Sunchokes are on my list of things to try.

The mullein you gave me is still alive, Kim. It's in a pot that is probably too small, tho.

Larry, we have some favorite supper type of recipes that include sweet potatoes. This one is a vegetarian version that my family likes:

black bean sweet potato casserole

This one is good too:

Sweet potato kale and chickpea soup

This website (Cookie and Kate) has a lot of really good ways to use sweet potatoes. She is vegetarian and I know that you and Madge prefer to not eat a lot of meat.

Kim, my schedule is so tricky. I often don't know if/when/where I'm working on Tuesdays and Wednesdays until Monday afternoon. IF you're able to come last minute, we could make it work....once I know my schedule OR if you're able to come late afternoon. First, tho, I need to get the jars organized. I sorta started yesterday.

IF you want to look at Rick's empty jars, we could go to his house too. I will want to check in with the family first, but I doubt they care at all. We won't go into the house, but we can look at the ones in that metal cabinet thing in the backyard.

Tom is on board with me moving the light shelf to the utility room even if that means we have to buy a 2 ft wide shelf and new 2 ft wide lights. AND he's okay with me taking the old shelf to the shop AND the extra pantry that will be full of my empty jars. To me, those items are more organizational tools that our shop can use.

I'll probably offer up my 4 ft long grow lights once the new ones are purchased. I have 4 of them. I put 2 to a shelf. I also have an old fashioned tube light w/fixture to offer up. It fits on one of the shelves too. The other light is a stand alone that I put on top of the shelving unit. I will keep that one.

That will give me 3 shelves to start seed.

I'll see if anyone wants the 4 ft lights soon.

Tonight, I'll water a few things but that's all I'll have time for. Looking ahead, I'm not sure when I'll have time to do garden clean-up. Maybe November 1. By then, we'll probably have had a frost?

I took a picture of one of the little canning pantries. The other one is identical and it's the one I'll move to the shop to store the empty jars. I'll come back with the picture. It's on my phone and I'm on my work laptop.

I really do like an organized space. I think that’s why I’m having such a hard time getting motivated around here because everything is just chaos right now. If I want to do canning, I have to move six heavy crates to get too my jars. Same if I want to work on my herb blends. I don’t expect anything to be easy in life, but I would like it to be more simple. I harvested a bit of hibiscus, cleaned it washed it good and got it ready for the dehydrator. Going to get that in a minute. I dug around in my main sweet potato bed and found a few tore up sweet potatoes that I chopped in half when I was digging. So I am just about ready to level it back out and plant carrots before it’s too late. I definitely can do last minute. Not this week, but the next few weeks should be fine. I will be coming by myself so I don’t have anybody else to contend with their schedule.

Kim, do you have a way to make it simpler? Are there places to organize things. It is hard to work in chaos and hard to get started when things are so out-of-hand. At work, we are selling our building. There's 45 years of stuff stored in every nook and cranny.

I'll continue to work on the jars and find boxes to store them in for you. This weekend is full. We have the baby. I'll be picking him up in the morning. Then, taking him back Sunday evening where I'll put him to bed in his own home/bed. M&M will be getting back late and they both have to work Monday morning. They're attending a KC Chiefs game. (Mack's cousin plays for them). The starting time is noon and it's a 6 hour drive. Anyway...then I've gotta drive back home because I have work Monday morning too. In the midst of all of that, I have to decorate for a shower that I'm a hostess for BUT, I won't be able to attend the actual shower because of how things are scheduled. AND, Tom's bio brother is coming into town Sunday night with his wife. I haven't seen them in many years. They're staying at a hotel, but what a mess. She is a perfect southern hostess. Even when she was pregnant, had a toddler and worked outside the home (she's an optometrist), her meals were perfectly made and presented when we visited their home. Pretty sure we stayed with them too. Her husband was off work and a good help, but still. I'll be doing good to take them to dinner. I just so wish they had chosen next weekend to visit. I feel very stressed about it. And I feel rude. Also rude about missing the shower. And, there's a big situation at work that I can't miss on Monday. Tom is off work, so he can show them around. His brother actually went to college in Norman, so maybe he'll want to see stuff.

Our house isn't a very good entertaining house right now due to our animal situation. Josi doesn't not want to be outside any longer. She crazily sniffs everyone and won't stop without constant redirecting. If she's crated or put in another room, she barks. When she had Kane, she would settle down in a crate or another room. She has a really bad odor too. Not an infection, just how she's always been. Probably her breed.

Anyway, I just wish I could enjoy having the baby this weekend without all this other stuff.

There will be no time for gardening at all. Or organizing.

