The leaves are turning and temps have dropped some 20 degrees over the last few weeks. Last year this filled me with dread but this year I'm kind of energized. Harvest time! Best get ready for winter!

I harvested the Pot-o-Herbs two weeks ago and there is still plenty more. I have frozen more herbs than I will use all winter and am now trying to give stuff to the neighbors. I may freeze a few more packages, for reasons that will become apparent later.



People are stockpiling firewood and I feel like I should do that except I have a gas fireplace. Instead I've test run the generator and the snowblower, changed the wiper blades, changed the washer fluid in both vehicles to the -30 degree stuff, tested the furnace and built shelves in the garage at the Lake so I can store the pots there over the winter. I'll probably schlep the garden hoses up there too, although I suppose I could just drag them in to the basement. Same with the glue and stains in the garage - the glue all went bad when it froze last year.

Time to set up the basement man cave! Sharon retired a few months ago and I took over the office space in there. It's nice but it's always cold, more so in the summer than in the winter when the heat is running. Looked in to several ways to fix the problem; a second gas furnace, baseboard heat, a split system heatpump, electric fireplace, motorized dampers in the ductwork, all of which were too expensive to heat a space I only use a few hours a week and mostly houses Jack's bounce house.

My highly sophisticated and technically superior solution was to get two of the (silent) radiator style 120 volt electric space heaters - one for each circuit in the space. That's 3000 watts of electric heat which will raise the temp the required 10 degrees in about 30 minutes. I put them on remote control receptacles so I can turn them on from upstairs when I am going to use the space, take my shower or some such and have it nice and toasty when I enter. They're kind of expensive to run but a couple hours a week doesn't seem to affect the electric bill much.

Now I find myself using the space more, mostly to watch YouTube on TV so Sharon can watch what she likes. It's nice cozy spot and I've set about filling it with all of the hopelessly out of date furniture and collected items that I love but had to box up and store when we moved. Time to fit it up right!

Found this Empire style oak cabinet on Facebook Marketplace for $100. It had lots of veneer issues, the finish had turned black and the back had gotten wet and rotted off. Got to try out some new skills and I am pleased with how it turned out.



I'm pleased to have a space to display the plaque that is sitting on top of the cabinet. It was made from a picture of my father in law I took at Cannon Beach the year before he died. My friend's wife is a gifted artist and laboriously cut out all of the shapes it took to reproduce it in wood then finished it beautifully. So nice to have it out where I can see it again.

Here is the photo next to the plaque:

Here is the sitting area which is mostly full of stuff we moved from California. It's all heavy stuff and we almost didn't move it but I' glad we did.



The tables were built by my father; one of his last projects and certainly some of his best work. Some of the lamps are new and the cowboy light fixture was salvaged from Sharon's grandfather's house. I think I posted something about that fixture at one point.

The TV center is a particle board interpretation of how a Mission Style entertainment center might look if there were such things. It's not great quality but it's good enough and I've filled with all manner of things salvaged from my parent's house, the hoarder house, thrift stores and garage sales, as well as souvenirs from various travels. Too much stuff, according to my daughter, but I don't care. I love every piece of it.

Sharon opined that there is far too much heavy oak furniture in the space and that I should get rid of some of it. Instead I went out and bought this piece. Facebook Marketplace again, this time in pretty good shape.



It's an odd style and I'm not sure how old it is. Finish was shellac and the back is plywood so it's probably 1920-ish. The pulls match the Empire cabinet so it could be some years older.

The only damage was water rings on the top. Those are usually easy to get rid of but on this piece they were deep in the wood as someone stripped the old finish without applying a protective finish over what was left. It took several days but I managed to get them out with wood bleach. The shelves are glass and I have ordered some lights to install inside.

I don't like the display so far, but there is time. Lamps are from Goodwill - $4 each.

We bought this British pub sign right after we were married. It's the real deal - Courage is a brand of beer. It's also moved through several houses.



I installed at the foot of the stairs so you can see it from the kitchen. I feel like I am going in to an old downstairs pub whenever I pass it.

Finally, would be preparation for winter without hoarding food? Finally pulled the trigger and bought a freezer! What a household with two people need with a freezer is open to question but Costco had a sale on it and here it is. Sharon already made two batches of soup and stashed them away.



