How NOT to Transport a Tree
Mr Chiot’s and I spotted these 2 ladies taking a new tree home last week. I wish we had been able to follow them home to see what happened. I’m guessing it wasn’t pretty. The funny this is they could have laid the tree down in the back of their SUV.
This is why my camera is always in my purse!
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Echinacea: Spring through Fall
This is an echinacea in spring, summer and fall, it really is beautiful in all seasons.
Don’t be to quick to cut off your perennials in the fall, they add beauty to the fall garden and they provide seeds for the birds in the fall and winter. Many beneficial insects also winter over on the dry stalks.
Are you quick to clean out your beds or do you leave the flower stalks standing till spring? Mine stay until new growth emerges in spring.
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Liatris: Spring through Fall
Flowers can be beautiful in all seasons. Here’s a Liatris in spring, summer and fall.
Which is your favorite?
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The First Frost
Yesterday morning (October 19) we had our first frost of the season here at Chiot’s Run. This is rather late for us, last year it was in late September. It was much heavier down in the valleys than around our house, but since we live on one of the highest hills, we get frost a few weeks later than the lower lying areas.
This means all the petunias will be withering away soon, as will many of my veggies (I have a few tomatoes still in the garden).
The woolly thyme looked particularly interesting this morning covered in frost.
We had some delicious hot cereal (steel cut oats with cinnamon & maple syrup) for breakfast to celebrate the coming winter. Mr Chiot’s and I are super excited about this coming winter. We’re big fans of cold weather and snow. We don’t partake in any snow/winter sports, but we love to run in the winter. So out coming the running shoes and we will start training for the Turkey Trot, St. Patrick’s Day Race and hopefully the Half Marathon next spring in New Philly. So as most runners are retiring to the treadmill, Mr Chiot’s and I are excitedly bundling up for our snowy runs.
Even though I would like to spend a lot of time running, I still have a lot of garden chores to finish up. So I’ll be spending some frigid days out working in the gardens. Everything need a good layer of mulch and a few plants need some winter tidying. We also need to build a cold frame for those carrots, hopefully that will be happening this week.
What are you looking forward to as the seasons change?
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Statistics I Like to Hear
Today in America there is soaring demand for local and regional food; farmers’ markets, of which the U.S.D.A. estimates there are now 4,700, have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the food market. Community-supported agriculture is booming as well: there are now nearly 1,500 community-supported farms, to which consumers pay an annual fee in exchange for a weekly box of produce through the season.
I’m doing my part to increase demand for local food. This year Mr Chiots and I started buying 80% of our food locally. We’re hoping to buy even more, some things like grains are difficult to find locally, but we do purchase them from small local bulk food stores so they’re fresher. We buy our chicken, eggs, beef and milk from Robert’s Farm (they also sell potatoes in the fall). We buy all of our produce at the farmer’s market and we try to preserve as much as we can to limit the need for buying from the grocery.
We grow some of our own veggies to further cut down on the traveling miles and environmental impact of our food. In future years we hope to grow even more of our own food as we add more and more edible plants & trees into our landscape.
What are you going to strengthen you local food supply?
