Planting and harvesting

Well I have tried to log into blogger to post for 3 days now and am just now able to log in. I think Google has some issues. But anyway I am up an going again.

First of all I got to let ya know that my youngest son Rob landed a job in Elko Nevada working for Barrick. This is where he did his internship this summer. Rodger, Jason an I are all really proud of him. And so thankful he was blessed enough to get a position that will pay him a good wage too especially in this crappy economy. But on the other hand I am sad at the same time knowing my lil boy is going to be living that far from home. But we can hope we have done an adequate job raising him and he does have a level head so he will be fine. But darn I am sure gonna miss him. Even tho he hasn't lived at home for several years it helped just knowing he was less than an hour away from home. I think I am gonna find out how a mother hen feels when her biddies get scattered. A total mess. He is planning on being moved to Nevada by mid October so he can start work by October 11th. I am sure you mothers can relate to the emotional highs and lows. Something great happens for you child and you are so thrilled and then the "oh shit" moment when you realize it will take them a long distance from you. So this momma has been on that roller coaster all week. I think I got my oars back in the water for now anyway.
I did get outside today and got several things done that got put on hold. My friend Deb sent me some cabbage plants and I got those planted out in the lower part of the onion bed so they wont be in the way of the tractor when Rodger gets ready to turn the garden this fall. Then I started getting some of the manure out of the brooder house and used it to fertilize the asparagus bed. The asparagus fronds are starting to die back and fall over so my friend Rosie tole me it would be fine to just put the manure straight on the bed and it would break down over the winter before the asparagus springs to life in spring. I still hope I can get time and have the energy this fall to build another strawberry bed and move the plants from the garden back over here to the house so I can keep them weeded an take better care of the plants.
After Rodger got home we went to his former co-workers house to pick up some sweet potatoes. He and his wife grow mostly heirloom varieties of veggies and save their own seed. The sweet taters are the variety O'Henry. An old favorite around here and they are white which is what we like best. We don't even bother growing the orange ones. We still have a few of our own to dig this fall too, maybe this weekend we can do that. I am hoping to get my butternut squash and cushaws brought in as well. Frost is not far off for us. And the sunflowers need to be cut and put in bags to dry. I am thinking that if the sunflower kernels are large enough I might try roasting some of those for snacks. Sunflower seeds are very nutritious. Rodger also told me this evening that another business associate was going somewhere to an Amish orchard to get apples and he ordered 2 bushel for us. Yep I reckin he thinks I'm bored or something. But in reality I would like to have some dried apples to store.
We had a late supper and then went to the garden to pick green beans. Goodness was I surprised. The tobacco worm beans are doing way better than I expected for this late in the season. I love the way they grow, in clusters on the vines. I now have about 3/4 of a bushel to string and can up tomorrow. I am pretty happy about that as I didn't have any green beans early this year to can. We also brought in 4 big watermelons from the garden as well while we were over there. Gosh there are prolly a dozen more that are almost ready. So I do have enough to do to keep my mind occupied right now. Might help me keep what lil is left of my sanity.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella