With an improved view from our back deck we can now witness new angles of the fall foliage that were previously blocked by the recently cut large poplar tree. With mild temperatures over the past month and only one light frost, our colors are brilliant and stark this year. Nature’s pallet sure paints an amazing show for us here. Who needs consumer bliss for seasonal decorating when one can live in the middle of this?

In this year’s indoor winter garden there are large bell pepper plants and a few jalapeno and cayenne which appear to have been successfully transplanted into large pots. There is always a period of time when it is touch and go as they go into shock for about a week after the move. Keeping them moist, adding a modest amount of organic tomato food a few days after moving, then telling them daily what magnificent plants they are and how appreciated their efforts are seems to have done the trick.

Chilly weather inspires me to can soup, what a shock lol. I came upon a test batch of ham and butternut squash soup we experimented with and canned last year. It made my eyes roll back into my head and I am confident we will have more ‘put up’ soon, along with several other varieties.

Fall baking has begun. Since I pack lunches for both Cog and the teenager most days, I now bake strategically to replace as many processed foods as possible. This just seems practical both for health purposes and in anticipation of steeper rising prices. In addition to small loaves of gluten free pumpkin breads and kiwi nut breads, I now take the afternoon to also make mini muffin sized portions. After baking I freeze them into two pack portions and they are ready to pop into those lunch boxes with no fuss.

After canning many gallons of wild blackberry pie and cobbler filling this summer, I am now able to use them to bake individual blackberry cobblers right in 4 oz. mason jars. These jars are manufactured to withstand the heat and make the perfect single serving dessert treat to bake and add to meals on the go. I just put a regular screw top lid on the jar before packing it in the morning for ease of opening later. The same procedure is followed for the organic applesauce I made over the summer in ridiculous quantities.

Outdoor work here never actually ends, it just morphs onto a new and improved seasonal list periodically. Some out buildings still need to be cleaned out before the serious freezes and snow arrive. Leaf rakes need to be switched out for snow shovels, garden hoses should be drained and stowed for winter and any late seeds should be planted for the last lettuce and kale in the wintertime outdoor garden.

As the daylight portion of the day grows shorter, it is nice to have a chance to start catching up on reading and videos which have largely collected dust since spring tilling and planting began. Stacks of books and lists of interviews are a welcome activity after all the physical work of the past six months. Did I miss anything important?

by Mrs. Cog

I blinked and it was September. Is this a sign of aging or simply how busy we were here on the mountain?

Living in the new Bizarro-Weather World, the progression of growing season wasn’t exactly linear as I had been taught. In theory, Spring comes bringing greenery and then brilliant blossoms while accompanied by nurturing showers. Our Spring was parched so many things did not bloom. Then Summer arrived with warmer temperatures and conditions for optimal growth. We got rain for more than three weeks, bringing sogginess and mostly cool temps at night. So much for learning to garden ‘by the book’.

It has indeed been the summer for surprises from Nature. The roses that never bloomed this summer decided to gift us a few in September. The apples were early, but the kiwi are late. The tomatoes, which usually grow profusely all summer, gave up in August. Meanwhile the bell peppers, which have always attracted diseases in the past, are in perfect health and still producing 50 or more per week. It certainly has kept me busy with alternative recipes and preservation ideas for them.

My magic herb garden thrived early in the summer, then fizzled out, only to make a robust comeback. I have yet more batches of all our favorite herbs cut and prepared for drying. Meanwhile, rather than trimming and mulching the herb garden for colder weather, I am encouraging one last burst of growth.

One of the handiest “re-purposing” projects for me thus far has been to refinish an old beat up rack of shelving to put in my sun room. It was sitting covered in cobwebs in the corner of the garage/workshop with oil splotches and tool stains everywhere. Made of heavy metal and mounted on wheels it was a golden find.

Now, in the late winter and early spring, I can stack many layers of garden seedlings after germinating on these shelves. Over the summer months I can dry herbs and beans there as the sliding glass door with the eastern morning sunshine is a wonderful solar dehydrator. In the fall, I can gradually bring in plants, such as my dwarf lemon trees, to sit snug inside for the wintertime where the sun shines. Those old once beat-up shelves are the next best thing to a small greenhouse.

After canning about six gallons of amazing applesauce (yes, I exercised some restraint this year lol) there were still many apples left over. Since our six little apple trees can produce thousands of apples each year, I have the luxury of choosing the very best. But the rest must be cleared so we can mow in our small orchard. After gathering most of these excess apples from the ground where they fell, I used the tractor and carted them to the other side of the property near our wood pile where I could easily dump them. There is where the young deer come each day now to feast upon the sweet apple pile.

I think it is the same deer who visits there each day. I see her there about 50% of the time when I go out the front door. Yesterday, I stepped out onto the front porch and could not identify the sound I was hearing. It was as if a donkey from the nearby farmer’s pasture had escaped and was in the woods bellowing. Tramp, my large cat who points like a Labrador retriever when something is up outside, indicated the noise was coming from the apple pile next to the firewood stacks. Sure enough, that deer was hee-hawing at me for once again disturbing his meal. Seriously?

With the ground around the apple trees finally cleared a bit, I set to pruning the orchard back before winter, As you can see below, I have managed to cut back the bottom half of the trees with a large ladder and some loppers with a long reach. The top half may require a very tall man… oh, wait. I know one. :-)

The peppers, more herbs and the hardy kiwi are all that is left to harvest this season and soon we will set about tilling and mulching the garden for the winter months. Our firewood is cut and stacked, seasoning to feed the Beast, our over-sized water wood stove which will keep us warm and cozy through the coming winter