Whew! This has been a busy weekend around the homestead, though that doesn’t mean much at all when comparing it to the busyness of the spring, summer, and early fall.
The number one task I had for the weekend was to get the Carolina Reapers potted for the winter, and that is done. I also had hoped to pot the Pineapple Sage, but I didn’t have enough room on the drying trays to dry it all yet, so I will pot it later this week.
Speaking of the Pineapple Sage, this little beauty is still in full bloom! It is such a refreshing jolt of summer red in a world of fall-like colors right now. Look at this shot taken yesterday:
Pineapple Sage in Full Bloom
In addition to Pineapple Sage, I needed to dry some Horehound as well. As soon as I get a little more room, I’ll trim back the Pineapple Sage some more, dehydrate the rest, and then pot it up for the winter. Speaking of that, I am still trying to determine if I will pot the Horehound or not. I don’t know if it can survive the winter or not outside. Okay, I just checked. The Horehound seems to be hardy, so I will hope it survives the winter.
I do have at least one other plant I need to pot up for the winter – a small Eucalyptus tree. This thing is kind of amazing. The leaves smell just like Vick’s Vapor Rub. 😀 It won’t survive the winter here unless it is older and more established, so I will pot it, I think, for the winter so it can live another year.
I almost always write these posts over the weekend, and this post is no different. After I wrote it though, I ended up shelling some of my flour corn. I shelled all the Cherokee Gourdseed Corn that I grew this year (about 2 gallons shelled) and about half or a little less of the Cherokee White Flour Corn (about a gallon shelled so far). I was shocked at how easy it was to shell the gourdseed corn – more to come on that later.
The other big task of the weekend was knocking down corn stalks, which my oldest son took care of for me. He also worked on burning a big pile of brush and weeds that has needed to be taken care of for quite some time. I am not sure he knows this fully, but I really appreciated his help. He wasn’t alone though. My middle son also was out there with a machete whacking away at weeds and brush, trying to clean up this corner of the yard. Good boys, they are.
I am so ready to start spreading these woodchips I have been collecting for next year’s garden, but I am still at least two loads short of what I need. I am not sure where the wood cutters are working this week, but they only dropped off one load. I might try to catch them again Monday morning at the gas station to encourge them to drop off some more. It’s too bad this isn’t the same priority for them that it is for me. 🙂
