Fall going into winter

I woke up a week ago or so, and our house was really cool. The outdoor temp was down to 48, which is pretty cool for Southeast Missouri, where we live. Since we haven't turned on the heat in the house or cranked up the wood stove, it will be cool inside until the sun heats up the house. I don't mind. When I dressed that morning, I put on a white T-shirt which I normally wear all summer, but I also put on a flannel shirt over it. I may have had to lose the flannel shirt later on that day.

I finished mowing our pastures a week ago, so now can take the bush hog off for the last time until spring. I won't need it again until next summer. I may leave the attachments off the tractor right now. We have gotten some huge rainfalls, and our road needs to be graded. I also need to do a little disk work on the hill garden. I may also drag some logs up by the wood splitter to start filling up our wood lean-to. It's easier to drag logs up by the splitter.

We cleaned out one of the high tunnels and planted green beans, cucumbers, chard, zucchini, turnips and tomatoes in it about a month ago. Everything is doing well, and the tomatoes and zucchini are either blooming or are ready to. Hopefully we'll be picking some by the end of October. Up to now, we've left the ends of the tunnel open at night. We'll start shutting them up in the evening, which will raise the temp in them during the night and daytime. It should help the zucchini and tomatoes grow a little quicker.

We're still picking okra, peppers and Roma tomatoes. These are slowing down, but it looks like we will be picking a few veggies up until frost. Roma tomatoes sure make some great salsa, but they're not bad for juice or even whole tomatoes. I think Marge is going to freeze the rest of them. The only thing we might still can is some more pickled okra. We sure enjoy the pickled okra. We try and get it picked when small and tender. Okra gets kind of pulpy if it gets too big. Boy, those okra that are 2 inches long or less are really tender. The last okra Marge pickled I put 1/16 teaspoon of Korean red pepper flakes in each pint jar. I never even warmed up the okra a bit.

Marge has been working on our garlic planting spot. We neglected it, so some weeds kind of took over. I need to bring the tiller down and till up the soil. One can really plant the garlic at any time. We always try to pick the largest garlic bulbs and plant them for next year. We break apart the bulbs and plant the cloves about 2 inches deep, no closer than say 6 to 8 inches apart. Once planted, one can put 6 to 8 inches of loose straw on top. The garlic will poke right up through the straw. If you buy some garlic in the store to plant make sure there are some dried up roots on the bottom side. If the root end is bare and kind of caved in, I wouldn't buy it to plant or even to eat. A lot of the garlic in our grocery stores is from China.

I came across an information piece on a yellow tomato, and I thought it sounded interesting. It was called El Dorado. It is an F1 hybrid so one can't save the seeds. Some of my best tomatoes are off of F1 hybrids. Every year I start a file called "Garden Seeds for 2021" or whatever the next year is. I try and put together a list of plants I want to try as well as a list of seeds I know I want to plant. Most garden centers will give a discount if you purchase seed in January and even February before the spring rush. Many times some of the best seeds will sell out and won't be available. Order early.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I always look forward to cranking up our wood stove and listening to the fire crackle and smelling the wood fire. Our wood stove has a glass door, so if we turn the lights down we can watch the fire dance around in the stove. Marge and I honestly enjoy cutting some fire wood. We have a semi-permanent wood splitter that we don't move, so we bring the wood to the splitter. We bought some wood toggles so both of us can lift heavier pieces. Also, a one-hand toggle to lift smaller pieces. They sure makes life more enjoyable. Once I figured out how to sharpen the chain saw blade, sawing is a lot less work and more fun.

I've always enjoyed hunting in the fall. Deer season rolls around in November, so I pretty much take off a week or two. It's OK if I get a deer and OK if I don't. I enjoy the going. Fall is also a great time to drown some minnows and worms. As the water cools down the fish kind of firm up and taste a whole lot better. There isn't much that tastes better than a mess of bluegill out of a cold lake.

Fall is also a great time to gather some wood and build a fire to just sit around and enjoy. Maybe even burn some hot dogs or polish sausages over. After the fire dies down, maybe melt a marshmallow over it as well. We've had so many mosquitoes this summer, being out after dark hasn't been fun. Cold nights will take care of them.

Cold nights and days brings on soups of all kinds. Chili sounds a lot better when it's cold out. Tater soup sounds good as well. Maybe even a batch of cabbage soup. Oh, yeah, a batch or two of salmon soup. Growing up, Mom would take a big box of powdered milk, a can of chocolate, some powdered creamer, and it seems like some powdered sugar, and make a hot chocolate mix. Tasted good back then. Coffee sounds better now.

Enjoy the fall!