Thursday, October 27, 2011

Three months later....

Okay, so it has been nearly three months since I blogged. I guess I'm not a very avid blogger. Plus, it has been a hard summer, and there isn't much "good news" to blog about when everything is drying up and withering away. We are hoping for a better 'next year'. I only like to share good news, when I can.

So now we are into autumn and getting ready for oncoming winter.

Last week, there were a couple of nights that were in the 'frost' and 'freeze' categories of nighttime temperatures. We still have tomatoes and peppers in the garden, and they were just beginning to start to produce (after the dry hot weather that kept the blossoms from being fertile most of the growing season). So we want to leave them out in the garden as long as possible, just in hopes to get the fruit to ripen enough for the seeds to be viable for seed-saving to plant next year.

So on the cold nights, we wrap the tomatoes up tight in blankets. (My son said my wrapping job makes them all look like "Bubushkas").

For the peppers, we got creative and put together a tarp that is made entirely of old feed sacks stapled together :) We put this over the green pepper bed, and set a drop light down inside to create enough warmth to get them through.



Now, these green pepper plants will be dug up and put into pots and brought inside, just as he did last year. We got some great large pots off Craig's List, and we will put them in the bay window of the dining room for the winter. They will continue as a perennials if you don't allow them to freeze.



One thing that did well in Steven's garden this year (with lots of added water) and that hasn't yet been affected by the freeze is his peanut crop. It really flourished. Should be quite a crop.

As for the tomatoes -- the variety "OSU Blue" is turning out quite interesting. It is a very dark color (these are small since they didn't get much time to grow and develop)

And here are just some other photos from around the place:

Ummm. yummy tomatoes - just didn't get very many this year.

Fine looking cattle -- that the McCurry Brothers keep in our pasture. 

Our fishing ponds have lost a lot of water. I think the herons are having a feast on fish in the shallow waters.