While the long range weather forecast is suggesting that the coming winter will be brutally cold and snowy on the Prairies, the fall has thus far been relatively warm and many veggies are continuing to produce and ripen. In fact some veggies do better in the fall with the cool nights than in the hot summer weathers. It is always a bit of a guessing game on when the first frost will occur and how long you can leave things out in the field. We need enough time to do prep for next spring but don't want to pull plants until we absolutely have to! The other factor of course, is how much processing, drying, canning and prep for storage you can do at one time!
This time of year, the kitchen is always full with canning salsa, pasta sauce, pickling and dehydrating, making soups to freeze and pesto galore! This week after our usual weekly batch of salsa and pasta sauce, we made a load of kale chips, roasted red pepper sauce, a huge batch of pesto and some late pickles out of the abundance of cucumbers we have left.
This coming week doesn't look like it will come with frost and we are hoping to gather up all the herbs for drying, dig up those that are coming in the house for the winter and mulch those that will weather the cold season outside.
Our last batch of chickens and turkeys will go in on Monday night this week, so hope for a dry night with light winds to make catching 200 birds in an open pasture a little more comfortable.
Our regular followers will know that Ozzie, a blue heeler puppy came to the farm last week and it looks like he might be a permanent resident! At 9-10 weeks old he creates chaos most of the time but compensates with a cuteness factor that is off the charts! We are hopeful that he will earn his keep working on the farm helping move livestock and keeping predators away but for now he's simply entertaining.
Hope your upcoming week has some puppies cuddles in it..... after all every week should, don't you think!
