The First Snowfall of the Year

Yesterday morning when Mr Chiot’s and I were getting ready to head out to a shoot it started snowing. How exciting! We’re super excited about the coming winter and we’re hoping for tons and tons of snow. It’s difficult to get a good photo of a tiny snowflake, but I managed to get 2.


Anyone else out there get snow already?

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Will it be a Mild or Cold Winter?

Here in Ohio we have a huge festival in the fall called the Woolly Bear Festival. Here in Ohio we call the caterpillars of the Isabella Tiger Moth “Woolly Bears”, in the south they are called “Woolly Worms” in other areas they are called “The Black Ended Bear”. You always know that fall is coming when you start seeing these crossing the roads and around the yard looking for a warm spot to overwinter. I spotted a teeny tiny on earlier this summer on my parsley plant.

There’s a saying that the bands on the woolly bear will tell you what kind of winter you’re having. According to legend the wider the band the milder the winter. So does it work? Read this article and see for yourself. You have to be careful because the all-black or all-tan ones aren’t really woolly bears, they’re caterpillars of a different species of moths. Accurate or not in predicting the winter, they’re fun to have around.

I always like spotting them about the garden, it seems like they’re always headed somewhere in a hurry. Sometimes I uncover them when raking leaves or moving a bale of straw. Usually I find them another warm spot where they won’t be disturbed and put them there. In the spring they will emerge as the Isabella Tiger Moth.

Have you been spotting these little fuzzy caterpillars around your home? What are they telling you about the winter?

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Beautiful Edible Bushes

This year we planted 6 new blueberry bushes here at Chiot’s Run. I bought the All-Season Blueberry Sampler from Nourse Farms. Blueberries are great to have around because they’re pretty bushes and they provide healthy delicious berries. They are also really pretty in the fall.

Next year I’m hoping to incorporate a few more blueberry and raspberry bushes into our landscaping.

So what about you, do you have any bushes that produce edible fruits/berries?

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Not So Appetizing

After reading this article, a CAFO beef steak doesn’t sound so appetizing anymore. This line really got me: Animal feed legally can contain rendered road kill, dead horses, and euthanized cats and dogs.

Give me pastured please!
Happy cows = happy people here at Chiot’s Run.

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Fall & Winter Watering

We had a long hot dry summer here in Ohio, as did much of the country. I watered and watered all summer long. This fall we have still been a little low on rain so I’ve been watering to make sure all my plants go into winter as healthy as possible. Many people don’t realize that watering is still important in fall and winter. Dry air, low precipitation, little soil moisture, and fluctuating temperatures are characteristics of fall and winter in many areas of the country. There often can be little or no snow cover to provide soil moisture, particularly from October through March. Trees, shrubs, perennials and lawns can be damaged if they do not receive supplemental water.

The result of long, dry periods during fall and winter is injury or death to parts of plant root systems. Affected plants may appear perfectly normal and resume growth in the spring using stored food energy. Plants may be weakened and all or parts may die in late spring or summer when temperatures rise. Weakened plants also may be subject to insect and disease problems.

Guidelines for fall & winter watering:
* Water trees, shrubs, lawns, and perennials during prolonged dry fall and winter periods to prevent root damage that affects the health of the entire plant.
* Water only when air and soil temperatures are above 40 degrees F with no snow cover. Apply water at mid-day so it will have time to soak in before possible freezing at night.
* Established large trees have a root spread equal to or greater than the height of the tree. Apply water to the most critical part of the root zone within the dripline.


It’s a good thing I installed those rain barrels because I have plenty of free water to make sure everything is fully hydrated. Here pretty soon I am going to need to drain my rain barrels for winter, so I need to use up all the water in them. What better way than to make sure everything is watered in for the winter.

Do you water in fall & winter?

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