I'm a real downer today. lol

Pictures

Definitely not a downer. You just have a lot of stuff going on and some of it seems kind of stressful. Are you the kind of person that cannot say no? I’m not anymore. After my surgery, I can say no really easily. Jennifer would actually wanna do is empty my house completely and totally And clean and paint from top to bottom. And then put everything back in like a little dollhouse. I believe that would be the most efficient way to paint the whole inside of the house because you can’t really move things from one room to another because there are no rooms. The bathroom is of course separated with walls, but the rest of the kitchen living room dining room bedroom are all one space and the pathways are not that big to store anything long enough to clean and paint. So step one, clean out the shed purge put everything back in a very organized fashion condensed neatly. Since I am borderline minimalist, it should be pretty easy Physical but easy. I’ll keep you all posted. I had a post with pictures. It might show up double but these are the sweet potatoes I Doug today. There’s one in there about the size of my pinky. That was the only one in one of my barrels. Another mineral tub one plant had over 12 huge potatoes. It got a lot more water and sunshine.

Kim, you got a good harvest. I scratched up another 32 pounds of potatoes. I don't know what to do, I have potatoes piled everywhere, and it looks like we have a rain coming. Most of the potatoes are under roof, but we are expecting rain, and wind, and I had rather they not get wet.

I feel burned out, and at this time I am thinking that I wont make another garden, Madge and I are finding it very hard to just do the things that have to be done.

Larry, I’ve had to let a lot of dreams goals and desires go the last few years. It is not a blast facing our own limitations. That is why I am slowly collecting GREENSTALKS. I don’t know how long I will be able to garden But gardening a lot of food in a small space is ideal. What is not ideal is the cost of potting soil I do not want to pay for potting soil to fill these things. I am downsizing some of my mineral tubs and I will most likely take some of that soil put it in my cart and mix it up with rabbit manure, and worm castings. And use that refreshed soil in my towers. Total potato harvest ended up around 2 1/2 to 3 bushels and I’m very happy with that amount for myself. I am not selling these. Next year will probably look a little different for all of us.

Kim, I expect that I still have 10 bags each of compost and potting soil, but right now, I don't even want to look at the garden.

My sweet loving wife let me drag in my extra potatoes. I already have all that I can use stored, but we are expecting strong chances of wind, rain , and maybe hail, so I drug, and carried these into the living room till the weather clears. The kids have already taken all that can use, and I still have more to dig. Every year Madge, and the kids tell me "don't plant so much". I also still have okra and peppers to pick, but I am just not in the mood.

Nice sweet potatoes, Kim and Larry. That should feed you very well.

Kim, yes and no regarding being able to say "no". I can say no. Certain things I just won't. I wouldn't tell Tom's brother and wife to NOT come to Oklahoma. I will say no to cooking for them. I would have to stay up all night to prepare. But, I'll say yes to taking them to dinner.

I couldn't really say no to helping with the shower. It's just a thing where this group of friends helps hosts our children's showers. However, I said no to actually attending, although I contributed financially and will help with some pre-decorating.

I won't say no to keeping the baby at our house this weekend because M&M need a weekend away.

Larry, you can still grow food. Just grow enough for the two of you. A dozen okra plants, a dozen peppers, a dozen tomatoes. One raised bed of sweet potatoes.

Honestly, I will be doing something similar next year myself.

It's really important to me to grow food BUT I need to do it in a way that doesn't cause burn out like you're experiencing....and I am too a little. Mine isn't exactly burn out. I just lack time to care for everything. I started feeling this way maybe a 2 and half years ago. I was trying to encourage Rick to get onboard with that, but he couldn't. He had to grow everything that he always grew and in large amounts. I was pretty harsh with him last year and refused to care for things in the SG (and it showed) or can stuff other than the potatoes. I tried to persuade him to do a garden of fresh eating stuff. Melons and things like that. That was not his plan, tho. But, the SG never really happened. He got the potatoes planted and a few tomatoes. It's gone back to meadow now. You can barely tell it was a garden. Sad.

We're supposed to get some rain. I hope we do. I didn't have time to look at the garden today. We got back from Edmond and fed everything and took Gray to Chick-fil-a and then to Natural Grocers and Walmart. It was after 6:30 when we got home, but we quickly took Gray for a walk down the street. Just for a few minutes. Then figured out his camera monitor thing and sound machine. Got his bath done, stories read, milk drank. And he finally fell asleep about 20 minutes ago.

I'll look around at the garden tomorrow with him if it's not raining.

