As the Spindle Turns . . .

The weather doesn't seem to agree. It went from mid 50's to mid 20's and 30 degrees. there weren't any 40s in there at all. No. It'll be in the teens this weekend as a high temperature. Then it goes to mid 40s. What a crazy thing!

The week has been very busy, even for me. Work cancelled because of supply chain issues. In going to the grocery store to buy produce, what a disappointment! All the fresh produce from CA had been affected by the bitter cold temperatures across the plains. The oranges were very sad. The lettuce looked obviously frost bitten. Whole Foods threw away all the zucchini. The Food Co-op didn't but boy, they were sad. We bought frozen green beans and some peas. I went through all my homegrown yellow beans already. We've had a lot of stews. In another week, I'll be able to harvest lettuce and spinach in the basement. I usually grow them indoors in winter. I'll wait until temperatures go up on Tuesday to check on my outdoor cabbages. They are under two layers of covers.

This week has been all about the cookies. I made sugar cookies from a friend's recipe. I made Russian teacakes with pecans. Under consideration are:

* apricot oatmeal cookies
* molasses ginger refrigerator slices
* shortbread with cranberries and pistachios
* fudge
* gingerbread
* chocolate shortbread
* thumbprint cookies

A few years back, I picked up bon appetite's cookie magazine. We also have a 1980s copy of the Betty Crocker Cookie Book. Searches at the library yielded little. A lot of people beat us to the shelves. The same people must also be responsible for the empty shelves of butter. Three stores we had to go to! I ordered butter through Azure Standard. It'll be here Tuesday. Chrono may make some vanilla biscotti if she is up to it.



I am great at making lists, not so much for getting it all done. I am freezing some of each batch of cookies. It's the only way to ensure a variety. The chocolate cherry cookies are all gone already. I might have to make another batch. It is possible that I'll make a chocolate Reeses Pieces batch. My base recipe is the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe but I add a 1/4 cup baking cocoa and then the Reeses Pieces. With the chocolate cherry, I did the same but soaked dried sweet cherries in Kirsch. With my oatmeal apricot, I have the dried apricots chopped and soaking in brandy to rehydrate them.



This could also happen:


I just zested an orange. Navels came in to Whole Foods in okay shape. We'll see. I work the 20th and 21st. It screws with my hips to stand, unmoving for hours on end at work. I may not be able to stand in my own kitchen afterwards. It happened last weekend. It was too painful to move. Today they called and wanted me to work the Friday and Monday of the same weekend. I said no. I know my limitations. Two days is all I can manage. Next year, I am hoping to concentrate more on my own business.

Yes, I did dye yarn this week. I got some beautiful shades of pine green. There will be pictures once it's all wound into skeins. Meanwhile, I need to make 50 hats by the end of April. It's a tall order. Currently, I am making a petal hat in onion skin-dyed wool, a rich shade of yellow. With Jaggerspun closed, I have to dye all my own yarn to shades that I want to work with. It has changed my color palette a bit, but it also takes longer time-wise.

Well, really it started yesterday. My husband had a doctor's appointment. The street was parked full. I had the Jetta at the bottom of the driveway since it bottoms out and cannot go up. Yeah, we live on a hill. I was trying to figure out how to manage Hubby and a vehicle. The van was turned the wrong way. Finally folks left to go to work and I was able to move the car. I grabbed the keys and was going to drive the van out and turn it around so Hubby could get in. He is mobility impaired.

The van wouldn't start. The ignition sounded like a rapid fire machine gun. I had to allow extra time to get Hubby safely down the hill and into the other car. All good. Appointment happened. Everything was good. I called my mechanic and explained the noise. He said it meant not enough current was reaching the starter. Just jump it. As we tried to open it, the hood latch jammed. Decided to run errands first. We ran errands in the other car. A storm was coming in with a lot of snow. We got the Jetta gas after trying more than one station. Joan, the Jetta is a picky eater. She currently has a taste for Shell gasoline, 93 octane. Give her some slack, she is 23 years old. She knows what will keep her running. There are no stations near us. We hit up a grocery store first near a Shell station and headed over around 3 pm. No gas, pumps are being worked on. At this point, the next closest station was all the way over near my mechanic. I called him from there. Explained that the van's hood release was jammed. He recommended percussive maintenance. As soon as I got home and groceries were put away, we grabbed a bite to eat (plus fed Hubby) and headed out to try again. Bingo. Hood up, van jumped. Now for a ride to recharge.

