Green Spaces in Rural Places

Now that we've had a light frost, we can enjoy a bit of lingering summer. Sometimes this is the best part of summer for us. Our harvest is finished so we aren't worried about hailstorms  or early snows. All the fall chores can be finished without having to wear extra-bulky clothing for warmth.

The summer fallow strips have been plowed. The combine is in the shop for a tune-up. When it comes back it will be stored inside until next harvest season. The grain cart will be put away for the winter. The rocks still need to be picked, and then that piece of machinery can be parked for the winter. The semi gets parked in the front as it will be used to haul grain to the elevator during the winter.

The garden is not finished yet. I still have the green peppers to pick. I'm hoping a few of them will turn red before I pick them, as those are so much sweeter to eat fresh. And some will probably get roasted before freezing. They are under tarps right now, safe from light frosts, should any occur while I sleep. The same with the few melons that managed to grow. Green beans can be sliced or chopped and frozen as-is for cooking.

The tomatoes will get picked before the next predicted cold spell. I hate to pick those too early, as vine-ripened tomatoes best. I'll store them in a single layer in large, flat plastic tubs, with layers of newspaper both above and below them. I will check them everyday, and the ones that have ripened in the dark will get pulled. If there are just a few, I'll eat them fresh. But it seems as though once one starts to ripen it emits gases so that a bunch will be ready at the same time. When that happens, I'll can them. If I have the whole day to devote to them, I'll cook up a couple large pots of sauce to can.

This year I planted golden beets instead of the regular red beets I've usually put in. They taste the same to me, but don't have the same side effect red ones cause. My hands shouldn't have red stains when I get around to canning those. I will confess that this year I'd forgotten I'd planted them and then seeded my zinnias in the same row. So my beet row is very colorful.

The carrots will need to be dug. I ordered seed for those this year, and chose poorly. They are very fat, and not as long as the ones I usually plant. However, the cores are not woody, though they may get that way through the winter. I usually rinse off well after digging. I put them up on the deck in a single layer to dry off, turning them once. Then I bag them in old bread sacks, and punch several holes on the sacks for air circulation. We don't have a root cellar to store them in so we store them in the extra, downstairs refrigerator at Mom's for the winter. We do have to check them periodically, as one or two will get hairy or moldy.

I only have seven hills of potatoes left to dig. I don't plant as many since the year of the 'big snow.' I used to store them in our crawl space. That winter the snow drifted around the house and blocked the opening. I did dig it out once, when the drift was only five feet deep, but it was hard-packed. The next time I wanted potatoes, that drift was over 10 feet deep, and packed even harder. In fact, the drift invaded the front deck so that we couldn't open the screen door and had to go out the back door and slog through the deep snow to shovel out the front door.

Of course I still have husk cherries to harvest. They are producing lots of fruit to enjoy. My local pretty maid had been enjoying a lot of them. I might try pulling a couple of the plants. I'll hang them upside down in the garage to see if the fruit will continue to ripen. I read a mystery book once involving a caterer in Colorado who did that with cherry tomato plants. She hung them in her basement and was able to enjoy fresh 'real' tomatoes into the winter, although with dirt raining off onto the floor when she harvested those tomatoes. It's worth a try, right?

Then, after all that, I'll haul the corn stalks off to my pile of vegetation that don't break down quickly enough to leave in the garden. That includes the cabbage stalks, the squash and other vines, as well as the more woody flower stalks. The electric fence will be partially disassembled, such that we can get the garden tractor in to work the ground next spring. The two fences I use inside the garden (one for the peas, one for the glads and runner beans) will be taken down and rolled up for the winter. I put them in different places each year. The tomato cages will be stacked up and stored.

After all of that, I might be ready for the snow to fly.