November Entry

November was warmer than normal with a high of 67.2 F back on 11/09/09 and an overall mean day temp of 41.5 F. The lowest temp of 23.6 was recorded on 11/18/09. There were only two occasions when I observed any snow – but it was very light flurries.

I was proud to have made my first apple pie with my very own apples this month. It was delicious and came out pretty good in the photo, even if I do say so, myself.

I finished shelling the rest of the Charlevoix Beans and filled a 2nd jar. I know that I have well over 1,000 for next year’s garden. I’m not going to do many tomatoes in 2010. I plan to use the beans to give nutrients to the soil for the garden in 2011 (always thinking ahead).

The California Grey Stripe Sunflowers have been drying on the top shelf inside of the greenhouse. I filled a jar with the seeds to have ready for any requests through Seed Savers Exchange.
The hardest part about saving sunflower seeds is going through them meticulously, one by one, to inspect for insect or worm holes. If anything is still alive inside of the seed, it can exit that one and continue to ruin the rest of the seeds in your jar! I found out that the hard way…

I think I saw a painting that looked like this in some museum back when I was in high school. Some folks would call it modern art, I call it hose-hell… It’s that time of year again to put everything into storage.

I marvel at how a garden can take on a whole different look month to month. The tomato strings need to be removed and I need to add more turnbuckles in between the posts for a tighter, straighter wire. But being the procrastinator that I am, I see that happening sometime in July of 2011…

There’s only one green plant left in the big garden. In fact, there are many of them dotting the bleak, leave-covered rows. These are Pac Choy plants that refuse to go away! They’ve only been planted twice; 2006 and a few in 2007. These cold-hearty greens keep planting themselves year after year. They are tasty, like spinach if cooked in a steamer.

:)