I headed to the pharmacy to pickup Hubby's prescription. It was a drive through. Then on to fill up a tire with air. I left her run while filling up on air at Sheetz. Rush hour traffic was in full swing. We headed north, away from traffic. Chrono had a hankering for Baba Ghanoush (effectively hummus but made with roasted eggplant instead of chickpeas). We went to our favorite Lebanese restaurant and ordered take out. Chrono stayed in the running van. Then we headed home. We drove for over two hours. I was getting low on gas.

Got into the driveway. Turned off the engine. Decided to see if she'd start again. Nope. We need a new battery. Tuesday morning, I, at least got in a shower. There are 4" of snow on the ground. I called the mechanic. He agreed with my diagnosis. I told him I'd be in after the snow stopped. I called off work. I will miss the income but I needed to deal with the battery issue. I have more gigs this weekend. It needs to be fixed by then.

In theory, I could have walked to AutoZone and bought a battery - however, been there and tried to do that before. One needs a very long extension to a wrench to remove the battery. Not happening in the snow. Last time they almost lost the nut. It really needs to happen indoors from underneath. But, I can't just jump the van. I have to clear snow first. I spent a good hour clearing both vehicles and shoveling the street so the vehicles could move freely. It isn't going above freezing anytime soon. The heavy/slushy snow will freeze into a solid block. Both vehicles got cleared as well as our long driveway and the street area.

Time to eat something. I reheated leftovers. Then I headed with the gas can over to a filling station. I gave the van a drink. Now I could manage the 16 (or 20) miles to the mechanic's. He lives above the garage so no worries there. I went over her specific needs. Yes, it's also time for an oil change. With the snow, honestly, the most important thing was to get the windshield fluid fixed. Somewhere there is a leak. It shouldn't hold a whole gallon of washer fluid. I have a hunch I poured it onto the ground. Evelyn the Eurovan gets a spa day tomorrow. She's my baby, only 22 years old with 381,000 miles at least.

From 2010


But the day isn't over. We were out of water. Living in fracking country with a huge number of strange cancers, we don't necessarily have safe water. They'd like us to believe it, but somehow I don't.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/families-demand-answers-pa-health-dept-cancer-cluster-findings/

We headed to a different grocery store to stock up on meat, cheese, and water. Tomorrow we'll head back to get the results (bill) of Evelyn's spa day. Thursday we load the vehicle and Friday is setup at the craft fair. It's been a week and it is only Tuesday. Chrono has a hernia from surgery earlier this year. I need to be her road crew. She really shouldn't lift stuff.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRV--Rsjd3l/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

There were a lot of "call-offs" at work so I took an extra shift. I worked Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. I need arch support if I continue to do this. I bought another pair of the same shoe style in April before the tariffs hit. They were already using cheaper material and had no arch support at all. Same model number. I didn't need to have to make another purchase of Dr. Scholl's. I have the old shoes and wore them to do gardening today in the mud. They definitely have arch support. I've worn the shoes down to threadbare though. I may try switching out the inserts.

I do food demo's. I can't believe it's been 8 years.


I collected more chicken manure wood chips on Wednesday. Today we went to work on the Pomegranate tree. It outgrew its wire protection mesh. Despite the thorns, the deer have been munching on the leaves anyway. I put on a wider diameter mesh circle. It got fed wood chips too. The deer had been there and ate our jack o'lanterns. It was kind of a mess. The remains got pushed over the terrace edge into the sedum. They could come back. Chrono spotted five deer on her last walk around the block.

To get wide enough wire mess, I had to move a compost pile that was aging in the wire cage. The completed compost got added to the herb spiral. I had to fix some of the bricks as deer cut through there and knock over my bricks. Since the compost mesh was also protecting my peach tree, I had to make a makeshift cage for that as well. The deer eat the bark in winter and kill the trees.

