Autumn Harvest

Sunrise over the Mountain

 

The nights are getting much shorter and with Daylight Saving still in place it is very dark at 6am. Most of the summer crops are either madly producing at full capacity or beginning to die off. The tomatoes are all but finished, although until there is a significant frost there will still be a few hardy red orbs up high. The zucchinis are churning out as many fruits as they can while some of the upper leaves are browning at the edges. The capsicums are having a final push to turn red.

Zucchinis with browning leaves

 

The only stone fruits left are some clingstone peaches but this year they seem to rot almost as soon as they are picked. They are pleasant to eat but being clingy too much of a pain to process. There are plenty of Golden Delicious that are not quite ripe and a few Granny Smiths.
There are plenty of potatoes in the ground to be harvested but, apart from those where the white ants are keen on spuds, can stay there a little longer.
The pace can slow down a little in harvesting and it is time to put some garden beds to sleep with plenty of manure and to tidy up the excess high grass and weeds this wonderful warm and wet season has produced.
The does and ewes are mated with their selected males and apart from squealing guinea pigs and growing porkers the animals need less attention. Some of the older chooks are going off the lay as the daylight tells them to rest.
Autumn is a great time to be outside - not too hot and not too cold but there is always the looming sense of approaching cold. Time to fill the woodshed and find the hot water bottles.

Pumpkin Patch