Fall Activities

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful Fall weather and colors this year. Homeschooling is going well. We are looking forward to the fieldtrip next week. I have been busy as a bee. I have been canning and freezing our garden's bounty to enjoy this winter. So far I have canned 25 pints of applesauce and 14 quarts of Ham and Bean soup. I have blanched and frozen probably 20 pounds of green beans from our garden. I've gone to the Lemont Farmer's Market for the past few weeks and have been busy adding to the freezer from the produce offered there. I've cleaned, sliced and frozen probably close to 7 pounds of peppers, 3 pounds of garlic and still have to cook, puree and freeze the pie pumpkin I bought Tuesday. In my garden I still have cabbage, zucchini and butternut squash growing. I have some zucchini from my neighbor as well as my own garden to shred and make into chocolate zucchini bread. I have chunked and frozen some of the zucchini to feed the chickens over the winter. I also froze some apples for them too. I hope to get to canning some vegetable soup this weekend. I also have a ton of cherry tomatoes to contend with, maybe some will be guest appearing in the vegetable soup.

I still have a few outdoor projects to wrap up before it gets too cold----complete the floor for the chicken run and winterize it, clean up the spent garden plants and till the compost into the garden beds. I need to redesign the garden beds and I want to trench the fresh pile of ever growing compost in between the rows of the beds this Fall. I need to get the trenches dug so that I can clean out the chicken coop. I also need to cut back my perennials and clean up those beds, as well as do some tilling for an elderly friend. Let's hope and pray that my health will allow me to get all of these things done.

I just love this time of the year~~~Happy Fall Y'all!!!