While I was at it, I moved two menhirs, I mean cinderblocks, into my retaining wall. The I added the unfinished compost and twigs behind the blocks. So yes, more fussing in the garden and feeding my soil organisms. I did encounter some happy worms.

I've been thinking a lot about COP 30 and climate change. If we stopped using fossil fuels today, we would still hit 2.4 degrees C of temperature rise and it would take about a thousand years to go back to something resembling normal. It needs to be on everyone's mind instead of the Epstein files. (Not that locking up pedo's isn't important. It's not a one or the other situation. We can focus on more than one thing) It's just that we have hit tipping points. The public needs to be aware of the consequences of big oil running our policies and politics. I'd love to see more people implementing permaculture designs into their yards and a lot less lawn worship. I think if easy to implement solutions are applied, we can change things. It would give us a sense of doing something instead of hopelessness.

For me, feeding my soil micro-organisms was a top priority today. I'd also like to look at planting more native species. Again, I was inspired by "Crime Pays, but Botany Doesn't" at just how much work and benefits can be achieved by planting native species, like cooling the soil, retaining water, increased biodiversity, etc. . Look up Joey on YouTube if you are not familiar. Meanwhile, there is still plenty more chicken manured woodchips at my farmer's place. She operates a regenerative farm in Western PA. The baby chicks had been in this enclosure before getting big enough to be put on pasture. The manure is already a bit aged. I figure I need at least 6 more garbage bins full to fulfill my needs. Fewer people are raking leaves to leave on the curb. The Leave the Leaves movement has gained momentum. I am happy about that. That means we'll have more fireflies, among other things. I love the fireflies.



Next year's seed includes Milkweed to cut down on Spotted Lantern flies. I'll be putting in with my roses. I am also thinking about flowers that feed monarchs throughout the growing season. They enjoyed the Mexican Sunflowers a lot. It's hard to plan what will bloom and when. The Scabiosa decided to bud today. This is a second round for them. I also saw a barn swallow by the interstate. I thought they were supposed to migrate. That was also concerning. It is a shame that so many people are disconnected from the environment. But then it's a shame we have no time except to work and eat. I wish everyone had time to stop and smell the flowers.

Scabiosa

but don't have much to show for it.Today was farm day. That means I needed to have clean, dry milk half gallons (glass) with lids all washed to go back to the farm so I can pick up next week's. I did a mammoth amount of dishes. No, we don't have a functional dish washer, just me. I finished drying and putting away last night's dishes and washed more today. The milk jars went into the food dehydrator to dry. I had to finish drying tomatoes so I was running it anyway.

I filled water jugs in case we lost power. We have a wicked wind happening plus the X5.1 solar storm. I went out to see if I could run the walnut dye bath, ah, no. Too windy. The temperature dip into the mid 20's polished off the potatoes. I tossed those into the garage, grow bags and all to wait for spring. The mandala garden got a couple more panels added to keep deer out over winter. After the tree fell, there was a bit of re-organizing fencing in the mandala garden.

My farmer said I could have the early chicken brood bedding - that involved some preparation on my part. I needed a bin with a tight fitting lid to put the bedding into. Unfortunately, it already had wood chips from the mulberry chipping earlier this year. I'd been given a woodworker's garbage bin (no lid) that was on its last legs. I managed to dump the stuff that was in that (all garbage really) and move the chips into that. They were half decayed anyway and very moist. Then, I dragged it up to the garage near where it'll go onto a path in spring. One task done.

At some point I had dug out clay out of a bed and put it into a 5 gallon bucket. Could not begin to say how many years ago. The bucket was chipping apart. The "dirt" was more like silt. I spread that along my retaining wall, except the bucket broke apart. Most of the silt made it. The bucket got trashed. Well, one less thing on the back porch.

I still needed another container for the chicken bedding. The one with the angelica and pokeberries would do. It has a nice lid. The bin was full of water with plant material fermenting. I guess I don't have to worry about seeds sprouting. I dumped that at the foot of the pear tree. Yay, two containers. Now, for a small container to fill each garbage bin with bedding and then a shovel. The shovel was in the farthest back corner of the garage and not very accessible. I had to maneuver around the garden hose. Next was to excavate a tarp to protect the van, which is full of merchandise for the next show. Nothing about today was easy.

