Frost's Eve

Feher Ozon papricka peppers.

 Here we are at "Frost's Eve."  No, it's not an official name as far as anyone else is concerned.  It is a name I've used with myself for the last several year's of farming.  For us, at the farm, Frost's Eve can be an event that lasts for a week as we prepare for the inevitable cold that will terminate many of our crops.  This year, Frost's Eve will actually be the same as the freeze date.  That's not unheard of for us at the farm, but it certainly puts an exclamation point on the whole thing.

We will certainly be doing some things to 'celebrate' Frost's Eve.  We have already done our best to bring in crops that will not survive the cold.  Some things, like the carrots and potatoes still in the ground, will not be affected by the cold (it's more the wet that concerns us there).  The kale should be fine and maybe the chard will be ok.  Frankly, I'm not too worried about the chard because the Japanese Beetles have rendered most of the leaves unmarketable.  It looks more like Swiss cheese rather than Swiss chard.

The crops in the high tunnels will get another layer of cover for the next few days in hopes that we can continue to extend the season.  We're moving the indoor plants back indoors (they reside outside during warmer months) and harvested crops are getting moved into warmer storage areas.  Hoses need to be disconnected from water supplies and waterers for the poultry will need to be dealt with so we don't have freezing and expansion that splits them out.  I am certain I will miss something - I always do.  But, it won't be for lack of trying.

Goodman, Amazing and Mardi

Cauliflower and broccoli are among those plants that can handle a freeze - as long as it doesn't stay below freezing for a couple of days straight.  However, most of the cauliflower is in and the broccoli hasn't been interested in sending up much for sideshoots this season.  That may have something to do with the timing of the rain and wetness of the soil.  Ok - it has a good deal to do with soil moisture.  I haven't had enough days with the soil being firm enough to go exploring for side shoots.  So, perhaps I missed a few out there that I couldn't see from the grass/clover paths.

Speaking of wet weather - something we have done a fair amount of over the past year or two... or four, I grabbed a graphic that illustrated some of the recent Fall wet weather issues we have had for three of the last four seasons.  Waterloo is probably our best comparable most years.  However, we are just far away from each of these places that you might be surprised by how much difference there has been.  This past September, we were closer to Dubuque's numbers for rainfall, sitting between 10 and 12 inches of rain.  It was better than last year's 14.66" - I guess.  

So, what is happening right now at the farm on Frost's Eve?  It is sleeting.  I know you can't see it in the photo below, but it is.  And, yes, the farm is still quite damp.  The benefit of sleet at this point in time?  You get a new blog post while I wait this squall out.  I realize that you might think I should be feeling more urgency to prepare for the freeze right now.  But, I am sooooo over that.  Really.  I might feel differently if the wet weather hadn't already terminated a number of our crops or if our squash harvest had been better.  But, I don't.  I'll get what needs to be done... done.  It will be fine.

 The comment about the squash might be easier to understand if you look at the next photo.

Those two containers are the extent of my harvest for 200 row feet of acorn and delicata type squash.  That's it.  In a decent year I would expect to fill up six to ten of those tubs from the 200 feet alone.  So, winter squash harvest was quick.  If it had been a normal harvest, I would still be hustling to bring them in.

Well, actually, I would have been bringing them in over a period of time anyway.  But, that's neither here nor there.

So, let's move on to something that is getting closer to being HERE!  Turkey TIME!  The turkeys have sized up nicely and are getting excited about the upcoming opportunity to be guests of honor at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in our area.

I also went out and asked them if they might like to be called Gnarly Gobblechickens (see graphic at left).  The general consensus was that they liked being 'gnarly' and they were fine with the 'gobble' part.  On the other hand, they were not so certain that the proposal that all of these birds be some type of chicken was such a good one.  Now, if they were all some sort of turkey...

So, perhaps we will call them Gnarly Gobblers and leave it at that.  I'll go talk to Crazy Maurice our weeping willow and get his insight at some point on this matter.  After all, he does observe the turkeys far more often than the farmers do since he stands sentinel at the corner of their pasture.

And, continuing to move from positive things to more positive things.

What?  I was positive right from the get go in this post!  Positive that this is Frost's Eve.  Positive about things I have done and will be doing to prepare for it.  Positive that Gnarly Gobblechickens think it is cool to be gnarly...

We continue to have lots of forward movement on the back house entry project, thanks to Duncan Home Services.  Travis and Rory have done a fine job working around the weather and what we need as we continue to do farm things.


It is very nice to have a better back door that seals out the wind appropriately - especially on Frost's Eve.  Imagine what this might look like once the deck and siding are on!  We might even have an outdoor light at some point here.

Ok, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

On the inside, we've been getting used to the new orientation of the stairway to the basement. 

The door to the outside is at the left of the picture and the door to the right goes into the house.  Straight ahead is the stair to the basement.  It is wider and sturdier than our previous stair, which was actually oriented in the opposite direction prior to this.  Clearly, there is still work to do, but we are liking this stair very much.  It will still take time getting used to it, but I think we can handle it.