Winter is coming

Been awhile since I last posted. I've been a bit depressed over my continuing unemployment. Four weeks of unemployment left. A 13-week extension is available but if I understand correctly, that kicks in after your initial claim period is over. My claim period started 04/08 and is not over until 04/09; however the money is all gone. Does that mean I have to wait for the extension until 04/09? We could very easily lose our home. Good news is that my husband has finally found a job. Pay starts out at $9 an hour, ouch, but it's better than what he was bringing in, $0.00. I continue to search every day, something will come in. I hope.

I planted a fall garden this year. First time for that. My spring garden didn't get plowed so I ended up planting the plant starts I had already purchased in a flowerbed. Unfortunately, it's on the semi-shaded part of the house. I have finally been able to harvest some tomatoes, long green chilies, jalapeños and some lettuce from the fall garden. Even my zucchini plant has not done well this year. It finally has 4 4-inch long fruits on it but as the nights continue to cool I don't know if I'll be able to harvest any. My fall garden consists of peas, 4 types of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, parsnips, turnips, onions and rhubarb with everything being seeds. Turnips came up pretty good - boy do I hate thinning turnips. Or anything for that matter. : ) Peas came up real good, best of everything. I've been out every day making sure their little vines reach and twine around the strings. I'm pretty sure its rabbits that found them and nibbled them down to the ground. No fall peas for me this year.

What didn't come up at all: parsnips, rhubarb, spinach and 3 of the 4 types of lettuce. A red leaf lettuce is finally growing but not in the rows I planted. It looks like the seed was blown in the wind. I'm guessing I must have planted everything too deep. I don't think onions are usually a fall crop but I had the starts so I planted them. Maybe half came up but they are only about 5 inches tall. I have no idea how long they will survive if a frost hits. Broccoli recommends starting seeds inside and planting starts. Next year. The seeds took a long time to come up and then those darn rabbits nibbled some of them. They are only about 2-3 inches tall.

Once again, if we had to live off of the garden we would starve.

The problem with the spring garden was not being able to get it plowed in a timely manner. The neighbor that always plows it for me sold his tiller and didn't get around to getting a new one. Lesson there is you shouldn't depend on others for the important things. My folks gave me their tiller that attaches to the back of the garden tractor. Took us a long while to figure out how to use it. Finally found the instruction manual on-line. It couldn't be used in the original garden as the tractor (this is a small riding mower type thing) couldn't get over all the barn waste I had been spreading around.

I picked a new spot and finally got it tilled. No fertilizer was added though and I'm guessing that's why nothing did well. I will be buying some for next spring. No barn waste though. Thistles have taken over the original garden and I'm guessing it's from seeds that passed thru my goats' systems. Lots of thistles in the pasture that the goats eat. I don't have thistles anywhere else so...

The new garden spot is small. I plan on tilling several small spots next spring and planting them. Maybe different types of beans in one spot and tomatoes and onions in another. I still want to till one more spot to plant winter wheat in. Probably during October as I plan on planting garlic in October to winter over. I also have 2 plum pits I've saved I plan on planting in the garden. They need winter before growing so I'm going to see if I can get them to do anything. I have 4 plum trees already but I love plums.

I picked walnuts yesterday for the first time. Not all are ready for picking yet so I'll be watching the tree every other day or so. I need to go on-line to see about how to dehull them (they are not black walnuts) and dry them. And my apples should be ready for picking pretty soon. Not sure what I'll be doing with them this year. Last year I made so much pie filling (froze it) that we still have plenty left. I don't care for dried apples much but applesauce sounds good. I'm thinking of trying to make apple cider vinegar from the peelings and such too.

My mother brought over her canner for me to use. It's an old one. It was my grandmother’s forever until she passed. I had the gage tested and it's good to go. I have the Ball Blue Book on canning for figuring out how to use it. It's a big, intimidating canner. I was thinking of canning the applesauce rather than freezing it and taking up freezer space. I also want to can a couple batches of this delicious lentil barley soup I make. Nothing like instant soup out of a can - home made can that is. I need some more quart jars which I can get from my mother. They are in the well house which used to be buried under blackberries. They had some well problems not long ago though so the berries are gone. I'd better get the jars before the blackberries come back. Hmm, maybe I'd better do that today.

In May I purchased 4 cords of green wood. It was delivered and dumped on the ground to start seasoning. We had about 2/3 of a cord left over after winter. I've been slowly, very slowly, stacking wood. We've had some rain of late, with more to come so I've been working on getting the rest of the wood stacked so we can cover it against the rain. I fill a wheelbarrow and then wheel the wood over to the stack. Back and forth. I've done 9 loads so far this morning but have lots more to do.

My plan was to have the wood finished this weekend. However. My mother is in the hospital (hopefully getting out today) from cancer surgery. I spent a good portion of Friday and Saturday at the hospital. Saturday was also the 4th birthday of my middle grandchild so after leaving the hospital I went to her party. She's really into being a princess and she certainly can do that after her party. Lots of lovely princess type dresses, shoes, tiaras - the whole bit. She had a castle cake made by my nephew's wife. Niece-in-law? Beautiful cake. Lots of food to eat. My hubby had to work yesterday (today too) so I brought him home a plateful plus enough for lunch today and maybe tomorrow. That's always appreciated.

It's supposed to be up to 83F today. I had planned on going back outside to stack more wood but now I'm thinking I'd better go get jars. My aching back will appreciate the break but, you know, winter is coming.