Seasonal Growth
A Recap of Summer & Autumn Transitions
It has been a long and busy summer. I focused primarily on documenting our farm, garden, and homesteading work through photos with short captions on our social media. I haven’t made time to sit down and write an in-depth update, until now. With temperatures fluctuating between 52 and 94 degrees, I feel like I’m finally at the threshold of seasonal change– and thankful for it. We’ve just passed the autumn equinox, when day and night are the same length. Going forward, the days will become shorter and shorter. But for now, we relish in summer memories, gather the harvest, and celebrate autumn.
As summer winds down, it’s a good time to reflect on how our crops have fared during these warmer months. This season has brought its share of challenges and successes, leading us to explore food preservation methods to prepare for fall and winter. We’re also taking a practical approach to building new garden beds for the next season by integrating our animals into the process. In this update, I’ll share developments from the farm as summer comes to an end and we begin to navigate the transition into the colder months.
The Garden
I am fascinated by the stark differences in how plants do in the garden from year to year. Using the same formula to grow tomatoes, for example, we have had different results in production year to year. This is due to lots of different factors, including but not limited to weather, soil, and luck. This year, we focused on planting only what we loved growing and eating last year, paring things down a bit. For example, we grew only two varieties of tomatoes, one type of cucumber, two types of radishes, only the sturdiest greens, etc. The crops we chose for this year’s garden have done quite well throughout the growing season overall. The differences are apparent in what thrived this season versus last season. Last season, tomatoes were prolific early in the year, as were pumpkins. We also had loads of volunteer pumpkins. On the other hand, last year’s cucumber took a while to start producing.
This season, we had less tomato plants, but the plants that survived a late frost have been very productive and are still blooming super late. We planted only pickling cucumbers, which have been one of our most prolific crops, providing enough cucumbers for several batches of pickles. Marigolds and zinnias have done extremely well despite, or probably because of, my lack of attention to them. Squash bugs did not come for our watermelon this year, so we had several beautiful and delicious melons. Speaking of squash, lots of it was taken over by squash bugs, but we have a thriving new pumpkin patch which was planted in mid-August. It’s growing beautifully so far, and I think the squash bugs are now dormant until next year.
Our kale has done great this year. It thrives throughout most of our seasons, dying back in the harshest part of winter but coming back reliably each spring. I respect kale for its hardiness, and despite lots of people disliking it, I really enjoy cooking with it. Other crops we’ve had good luck with this year are daikon radishes, okra, genovese and tulsi basil, sage, sunflowers, buckwheat as a cover crop, and our first garlic harvest!
It’s hard to believe it’s almost time to plant garlic again. It seems like just a few months ago we were eagerly sowing it for the first time, anxiously awaiting the harvest. The result was pounds and pounds of fresh, delicious garlic. Transcendent. Definitely worth the wait. We will be planting more in the coming months.
Preserving the Harvest
Summer is the most difficult and the most rewarding season in the garden. Here in the Oklahoma Ozarks, most days are in the nineties with high humidity from June to September. Some days and weeks are cooler, and sometimes it rains, but often in the throes of midsummer, it is hot and dry. This can make it difficult to find motivation to go out and take care of the garden during the height of the season, and we often tend the garden under cover of night. Summer is also the most rewarding because it’s the time in which we begin to harvest some of my favorite garden veggies and herbs, like tomatoes and cucumbers. Last year, we had a surplus of tomatoes but I never made it a priority to preserve them. I was very intimidated by canning and worried I’d mess it up. This year was different. I was fully determined to try canning, motivated by my successful first attempt at soapmaking (another task I’d put off for years).
I began my exploration into the world of canning by making pickles. Simple enough, I thought. Around mid-June, we began producing loads of pickling cucumbers. They seemed to fruit all at once, demanding to be preserved. I found several simple canned pickle recipes to try, but first I made a batch of fermented pickles, not canned. The fermented pickles were “bread and butter” pickles, which have always been my favorite. After stalling the canning process a bit with un-canned, fermented pickles, I tried a very basic dill recipe since dill leaves were ready to harvest at the same time as the cucumbers. It also included some of our fresh garlic and serrano peppers. The final products has been getting raving reviews from family and friends. I believe the moral of the story is to try new things that scare you, even if it’s as simple as preserving food.
In addition to cucumbers, I also canned tomatoes by making salsa with our garlic and peppers. The recipe I used was pretty good, but could definitely have used more peppers. It’s now late September and we are still harvesting lots of tomatoes and peppers, so there’s still plenty of time for trying out different recipes.
A family member has an apple tree in their backyard that began producing lots of apples in August. Of course I happily accepted an offer of a couple of boxes of fresh apples when it was offered. I bake very often during autumn, apple pie and apple crumble being among my favorite recipes to bake. So, I decided to make those fresh apples into pie filling and canned them. In all of my recent canning experience, I was pleasantly surprised at how simple the process was. With some attention to making sure the equipment was sanitized, along with a bit of patience, it was really quite easy and very, very gratifying.
Birds with Jobs
We made some minor improvements on the chicken tractor that have made it even more useful. Before, it was a 4’x8’ box covered in hardware cloth. We would put a few of our chickens in it to graze certain areas throughout the daytime, but I was always too hesitant to keep them in overnight due to predators. I convinced Damien to make several improvements to both make room for more chickens and to improve their coziness and safety. He added some grazing space and a roof by making half an A-frame, covering it with hardware cloth at the bottom and scrap metal from an old, fallen barn for the roof. The hens have a perch to nest on at night, and a makeshift nesting box to lay eggs in. Eventually, we will add a “second story” with easily accessible nesting boxes.
The chicken tractor is more useful now because it’s got more room for the hens, but also because we added a set of wheels to make it easier to move around. An improved, mobile chicken tractor means we can set the chickens to graze where we need a new bed or where we want to fertilize, then easily move them a few feet every couple of days without much effort. They make excellent, nitrogen-rich compost when left on a patch of grass for a short time. Grazing also keeps them healthier since they can spend more time foraging for insects in addition to their regular feed.
They start preparing our beds by scratching up the grass, exposing the top layer of dirt. Their own waste is heavily deposited on that same dirt, adding nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, and loads of other nutrients to the ground. Their fresh waste is too potent to use as immediate fertilizer, but given the opportunity to break down for a period of months, when combined with organic materials, it will create an excellent start to a garden bed. After it’s scratched up and “fertilized,” we will cover it with mulch and will plant a winter cover crop to get as much organic material as possible into it.
Autumn Glimmers
Reflecting on the transition to a new season on the farm, the summer growing season has been marked by both challenges (squash bugs) and triumphs (pickles). As summer fades and the chill of autumn sets in, we’re filled with a sense of purpose and anticipation for the coming season. Each new phase on the farm reminds us to be adaptable and find beauty in small things.
I am looking forward to embracing the transition into the colder months, equipped with new skills and an eagerness for cozy hobbies. I can’t wait to see the leaves change and feel the cool air settle in. Over the next few months, we’ll plant fall and winter crops, work on projects like soapmaking, kombucha, renewing our compost pile, and just generally celebrate the glimmers of autumn.
I hope you’ll continue to join me!
Until the leaves turn,
Allyson
Will you have extra pumpkins to sell?