We got to the farm. I remembered to bring garden gloves and a mask. Chrono got in her farm kitten petting time. I filled the two bins, put lids on tight and wished I had 4 more containers. The bedding was mostly wood chips. There was very little oder. I wore my mask anyway. Hopefully I can come back next week and pick up more. There was quite a bit of fungus on it already, breaking it down. It's going to be lovely in the garden. I'll add it to perennial beds to hold in moisture as well as add it to pathways to walk on.

The snapdragons are still going strong despite the temperature.

besides politics, but here is what is affecting me directly: With regard to the environment, PA scored a big win in the election. We kept PA Supreme court justices that are friendly toward conservation. That means there is a chance I'll still be able to breathe the air. Three area data centers have been announced. The Center for Coalfield Justice is holding informative sessions. Meanwhile, I will continue to worry if our local grid can even handle the new load. Power used to go out every time the steel mill fired up a burner., every Monday at 8 am. The mills are gone but we still have a lagging power system - consult your physics book if you need an explanation. Power will go out when they bring that shit online. In PA, several coal power plants that produced mercury emissions were taken off line. That puts additional pressure on the other electrical plants. Those plants are also often taken offline during severe weather like bitter cold or heat waves. Our predominant power plants are coal, nuclear, and natural gas. Grid operation is not going to work smoothly. In addition, other power plants that were supposed to go offline due to age, have been given the green light to go years beyond their obsolescence. That little political gem is thanks to the current regime but impacts Maryland and other parts of the eastern seaboard. So, yes, electricity may no longer be a given. (and we haven't even gotten into the nitty-gritty of aging capacitors and other expensive aging equipment)

There was a strange memo issued by Bill Gates. The only real thing he got correct was that climate change is real. My favorite climate scientist explains the rest, better than I can. The problem is that global leaders listen to Gates. Spoiler, his memo doesn't cover air quality at all.
https://youtu.be/9MmqKEkOtwo?si=YMmu6L8SeUMPWI69

Meanwhile, children and elderly starve. Food banks were already struggling with all the federal layoffs. Add to that all the additional ones that occurred last week from Microsoft to UPS to Amazon. Soon the airport will be closed without air traffic controllers. Currently, they are saying 10 %. My nephew out in CA got laid off in the tech sector. My neighbor works at the airport. I think pretty soon all of us will know people affected by the economy. (I'm being polite). The library is collecting food locally. Our governor made 5 million available from emergency funds and Mark Cuban made another million available for assistance. As my daughter put it, that covers Philly and Harrisburg, leaving Pittsburgh out in the cold. Obviously, it's not distributed that way, but it gives you a broad sense of how many people are being short-changed. Let's hope the partial payments to SNAP will help stretch those dollars further. The economy is the biggest factor to be worried about at the moment. Recession, tariffs, immigration abuse, and inflation all at once.

We've had a lot of solar storms lately, combined with Coronal Mass Ejections. It is theorized that a continued bombardment of solar wind and CMEs is affecting the earth's response in the way of earthquakes. At the moment Kamchatka is at the biggest risk of producing a very large earthquake in the 8.0 range. Also of concern is Campi Phligrei, the "burning fields" near Naples in Italy. The area houses a super-volcano. More and more studies indicate a phreatic explosion could occur. Land rise continues and peoples' basements are now coated with sulphur deposits from the fumes. More earthquakes continue in that area. I'm sure other regions around the globe will be dicey as well. See Stephen Burns for an explanation of this theory. https://www.youtube.com/live/Mtp0sri71QE?si=uSDmjpbRQp26yMLS

The fear factor is rising. I take this with a grain of salt, knowing that people have survived worse before. The 2026 garden plan may need to shift if the globe is put into another volcanic winter. Instead, I'm working on fall chores while the weather holds. See my latest vlog:
https://youtu.be/uye5dLWgBxg?si=WpY1ORQulNKdlkXF
There's also a sweater I'm working on, which I just ripped again. There were supposed to be 15 stitches, not 18 at the end. I'b so close to finishing! Last night, I worked on an appliqué crazy quilt. I stitched 4 more patches. It's a multi-year project. I have two going simultaneously. The pink one needs about 30 more pieces before I can embroider and add backing. The green one is no where near as far along. I kid myself into thinking that I am clearing the attic. The bits and bobs of fabric kicking around get incorporated and off my floor. Four patches doesn't even make a dent. My goal is 15 patches per year. They are all hand sewn. Sewing machine repair has been back burnered. My husband broke another tooth. Dentistry is going to cost us.