We are going to take him to see Grandma (my mom) in the morning and then going into OKC to Trader Joes to buy some flowers for the bridal shower. Probably will get lunch out. I like a restaurant called Flower Child so we might go there since it's close to TJs. Then will do nap, some decorating and hopefully a walk around the garden. But hoping we'll have had a rain so it won't need water. My area is in moderate drought now.

Sounds pretty boring, but hanging out with the baby is a lot of fun.

That sounds like a great life balance Jennifer. I have had to say no to keeping grandkids a few times but I do not like to. I only say no if I am not feeling well. We are expecting rain as well. I pray it holds off until after 2:00. I need this market. And I have my farmer friends produce to sell as well. She pays me to sell for her occasionally. My house smells amazing. 15 giant bundles of fresh basil. I think I will throw out my carrot seed before the rain.

We are getting rain

We are getting a rain also, it is pretty strong now, but we are predicted to get around 1/2 inch. The wind we have received so far has not been bad.

I hope your market went well, Kim.

We did get rain but it wasn't a lot at our house. Some other metro areas seemed to have gotten more. We were over in the Classen Curve area.... that and my Mom's area seemed to have gotten a decent amount.

I"m grateful for what we got. And I'm glad that we could have the late afternoon outside. Gray enjoyed the garden a lot. He did smash beautyberries all over his shirt. Hope that stain will come out.

Maybe we'll get more soon.

Our rain did not amount to much, I doubt that it was over 1/4". but it was sure needed.

It's been a day. Really good, tho. I took Gray to work with me and he did well.

He napped well. Then, we all fed the animals and did some light watering. Went to Edmond and fed him supper there, picked up the dogs from the boarders, did a quick walk, bath and bed. M&M got back a little after 9 so we made it home by 10. Gray will be so excited to wake up to his momma and daddy in the morning.

Tomorrow, work and then dinner with Tom's brother and his wife.

I have no idea what will happen the rest of the week. Maybe I'll work my part-time job. Maybe I won't. If not, there's an opportunity to work extra on Tuesday for my regular job.

Hopefully will be able to squeeze in some watering in the evenings.

Larry, I meant to tell you that I ate my first Isis Candy tomato this week. A long time ago I grew that variety from seed that I got from Jen. But, had sorta forgotten about it until you brought me a plant last year. It was so good, so I ordered seed. However the plants failed this spring/early summer. (probably due to flooding rains) The plants came back and have fruit. And it's so good.

That's all I got.

What a great weekend. Sounds like fun. Love grandkids. I did market Saturday and Sunday. Never again will I miss Church for market. Lives and learn. I have lots of work to do this next few weeks. I just have to get it done. Garden, jams and then tear apart the shed.

Jennifer, I love the Isis Candy also. None of my tomatoes did well this year, I think the very wet spring mess up all of my garden. My peppers and sweet potatoes did fair, but I had so many plants, that a poor harvest was enough for us.

The kids came over again yesterday and picked my peppers, and brought Sun Sugar tomatoes from their place, but I could not get her to take any more sweet potatoes.

Matt came down Sat. and borrowed my trailer and mower, he wanted to get his place cleaned up for his child's birthday party. I was able to dump about 30-35 pounds of sweet potatoes on him. Matt said that he would come back around the first of Nov. and help me dig the rest of my potatoes, I will just give then to him if he wants them. Matt has a large family, and I think they will be able to go through a lot of food.

I picked the okra and gave it to my daughter yesterday. I am about ready to take the okra plants out, they are too tall and it is hard to harvest the pods, and short days and cooler nights have slowed the harvest, plus I seem to be having more insects.

I have never done this but my friend topped her okra and it turned out really good. I might try it next year

I have topped my okra in the past, I would most often just top every other plant, because they will stop producing for a while. You can also top them when they are young and they seem to bush out better. Okra is so easy to grow, and I have plenty space, so I seldom have a major problem with it. One of the problems I am have now seems to be that the grass hoppers are chewing a hole in the shoulder, and ants are going inside, but I am ready to call it quits on the garden anyway.

My new old friend stopper by today, and told me that one of his friends would like to have a start of Egypt walking onion, and bunching onions, so I gave him a bag of sweet potatoes, starts of the 2 typed of onion, and some garlic.

I also have a question. On my post on my replies says PRO, and an L, have I done something to change things on my login? I did have some problems a few days ago, and pushed every button on this computer before I could get it to post?

The L is probably for Larry and you might have labeled yourself as a professional. Someone who does "Houzz things" professionally--for a living/job.

Larry, I do not pretend to know anything about Houzz. If I post from my phone, it is under Kim and if I post from my computer, it comes under luvncannin. I wish I had enough to share with people but truth me know nobody wants what I grow anyway so I get to keep most of it myself. My kids do want some of my sweet potatoes.

