One giant pumpkin seed sent home from Nova Scotia turned into one large pumpkin. It’s not show quality at one of the local fall fairs, but it will take up a fair bit of space on the deck as a centre piece for Thanksgiving.
As Luiza and the girls helped hoist it onto a skid for transport to the house, we soon learned it had become a canopy for mice. They had built a comfortable dwelling in the soft dry soil. Screams of terror echoed across the old Eramosa countryside soon thereafter.
In keeping with the weather, we figure our usual fall routine is a few weeks ahead. The carrots, beets, potatoes and the final crop of sweet corn was harvested and stowed away in the freezer. Fresh basil was picked and frozen.
An experiment with watermelons and honeydew melons yielded one sample of each that were quickly devoured despite being a little short of ripe. Giant sunflowers, taller than any we had grown before, had the heads lopped off to dry. The giant stocks left behind were like tree trunks.
Once the ground was rid of excess vegetation we added some manure and plowed it under. That knocked another item off the list of fall chores.
As we have lamented many times before, working in the fresh air driving an old tractor brings back many memories. Usually the garden area is just enough work to stop the squeals and scratches of a machine not often used. We actually broke up some hay ground and now the plow shares glisten for the first time in many years, ready for a coat of grease or oil to keep them from rusting up so much.
We also added a few more trees to the mix along the roadside and lane and will watch with curiosity how well they take next spring.
In keeping with being early this year, we are very thankful for such a great start to fall with family and friends to enjoy another harvest.
Humble scribes?
In keeping with our promise of extensive election coverage, we have put together some snippets under what we call the Reporters Notebook.
It’s no fun to be hard News all the time when it comes to local government, and not every occurrence warrants a big story.
So, in order to address the quirky and quick bits, our reporters have been asked to print their observations, similar to a columnist or what a blogger might do. They are also placed on the web as they become available. If you have some information that would fit this format, send it along or call in. We’d be glad to hear from you.
