The summer that just got bumped from the top of the "hottest" list was followed by the coldest winter on record. And the predictions for this winter are the same (according to the 2011 Farmer's Almanac): a record cold with above average snowfall. The weather forecast for this week portends just that. Our first freeze is to come Friday night, two weeks earlier than usual. Last week they predicted a near-freezing night, so I closed the cold frames and picked veges pictured here. I am delighted to still be getting peppers of all kinds -- green, yellow, jalapeño, banana -- plus eggplant and okra. The 2nd planting of tomatoes are producing too. I pulled a watermelon last week and there is one left. But Friday all that ends. I will harvest all that is left, except the few remaining pumpkins. The green tomatoes will be wrapped in newspaper and put in the root cellar, an old-fashioned storage method I just recently learned about. The rest will be eaten, frozen or shared.
I can't say I am looking forward to a cold winter. Snow is wonderful when you don't have anywhere to go, but since we manage rental properties, we always have somewhere we have to be -- to shovel walkways and throw down salt. The fireplace is soon to be installed, so that's good. Something more reliable than hot flashes to keep me warm. We cut down two trees last weekend (those logs won't be ready to burn 'til next year, though). The good news is we figured out where to put the log pile.
It's been about 2 weeks since anyone in this country (Peace River Country of BC) got any peppers unless they were from a green house that was closed up tight.
ReplyDeleteAs for the summer ... drought from Edmonton to north of here and flooding in the south of Western Canada.
Of course, as soon as the local farmers started to take the poor, water-starved crops off the fields ... it rained just fine. In some cases what came out of the field almost replaced what it cost to put it in.
Another average year.
Dave
www.dmmcgowan.blogspot.com
Dave, Thanks for sharing your weather extremes ... all the way from Peace River County in BC! Come again for a visit.
ReplyDeleteAmelia