From a few years back:


Green Quilt


I'll post the complete sweater when I'm done. The roar of the wind has made me anxious to finish. My latest discovery is a homestead in Estonia. What they've done is inspiring.
https://youtu.be/QyNJSsuFUas?si=U_3bJISkA-eVsgZC

Still don't have enough stamina nor enough time. Yesterday, I worked around the dead Japanese maple that crashed into my front yard bushes. There are three fallen limbs to cut. The hand saw and I are not completely compatible. I get back strain quickly. I worked on the yew bushes instead. I worked my way back to the ladder under the window box. It no longer looks like a skunk is inhabiting the hole. There is still a lot more to cut on those front bushes but the tree must be dispatched first. My goal was the ladder. I trimmed to that point.

The second story has a casement window cracked open that I cannot close. It is only a centimeter but enough to let cold air in. I wanted the ladder to set up in the driveway to push the window closed from the outside. Not happening. The 11 ft ladder doesn't get near high enough. Not to mention the driveway is on a hill and you can't get the ladder level. I am looking at making blackout curtains instead. The house needs so much work. I'd have to win the lottery to get even half of it done. I stuck the ladder into the backyard mulberry tree. I have plans to trim that next. It is an okay height for that.

Today I worked on clearing the driveway. I did a clear cut with the sickle. I also sawed the Siberian elm shoots down. Those shoots grew from a dead stump that is decaying nicely. Tree shoots are drying. The plant cuttings of phlox and Jerusalem artichoke went into my terrace project. I am redoing the hugel bed that was called "Middle Earth" There is a double stack of cinder block on the lower side now. The plant cuttings went in as fill. I am attempting a series of terraces going up the hill. That is the goal anyway. Roughly, I want a 3 ft bed with a 2 ft path. Then a row of cinderblocks before starting the next set. Middle Earth is getting a metal raised bed. The mulberry tree has extensive roots and sucks water out of direct plantings. I carved up those yellow roots all the way over in cinderblock bed #2 when I transplanted cabbage. Yes, that mulberry needs to be cut back.

2016 Hugle bed


With raspberry plantings


I have more shaping to do with the contour of the hill. At some point, I need to pull out a level. I woke up this morning thinking about the steps my neighbor gave me. The steps are treated wood for an RV. I think they will do nicely to segway the hill as the hill dips both southward and eastward. From the driveway, the longer side will be flat with the cinderblocks holding the bottom edge. Then will come the steps. On the eastern side, the garden will be lower. I have existing plants along that fence line. There is a plum tree and a spice bush. I am tempted to plant another elderberry I was given. It's been in a pot for several years. That could happen in spring.

Anyway, to stop my neighbor tossing toxic moth balls into my yard, I dealt with the issue myself. The neighbor believes the skunk lives in a hole along my garage by the rain barrel. First I had to clear the black raspberry canes out of there. I drove another section of "dig defense" (a sturdy underground fence) along the garage wall. I backfilled the skunk hole/ground hog hole with dirt. It's hard to call what was dugout of there "dirt". It was like river bottom silt. Then I laid down chicken wire. I know I will regret this later in life if I ever need to dig there. I topped the chicken wire with dilapidated cinder blocks. I tossed my old Coleman propane canisters in between (you know, the little green jobbie's). The garbage collection will not take these. Most are totally rusted out. The canisters are what stopped the critters from using that as an entrance. They collapsed into the hole. It wasn't the moth balls.

