Last week it was summer, this week it is winter. The mice, wasps and birds are eyeing our house as a delightful winter get-away. A week or so ago I met a bird in the office, today there was one in the bedroom – perhaps the same bird. We can only surmise that it is coming in and out through holes in the floor and walls, which says wonderful things about our energy efficiency.
We wisely pulled all the tomatoes off the vines and now have about 100 pounds of green tomatoes stacked in boxes in the front room. I think we got frost every night this week. The cotton gin down the road is humming and squeaking as the cotton harvest comes in. The people at the Co-op tell me the soybean harvest is okay, not great but better than some thought. Some farmers are planting wheat in their cornfields.
We are sprinting towards winter. This week was busy plowing and disking, putting much of the garden to bed until spring. All our summer crops have finally been turned in. Always looking ahead, we must prepare now for early season planting. How much space will we need for early spring crops? Where are we planting the blueberry, blackberries and muscadines? We prepare the soil now, as it will likely be too wet when planting time comes around.
It is almost time to dust off the Winter Projects list and start tackling all the to-do’s that get shuffled aside during the growing season. You know, like fixing the unintentional “bird-doors” in the walls and the floor. And soon, really soon, 2013 seed catalogues will start appearing in the mailbox and I can start fantasizing about next year.
