September, we hope for reduction from the blazing summer season warmth, however in October, there’s a
noticeable drop in temperature. It is the month once we begin looking ahead to an
early frost, and it is the month when the leaves start to alter colour. (For my
October fall colour pictures, click here.) It is the month when all our homestead critters are frisky and filled with
antics. Kitchen and backyard initiatives have slowed down so there’s time to get pleasure from
the modifications. Most of my cooking is finished in the home now, moderately than my again porch summer season kitchen. October is once we
mild our first woodstove fireplace of the season and the primary of the canned
summer season goodness is opened and consumed. The one draw back to October, is
that it is usually a dry month for us.
Rainfall
- twelfth: 0.05″
- twenty sixth: 0.125″
- Whole (thus far): 0.175 inches
Temperature
- nighttime vary: 31-63°F (-0.5-17°C)
- daytime vary: 58-80°F (14-27°C)
First Frost
We had scattered frost on the morning of the 18th, and a blanketing frost on the nineteenth. So the summer season backyard is formally carried out.
| Marigolds sporting our first frost. |
Planting & Rising
fall garden is planted, however it’s been dry, so it is not rising properly. I have been watering a few of my
seedlings, however chickens acquired into the backyard and scratched up fairly a number of beds. Something that survived all that will have an opportunity! How lengthy it lasts will rely on how chilly or gentle it’s this winter.
Harvesting
Early October yields (earlier than the frost) have been meal dimension pickings.
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| Sauteed okra, onions, and cherry tomatoes |
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| Orange Glo watermelon |
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| No waste with watermelon. Chickens and goats love the rind. |
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| Kale, collards, and daikon leaves |
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| Greens steamed in butter with some grated carrot |
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| Oregano, rosemary, and thyme (in my olive oil stored feta cheese). |
Asian persimmons on the tree
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| Scooping out the gel and eradicating the seeds. |
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| Persimmon prepared for ??? |
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| Persimmon pancakes |
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| Freezing the additional in muffin pans. |
When frost grew to become imminent, we harvested all the pieces which may endure injury.
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| Final of the peppers. These are Large Marconi. |
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| Final of the inexperienced slicing tomatoes |
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| Hugelkultur candy potato squash |
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| The final of the cushaws. |
of preparation and taste. The inexperienced ones style like summer season squash, and may be
ready the identical approach.
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| A young inexperienced cushaw seasoned and sauteed in butter. |
However inexperienced winter squash do not maintain properly. The littlest ones nonetheless have tender
seeds, so that they have been sliced, blanched, and frozen. The bigger inexperienced squash,
like this one,
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| Immature (inexperienced) cushaw |
have massive, however immature seeds which can be powerful.The pores and skin remains to be tender, so the seeds
have been scooped out and the remainder of the squash was cubed and canned.
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| Canned “inexperienced” winter squash. Eat like summer season squash. |
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| I planted three kinds of candy potatoes. These are the Georgia Jets. |
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| Style testing the candy potatoes required a candy potato pie. |
Overwintering
overwinter pepper vegetation (https://youtu.be/x09X87UCZTI). I am giving it a attempt.
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| Pepper plant pruned, potted, and able to are available in. |
I solely had two pepper vegetation this yr, each bought as 4-inch potted
vegetation. This specific plant appeared fairly poorly many of the summer season, and I
stored considering it was going to die. However the more healthy wanting plant died as a substitute, and
this one actually perked up after rain and cooler temperatures. It was
producing properly till first frost threatened. So, it grew to become my overwintering
experiment. It will be nice to get an early begin on our peppers!
Challenges
The issues this time of yr aren’t a lot bugs or illness, however lack of rain
and critters. That features birds (together with naughty chickens), chipmunks, skunks, or
groundhogs. In actual fact, we discovered a younger groundhog had arrange it is winter dwelling in one of many
backyard beds! Dan discovered the opening, and I got here head to head with the groundhog chowing down on
a chicory plant. We did not need it demolishing the backyard and we hate to
waste something, so the groundhog grew to become . . .
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| Backyard Groundhog Soup |
added peeled tomatoes, onion, inexperienced beans,
yam berries, cowpeas, kale, tatume summer season squash, and beforehand canned bone broth.
Our favourite winter lunch is soup, so listed below are 4 lunches, able to warmth and eat.
Okay, I feel that is it. At first of the month, I did not count on this to be a really lengthy submit. However
first frost modified that!
How about you? Is your backyard simply ending, or simply beginning?