Thanks, Ladies, I have not knowing labeled myself as anything, but I have punched many buttons to try to get to post on garden wed.

I wish it were not so late in the year, I would like to plant something. I do have onions and garlic that I need to get into the ground. I stay so tired that I find it hard to do anything.

If nothing else, Larry, I am going to get a good amount of spinach planted. I do have row cover and can cover it easily, but I may not get carrots up, but I will still plant those. I have a 2 gallon bucket full of carrot seed heads, so I’m not gonna run out of those either.

HJ, i will be interested in a couple of your grow lights.

I did not have a good sweet potato harvest. Out of 4 slips I got about 10 potatoes, most of them very small. i hope I have enough for Thanksgiving.

My tomatoes are going absolutely nuts. I sent about 150 over to my mom to give away, and i still have over 200 hanging out on cookie sheets ripening. That short cool spell back in August gave the plants a chance to set a ton of fruit, and now its finishing up. I almost always have a better fall crop than summer, even if the plants look like they died two weeks ago.

Rebecca, I have a lot of tomatoes too. It's funny how those half dead looking plant rebound in the fall. Many of mine are damaged by pests, tho.

Yes, you can have two or all of the grow lights. they are 4ft long, but will need to be hung. They don't have a stand. They are the ones that have the purplish lights. They've served me well.

Didn't have a chance to look at the garden but I could see that things are wilty and need some water badly.I'm going to try to get the sprinkler on the kitchen garden for an hour or so in the morning while I'm getting ready for work.

It was a very busy day. Lots of things involving arranging of people and lots of extroverting at work. Dinner with Tom's brother and wife. All good, but my introverted self is wiped out. And rashes are breaking out which happens when I'm overspent.

I always feel like I'm a month behind from October through May. This should be September and I should be preparing for October now. But, October is here. And things/rituals I like to do this month are not done including my ancestor tribute that I keep in my office room.

But...it's what it is.. Part of it is the weather. BUT, it seems like we'll be cooler after today. I see 60's and 70's for highs. Yippee.

Well, I tried to change my sign-in to remove the PRO, I am not pro anything, other than pro-crastinator. I have no idea what will show up now.

I did not do anything in the garden today. I have been having more problems walking. I am so far behind on everything.

Well Larry the pro is gone. I liked it. I worked in the garden yesterday for a bit. I got peas planted, carrots planted and tons of sweet potato vines and grass raked up. I’m not done with the clean up by any means but I feel good I got that much done. I tried to make a list of garden projects but there’s too many.

Sounds like a good garden day, Kim. It's not too late to plant carrots? Usually my fall ones are ready to pull in February. I never get the turn around with carrots that other people do. I've had a few very good harvests of them, tho. And spinach. I should put some seed in today. My first round was in trays and my mom let them get too dry while we were in Arkansas. My cilantro seed either didn't come up or dried up. So might put some more of that in again too.

I have no idea what the garden looks like. I turned the sprinkler on yesterday morning while it was still dark outside. Tom turned it off before he left for Kansas. I had to race home to feed everyone after work to make it to my Pilates class. Canceling last minute isn't a kind thing to do because it's how she makes her living. It was dark when I got home. There's always a last Tuesday in the fall that I know we won't walk Josi after Pilates class because it's dark when I get out. I could walk her night. I'm not afraid of people or anything. More of running into a skunk or coyote. But, really, I should just do it because I Iike to walk at night....and walk her around the perimeter of the property each night before bed. It's pretty dark on one side.

I did water the pots on the front porch in the dark. They were so dry.

Today will be great because I'm staying home! And slept until 730. Got up and got everyone fed and laundry started. It's chilly out so I'll probably get caught up on some indoor work. Get those pantries organized and one emptied so Tom can help me pull it out to take to the shop. Put the empty jars in a box to be carried down. There's tons of them on a shelf in the shop already. But, what will not fit in the emptied pantry, will go to you, Kim.

The utility room needs to be arranged a bit too. To make room for the sweet potatoes. And I would like to put the red potatoes (Red Pontiac?) that are on the grow light in my office room.

And I want to get that light shelf out but might wait for Tom's help.

Rebecca, I'll bring you a pair of the lights and I'll bring a pair for you too, Kim. And the seeder.

For some reason, that light shelf in my office really bothers me. It throws off the vibe in that room. I can't concentrate with it there. Super happy that it's coming out. And that we're downsizing it and putting it back into the utility room. There's so much crammed into that utility room, but surprisingly it's fairly well organized.

