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The Itsy Bitsy Spider

October 10th, 2008

While out walking through the woods last week I almost walked right through this little guy’s web. He’s barely bigger than a kernel of popcorn. Amazing how intricate their webs are.

Spiders are one of those insects most people hate, but they’re so beneficial in the garden. They eat all kinds of other bugs (including mosquitoes). When we first moved here we had tons of those huge wolf spiders in our basement and around property. I grew up in South America with tarantulas & brown recluses, so I’ve easily made peace with the small North American spiders that inhabit Chiot’s Run. I know they’re good for my gardens, so I’ve taken to naming them instead of trying to kill them, makes them a little more endearing (I had a huge one I named Winston last year and it turned out he was a she – so Winstonette she became).


So do spiders creep you out or do you welcome them to you gardens?

Can I Get a Hip-Hip-Horray for the Ohio Department of Health?

October 9th, 2008

While at the farmer’s market on Saturday I noticed a sign at one of the booths.

The farmer’s market accepts WIC. I’ve heard of larger communities in more progressive states doing this, but I didn’t know the program had reached rural Ohio. How exciting. I sure hope that there are a lot of people taking advantage of this program.

Is this happening in your area? I sure hope so.

Too Many To-Do’s

October 8th, 2008

There’s so much to do in the fall garden. With all of the canning & preserving, I’ve spent most of my time indoors trying to make sure we can continue eating locally this winter. So my list of to-do’s in the garden keeps getting longer and longer. What is on that list?

I’m sure I’ll keep adding more as I cross things off, I don’t know if I’ll get it all finished this fall.

So what does your to-do list look like for this fall?

For the Love of Popeye

October 7th, 2008

My spinach seeds germinated wonderfully. I’m guessing I had about a 90% germination rate, which is great. When the plants grow a little bigger, I’ll use the thinnings as baby spinach – yum yum.

Hopefully these will mean delicious spinach salads late into fall and if I mulch it well, we’ll be able to eat spinach very early next spring. I’ll keep you posted.

Anyone else growing winter greens?

Algonquin Mill Festival

October 6th, 2008

If you live in NE Ohio, this coming weekend (October 10-12) is the Algonquin Mill Festival. It’s always a must visit for us every year. If you’re free head down for a few hours. We’ll be heading down Sunday afternoon for sure.

It’s a great little festival with steam engines large & small, a steam powered saw mill which is incredible and kind of scary all at the same time. They sell delicious pancakes made with freshly ground flour from the mill, so make sure you save room for those. They also have horses pressing sorghum that’s boiled down into sorghum molasses that you can buy (which makes a delicious sorghum pecan pie – no corn syrup needed).

Anyone else have any local fall festival that’s a must visit?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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