Snowy Tuesday!!!

The moisture has now turned into snow, the wind is howling extremely hard, so spent the day indoors. Really enjoy the days indoors when the weather is cold and miserable. As soon as the weather turns nice we will head out again and tidy up a few more things. We have some tomato cages to put away for the winter that we used for the dahlia's, a couple of water barrel's to empty and pails etc to store away for the winter. Everything is progressing very nicely this fall.

We completely cleaned, and mulched a couple of the gardens. They are ready to plant in spring. We incorporated the leaves, shredded plant material and the manure into the soil.

The only things we have out in the garden are a small row of carrots. Will dig those as we have a demand for them.

Pat planted about 460 cloves of garlic last week and we would like to plant a few rows of lettuce and spinach this fall, so we have some early fresh vegetables. If you are planning on sowing a few cool weather vegetable crops this fall remember to sow them a little thicker than you would in the Spring. Some of the seeds won't survive the winter, so sowing a little thicker will compensate for this.

The picture included today is a flower called Carthamus or Safflower. Safflower oil is made from this plant.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Fall cleanup.

Things are rollin along since we last posted. The weather has been beautiful, so Pat finished siding the outside of the house yesterday. Looks great. Next year we will need to do some painting on the cement foundation and then on to other projects. I made a lot of progress in the gardens. Have been chipping and shredding the dead plant material, particularly the sunflower stalks. It will all be tilled into the soil along with bags of leaves we collect from the yards of our friends and family. We had a load of straw bales delivered to the yard this week, which we will use for mulch next year. Pat emptied the water from the tanks that we had collected this summer. Did not need to use any of the collected water this year. The soil is still very wet, especially where the soil is mulched.

We finalized our plant orders and sent those off to the suppliers. We added a few new dahlia's along with all the usual colours we grow. Lots of new perennials, such as a couple of different hydrangea's, an orange Iris, a new variety of Bleeding Heart, Blue Lace Delphinium, day lily, sedums, yellow Itoh Peony, plus many more. We will also have Rhubarb plants next year for all those people whom were looking for Rhubarb. If there is ever anything that you would like to add to your plant collection, talk to us about it and we may be able to source it for you. The things I am most excited about is the succulents we have on order. Lots of new varieties we have not had before.

The picture I included today is our Sage patch.

Celebration.

We have reached a milestone....50 posts on our blog. Where has the summer gone. We have enjoyed writing about the farm and all the chores that go along with it, but probably enjoy writing about all the other creatures we share our space with out here. That is really what we truly love about living in the country. We have all these "pets" but do not have to take care of them, other than try and provide an environment where there is plenty of food, water and shelter. All we do is sit back and watch them do what they do.
Have to tell you about the red squirrel in the quonset......it is gathering quite an impressive stock of sunflower heads (small ones, as he cannot carry around the large ones). One day Pat went into the quonset and was looking around for wood. He came across the squirrel's stockpiled sunflower heads. It had them all stacked neatly on a pile with a piece of newspaper laying on top of the pile. I guess it had hoped that the newspaper would hide his stash from other sunflower lovers. :-)
All of the transplanting is now complete and all of the bulbs and tubers I wanted to save are dug and drying in the garage. The few pumpkins we have left are turning orange and we are now bagging and weighing the dried herbs. They will be available to purchase at the Little Market Store in the Saskatoon Farmers Market building. Our horseradish is sold there as well.
I came across an interesting tip regarding planting spring bulbs. If the bulbs you ordered do not arrive before the ground freezes, a planting hole can be prepared ahead of time and a small pot filled with dry soil placed in the hole. When the bulbs arrive the pots can be lifted, the bulbs dropped into the holes and the soil from the pots dumped over the bulbs.
The weather has been so nice that the sweet peas have started blooming again, the Bell's of Ireland have started to grow and the dahlias are getting new growth from the bottom. The weeds are still growing with a vengeance. It's been an interesting year.

Fall chores.

Soon the gladiolas, crocosmia's and calla lilies will have to be lifted. Wait until the frost has killed them before you dig them up. Cut the stalks, leaving about an inch with the bulb. Then allow them to sit in an open area like a garage, shed or basement for 2-3 weeks to dry. You can then remove the old corm from the glads and crocosmia's and store them in a mesh bag (I use an onion bag) Hang the bag in a cold room or garage that stays above freezing for the winter. The calla lilies need to be placed in a box with dampened vermiculite or peat moss and stored in a cool but not freezing environment.

Another fresh batch of horseradish was prepared this week. It will be available at the market this Saturday. I had another phone call today for an order, so I do not think it will last too long. The jars of horseradish can be stored in your freezer and will keep for about 6 months, so stock up while it is available.

Would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone whom supported us this season. It was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to next year's growing season. Happy Thanksgiving.

Jalapenos

We are enjoying the spectacular weather we have been having the last couple of weeks. The air into the nights has been warm and the mosquito's seem to have disappeared the last couple of days.

Busy digging and planting and weeding in the gardens. Takes it's toll on our backs so we must have regular exercise sessions. Our backs let us know when we have not taken the time to exercise. But we are progressing....the monkshoods are almost all moved to their new location. Will then move a patch of lily bulbs out to the field garden. They are planted beside a hedge of cotoneaster's and the hedge is starting to crowd the lilies. This summer the lilies did not perform like they should have, due to the competition from the cotoneasters. There is still plenty of time to plant bulbs, but the perennials should be planted as soon as you can, so they have time to get their roots established before the ground freezes.

We have a huge crop of Jalapenos available so we are sharing a recipe. Jalapeno peppers can be frozen for later use in your favourite recipes. We always throw a half dozen or so in our soup stock. Provides a real nice flavour. Will also have copies of this recipe at the farmers market.

Stuffed Jalapenos

8 whole, fresh Jalapenos

1/2 block cream cheese softened

fresh basil chopped or 1 tsp dried

chopped garlic or 1-2 tsp garlic powder

bacon strips cut in half

Combine cream cheese with basil, add garlic. Wearing gloves, slice each pepper lengthwise and remove seeds and membrane. Spread cream cheese mixture into jalapeno halves and wrap each with a 1/2 slice of bacon. Secure with toothpick that you have soaked in water.

Put under broiler until bacon is crisp, about 5-10 minutes.

These are approximate measurements....adjust to your particular taste. Fresh chives are tasty as well. You can grill them on the barbecue instead of broiling.

This Saturday will be our last day at the Farmer's Market for the 2010 season. We will be having a couple of good deals this Saturday. One is Jalapenos 10 for $1.00, regular price is 3 for $1.00 and also all our 3.5" succulents are buy one get one free. Stock up and freeze those jalapenos to add flavour to all your favourite dishes throughout the winter.