Linda grabbed some of the corn out of the garden this weekend and it made a pretty picture.

I’ll try to get an id on the deep purple corn – it should make a fun cornmeal!

one year ago…”Near Hurricane Force Winds”

Today brought a break in the rain, so it was time to go out and do things that aren’t too exciting, but that need to get done.

First was cleaning out the chicken coop before winter.  Here the ladies are happy with their new bedding.

The old bedding is hauled out to near the garden to compost.  This bedding was very dry and fluffy, so it took a lot of water to add between cartloads to prepare it to compost properly.  It was much too wet and muddy to use the tractor, so it was many loads with the carts.

Part of the organic apple regime is to make sure no windfall apples remain on the ground to host apple pests – we give them to the chickens to eat.  This is about 14 five-gallon buckets of apples.

Another important job is to get rid of old tomato vines – I tore the vines out of the cages and stacked the cages and stakes close to where next year’s tomatoes will be planted.  I’m a bit slow as I used to always haul the cages and stakes to the same place for winter storage.  Now I just haul them near next year’s planting area.  Our cages are old woven wire fencing that was destined for the dump – I made round cages and they are very sturdy with a half a metal fence post for support.

one year ago…”Fall Color”