds of the previous few days, and a mountain of pear and apples, still waiting to be canned, dehydrated, or eaten. Fall is in full effect here at the Trailer Park Homestead, and that isn't entirely a bad thing.
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| Here is more of Mother Nature's sense of humor. I planted these carrots and onions about 2 months ago...and they are just now sprouting, when we are due to have about 3 freezing nights this week. Silly sprouts. So now I'm thinking of covering these up with some clear plastic or something to let them grow up to be something yummy, instead of freezing to death in a few days! |
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| And if I'm covering up those other plants, should I cover up these, with their flowers that could let me make more salve and the broccoli that isn't full grown yet? The spinach here I'm not worried about, since I plan on growing more spinach inside over the winter. |
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| And if I'm covering those other areas, should I cover this one up too? Okay, now I'm just getting silly. I could probably harvest those carrots any day now, do harvest some of the snap peas just about every day, and really am not that worried about the one cabbage growing in here. |
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| Winter is definitely coming though, as these dead cucumber plants can attest to. |
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| So here is my new "blank canvas" of gardening--the kitchen counter! (Note the netbook to the side. That is how I'm able to seem to be online so much but still get so much done. I just do mini-checks of what's going on in the world outside my kitchen or garden via the internets.) |
Ah, a bittersweet time of year. Your blog gives me so much hope and happiness. I wish to same to you!
ReplyDeleteI got gifts of various seeds from here and there over the past month, seeds which I'm drying now so they can be packed away for spring. The Delicata squash seeds I have under control ... they only required washing and then drying. Same with the watermelon (Star'n'Moon variety, personal size, YUM). The ground cherries, however... are a member of the tomato family, and does that mean I have to squish out all the seeds and ferment them? Or do I just dry the fruit and plant that? HELP! lol...
ReplyDeleteAllyson, you could cheat and just wait for the ground cherry seeds I was going to send you, but they are super easy to save: just stick some ground cherries in the blender with some water. The pulp will float and the seeds sink. Dump out the water and BOOM, there are your ground cherry seeds at the bottom. Then you just have to dry them!
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