This month is sure flying by! I went out to the field and wandered through the weeds, and lo and behold, I found lots of things to harvest. I cut all of the Golden Celery, the Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, the Fennel, and the entire 50' wide row of Scarlet Nantes Carrots, as well as the remaining Autumn King Carrots. Those carrots took me all day to dig up. They are mostly small, but I harvested 2 1/2 bushels. After supper, I went back out to the field and meandered through the pumpkin patch. Happily I found quite a few New England Pie Pumpkins that were ready to harvest. More are out there, but I don't know that there is enough time for them to mature. I had to laugh as I was putting the pumpkins in the back of the van: I spied a nice sized buck watching me from the edge of the swamp. Sleek looking critter; must be from eating all of my lettuce and beets. I suppose he was waiting for me to leave so he could munch on what I left. I took everything back to the house and got it ready to take to the farmers market. It was about 1 a.m. by the time I quit. I was just too tired to make everything look as nice as I like it to look, but you just do the best you can and not worry about it.
It was cool and rainy on market morning so I left Lara at home. She didn't mind. I was surprised there were so many customers at the market despite the weather. That's great! I didn't sell much though. No one knew what to do with the fennel and they were afraid to try. I did manage to practically give away a small bundle of it to a couple that was at least willing to try it. I told them to bake some fish with it. No one wanted the celery -- they are used to regular green celery, not Golden celery; and no one bought the Italian Flat Leaf Parsley because they are used to the curled parsley. It's tough trying to educate consumers. I did sell some of the Scarlet Nantes carrots and almost a full bushel of the Kennebec potatoes. I even sold one of Tom's monster zucchinis. Some people like those big zucchinis. And I was really happy to sell some of my Indian corn; I'm so proud of it.
New vendors at the market are the Kagans -- Terry, Peggy, and son, Jake. What a nice family! They are just starting out as market vendors. It was nice talking with them and sharing information. I wish them the best.
Today, after lunch and while Tom as watching the Chicago Bears win their first game of the regular season, I started canning. I canned 12 quarts of Tom's mustard greens -- they wilted on me before I could get them to the farmers market, and 21 quarts of corn. What a job! I am definitely going to need more canning jars. It will be 1:30 a.m. before I can shut off the pressure canner. That's ok though -- it gives me plenty of time to talk to you guys!
I took a bushel of potatoes over to Dale and Cathy to thank them for giving me the mink manure. As soon as I get some nice tomatoes, I'll take some over to them, too. I love the taste of Rutgers tomatoes. Did I mention that I met Dale's cousin at the Park Falls farmers market last week? What a small world.
The loggers should start clearing out the landing across the road tomorrow. I hope they have good weather.
Our Soldier Girl is gone off to the Wild West and her new job that starts tomorrow. We wish her the best of luck and pray that she finds a nice place to live soon. We look forward to hearing from her once she gets settled. The house is so different without her.
Well, I have to finish the canning and tomorrow there is alot of house work to catch up on, so I'll leave off for now. Take care!
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