Ethan bought me a thoughtful gift for Mother's Day and I still haven't set it up. It is a Hydrovase. It will be just perfect for that room. He chose flowers for it instead of herbs. I for sure need to have it up and going before he comes home for the holidays.

And, I do have house plants in that room. There's something about the clunky light shelf that bothers me.

Anyway, there's just lots of little things that need to be done around the house and I'm happy to do them.

I'm considering downsizing my clothing too. Really downsizing. I do work outside the home and need to have decent looking clothes, but I'm considering doing something like--2 jeans, 2 dress pants, 2 skirts, 5 sweaters--that sorta thing. And have it all mix and match. It would make deciding on what to wear each day much easier.

Anyway, I'm gonna start working on that canning pantry now.

It's been a week and it's only Wednesday. This is our first week of return to office; instead of once a month, now we are all mandated to go in twice a week. And if we're out, we have to switch in office days with someone so there's someone sitting in every desk, every day. It's utter nonsense, much like everything else these politicians come up with. Between that, Cliff's new job, and church, I haven't even been out to the garden in over a week. I pulled all the ripe jalapenos and finally started a fresh jar of cowboy candy last night. Church halloween festival is Saturday, then our first service in the new building is Sun, and our open house will be the 8th and 9th so we're trying to get everything finished for that. It's gonna be a rushed couple weeks. The garden will just have to survive without my tender loving benign neglect for a while longer.

HJ, it may be some work but you could always offer the jars up on facebook. I'm always looking for more and free seems to go quickly. But I"m a cheapskate and can't bear to throw something away because, "it can still be used". If there are any pint jars that Kim doesn't want, I'd love to get a few.

Amy, hope you get to feeling better! Take it easy and let yourself recover.

Sounds like you have a wonderful busy day planned. I do as well. I’m not sure what the carts are gonna do this late in the game. I’m about six weeks late. Getting them planted. It’s actually kind of ridiculous because it literally took me 10 minutes to water the soil sprinkle the seeds cover the seeds water the soil. But it happens.. After this week, just let me know when you are available. I can drive up at the drop of a hat and pick up all that stuff and I won’t take up much of your time but I do want to see your garden while I’m there. I never got to see Dawn’s gardens until after she was gone and I had so many questions and I just love looking at gardens. I have the ability to look at a garden and see the beauty without seeing the weeds and grass, which is probably why mine is overgrown with grass right now. I tried to pull some every time I go out to the garden, but there is still more always more. I’ve got a pot of jam on the stove A half gallon of juice in the fridge and I finally got hot water back so I can get my dishes, washed and jars washed and ready to go. It is a gorgeous day for canning.

Jen, there's plenty of jars for you and Kim. And, as I use more of the canned food, more jars will become available. I overbought in 2020. Plus, some are Rick's. And then, an elderly friend of my neighbor gave here ALL his wife's jars (this was a few years ago). She had passed and he had eaten the last of the food that she canned. Very sweet. Anyway, my neighbor shared those jars with me too. I still have lids I bought in 2020. As well as some that Rick paid a ridiculous price for when everything was crazy that year. I'll keep all of those. They fit nicely in two medium sized rubbermaid tubs.

The jars will be quart and pint. And maybe half-gallon--but not many of those. Maybe just one or two. I will save the jelly jars because people don't always return them to me after eating the jelly.

My friend who works for the state is dealing with the silliness of returning to the office too. She said they don't have their own desk, they just sit wherever one is open and it's chaotic because no one knows who is going to the office on what day.

You've been really busy too. How's Cliff liking the new job?

Kim, I'll see where I'm at after next week. Wondering if the part-time job slows down at this time of year due to holidays. Which is fine. I have a lot going on. Oh yeah....if you're not afraid of weeds, you'll be fine with my garden. lol. It really doesn't look that bad. Just that end of the garden year look.

Just remembered that the garlic needs to be planted!

I got a beautiful pepper from Dawn’s pepper plant. I am saving seed for next year

Good, Kim! I have one too. Maybe between the two of us, we'll have some plants to pass on.

That is what I am thinking. It is a very hot jalapeño.

I was productive today but could have been more so. I did rest a lot in between. But, laundry is done, garlic is planted, dog is walked, houseplants are watered. The shelf is out of my office room and I managed to get it to the shop with the cart. Organized the canned jars and have the other side empty. Watered everything.

Rebecca, I wrapped up a set of the grow lights and put them under Ethan's bed. I'll bring them to SF.

Larry, I am starting to feel like you about produce. Even though it's a great blessing...it's becoming quite the chore. I have a large bucket of PEPH that need to be shelled. After not really looking at the garden for awhile, I went out to many ripe tomatoes. Half of them went to the chickens because although they were a great size for fall tomatoes, they had damage from stink bugs. But that still leaves a ton and I don't know what to do with them.

