This week on the homestead has been another pretty slow one. It has been a pretty cold and rainy week so going outside hasn’t been in the cards. So this update will be short and sweet.
The last of my summer vegetables have been preserved. I fermented the last of the peppers for hot sauce, put the last of the ripened tomatoes in the freezer, and used the last bell peppers. I’m sad the season is over but also really excited to have a break. I didn’t realize how tired I was until stuff slowed down. Now I think it is really catching up to me.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, we got our Turkey. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any local organic turkeys so I ended up getting one from Costco. The places around here were selling conventional turkeys. I was surprised the Amish around me aren’t selling any. The main Amish store we went to was selling free-range conventional turkeys that they didn’t grow themselves. They said they weren’t sure exactly where they came from. So I figured if I was going to be getting a turkey that wasn’t local regardless, I’m going to get the exact one I want. I’m still trying to decide if I am going to cook it traditionally or on the smoker. Tune in next week to check out the
My sister-in-law is hosting Thanksgiving this year and she lives about 3.5 hours one way away. So unfortunately that doesn’t work for us with the kiddo and animals. So It’s going to be just the three of us this year. I’m planning on a small Turkey, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes(Brandon doesn’t like candied sweet potatoes), Brussels sprouts from the garden, and roasted radishes/turnips/carrots from the garden with an apple crisp for dessert.
Our mower belt broke so I haven’t been able to finish mowing and getting the cover crop in. I went into tractor supply to get a new belt and the employee who was trying to be helpful gave me the wrong one. I didn’t notice until I got home so now I have to go back and get a new one. I have a lot of mowing to do before it gets too wet so that is the top priority this week. It’s too late for it to really get growth on it now so I’m going to get it planted and then add compost on top so it will hopefully pop up in the spring.
The raised bed tunnel plants are still looking good. I think my over-winter onion experiment is going to work, so we will have fresh bulb onions in the spring but only time will tell.
They released the new hardiness zones for the USA this week. Ohio has changed quite a bit. We are still solidly in 6a but the 6b zone is very close. It’s pretty alarming to see some areas jump from zone 6a to 7a. I’m very interested to see how this will affect crops in the future.
