We're enjoying our Autumn, how about you?

Hello, sorry it's been so long between posts but as I say, " Life Happened"! 
Lets bring you up to speed a bit.  Okay our Summer really never felt like Summer, we only had a handful of days in the high 90'sF and no 100'sF at all( in our area). Typically in our area of Montana, the month of Aug. is into the 100'sF most everyday, but not so the last two Summers.

Our garden faired well and kept all of our CSA customer's baskets full to overflowing, which was a blessing after such a cold and wet start. I don't think we'd have faired nearly as well if we hadn't had our greenhouse, it allowed us to start crop earlier in a protected enviroment. We had certain crop failures, carrots being one. I planted and replanted them twice, only getting a germination rate of approximately 40% in each planting, so our  carrot crop was dismal to say the least*sigh*  The Broccoli and Brussels sprouts weren't good producers either and lets not even talk about my garlic. Usually my garlic looks like elephant garlic and this year they are 1/4 the size. I'm not sure if the wet and cold spring and early summer didn't affect them or the lack of heat but I certainly pray for a better crop next season.  We did have our successes too, this season I tried Walla Walla onions and the results were fabulous! We had onions as large or larger than softballs and full of wonderful flavor! The cooler weather crops, such as New Zealand Spinach, Swiss Chard, Kale, Beets and Turnips all produced beyond our expectations and in fact the Chard, Kale and Spinach are still growing and producing.  All in all our CSA customers were very pleased and all asked to be on our waiting list for next season. We're now reaping the end of the garden produce and have a beautiful crop of plums and apples to take full advantage of before we freeze. In fact we're STILL picking raspberries and they are HUGE and wonderful.

Mike's been working away from home on odd jobs and repairing cylinders from home, earning money for monthly expenses and for materials to start his shop. We'll soon be starting the process, in fact we've broken ground and plan to begin laying out and marking the post holes and then begin drilling holes and planting the posts. Materials are ordered, enough to put in all 18 posts and tie them together with 2x6s. Our plan is to build this shop in stages as we earn the money to afford the next required materials, then when it's completed it will be paid for and we stay debt free.  We were blessed with a call from a construction friend stating he could get us a deal on gravel( which is needed as a base for the cement floor) it was a situation where the company hauled gravel for a highway project and didn't use half what they hauled and decided it would be worthwhile to deal a bit rather than haul it all back to the gravel yard, so.... we got two dump truck loads for the price of one !  It pays to let your friends know what your building and the materials you'll be needing *wink*  This shop is going in the front half of our main garden plot which measures 120'x80'  This was the only logical location for it, so there would be access to the street and power. Mike assures me that with the removed topsoil he'll add more raised beds for me next Spring, actually he'll begin working on some of it before the ground freezes.  I had taken pictures but can't find them on this computer, I really dislike Windows Vista, it's totally opposite of the Windows XP I'm used to. If I find them I'll post them, sorry.

Cortney has been working all Summer and well into Autumn. She began picking sweetcorn the end of July, finishing the two 10+ acre fields up( with the help of two other pickers)  in Aug, then she moved into picking pumpkins, squash and gourds for the same farm. She finally finished up last week, all of this added to her chores here and her cleaning job. I've really missed her help and it was evident by the out of control weeds in the garden, yard and flowerbeds. I realized that I can no longer do all of the mowing, weed whacking, weeding, normal daily chores and meals in one days time, LOL!!!!  I readily admit that life has a way of speeding up and my energy levels have dropped :o)  Now I'm playing catch up with the enlisted help of Cortney, Mike and the propane torch, wheelbarrow and nippers. I'm on a mission to get it all cleaned up, tilled under and tucked in for winter.

I didn't do a lot of canning this year, because we simply didn't need to, but I did restock some on the canned beans, pickled items( beans, cukes, carrots, beets, corn) and I am in the process of waiting for the sauerkraut to finish fermentation and then getting it all canned into pint jars. I also have plums and apples that I'm making jelly, jam, butter and canning for later use this winter. I'm also going to dehydrate some apples and make apple leather.

We all enjoyed working outdoors last weekend, each doing a needed task and accomplishing much!  Mike burned and cleaned up weed piles Cortney and I were making along the gardens edges, he then also tilled a couple of our smaller garden plots under. I was able to separate and thin out our spearmint, irises and day lillies, of which I did replant the thinnings in new locations for what we hope will be a beautiful display next Spring and Summer. I still have herbs to relocate, due to the shop's construction and Mike has already tilled and worked in compost and composted manures into a bed for me. That will be tomorrows project, after laundry is finished*wink*

We fired our wood cook stove for the first time, last Friday, we're simply enjoying a fire in the evenings to ward off the evening chill and we're burning up scrap lumber, sunflower stalks and odds and ends wood.  Our wood supply for this winter is well cured and stacked awaiting it's use and we still have one HUGE( like pictured in the previous post) tree trunk to haul home, several downed trees and limbs on our property to clean up and we've been given another nice sized cottonwood tree ( down already) to cut and haul home, just 10 minutes from home. Off to a good start on next winters firewood!

The goats are fat and sassy, currently they have a billy visiting*wink*  and hope to return him to his home by months end. The billy goat is a Lamancha and his name is "Roger"  I'm not sure about the no ears thing, but beggars can't be choosy and until we get our own we feel blessed to have Roger! Now come the end of Feb. beginning of March we pray we'll see healthy happy kids.

The cows(Angus steer and Dexter heifer) will be overwintered, the steer going to the butcher in the Spring and the heifer is to be sold. We decided goats work much easier for our dairy needs and we will most likely raise a couple of steer for beef only.  When you have a small acreage it's hard to manage several head of cattle( including a bull) We tried the AI'ing without much success and in reality a bull is just to much for us to deal with at this point in time. So goats are really a perfect fit for our needs, other than meat.

The poultry flocks have been thinned down, due to ever increasing grain costs. We now have only a dozen layers and soon , after Thanksgiving, we'll have just three turkeys. All six of our available turkeys are sold and we're hoping to trade our Narraganset Tom for a Bourbon Red hen.  Just as I'd thought, just after we cut back our laying hens flock from 38 to a dozen we started having people inquire about eggs, we've simply had to say, we just don't have any extras at this point, maybe next year we'll increase the flock again. Right now with the economy the state it's in and looking like it's going to get far, far worse, long before it takes a turn for the better I really don't think we will increase again. People just don't seem to understand the flock needs to be feed and feed costs have risen 38% and yet the cost per dozen is a factor to the consumer and we simply can't afford to pay to raise the eggs to basically give away.*sigh* 

We're all looking forward to a winters rest, I know I have many books and magazines piled up awaiting being read, plus projects in the works for holiday gifts. We were blessed with some beautiful material for quilting and other gift projects earlier this month from my Aunt, who is a fabulous quilter!  I'm also going to attempt to learn to knit via a friend, of a friend giving me lessons. I'm most interested in knitting socks, sweaters and shawls.  With Cortney's sheep herd, we'll have fleeces and also hope to learn how to process the wool and make our own yarns. :o)   I'm also hoping to make some batches of soap using the fat from the pigs we'll be getting soon. Yes, two pigs will be here hopefully by months end and the freezers filled by end of Feb. or March.

That about sums up our happening in a nutshell. I hope to post on a more regular schedule one winter sets in and my time is more freed up :o), so please keep checking back. We miss all of your comments, we looked forward seeing your comments again .