Harvest Time at Briarwood

The temperature has dipped into the high fifties over the last few nights, and fall is just around the corner.  I don't usually work on Sundays after Church, but the peaches had to be picked today.  Rebecca baked fresh shortcake this afternoon from scratch, and we had a few of the peaches on the same for supper tonight.  Tomorrow, she will make more pies for the freezer.  Tomorrow morning, I will be picking Concord grapes.  They are at their peak now, and the scent is wonderful as we walk by the small vineyard on the way to the barn.  Saturday was tomatoes again, and I believe Rebecca put up another 21 pints of maranara sauce.  We will soon have enough to supply both ourselves and Tristan for the entire winter and through until next year's harvest is ready to process.  Apples and shell beans are just around the corner.

During the course of the drought this summer, an intermittent spring which had been dormant for several years reappeared just below the great apple tree below the summer kitchen.  After the corn is cut, when the deer move back into the woods, it should provide the perfect spot for hunting.  If all goes well, by thanksgiving we should have whitetail deer in the freezer.  I'm trying a new type of broadhead this year on the crossbow bolts www.ragebroadheads.com which is supposed to cut a much larger wound channel and produce a more humane kill.  Chuck and I are already making plans to shoot pheasants over Fat Leo the Labrador.  It would be nice to put ten or fifteen birds in the freezer this year for those special occasion meals.  The next time Tristan comes home from school, we have plans to dam the springs at the south end of the property in two locations, which should give us a significantly increased capacity for holding game locally.

The Roses this year have been beautiful, and seem to be holding their blooms well as the weather cools.  The Wisteria must have doubled or tripled in size on the arbors, and next year we have every reason to expect our first blooms.  The Russian Mammoth Sunflowers are in all of their glory, and should soon provide adequate forage for our many feathered friends.  It has been a good year in the garden, but we have had to water much to maintain it all.  The fall peas and spinach are started in pots and flats and will soon be ready for transplanting into the garden.  After the next paycheck, I plan to order commercial cold frames to install inside the greenhouse.  We should have cold weather crops well into January, and then it will be time to start tomatoes and peppers  and cabbage again for next year's harvest. 

My one disappointment this year was the hydrophonics system that I used to try and extend the lettuce and spinach season into July.  The spinach fared poorly, and although the lettuce seemed to start well, the heat proved to be too much, even when the direct afternoon sun was blocked.  Next year will see the experiment repeated with a bit of tweaking.  Perhaps it will go better the second time around.

It is good to live in this place and to experience the rolling of the seasons.  They are so predictable, and yet each is so unique, and they do bring joy to my heart.