What have you done today in the Garden?

Cleaning up the weeds , rolled up the pea fence, burned some weeds off, pulled about 6 beets left from the Spring planting.... dumped 1/2 bushel of tomatoes into the chicken yard and dug a 5 gal bucket of potatoes.

 

Washed windows! It was overcast today and warm enough that I could open the windows to get to the inside/outside, so we now have clean windows and I smell like vinegar. Did a couple of loads of laundry, vacuumed and dusted, and this afternoon I'm going to play in the kitchen and make an apple pie. Friday is the day I catch up on all the chores I put off all week!

 

Friday... I extracted honey with the help of my friends Audrey and Mike. I got 10 gallons from the girls. Wah whoo! I didn't do honey last year. My dad fell and broke his hip and there went my Fall... His too. So some of this may be last years honey or maybe not. I took some of this off in June and it has been in the garage all Summer waiting on me.

Today probably not much going on. I have another funeral this morning.

 

Hey Carolyn---lemmie see a piccy of yer honey. I suppose that asking to taste a spoon-full would be going too far, eh?

 

Getting ready for frosty cold weather; I put away most of my garden decor. Concrete chickens, all the frogs, turtles, bunnies and Gnomes that hide in among the plants. Iron art etc. that I don't want out all winter. It is a melancholy time for me. Also saying goodbye to spent annuals, cleaning the containers, and hauling them in for protection. I sunk a nursery pot into the ground with a Weigela that I never planted, so I'll have to decide where I want to plant it next spring.
I have not cut back much yet, October was nice with many warm days, so my perennials still look pretty good.
And then of course, I am trying to keep ahead of the falling leaves, so they aren't such a mess.

 

Here you go... just lick the screen, Sjoerd.

 

Hey C--Thanks so much.

Ahhhh, that brings back memories from summers' end. Your honey looks a bit dark. some of mine was as well this year.

Now excuse me but I have a screen to lick.
Slurp, slurp, smack

 

Not much to do in the garden now. There's about an inch of snow covering it!

 

There was a window of opportunity yesterday, so I hopped on the bike and peddled out to the lottie. I did more cleaning-up and checked on the bees. The lottie is beginning to look wintery now and the veggie plots are beginning to fill up with mulch.

It is time to take the more valuable tools home for the winter so that if there is vandalism, they at least will be safe.. First though, they needed to be cleaned.


The Compost bins needed to be turned the last time before spring. It already looks like dirt, doesn't it?


So then; once turned (aeration, you could call it), it was covered again and put to bed.


Right then, in the late afternoon, the weather again began to change...and we pointed our bikes in the direction of home. Once there, I recalled Carolyn and Marling's recent posts about honey. It was time to make more creamed honey from our personal supply.

The first step is to add the "seed honey" to the liquid honey.


Then it is a question of slowly and deliberately stirring until one's hand falls off one's wrist.

Then here is you can see the newly stirred honey and in the small jar to the right what the finished product will look like after a couple of weeks.

We find that this is such a good way to store our personal honey...and it is very easy to use when it is a bit stiff. The disadvantage is that I tend to use more honey on my bread because it all comes out so easily. Transporting liquid honey takes several dips to get enough on your bread or bikkie....unless you have one of those handy squeezer bottles like Marling uses.

It was nice to settle down for a bit of telly at the end of the day.

 

Nice, S.. Where did you get your seed honey? did you buy it specifically or is that a store bought creamed honey and you are just using that? I have thought of it, but I haven't done it. I usually make honey butter.

 

Hiya C--That seed honey is our own honey. I am looking out for some white clover honey to use, but have not found any and I do not want to use commercial honey, as I cannot be sure where it came from and what the process was included in its manufacture.

You know, the more serious hony-producers use electrical mixer-like machines to stir their honey, but I just do it by hand. I will tell you that it quickly begins to be heavy work after a few days. I stir it daily until I can stick the spoon or knife into it and it stays upright for a long time...or until I cannot stir it normally. It doesn't need to be brick-hard for me.

I can recommend doing this, as one can keep the honey longer this way. The only thing is...well, I know that you are a super busy lady and may not have the time to put into following the correct stirring program.

 

Nope, I don't have the time. really. If you saw my doctors appt. transportation list you would see why. I can say I am thankful to be healthy and not need someone to transport me. I have taken someone to the doctor at least 3x a week for the last month and I don't see it getting any better any time soon. My father in law is scheduled for a knee replacement next week. My sister needed emergency surgery on a broken arm (which has been "broken" for 6 weeks now from her horse falling on her) to repair it this week (2 hours from home with all highway driving). OYVEY!!! I felt so bad for her. I had no idea what to expect, but i wasn't expecting to set up a hospital room in my house for her recovery. I don't think any of us had any idea what to expect after surgery. We were told she shouldn't be by herself for the first 24 hours. That wasn't the time she needed the help. She had a nerve block in her arm and after that wore off was when she needed the help ( the 24-72 hr period). They basically did an elbow replacement. She went home tonight. I just thought they were going to rebreak her arm and reset it. nope. too many pieces.

Anyway, the only thing i did today was go retrieve plastic that was blowing around on the garden, folded it up and weighted it down.

 

Wow Carolyn. I have said it before and I'll say it again, "You are a remarkable woman".
I hope that your sis recovers without too much suffering. It will take quite a while, I imagine.

Is your gardening finished for the season....I mean the picking and selling.