Odd design - has individual drawers instead of shelves. It cuts down on available space but it sure makes it easy to find stuff. I'm not happy that it wont go below about 8 degrees but that's probably good enough. Comparable freezers were all twice the price.

Pay no mind to the cord running across the sump. I'll install a proper receptacle behind it next week. At the same time I may go to Habitat downtown and pick up some of the salvage kitchen cabinets I saw when I was there. It would be nice to have a counter to set things on when loading and unloading it and having enclosed cupboards will help keep the dust off of what we have stored in there.

At one time I probably owned 5 conduit benders. It's a shame I didn't move any of them - now I'll have to buy one.

I love that new acquisition; the detailing above the glass doors is lovely. Go, Steve!

Everything looks great, Steve!! I'm glad you're enjoying it all!!

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the detailing above the glass doors is lovely

I noticed that too, very pretty!

I have a very similar quarter-sawn oak glass-doored cabinet. Similar carving above. Bought it in an antique shop near Utica NY back in the 1980s. I think it's from the 1890-1920 period when the style was common and the furniture factories in upstate were churning out stuff for burgeoning industrial cities of the region.

I like it.
Now I want a glass front cabinet.

John Courage is one of my favorite British ales. Love that poster.

I'd watch the Browns there with you. You have beer, right?

Fall is my favorite season. The golden light in autumn is amazing for painting or photography.

And you also inspired me to harvest the last of the tomatoes, and pull the plants. It is definitely fall here.

Count me in for the football party. As long as there's some British beer....

Leaf art:

https://mossandfog.com/artisti...rtist-nikola-faller/

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Originally posted by AdagioM:
And you also inspired me to harvest the last of the tomatoes, and pull the plants. It is definitely fall here.

Days are getting much shorter and it feels a lot like autumn. Except for the fact that temps are still in the 80s and will be through Thursday. I'm letting the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants grow just a little more before I pick them.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
And you also inspired me to harvest the last of the tomatoes, and pull the plants. It is definitely fall here.

Days are getting much shorter and it feels a lot like autumn. Except for the fact that temps are still in the 80s and will be through Thursday. I'm letting the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants grow just a little more before I pick them.

We have highs in the 60s; I don’t see any point to trying to keep vegetables going.

But I was in St. Louis last week, so I had a couple days of summer weather again, which was grand. We were on an Alaskan cruise at the beginning of September, started in summer and ended in fall! Then we got covid, which kept us in another week. Glad to have the couple days in St. Louis.

From our CSA farmer:

quote:

Here are some considerations/announcements about customizing next week's delivery.

Back to Life
I had retired the tomatoes over a week ago. We gave them a final look today, then decided to harvest them—some green, some red, some heirloom, some regular. For next week, I am only offering ripening to ripe tomatoes, either regular or heirloom, since many of the green tomatoes will begin to ripen in storage.

Note: If you include tomatoes in your box next week, I will probably include green tomatoes in your box, mixed in with ripe tomatoes, since the green ones are likely to ripen soon, and if they don’t ripen, well, you got green tomatoes. I’m trying to keep this relatively simple from a sorting/packing standpoint.

Second Note: the tomatoes are fine, but not as pristine as earlier—fine, though, and a fall treat.

We also brought in a lot of sweet peppers for next week. Same with eggplant.

You might wonder why we harvested them early like this. There might be a frost coming soon, plus, it’s a lot easier to predict what we can offer of these wily crops when they are counted into crates, rather than when they are hiding on the vines. Peppers and eggplant keep well in storage, tomatoes ok for a bit.

Stranger Yet
The yellowing, bedraggled basil made a comeback. It’s nice, not pristine, but nice. Please don’t order it if you demand pristine basil. If you order it, please rejoice that basil of acceptable quality is available in October. Wow!

Have We Ever Had These Crops This Late?
There was a year in the late 90’s when we had some of these warm weather crops this late; there is a precedent.

This Warmth Will Subside
After tomorrow, Wednesday, the weather is likely to cool down—good for many of our remaining crops.

Warmly,
Farmer John

I noticed the same thing about my basil plants. I was ready to pull them out last week because they were all yellow but didn't get around to it. Lo and behold, they got a spurt of new green growth...