The roma ones I'm throwing into the freezer to make soup.

It's October and I really don't want tomatoes all over my kitchen counters.

So many peppers that will never get eaten.

I gotta do better next year.

But, I'm ready to zip it up for the year. There's not a frost on the 9-day. We might make it to November before the first frost. There have been years I would have been thrilled by that. But, I'm tired this year. It's not that I want a frost. Maybe it's just that it's been so dry for the past couple of months that I'm super tired of watering. If I didn't water, the plants would die so maybe that would solve my problem. LOL But, I don't want the soil to dry out.

I'm going to have a mess next year. With weeds and volunteer plants like basil.

I might go to bed early tonight. Last night I made myself stay up and watch TV in bed because I haven't done that in a long time. I watched Hoarders. Must have fallen asleep around 230. I love doing that once in awhile.

Tom is supposed to be home Friday night.

Jennifer, it sounds like a great productive day. I got 20 jars of jam and 15 1/2 cup jars of pear juice for the grandkids. I have watched a few shows like hoarders and I do not get it. I feel bad for people that live like that. But if you walked in my house right now, you’d probably think I was a hoarder too. After canning all day, it’s a hot mess and not much room to walk around.

I have not done anything in the garden for several day, and it is very dry. I do think that I will water again and try to get a few more peppers for a classmate. We had a lunching today. There were me and nine women there. We had a good time, but some of the regulars were not there because of dr. appointment, or sickness. We did final planning on our class reunion for Nov. 1 st. It is sorta depressing hearing about the ones that are sick and dying, but it happens to all of us.

I took 15 or 20 pounds of sweet potatoes for the ones that wanted some, and told that if any of the others some to let me know

We got a good rain at home while I was at work. Tom came home sick from Kansas and said it was a decent rain. Right now, the north metro is getting a storm. We just have some sprinkles and wind.

I had to go to the store after work, but got home in time to bring the sweet potatoes to the shop. Glad I got the garlic planted last night.

Fixed an easy supper. Opened a jar of brown beans, made some brown rice and cottage cheese. Got the dog walked and exercise done. Went to close up the coop and heard a cat screaming so had to get a powerful flashlight and here comes Sturgeon. He's in the shop now. Maybe he was fighting?

Jen and Kim, I'm still working on the jars. I emptied 4 into the chicken yard--stuff from 2020. Corn, peas, greens, and pickles.

I'm going to sit now. And do nothing.

I posted last night but there was a glitch. Jennifer I hate that Tom came home sick. I hope he gets well quickly. Market was canceled for tonight. We are expecting lots of rain. Thank you for all your work. Getting these things ready for us.

The market was canceled for tonight because of rain moving in. Bonus days off.

I'm sorry your market was cancelled but glad you got bonus days off, Kim!

We had about a half inch (my guess) over the past two days until just a few minutes ago. Other areas had good rains, but we didn't. However, it really just started pouring a few minutes ago. Maybe it will continue. I'm okay for it to rain all night. But, it's doubtful it will. I'll take all we can get right now.

Nothing in garden news. Just my regular Friday of going to Edmond, coming home and going to dinner and getting the shopping done for the week.

I've been hearing about how grocery prices are going up but never really paid attention. We picked up some groceries for a boys home along with our regular groceries. Wow. Prices are nuts right now. I'm glad that I rarely buy fresh produce or canned/frozen veg because I have my garden. We've done picked up groceries often before for the boys home and others, but for some reason I actually paid attention to the total tonight.

The people on food assistance, well, I've seen a few people complain that they get a $1000 or however much a month and these complaining people believe it's too much. But, honestly, they need it. (Having said that, I do think they should be given cooking classes and whatnot to help them stretch their food and make healthier meals).

Tomorrow, is picking up chicken feed. Maybe going to a "specialty" shoe store to look for shoes for my awful feet, but that involves working around game day traffic in Norman.

I tried to explain to Tom how difficult it is to buy shoes. My feet hurt all the time. They never don't hurt. Good shoes make life less painful, tho. And allow me to exercise,

garden, and live my life in slightly less pain. I'll take that.

It's just hard to find the right shoes other than Oofos and Hoka. I want attractive shoes. Especially since I'm letting my hair grow out in whatever my current natural color is. My hair is going to be a nightmare. I was born with dark red hair--auburn is what my parents called it. My dad's was the same color. My mom had strawberry blonde and my sister was a bright red. BUT, who knows what my hair is now that I've gotten older. I've been coloring it for over a decade. It appears to be white/silver around my face with a few spots that are growing in a light red--like strawberry blonde. The back part of my hair seems to be a dark brown. Weird. Any advice from any of y'all ladies on growing out your "gray"?

