Garden Update: August/September

Garden Update: August/September

August /September is such a rush of a time in the garden. If you grow enough food to put away, to get you through to the next season, you suddenly find yourself dreaming of food processing at night. Everyday means chopping, bagging,freezing or canning or drying. The hum of the dehyrator is always on right now. The canner is constantly on the stove waiting the next round of fruit or veggies. It’s a pretty sweet way to be super busy. It makes me feel like a millionaire even though I am far from it.

In this rush to preserve the harvest before it goes bad is also this lingering feeling that soon it will all be white outside. I’ll be missing my plants and turning instead to inside pursuits when it’s cold and snowy and hard to get outside.

Yesterday we went to our off grid property (where I harvest sage brush from for the Sage Sticks I sell at markets) and saw the canyon maples up there are already changing. The willows are yellow and dropping their leaves. The little lilac colored wild asters are putting on their final show along with perennial sunflowers and goldrod. The fall blooming flowers are announcing the winter is coming soon.

As for the garden it’s looking a little tired. Tomatoes are almost done, cucumbers have slowed down, corn is drying down, we harvested a rouge melon that planted itself and turned out to be one of the best tasting melons we have ever eaten. That puts the bar so high for the seeds we saved. Who knows, it may have been a once in a life time melon.

I canned two loads of tomatoes before the peaches came rolling in. I think we need an outdoor kitchen where we can set up multiple stations for fruit and veggies.

We had sorghum come up from some chicken compost. We’ve never grown sorghum before so we allowed it just do it’s thing in the tunnel so we could see what would happen. I think a few stocks will end up becoming fall decorations for a while.

Now the moment you’ve been waiting for a peek at the nectarines and peaches this year:

I wish I had clone of myself to take pictures as I work. There is so much to show you and half the time my hands are full or covered in fruit juice.

Before we know it apples will start to roll in too. I better stop typing and get to processing the nectarines before they rot!

What’s your favorite stone fruit? Peaches or Nectarines? Leave me a comment below.