We helped a nearby farmer clean out his orchard last week and came home with 7-8 bushels of apples to store over winter. I cut about three dozen to dry, and will do more when these are done. We need to get some pallets to put down cellar so we can store them up off the floor.

We are getting the rest of the garden cleared off and dug under. We are going to pile stuff up on the garden to burn; mostly the top and branches of the 60-70 foot spruce that came down in a storm a few weeks ago. We have been waiting for the farmer who owns the field next to us to take his soybeans off; don't want to burn his crop with some chance sparks!

Tom spent the day stapling plastic to some of the windows and the children cleaned out the garage and moved all our stuff out of the neighbour's shed--we had been keeping it there while the neighbour (who is also our landlord) jacked up the section of our house that used to be a summer kitchen but is now a sort of mud room/storage area. I thought of all the things in boxes which I have not seen since I packed to move over a year ago, and began to think seriously about a yard sale come spring.

We also need to fix up winter quarters for the rabbits and chickens; I am waiting to hear from the man that owns the barns behind our house about whether we can rent a small room he is not using. If not, we will have to build a chicken coop soon. We had flurries over the weekend.

So what are you all doing?

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 22, 2001

Answers

Cathy~ We have been cleaning up limbs from the yard that have been blown out of the tree tops. We have a bunch of black walnut trees that are 75+ years old and are so tall that we just have to wait for the wind to blow the dead stuff out. But, at least after everything is all picked up and the wind has finally quit blowing so hard, we can have a big bonfire and cookout.

The two littlest boys play football. #2 Son lost his playoff game tonight, but #3 won and plays in the semi-finals on Thursday. I am happy when they win, but I am also ready for our evenings to get back to normal, or as normal as they are without anyone playing a sport.

On Nov. 11, we will move into our new sactuary at church. We have been meeting in the family life center and are packed!! We are so excited about only having to have one service on Sunday morning and getting to be all together to worship. DH and I sing in choir and we have been having extra practices for special music for he "BIG" day!! God is definitely GOOD!

Fall is my favorite time of year and I think this year has been one of the prettiest and best.

-- Ivy in NW AR (balch84@cox-internet.com), October 22, 2001.

We have built on to the house so we are siding and painting before it gets to cold. I drove 42 t-posts saturday and we (me, my son and mother) painted them(my dad insisted on white to match the house around the yard!!!).I inlarged the chicken pen Sunday afternoon. Now I am working on the new geese pen,hog pen,goat pen and small calf lot. Dozer came and dug out pond and took down 30 acres of fence my dad now is putting back up. Oh, I helped deliver a neighbors calf on Saturday night. It didn't make it.I have children during the day and work outside in the evenings. Garden in turned and we also have a huge burn pile in the middle of it to burn. It seems there is no catching up! I am behind on Christmas. I like to be done by Nov.1, but it looks like December maybe a closer date.This winter we have to finish the inside of the additions and so on and so on.After writing this I can't believe I am sitting down. Gotta go.God Bless!

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 22, 2001.

To tell you the truth to me, this is the nicest time of year for scenery, but a little bit boring to me!! The garden is all gone, I have nothing to can. I have cleaned and organized my house after the summer rush. The barns are clean and organized, our firewood is all cut. I do have a few quilts to make, but it is too nice to sit in here and do them. I'm not quite ready to think about Christmas stuff. So I am mostly just doing normal chores, volunteering at the library and teaching pre-school. It is supposed to snow here on Friday and Saturday! I do try to keep busy, but I am really looking for something a little new and exciting to conquer! Well Cale will be laid off in a few weeks and then I will be very busy. He is a lot of fun to have around, and we will start some new project I'm sure. We are talking about building a gazebo and a water pond in our front yard. It has a large (about 160 ft) border of perrinial flowers and bushes around it, and a gazebo, stone patio, and a BBQ grill would be a great addition. We have everything we need to do it, just need to start.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 23, 2001.

In Central Texas, fall was my favorite season, a time to put in a second garden, mulch the "spare" garden for next season, pick pecans and persimmons, etc...Here, we are putting the garden to bed. And hubby is working hard on Saturdays on my barn extension. Looking forward to moving the chickens out there and having more space for the goats as well(in separate coops, of course;)

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 23, 2001.

Cathy, Still building our house. We moved into it but, there is so much left to do. Gardens are finished and mulched for the season. Just harvested our fall crops and put everything down in the cellar. Culled all the chickens we hatched back in the Spring and put them in the freezer for winter use. I have about three cords of wood chopped and stacked but, I try to spend a few hours a week cutting and stacking more. Three cords may not be enough as winter seems to be coming early this year. We are waiting to the undergrowth to die down so that we can start fencing about an acre of our woods with plans on raising goats in the Spring. I need to cut some fence post from the area that the electric company cleared to put my power lines in too. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), October 26, 2001.

Ernest, friends of ours in New York (in the snowiest place east of the Rockies) put in at least 10 cords, sometimes 15, every fall. This was their sole supply of heat, and they spoke longingly of moving to West Virginia where they wouldn't need so much. I had been wondering about your house since visiting your website recently. Glad to hear things are going well.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 26, 2001.

we use a lot of firewood. We burn at least 15 cords a winter, and sometimes more. Our house is big and we keep 2 fires going 24 hours a day. Our storage shed is 14 x 20 x 8 (High) and we use it all every winter, plus another load or two sometimes. We carry at least 2-3 wheelbarrow loads every day when it gets really cold. We have no other source of heat and our house is about 3200 sq.ft. You know I have never lived anywhere that wood wan't the main source of heat!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 27, 2001.