A Rainy Labor Day Weekend Ahead

Changing of seasons....As we head into Labor Day weekend (the last official weekend of summer), although I have never been one to look at it that way, I let mother nature dictate for me when summer is over, we have the fall vegetable garden in full swing.  Some weeding and hoeing dirt up around plants needs to take place this morning before rain hits, (remnants of hurricane Isaac are on the way for our weekend).  Although we've had 2+ inches of rain this month, we are still in a drought and welcome any rain the now "tropical depression" can provide.  This time of year, I feel pulled between hours in the garden and hours spent crafting for fall & holiday craft shows.  We've planted cucumbers, squash, zucchini, green beans, lettuce, spinach, beets, kohlrabi, etc for fall, and I really like keeping up with weeding and keeping the garden "clean".  I also start feeling the pull to spend time crocheting, sewing, weaving rugs, making candles and soaps.  I had a few extra days off this month but somehow they just seemed to get taken up with this and that and I don't feel much further ahead than I did at the start of the month.  It will all get done, it always does, but some days I'm not quite sure how.  We're still participating in our local farmers market.  It is odd, one week can be great for attendance & sales and then next week is dismal.  This Wednesday was one of the dismal days.  It makes you wonder if it's worth the full day of picking, selling and putting away, Wednesday was a 20-hour day for me from start to finish - yikes.  We meet so many neat people, I've had a handful of my crochet-top towels purchased and taken to other countries, by parents of college students here visiting, what a neat feeling!  I'm guessing an easy to pack in the suitcase souvenir for them to take back from their visit-I get a kick out of that.  The fall "decoration" garden appears to be doing well, in a couple weeks I'll dig in and see what kinds of pumpkins, gourds, indian corn I can harvest to take to market (as well as decorate along our drive).  I love fall - the season, the decorations, the feel of the whole season.  It is still a busy season, although to me I still get a feeling of things "slowing", preparing for winter, I feel very fortunate to live in a part of the country where we get to experience each of the 4 seasons, some years to more extremes than others, but mother nature seems to have a way of evening it all out. 
Our new layers (chickens) are kicking into high gear with laying.  We are getting 2-3 dozen eggs a day, and so thankful to the girls for providing such good healthy food for us - and all our farmers market patrons.  We are getting ready to order fall meat chickens.  We have a pretty good stash in the freezer, but will be ordering another 25 or 30 to fill some meat order requests and to add a few more to the freezer for winter.  I think we'll add another 25-30 egg layers to the order as well.  That would set them up to start laying towards the end of winter.
Harvest is just starting in our area.  The husband my corn saw being picked the other day was very "dirty" so much dust that you could barely see the equipment picking it.  Yields are going to be very low in our area.  Makes you wonder looking at some fields if it is even worth the fuel it will take just to get the crops out of the fields.   We have some late beans in the field next to us, the pods are much smaller (shorter), but at least have beans in them.  We've seen some corn fields that the stalks barely even have ears on them.  It will be a rough fall for many farmers in our state. 
As we celebrate the Labor Day weekend, hope all of you are experiencing greener pastures (as ours have greened back up), and that you and your families are able to find some quiet time this weekend to spend together, enjoy a good cookout with some healthy homegrown foods, and the thoughts of a slower pace ahead - as fall finally sets in. 

A Beautiful Rain!

Sunday brought us an extra early morning that was most appreciated, about  4am lots of lightning, thunder, then rain. It was pouring and not for long, but when it was finished we had 1-1/2 inches of wonderful rain. It had been since early May when we've had that much rain at once. All of our spirits-human and animal alike had been lifted. The joy was felt in something as simple as not having to water for a day or two for us. The animals enjoyed the cooler temps, nice north breeze, and a little fresh grass to graze on. The garden has been tilled where needed and tomorrow will be a big planting day for fall veggies-green beans, lettuce, spinach, peas. carrots, kohlrabi, turnips and some corn. Some late season green beans, cucumbers, zucchini and squash are up a couple inches and growing well after this rain. We have another rain chance mid-week. Let's pray for a little more rain.  This will be the first year I've grown such a variety for fall, but with the Farmers Market we hope to be able to provide fresh produce clear thru the end of October if possible.  We signed up and got approved for one of the larger craft shows that is held in our county each November. As soon as the rest of the fall crops are planted, it will be time to gear up for lots of crafting, to include candle, rug, and soap making.  What a busy and fun fall this will be. Let"s hope mother nature cooperates in our weather department.  Wishing all of you a wonderful week.