I have been listening to Joel Salatin’s book You Can Farm this week. My intent in reading it isn’t to start a farm for income but to get some inspiration to keep on giving homesteading my all and I got it!

If you have been keeping up with my other Weekly Digs posts, September has been a month of bugs and heat in the first few weeks. As a result, lots of fall crops died before they were even close to producing something. 

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The weeds have been taking over certain areas of the garden as well. I was so discouraged.

Some cooler temperatures finally set in and I got to work doing some much needed weeding as I listened to this book. About half way into the book, something he said struck a chord with me.

To summarize, Joel was saying farming is great because just about when you are sick of something and feel like you can’t do it any longer, the season changes and so does what you are doing. Then you feel excited again.

I realized how true this idea is! I was sort of in this rut of feeling frustrated about the garden and then when the weather cooled this week and I made a little headway in the garden planting and weeding. All the sudden, I started to feel better about it. 

The bugs are still around but I’m now focusing on how to make next year better. I’m pulling weeds, planting cover crops, and winter crops. Winter and very early spring are glorious times to garden here because there is so little bug pressure. 

I have about a month left of this sweet fall recovery time in the garden before the weather gets too chilly to do much. 

In the Garden

This week we pulled up 200lbs of potatoes. They are Kennebec variety, a superior type for my area of the country. They are curing for two or three days to heal up any wounds made during the digging. 

To cure them, I put them in crates in the garage and turn the fan on. The garage has no windows and I make sure the door stays closed, or at least try to. With a family this can be more difficult than you think! Haha.

We harvested another 5 gallon bucket of cow peas. A five gallon bucket with the dried pods on yields a little less than a gallon after they are shucked.

Some lettuce is bolting and some I that I planted a few weeks ago is looking great and will be ready in the middle of October. 

The cabbages are bug magnets for cabbage worms and the harlequin bug. They look awful but I’ve been picking off bugs as often as I can. I think I may still get a decent crop.

All the plants I sowed last week under the tulle are in great shape! It will be time to thin them soon. I am nervous about it because I don’t want to let any bugs in while I do so.

Preserving

• Preserved 3 half gallon jars of lemons
• Made a spicy fermented pepper salsa. It is hotter than I planned! Cameron and Dax love spicy food so even if I can stomach it, they will eat it.
• Dried peppers and tomatoes