Squirreling away food while putting yards and gardens to sleep marks the end of summer. Two of my little cowboys worked to separate the stuck or stabbed potatoes on the last warm Saturday we had.
On another Saturday Nate brought in a load of decomposed hay from the stack yard.
We worked to weed the flowerbeds and spread the organic material around. This will help to soften up the rock hard, clay soil. And it looks so pretty. I’ve only weeded and put this on about half the flowerbeds. I’m still hoping for the snow to melt so I can finish.
The children used the wheel barrow to collect all the baling twine from the mulch hay. You know–the twine that used to hold the bale together before it got old and moldy and decomposed into a black mass of organic material.
And I FINALLY finished canning. I’m so excited to have all the canning equipment put away and my shelves restocked for the winter. Sometimes I wander downstairs and stare at the rows of filled bottles. It makes my heart happy.
The lingering snow outside may be my signal that the time for fall work is past. If it doesn’t warm up soon, I’ll be staring at dirty windows all winter. That’s one job I haven’t got to yet. If the deep snow will hold off a little longer, I may turn the furnace off and bundle up my children one day to get the job done. We’ll see. For now housework and laundry are calling. Have a good day!
I can’t even imagine the scope of your canning work. I’d love to see a picture of those filled shelves — I’m sure it’s impressive. Yesterday I also put away the last of the canning supplies with a hurrah. I feel like I spent all early fall canning. But my meager tally of finished jars shows otherwise. Huh? Then I realized i just spent all early fall cleaning up the kitchen and washing bottles in PREPARATION to can, only to have something come up that took my time and focus, ending the canning chance for the day. Next day, same thing. So I think my biggest crop was frustration.
The preparation time is a killer. I don’t know how you do it with so many interruptions: kindergarten, teaching piano, not to mention the 1,000 other little housework and meal prep stuff that have to go on amidst the chaos–I mean mothering.