I’ve been so busy this summer, it has been hard to keep up with the things I like to do.  Like writing in this blog.  My work responsibilities have changed, as my former boss was finally let go from campus.  I’m taking over some of her duties while they figure out how to distribute them for the long term.  I am getting differential pay for the work I’m doing extra, but it is still a lot of work and I find myself completely drug out when I leave work each day.  It is also the busiest time of our year, so I’m adding extra work when I’m already somewhat overloaded.  I also have been doing more work on the side than I have done in the past.  This will ease up soon, but in the meantime, I’m working when I’m working, and working when I get home, too.

Somewhere in there, I managed to edit a novel and get it to a publisher, where it now sits with an editor.  I would sit here and fret over that, but I don’t have time to.  I have a garden to maintain!

We did have our first frost last week (along with a little snow), which to some extent ended the growing season for us.  I had covered my summer squash with row cover the evening of the freeze, and it survived and is still thriving now that we are in the 80’s again.  The beans and tomatoes, however, did not survive.  I pulled them up and composted them.  Today, I spent a couple of hours in the garden, pulling up the kale, harvesting the rest of the turnips, harvesting some of the beets, taking down the giant sunflower (the stalk is as big as my arm!), and spreading out the dirt that came from the potato basket.  I was amazed at the condition of that dirt.  It was basically compost from the garden, straw, and alpaca poo I just kept putting in as the plants grew big taller.  The dirt is soft, loose, and dark as river dirt.  As I harvest the rest of the beets and parsnips over the coming weeks, I will spread that dirt into my lowest-lying areas of the garden.  It should give it a good start next year.

Tomorrow is the first day of fall, and I am ready.  Cooler nights, cooler days, and frosts will put my gardening to bed, and I can take some regular work off my plate.  I love the fresh veggies and working in the garden, but I am also tired.  I’m ready to have slower, quieter nights, where I’m not running off to the garden to get things done.  As it is now dark just after 7 pm, there isn’t a whole lot of time to work in the garden in the evenings to begin with.  I anticipate pulling much of what’s left in the garden within the next two weeks.

This week I’ll be making and canning apple butter from apples that were picked at the garden, and some that I purchased.  I do the apple butter in the crock pot, which is easy and takes no thought, and because I’m lazy.  I already did one batch as a test, and am happy with the result.  What I make this week will be used for gifts, and I’ll send a handful on with my mom when she leaves, too.  I have six bags of green beans in the freezer and a head of cabbage.  I have a huge bag of turnips to send back to my brother in Missouri (mom will take them for him).  We will get summer squash for at least another week, and there are still some peppers to be picked as they get bigger.  But overall, things are winding down, and I’m thankful for fall.

Potatoes!

Apple butter!

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