Oct. 16, Sat.

"It's good to stop and smell the roses...er, um, pansies, now and then!"

I didn't get the tops cut off the turnps yesterday so I brought them in the house.

I worked hard to get things out of the garden this week because I saw the forecast at the end of the week was to be in the 20's overnight.
As of last night I had everything out of the garden except the carrots, and they can take some pretty hard frosts.
Good thing I worked so hard. It was 22 this morning. Tonight, at 11:00, it's already down to 25!

I didn't expect to get another cutting of mint this year, but it was still green and smelled nice and "minty", so I cut more and set it to dry. I already have 4 quart jars of it dried. We love mint iced tea and drink it all year round.

Three crates of rutabagas ready to go to the root cellar.

The one lined with a sheet when on the bottom. I stacked the other two on top, then pulled the sheet up and over all the crates. It seems to help hold the moisture in.

Tristan and Steven cut some dead trees on the west side of the cabin this afternoon.

Tristan steadied this log for Steven, but mostly he hauled the pieces to the woodshed with the wheel barrel while Steven cut.

We are among the priveledged few who get to use an outdoor bathroom instead of being stuck with only an indoor bathroom!

All stocked up on toilet paper for the winter!

Since Odie (the dog) discovered the thrills of swiping the roll of paper from the outhouse and joyfully playing in the yard with it, we now store the roll currently being used in that blue coffee can on top of the bucket, to the left of the door!

View to the right in the outhouse.

Bet you've all been missing seeing what the goatling is up to!

Oh...probably about half a ton now!

He loves to eat!

I started pulling carrots this afternoon. this is when I was first getting started. There will probably be about 2 bushels of them by the time I'm done.

To the left is the sheet-lined crate I'm putting the bigger-ish ones in. In front of my knees are some I pulled and still have to cut the tops off of. Behind to the right is a basket I was putting "tops" in, to dry for goat food. The square white pan by my right knee is where I was putting the small carrots and other "non-keepers" to use up first.

Odie is getting good about remembering she's not supposed to come into the garden.

Here she is, sitting in the open gate, watching us longingly!

This is called a "Narcisstic carrot"...it's all wrapped up in itself! ha ha ha!

When Steven was done cutting wood for the day, he came and helped me with carrots. I held the camera up and behind me to get a picture of both of us, and you can see my goofy shadow while I did it!

It actually took about 4 tries to get us both in it! Yeah, I know, parts of me are missing!

This is a male carrot. It didn't know which way to grow and apparently didn't get directions from the other carrots! Ha ha ha again!

The kitten, never far away, was hunting for grasshoppers and other tasty bugs.

After a while the sun was getting low. Steven walked over to feed the buffalo, and I went inside to finish up dinner and make biscuits. I had a soup simmering all day: 8 bean soup with carrots, squash, onion, celery, and some of the last sausage from the pigs we raised two years ago. It was an interesting soup. Pleasant but not among my favorites.

While the biscuits were baking I put up two shelf brackets above the fan behind the woodstove, and I set the dehydrator racks on it. I wanted some place warm to put them when I can't plug it in to the electricity. That way, whatever food I'm drying won't spoil and will actually continue drying.

I hate getting so far behind on my blog, because the details get sketchy in a hurry!

All right, who are you and what have you done with our cat?

This one looks like a normal cat!

Oh good! Our kitten is back!

Looking weird, like usual!

In case you can't tell, we have a lot of fun with our pets!