by Leslie Cox; Saturday; October 14, 2017

All the tomatoes were picked out of the greenhouse this week! Including all the green ones.

Well…all tomatoes except for what is on two plants which we call ‘Harry’s Roma’. (That is another story for another time.) John wanted to leave them intact to monitor for research purposes as the temperature drops. Which it did. Went down to -1 °C (30.2 °F) in the wee hours of Friday the 13th.

The tomato bounty then had to be cleaned and weighed, as I like to keep track of how much fruit each tomato variety produces versus number of plants. No sense in taking up valuable greenhouse space for a poorly producing tomato plant! Next, all the tomatoes had to be sorted into ripe, semi-ripe, and green…the latter two which then had to be readied for slow ripening over the next several weeks.

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by Leslie Cox; Friday; October 13, 2017

There are not many sights which are more spectacular than seeing a school of salmon returning upriver in the fall to spawn. It is a very humbling experience…knowing they are returning to the place of their birth after a period spent in the ocean.

Pink salmon spend two years in the ocean before returning to spawn. The males are very distinguishable from females by their humpback. Hence, the nickname for this salmon species, humpback or humpies.

by Leslie Cox; Tuesday; October 10, 2017

Not quite how carrots are supposed to grow!

by Leslie Cox; Sunday; October 8, 2017

For as far back as I can remember as a child growing up, the following poem was recited as grace before each evening meal…not just at Thanksgiving.

Some hae meat and canna eat, –
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

~ Robert Burns (1759 – 1796)

Maternal history on my father’s side lays claim to publishing a centennial printing of Robbie Burns’ first book of poems titled Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. The original volume, often referred to as the Kilmarnock volume or Kilmarnock edition, was published on July 31, 1786 by a printer named John Wilson. My grandmother’s grandfather, David Brown (1831 – 1893), and great-grandfather, also David Brown (1782 – 1857), were both printers in Kilmarnock, Scotland.

by Leslie Cox; Saturday; October 7, 2017

It is getting chillier. Had a couple of dips below 0 °C (32 °F) which did not produce much in the way of frost in our garden, thankfully, but you could see the frost on the fields behind us. It was enough of a push to hustle us onto more winter prep chores.

I emptied my two fountains and scrubbed them out. They are now drying under the eave before storing them away for the winter under cover.

The umbrellas from the garden table sets are back in the garage for the winter; the tables and chairs are neatly stacked with a tarp thrown over…just in time to beat the rain.

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