I started another fire to cook more walnuts for dye. I didn't have enough dye in the pot to do the whole batch of skeins I planned. I'm gradually moving the fire pit up the hill. I didn't get to the rest of the cutting that's needed. I got full of cleaver burs and spent a lot of time pulling them off my clothing. I discovered my sweater is not wool. I got a little close to the burn bin while pulling off cleavers. Part of the sweater melted. It originally came from a thrift store. I do not remember buying it, but from now on, it will be my yard-clearing sweater. Mom used to call them "Saturday clothes".

I am glad I got the driveway clear and the walnuts cooked with a bonus of ground hog proofing. While I waited for the fire to burn out, I managed to pick another pound of black plum tomatoes. They were also in the raspberry section. I really don't think we've had frost yet. It was supposed to hit 33 degrees last night but I don't think it did. So, no frost and no freezing point hit yet. It is so bizarre. We are already a week past our normal frost date. There were flowers on that tomato plant. But I'm already dreaming of next year's garden. . .

Today's Goals:
Cut dead wood from front yard tree.
Clear a path
Start a dye bath
Burn up some of the excess wood



I made a fire break around the dye bath. Cleavers had started growing back. Since the fire was smoldering to start and not catching, I turned my back to it and started clearing up the hill. I found a bunch of fire wood under the weeds. Also found a battery, clothespins and a rope. Faun sent me a lovely new tool. I couldn't wait to try it out. It works divine!



The plum tree also lost a dead branch so instead of working on the Japanese Maple mess in the front yard, I worked on the fungus-diseased plum. It's coming back after the mulberry was cut down. It still needs more of a trim. The fire finally took while my back was turned. I got a walnut stew going. I won't dye the yarn until after it has been strained. Nothing worse than picking bits of shell out of beautiful wool.



Tomorrow rain is forecast. We'll see. Can't trust the forecasters. I am trying to build up my stamina. I only worked an hour. I did grab a wood pallet to lean against the fence. It'll keep Sam from coming under the fence. Sam is the neighbor's full size poodle. If I can get out again tomorrow, I hope to get some sawing of wood in. I still haven't put the chainsaw together. There is plenty that is too thick for the chainsaw. I have a hand held blade for that. I also have 2 more pallets to install. Then I want to take down all the steel conduit tubing, used in making trellises for cucumbers and tomatoes, and see how much of what size I have. Basically, I want to inventory it. It'll help me design a fence for next year's garden. I may move the box spring down along the fence so plants get light but the dog doesn't go through. I know it sounds very ad hoc, but pallets are free over at the Freightliner in Strabane. The box spring was an experiment that worked really well and is still useful. With today's prices, repurposing and free wood is nothing to be sneezed at.

There is so much more to do. The baby skunks screwed up my life by not being diurnal. Having them romp during daylight hours totally screwed up my world.

The quince may be decorative as well as tasty and abundant. They blossomed for a very long stretch in spring and into summer. It's a bush that is hedging its bets when it comes to frost. Being high maintenance, it produces suckers and grows very densely. Yes, it has thorns. The deer tend to leave it alone. It needs to be thinned and trimmed - you don't want someone to lose an eye. I imagine it would be excellent in a hedgerow.



The above is only a fraction of what we grew. I made jelly and quince paste. After tasting the quince paste, I decided it would go best on an English muffin. So I made some of those too. Not bad for the first time making them.



The recipe called for making 9 muffins, but I got 11. They were too good to wait for, so I scarfed some while waiting for the next batch to cook. IKEA had these great cutting rings. I am so glad we picked them up.





I wish I could find some crumpet rings, but I'm very satisfied with muffins.



Tomorrow I get to go to the store and see how much flour has gone up in price.

About the whole ship-building thing. Back in April, around Liberation Day, a certain someone was going to make American ship-building great again. Except, we really don’t build ships here anymore. Not in a major way, at least. A port fee for ships not built in America was given 6 months before being implemented. In addition to tariffs, starting October 14th, a docking fee goes into effect for foreign ships not made in America. It is based on the weight of the cargo off-loaded. It doesn’t apply to oil tankers. It was aimed originally at the automobile industry, but will now affect all imports arriving by ship.

It appears to be the reason for the off-gridders’ advice. Will consumers just eat the additional price on goods or will people just quit buying things because of inflation? Will that cause a cascade? Is a recession inevitable?That is the real question.

