Fall is here

 We had our first freeze two nights ago.  I failed to cover anything but only the summer squash seemed to suffer.  Maybe the raised beds helped?  No idea but last night I did cover things and when I pulled the covers off this morning some things were definitely frozen.  Sure the first day of fall happened a while ago but last week we had some 78 deg days.  I was in denial and am being forced to face reality.  It will get cold, maybe even very cold.  And dark.  In order to reach summer again we must pass through winter again.  Tragic. 

So I have started, slowly, to prepare for winter.  I harvested my winter squashes.  They struggled this year.  They were in wine barrels in a sunny place and I suspect it was a little too hot and dry for them.  Each plant produced one squash.  Feels like a survival tactic to me.  Not sure what I'm going to do next year but I won't try that again.

 

Tonight I plan to bring in all the tomatoes and try to give the green ones time to ripen.  Ian won't mind if we use our dining room table for tomato storage, right?  It's hard to take the vines down as they are still doing so well.  I think of them as my jungle plant.  This is an heirloom variety I bought from Seeds of Change this year.  It was a great plant with great fruit.  Makes me feel tempted to save seeds.  We built the supports ourselves with branches we took out of our neighbors green bins.  See you next year tomato.

  

 On of the exciting thing about fall is apple juice.  Last year we traveled up to Chewelah to press Ian's family.  This year Ian's parents brought the press down to us.  Grandpa is leasing his land for orchards so once the commercial pickers moved through we were able to glean apples for free.  The family turned out in force to pick apples and press them.

 

 

  We made close to 30 gallons which is way way more than last year.  But with way more people we didn't take home much more.  Most of it went into quart jars to be pasteurized and stored in the basement.  This is the perfect size for two people.  One gallon went into the freezer so if you come visit who knows what might come out.

 

 

Look out that window.  Does it look like fall to you?  Now you see why I'm in denial.