If It Doesn't Move, Can It!

The garden is through for the year, mostly. Two weeks ago we experienced a freak freeze that killed much of the vulnerable plants. 25 degrees will do that if it lasts for just a few hours, and it did. We lost the zucchini, tomatoes, sweet peppers, green beans, butter beans, a couple of cucumber hills that weren't covered and the pumpkins and cantelope were punished. The corn crop was a week or two from being finished and it was killed outright. Such a waste. But there is a bright side...

Canning! We have put away more produce than ever before. Pickled beets, bread and butter pickles, sweet pickles, dill pickles, dilled green beans, cherry preserves, cherry jam, pickled jalapenos, zucchini pickles, pickled plums, plum preserves, plum chutney (YUM!), gosh I could go on and on. This stuff is yummy and we will be wading through it all winter.

So we have now entered the fall phase of recovering any produce that survives into the cool weather. Last 3 nights have dipped to 31 or so for a few hours but the plants go grudgingly into the great beyond. Here is what I picked today:

Amazing that I could still be picking jalapenos after the cold spells we've had. Under the corn are a few tomatoes that wouldn't give up and there is even a few cucumbers that have toughed it out. And the Corn! It continues to fill some of the kernels even though the plant is brown, blowing like paper in the wind!

Our onions, carrots and swiss chard continue to grow as if they are possessed. I expect these carrots to be about 12 inches long and an inch in diameter. The onions are bigger than the biggest ones at WalMart. Everyone here says to leave the onions in until the tops die. I need to check that out - but they sure are happy! We have about four decent sized pumpkins in the patch, one is larger than a basketball. The melons are diminutive, about softball size and hard as rocks. Will they ripen? I harvested the remaining beets today, they are beautiful. I love them pickled, plain not so much...

On another note, we have plunged back into kitchen renovation once again. My friend Pat Dillon (from Virginia) visited us last week and put 3 days worth of work into rewiring some of the electrical here at casa Streagle. Turns out (as I had suspected) our main 200 amp house breaker was worn out, so Pat pulled the meter and installed a new one. All I had to do was fork out over 300 bucks for it. A new panel was about the same price but lots more work. Besides, the old panel was actually heavier duty than what is currently available at the big box stores today.

We fished wires in the kitchen, installed a bedroom ceiling fan and light kit, restored power to our upstairs guest room, fixed a hall light circuit, and installed a generator plug and breaker for emergency power. While all this was taking place our other guest visitor, Betty Cochran cooked up some yummy treats for the evening meals. Betty also checked out Karren's new (to her) sewing machine and gave her a quick lesson on making it whirr.

This has been the season for mice. I haven't been able to mouse proof the basement yet, as it will have to wait until I do a complete demolition of the space. Well, they found us in a big way. I have fed them a steady diet of D-con and trapped a few. I have been through 3 boxes of poison and they ate it all. I have not seen much sign of them in the last few days. Maybe they are feeling the effects? Not much smell yet, hope they find their way outside first!

Since we had such a boost in morale from our visitors, K and I decided to tackle the kitchen cabinets. They have been a nasty shade of light avocado and lime for the last two years and it was time to say adios to the grossness. We began by disassembling the drawers and cabinet doors, then painting the carcasses white. Next came the drawer fronts and the drawer interiors. These drawers have had a raw (nasty) interior that had never seen paint. Here is a few of the completed drawers:

Now all we need to do is get some new countertops and we'll be able to live with it until we find a money tree. BTW, the doors are still being painted. What a pain to paint! I hate painting. What do you think of the flat dark red interiors? Cabinet interiors are still waiting for their treatment. One day at a time...

It seems like winter will be on us fairly soon and we have much left to do to get ready. The remainder of the wood must be split and stacked, the front porch stocked with firewood, the chimney cleaned, the garden tilled under, a new door installed to the barn, etc. We have a lot to do and not much time left.

Idaho is the wettest it has been in over twenty years. Our grass is green and needs mowing. There is dew every morning and frost frequently. It has been primarily rainy or cloudy for the past 3 weeks. I have seen rain, sleet, hail, and snow within a 2 hour time frame. This weather is crazy. The old timers here are shaking their heads and are at a loss as to what the winter will be like. I have a bad/good feeling about it. Bad - that there is likely to be a ton of snow, and good - that it will mean lots of plowing, i.e. overtime for work : )

I promise to punch out a few more of these blogs as things get colder. Keep checking back...