Happenings around the farm and home

Wow, things have been a bit busy around here lately. School is officially in session although for us it is never fully "out" of session. The little one is doing well with her reading lessons and the older one is busy with high school, getting ready to take the ACT and thinking about life after high school. We are gearing up for the fair and trying to finish those fair entries that haven't been finished. The little one is working with her bunny for the rabbit show and both girls have decided that they will be showing goats next year. Not really sure how I feel about that since I maintain a closed herd and that blows that out of the water. I guess I will just have to get over it. We are anxiously looking forward to some rain this weekend as it has been really dry lately. It has been a crazy summer as far as the weather goes. Cooler than normal with rain everyday for weeks and then hot and dry with no rain for weeks. Fall is definitely setting in though and I am closing up the majority of the garden while working on getting the winter garden planted. Since I have decided to downsize the garden to fit just our needs I have the berry patches ready to plant in the spring and am getting the orchard area ready to plant. Sweet potatoes will be ready to harvest soon also and that will wrap up the summer harvest. This week has been busy putting up pears. I put up 36 quarts and 10 pints so far and the trees are still loaded with pears. I think I will be making some fruit leathers this weekend for the children. I took my Mom to a great little candy shop the other day just for a fun little outing. You can also get ice cream there and sit on the nice wide front porch. We had fun and brought home some fudge which everyone is enjoying. I am trying to get her out of the house more and take her to some places she wouldn't normally go. She can't travel far from home because of her pain issues so it can be a challenge coming up with places to go. I have been cleaning out and organizing the house to prepare for a relatively easy housekeeping winter. It will be enough of a chore keeping the fires going in the woodstoves and keeping that area clean without having to deal with extra "clutter". We almost have the run on the chicken coop finished so by next week we should be able to lock up the chickens permanently so that we can figure out who is laying and who isn't (most of them). That way we can determine who goes to the freezer and who doesn't. Right now we are getting very few eggs and it is a pain and an inconvenience not having eggs for breakfast. I admit it I am an egg addict. So that is really just about it for right now. Really not much going on other than getting ready for winter and trying to take some time to do things that I enjoy.Hope you are all having a blessed fall. Kat















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