First Frost = Summer Gardening Just About Over

Saturday morning we went out for chores and found the full moon just setting over the cherry orchard. We milk about 7am, and it's not very light yet, obviously.

Phil and I had finally ordered a space heater, as the heater for the trailer is broken. Good thing, since we had our first frost Saturday morning, and the temperature in the trailer was 45! Wow! (Jadon asked, "Is the door open?!") Thankfully, the day turned fine, and the weather for the next few days is supposed to be warmer.

I had intended to dig up the basil before the first frost, as well as the jalapeno. The basil isn't looking very good, though the pepper looked okay. I transplanted them into a five-gallon bucket, and moved that one, and my lemon tree inside.

My tomatoes did not look entirely decimated, but I was ready to clean them up to make room for this year's garlic. It took a surprisingly long time to strip the vines of their tomatoes. I ended up with three 5-gallon buckets full. (I spent 90 minutes in the night trying to get them ready for the freezer, but about went buggy: that's a LOT of tomatoes, and most of them green!)

Phil spent the day spreading minerals, and he has spread 6500 pounds, until his fingers could not hold the bag any longer. His arm muscles are extremely large now!

Our piglets are about ready to come off whey. I have heard that they need about four weeks before processing without whey, lest their meat get a little too soft. Fox, shown above and below, is the largest of the lot, and he is looking good.

Phil is reading a book on pig rearing, and the author spoke with an old-timer, who had farmed through two World Wars and the Great Depression. This old-timer said a man needs 10 sows, 10 cows, 10 ewes, and 100 acres in row crops (corn and beans, not market garden!), debt free, to make it.

I think I read that three years ago, and was overwhelmed.

While I'm still overwhelmed, we have certainly made progress! To think that a year ago we had only had electricity and running water for a few weeks, and now we actually have a little extra milk: what a blessing.

(We went to a baptism service this evening, and had an extra half gallon to share with our friends. One friend said, "It tastes like melted ice cream," which I thought was high praise indeed!)