Anyway, because I still work outside the home and need to look somewhat "nice", I want attractive outfits/shoes since my hair will be garish, I'm afraid.

Glenda, we probably won't come to Walnut Woods this year. I'm really disappointed about it too. We were going to come to your property tomorrow morning, but the rain will prevent that. Also, my daughter is really not feeling well at all. Hoping to make it next October.

Not much gardening talk. But, I am going to try to harvest everything this next week and call it good.

What are y'all up to today? Any plans for the weekend? Getting rain?

Kim, I always wish Dawn would have shared pictures of her garden. I understand why she didn't, but I still wish I could have seen it in all its glory. I think that's why I like having Spring Fling at peoples' houses; we get to see what others are doing.

HJ, thanks, I appreciate it. If there's a half gallon that Kim doesn't want, I'd like to get one. I want to try and make a larger container of fire cider this year instead of making so many small jars. But to do that I have to buy one of those humongous jars of pickles (I'm entirely too cheapskate to buy an empty jar lol) and eat all of them first.

We at least have assigned seating for our assigned days in office, but if for some reason I have to come in for a meeting I would have to find a hoteling station or hang out in an empty conference room. Plus the aggravation of finding

Silliness is exactly it. We have assigned days and assigned desks for those days. But they have this added rule that every desk must be filled every day. So if I'm going on vacation, I have to find someone who will switch days with me so my desk is filled on my assigned day. Otherwise I get dinged for it. And when I get a migraine, instead of taking the morning easy and logging in late, I either have to drive to work and suck it up, or call out for the whole day. It's all asinine.

As for Cliff's new job, he seems to have weathered his first full week pretty well. We're out of credentialing (got that email today) and they sound like they're impressed with how well he's taken to inspections. I'm trying to help as I can, doing some of the inspections here around Shawnee. I can run out after I log off work and do one, maybe two, of the ones that take about 30-45 minutes, which allows him to get more done during his routes. Plus I'm his "secretary" as he jokingly calls me. Paperwork isn't his specialty, and I'm a number cruncher by trade so I get to track all the miles, number of stops, etc while drives all around creation and does the inspections.

Kim, sorry your market got canceled but happy you got a day off.

I neglected the garden for almost two weeks (life got in the way), so yesterday I went out and harvested as much as I could. Some critter took a big bite out of 3 of my last tomatoes, though I did salvage one that was over ripe for the seeds. HJ, enjoy your surplus; I'm mourning the fact that I have four remaining tomatoes, and hoping I get to enjoy them before something else eats them.

I did harvest a bunch of Dawn's peppers so I'll hopefully have a few plants too.

Church halloween festival tomorrow, then Sunday will be our first service in the new building. In 2 weeks we'll have our open house and be able to celebrate with everyone who helped us get rebuilt. Now, to get off my rear and get stuff done before I go to bed.

We got alot of rain. I have not been outside but it stormed for over 3 hours. Market was supposed to start at 6 rain started at 630. So it was a good call. It just stinks missing a weeks wages. Time to tighten the belt as they used to say. I tidied up in the shed and swept up a ton of cabbages seeds. I put them in the garden. Maybe a few will sprout. I need to redo all the empty pots but they are definitely going to be too wet to deal with for a week or so. What are y’all doing

We have had a good amount of rain also. I have not even been out to the garden. I did mow the pasture garden that I let Matt plant, and nether of us were able to attend it. I was hoping that a few of the sweet potatoes would produce, but it looks like only a few potatoes may have produced, but the garden did serve as a decoy garden, and the wildlife loved it. I have already given Matt 30 to 40 pounds of sweet potatoes, so he will not strike out completely. I have more potatoes that will have their growing time in mid Nov., but they are growing under a tree and may not produce any thing, plus it is getting late enough in the year that I doubt that they are growing anyway.

I have a ton of work that needs to be done, but Madge and I both seem to always be in the Dr's. office.

I have way too many seeds, I should just toss most of them into the garden and use them as a cover crop if they come up. I still have onions and garlic to plant. I don't plan on planting as much much of ether of them as I did last year.

If the ground was not so wet, I would plow the pasture garden to see if any of the sweet potatoes produced, and reseed if with rye grass.

Jennifer, I forgot about the little peach tree that I started from seed, and it got pretty dry, and another sprout came up from the base. I up potted it, I am still going to try saving it.

