heat's end?

We made it to September without a heat pump. Our financial strategies pulled down many debts but in doing so much of the down payment for this went elsewhere. Late August was a string of 80-90° days, but on the 31st we had over ½ inch of rain. September began with fog! Over an inch of rain already as we head toward autumn, and no 80° days in the forecast. We could still pull a few warm days, but for the most part summer heat has ended for us here.

In the garden our spinach has gone to flowers, a dozen or more hops have arrived, and a few small zucchini are doing their best. The rains will cheer them for a last dash, and hopefully a few days of steamed 'zukes will come before long. The big mower was only needed once on the major slopes, thankfully - but it sure does the job well!

Little Mithril isn't so small any more, getting lanky and matching up more closely with her mama-cat. It's time to trap and spay, with a bit more luck mama will take the drive this year. Besides the cats, several other projects remain before the true wet season: some more rain-diversions, a porch roof and finishing the two stairs outside are the big ones, and a bit of painting would be good too.  The roof must wait another year like the heat pump, but the gutters really need to be re-sloped for better big-rainfall events.

Also, it's time to buy firewood for the first time - the previous owners stocked us very well and we were sparing with it, but the pile is now essentially empty. Our new green 'truck' can handle a decent amount, likely enough for the year.. now to get out and shop / chop!

the Farmer arises

from hort.cornell.edu

I have no Book of Good Farming, but when the local pharmacy put out its early veggies I could not resist.  Yes, a few pretty flowers dropped into the car as well - but garlic, snap peas and spinach will get going today.  I've also picked up a third grape vine, a Himrod seedless white; that gives us a good collection of light and dark grapes for juice and snacking starting in about sixteen months.  I had been contemplating Interlaken grapes but none were available, and this is a cross-breed of the same lineage so who's to know?

The autumn of '16 will be a good one for several reasons, so the Canadice and Himrod (oops typed Nimrod, that won't be the last time I'm sure) will be a nice vintage for our table!  Assuming some Gewürtztraminer vines show up soon at the local shop, it could truly become a vintage and not just juice; we'll know more about that in ... maybe fourteen months :·)

The arrival of plants for the garden strongly suggests that the garden begin to take shape!  It's currently a pile of leaves atop some gravelly soil with a tiller in the garage.  The upcoming forecast is reasonably dry, so I'll need to start testing that tiller and get the soil amended.  For now though, several nice pots are doing nothing and the bag of potting soil is nearly full, so the true garden is under no huge rush.

In other news, I have finally put up a hummingbird feeder.  We own at least four, but at the old address they languished in the garage.  I stopped for some nectar mix at my local Ace and they had pre-made nectar (plus another feeder!) for under $5 - so it's now hanging up fairly high in the trees near our deck.  My sister usually sees hummers starting around St. Patrick's Day - but given the mild winter they might arrive early.  At long last, we are ready for them!