Monday, November 12, 2012

Fall into Winter...

Lots of things going on around here.  We picked all the pumpkins in October...my little backyard harvest was lovely!


The blue pumpkin (which I cannot remember its name for the life of me) was just beautiful.  It's one of the sweet pumpkins that are mostly flesh.  We cut it open and it is lovely!  I am making pies with that one.


My big field pumpkin weighed in at a little over 22 pounds.  That's the biggest one yet that I have grown!  We also have been making preparations in the garden for winter.  The coop was cleaned out and all the beautiful bedding and manure is just gorgeous...I am enhancing many of my garden beds with it.  Most of my beds can also be converted to hoop houses.  I usually use the hoop house/low tunnel in the spring for tomatoes.  I have never done it in the fall, going into winter, going into spring.  The winters here get extremely cold.  I am going to experiment with some thermal techniques.  I have three that I am using.  I have kale, spinach, and beets growing.  Of course, the weed of my garden, cilantro, is popping up everywhere.  We will see what makes it.  I think they will probably do well.  For now, they are quite snug.  We had a very light snow.  We will see how they fare once winter really packs its punch.


My husband and son have also gone hunting.  They got a large doe that yielded about forty pounds of meat! Most of that has been canned, and the roasts are in the freezer.  We have an exciting venture this weekend.  If it pans out, I will definitely post about it because it is a great secret that is worth revealing! Not only will it add to my larder, but it will do miraculous things for my garden.  Stay tuned!  I hope you all are getting your homes and gardens ready for the winter.  Blessings to you!

4 comments:

  1. Wow! great pumpkins. Did you grow them yourself? I've tried pumpkins and melons with little luck. I'm new to the suburban homesteading thing but just put up a hoop greenhouse for the Grand kid's garden plot. Plan to continue growing vegetables all through winter if we can. Next year I will delve into aquaponics.
    I'm a new follower of your blog and am looking forward to hearing more about the suburban homesteading lifestyle.

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  2. They are my pumpkins! We grow them every year so we never have to buy them from the store. You need a bit of room for them and plenty of water, but otherwise, they are really easy! I'm excited to see if my wintertime growing experiment will work. I think it will go well, but two winters ago we had -20 to -30 degree days. It hasn't been that cold in a long time, so I am really excited to try!!! I will try to keep tabs on it for the blog! Glad you dropped by and hopefully I can help out with info!!!

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  3. We are going into summer here in Australia and my garden is in full swing.. We just this year made our 2 garden beds into 6 and I am finding it is much easier to work.. Everything is thriving with the raised edges we have now.. You can your meat that sounds very interesting, have never heard of that..I blogged about it here http://lonelycards.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/whats-on-your-workdesk-wednesday_18.html Isnt the blogging world so great..Your Newest follower. Sandy :)

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  4. Is the blue pumpkin a cherskonskya squash? I grew some this summer myself and they did welll in our Colorado climate (we are in Colorado Springs). I plan to grow more next year. I haven't cut into any of mine yet - they are almost too pretty to eat. :)

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