We have received 2.7” of rain this week and it’s still raining . Jennifer, we are muddy and WW was closed Friday and should be today. I find it hard to believe parents bring their children, especially the very young ones out in the rain and mud. Before anyone asks, yes my children played in the rain and the mud and they were as healthy as those who didn’t. But it was at home, not somewhere I paid to let them do it.

Next year your grandson will be older and enjoy it so much more. We canceled the annual Sunday School party last night that we host at our house every year because it was just too muddy and water standing everywhere. Our group is older with several like me that have difficulty getting around in dry weather. They all enjoy coming to the country and having a small fire in fire pit and a hay ride around the property. We may reschedule but not decided yet. All that being said we are so grateful for the rain for ponds and pastures. My garden is on its last legs and except for some Austrian peas and clover I planted to have green stuff for the chickens I’m not trying to keep anything going. I still have an abundance of peppers and lots of zucchini - will probably make zucchini relish this week. My brother has promised me all his green tomatoes before a frost so that will be chow chow. We love the zucchini bread but don’t need much of it. Both of us have enough health issues without more bread or desserts - although that is my weakness and I usually have some in the freezer.

I plan to clean out chicken house and get it closed in, normally by now that is already done but the weather has been mild and I’ve been running behind because of other things going on. I’ll spread that in the garden to compost over the winter. My daughter buys new chicks to have for Walnut Woods and she is giving me 6 of those for new pullets. My hens are 3-5 years old and right now molting and look ghastly. I have eggs for baking frozen but had to buy eggs for a dish last week. It makes me quite unhappy to own and feed hens then still have to buy eggs. Sigh…..

My fall zinnias are beautiful now, the rain has perked them up. Deer have eaten everything else I would normally have for fall color.

My sunchoke is making little tubers. My rain containers are full. The barrel is almost full. They said we got 1 inch of rain but there’s no way that we got that little here I have gotten as much as 4 inches and my rain barrel did not even get close to filling up. But without a rain gauge, I have no scientific proof.

Jen, you've got a busy weekend, but an exciting one. Yep, I'll have a large jar for you. I like them for fermenting and making sun tea but only need a few.

I also always wanted to see Dawn's garden. She was private in that way. Partially because people tried to stalk her, I think. Didn't someone want her address so they could look at her property aerially (sp). It sorta freaked her out, I think.

Glad Cliff's new job seems to be working out. And also glad that between you, Kim, and me we'll have Dawn peppers.

The amount of produce I have wasting (mostly peppers) this year is shameful.

Kim, seems like you're being productive with your days off. Try to enjoy them even tho it's a hit on your finances. We'll be tightening our belts too, because I did find shoes at the specialty shop and they weren't cheap. I also ordered the new 2 ft light shelf. It wasn't expensive tho.

Larry, I'm glad you're saving the little peach tree! The fruit trees in our neighborhood did very well this year. Other than my apples, which rotted while still on the tree. Weird. But people's pears and peaches did amazing. I need to check our pecan.

We had light rain all night, I think, and even this morning. Drizzly type of rain. But, I do believe we made it to over an inch of rain. That's a win.

Glenda, those flowers are beautiful. Do you ever have issues with powdery mildew on the foliage? I'm also SO happy for the rain, but why this weekend when there's so much going on? lol

Yes, the baby will have more fun next year when he's two. We also have Orr Family Farm near to our home. It's become a little too "Disney" tho. I'll wait until he's quite a bit older to take him there.

Zucchini bread actually sounds delicious right now. I forgot about the 2 plants I put in for fall. I'll have to go look at them. See if they survived.

Many of my hens are molting too. They look awful. We're only getting an average of 2 eggs a day for the past couple of weeks. I did get 4 yesterday. But, I put a few dozen in the shop refrigerator for us to use when this happened. My neighbor has young hens and they're still laying decently well so I might purchase from her if we run out. Do you have a variety of chicken that you prefer? We have several breeds and "barnyard mixes".

My daughter is feeling better and they're going to a Halloween party tonight so the baby is coming to stay the night with us. I'm hosting a friend's mother's Celebration of Life in a couple of hours so they're just dropping him off there. She's feeling guilty about sending him off again after last weekend. I assured her it was fine. He's spending most the day with them and will basically only eat supper, bathe and sleep here. They'll pick him up from my work tomorrow.

It is really dull around here. We went to town for lunch, and I saw a little damage from the wind and rain, but it was very little. I went out to the north garden when I got home to check the remaining sweet potatoes. I may as well dig the potatoes, they spent most of the time in the the shade of a tree growing next to the garden, and the cool weather pretty well has their growth cut off. If I start cleaning my garden now maybe I can keep it clean till spring, even tho it had never worked in the past.

I'll start a new thread.