Fall at Dogwood Trace

It's the first day of Fall - or is it the second?  Either way - it's fall!  I'm so glad for the cooler weather.  The chickens here at Dogwood Trace are thriving.

Right now we have some Lavender Araucana eggs in the incubator that should be hatching soon.  We also have some Cream Legbar egg from our own flock in there.  The next few days should be exciting as the hatching begins.

Yesterday I picked some carrots, tomatoes and peppers from our garden.  Ron had plowed the larger garden.  The vegetables I picked yesterday were from the boxes.  We plan on planting a fall garden - and we need to get that done ASAP.  Some lettuces, cabbage and other greens - maybe some onions and other root vegetables.  I hope we haven't waited too late.

We got a great crop of pears and apples from our little orchard this year.  And the fig tree I planted in the spring has grown like crazy.  I've canned lots of pear jelly, pear sauce and pear preserves.  Ron peeled and chopped apples for me - then put them in the freezer.  As soon as I have some time, I plan on making apple sauce, apple butter and apple pie filling from it.

We went to Georgia and picked muscadines at Ron's mother's house.  The muscadine jam was so good that when Ron had to go down there a couple weeks ago, I told him to pick as may as he could.  He picked THIRTEEN gallons.  So I've been busy making muscadine jam and then processing other muscadines to freeze for other recipes later.  We still have 3 gallons left in the refrigerator, and I plan to get those processed this weekend.

I learned to pressure can this year!  I canned about 20 quarts of tomatoes from our garden, along with about 5 pints of green beans.  I've already used lots of the tomatoes in chili and other sauces that I've made.  I use lots of tomatoes in my cooking.  So I doubt I could ever can too may tomatoes!  Now that I've learned to use the pressure canner, I intend to do more foods.

One of our favorite times of the day is the last hour or two before dark.  We sit in lawn chairs by the chicken coop and let the chickens free range under our supervision.  It's a pleasant time to enjoy being outside, to relax and reflect on our day.

We are loving our little "hobby farm" in Tennessee.