Finally, the time to slow down has arrived. Fall is my favorite season. I’ve been busy canning the last of things I needed to get done, potatoes, chicken soup, and venison hamburg. Still a couple of canning projects on the horizon but the rush to get it done is no longer there. My plan this winter is to clean out a freezer. Keith was fortunate enough to get two deer this season (one in September and one last week). We also helped a fellow farmer butcher some chickens and our pay was 11 whole chickens. All this in already full freezers was a scramble to make room. I plan on freeing up a freezer over the winter months but canning or freeze drying, probably meat.
Also this time of year for me brings lots of reading. Some pleasure reading but lots of reference, self-help on ways to improve the farm for the next year. Also looking for new ideas on ways to bring in more income.
The fall chore list is getting worked on. Greenhouses for the most part have been cleaned up; the field just about there. The barn has been cleaned up and the stuff around the house that was laying around has been cleaned up. The flower bed has been torn up – the flower bed use to be an old foundation so lots of rocks down in the ground. We met some of those rocks earlier this year while we were pounding our stakes in. We dug deep – removed lots of rocks and added compost. Big improvement. Always said if there was a market for rocks, we’d be rich.
Just a reminder you can find our products at Gilmanton’s Own year round. Their hours through the end of the year: Thursdays: 3-5:30, Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 11-3. You can find our dried bean mix for your soups there. We plan on selling the seeds early next year and if we get our act together they will be available on line to ship. All of these beans are heirloom or rare.
Hope everyone is doing well. My least favorite season of commercialization of buying things we don’t need for the holidays is coming up. I’ve always been a proponent of making gifts. But, maybe that’s the old fashion person in me. Enjoy your holidays but keep in mind the true meaning of the season.
Farmer out until next time.