There is a lot going on with shipping. It’s a very complicated process with fees and risk of pirates.Fascinating stuff.

Early on, I set goals for this year's garden. I didn't expect a family member to get cancer. I didn't expect skunks to invade my backyard during daylight. I didn't expect a tree to land on my garage, preventing us from trimming trees. I didn't expect the ground hog to dig more holes under my garage. There was a late season drought which is still going on. What I did manage was to fence off the front yard "mandala" garden to keep some creatures out. (Not all. Something is eating the sweet taters leaves.) A lot happened on this year's journey.



The goals were set between what should be possible and what I have achieved in the past. Things with an asterix are not done growing yet. In theory, we have two weeks of growing season left. There are nine grow bags of potatoes in the driveway. There 3 more small butternut squash, a Lakota, a honeynut, and 2 Long Island Cheese pumpkins. That will be the bulk of the weight, plus more apples and quinces on the trees.

Long boring list:
Asparagus 3 lbs. goal 4.26 lbs harvested
Basil 1 lbs. 0.1 lbs
Beans 3 lbs. 2.78 lbs
Dried Beans 1 lbs. Didn't plant.
Beets 1 lbs. 3.35 lbs*
Blueberries 2 lbs. 0
Cabbage 5 lbs. 0*
Carrots 10 lbs. 0.35 lbs*
Celery 10 lbs. 0.4 lbs
Cucumbers 20 lbs. 10.97 second crop failed
Figs 2 lbs. 0*
Goumi Berries 3 lbs. 0 tree on top of them
Leeks 3 lbs. 0*
Lettuce 8 lbs. 3.00 three crop failures
Onions 5 lbs. 0 squirrels dug up
Mulberries 5 lbs. 0
Rhubarb 5 lbs. 2.8 lbs No one wants to eat more than this.
Parsnips 10 lbs. 0.4 lbs bad germination
Peas 2 lbs 0.6 lbs
Potatoes 30 lbs. 12 lbs * Nine more containers to harvest
Pumpkin 20 lbs. 8.28 lbs *
Spinach 3 lbs.2.52 lbs
Squash (summer) 15 lbs. 5.93 lbs
Squash (winter) 20 lbs. 62.87 lbs *
Swiss Chard 3 lbs. 3.32 lbs
Sweet Potatoes 5 lbs. - Have not harvested yet.
Tomatoes 120 lbs. 60 lbs
Apples 1 lbs. 6.5 lbs *
Quince 3 lbs.14 lbs *
Pears 3 lbs. 0
Raspberries 5 lbs. .04 lbs
Rose Petals 1 lbs. 0.26 lbs
Strawberries 2 lbs. 3.4 lbs

Goal Total 325 lbs.

Not on the list:
Watermelon 2 lbs harvested
Total 211.3 which is 64% of my goal



My best guess is about 275 lbs when we finish. We are working on filling the pantry and freezer. Some of the butternut split when it rained. I carved and roasted squash today. Chrono roasted beets. The squash got thrown in the freezer while the beets will get pickled. I canned tomato sauce earlier this week. Tomato jam is next. Future projects include pressure canning tomato soup and squash soup. Chrono will be making quince paste. Although there are figs, they may not have time to ripen. If they do, that's another project for Chrono.



I made a roast in the solar oven. It didn't go so well. The carrots are very fibery due to the drought. I have a few more beets in the garden, no where near ripe. From my todo list earlier this week, I did pick up meat. Yes, I had sticker shock. OMG. The freezer is nearly full. I will try growing some lettuce inside in the basement if I can get anything to germinate. The lack of greens has been disheartening. If I can get them to grow now, they will be ready just after Thanksgiving. Generally, the farmers grow for Thanksgiving but there is nothing for a few weeks after that. It's best to plan for that. Lettuce has a 12 week seed to bolt cycle. It's generally best to plant every 3 weeks.

The other thing I'm doing is saving seed. I need to go through the various plates and paper bowls on top of my fridge. There is squash, tomato (several), peas, maybe beans, and cucumber seed up there. It's been dry so I think I can label glass jars and store them. I use old baby food jars, jam jars, and honey jars. Some people use paper envelopes but I have a mouse in the house.