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The prepping continues and the tidying commences. Pulling all the tunnels down, irrigation out, and switching the chicken huts from summer to winter means a pile of stuff to tidy away. It is always worth spending the time now to make it organized and easy to find come springtime, since time and energy (and nerves about the growing season) are thin then. Now is the time to spread everything out, clean it off, repair if needed, toss it if its unusable, and make notes for next year! If you are hankering for some fresh greens, you can usually find some at the Amish Farm to Market Store. There will be microgreens all winter long and salad mix for quite a few more weeks. If you need something to brighten up your space as we all get ready for the cold darkness of winter, there are a lot of bright, cheerful Forever Flowers that I'll have this weekend in Thompson Falls! They'll be alongside some of the remaining seeds from last season (I'll be working on this seasons seeds this winter!), Dragon's Balm, Jade Plants and some cute little sachets of potpourri (aka Flower Sprinkles!!)  Always take time to roll in the sun-warmed grass  The little bantam rooster Apollo is also enjoying the sunshine and warm grass while it lasts!  Lots of dried Forever Flowers remain! All were grown on the farm and are their natural color (no fake dying here!) They'll be available this Saturday in Thompson Falls at the Fall Festival from 2-5pm They pretty much last for forever, require no care except to keep the colors most vibrant they should stay out of direct sunlight and their only nemesis is spider webs!  Even Hella approves of their beauty and easy going manner!  The Kittens are enjoying their upstairs lair greatly, especially as there are usually some flies up there to practice their hunting skills on! After this weekend (when the dried flowers are done with!) they get to start exploring! The main autumnal jobs are to prep the fields, the huts, and the dome. The huts are all done and covered before the heavy rains come.  The dome is getting done this week with removing the tomato vines and trellising which is a fiddly job but one that is perfect for rainy, windy days as Hella and I get to stay warm and dry under the cover of the Dome! What's available this week?
Where to find it all?
Find the microgreens at the Amish Farm to Market Store! I'll be at the Thompson Falls Fall Festival this Saturday from 2-5pm!
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So many things to get done before everything freezes or get covered in snow! I've been rushing to dig up the Ranunculus tubers as my ground is starting to freeze and they wont survive over winter. The Dahlias are already up but they are always easier as their tubers are much bigger. The Ranunculus are smaller and harder to find among the weeds that encroached in. (If you got Ranunculus tubers from me this spring, you can start diggin them up now. Shake off most of the dirt. Spread them out to dry completely (don't heat them! just let them air dry). Store in a paper bag or box in a cool, dry place until next spring!) The Dragon Dome Greenhouse is being shifted over to Fall/Winter production which means the Cherry Tomatoes are out and the Salad Mix is going in while the perennials that didn't make it into the field get to wait until next spring in their 4" pots. The pasture is getting ready for the Hen huts & runs to get lined up and winterized for their comfort and my convenience. The rows of spent crops are getting mowed and tarped so all that plant matter can be composted down by my wonderful worms and underground organisms to help make healthy soil for next years crops. And everything that has been spread around the field, pasture, and lawn has to be picked up and stored away for winter so there are no surprises under the snow!  The colors of Fall continue to shine! A little bit of ground work on the High Tunnel goes a long way, but prolonged nightly temps in the low teens and measly highs means an extremely small window of unfrozen ground to work with so I may not get as far a long as I hope  All the Cherry Tomatoes have been stripped from the vines, ready or not. Which was a good things as last night the greenhouse got down to 28F and the vines went limp and soggy. It isn't worth heating for the tomatoes in the fall as the sunlight drops too much.  All those newly rotting tomato vines have been severed at the base and pushed aside to make way for the Winter Salad Mix. Once the vines are dry, I'll unclip them from the trellis system and put them on the compost because who wants to touch slimy, squishy tomato vines?  The hens enjoy the bare warmth of the afternoon sun. The next big task is to get all their huts and runs lined up and ready for winter which means all the covers and tie downs to keep the snow off and all the electric cords and heaters to keep them warm and toasty!  There will be so much Salad Mix available this week at both the Troy Bounty Festival and at the Amish Farm to Market Store. The little sweet and crisp heads have been surviving the harsh temps under their frost cloths and that chill only helps to make them sweeter still!  There will be TONS of dried flowers available this Friday at the Troy Bounty Festival! Check out my Facebook or Instagram Page later today and tomorrow for more photos of them as I spread out and assemble back together all the wonderful Statice, Strawflower, Grasses, Pearly Everlasting, and more that I dried this season! The kittens were very happy to have me back. They have graduated to a new home in the upstairs office which can stay warm in winter even with the door closed thanks to grates in the floor to the woodstove downstairs. I have been working hard every morning to clean, organize, tidy, and secure shelves, indoor plants, and anything else I think they could try to disrupt or destroy. Once I'm done, their chaos gets released upon the home!  Of course, Hella enjoys her outside time in the warm afternoon sun as much as the Hens do, especially since most of my time involves digging right now, which is a task she very much likes too so she takes it as an invitation! What's available this week?
Where to find it all?
I'll be at Troy this Friday for the Bounty Festival from 330-630pm! |
AuthorI'm Farmer Megan with a life full of cackles, clucks, quacks, weeds, crazy kitten, and one tiny, senior, blind dog. Archives
December 2021
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