Now is the time to begin gathering pig food from my own farm. As the crops ripen. Nothing is wasted. Waste has no place in a sustainable farm system.
The sweetcorn has gone past the sweet stage so now I begin to chop the stalks (complete with corn) and throw the whole lot over the fence for the cows and the hogs. They eat everything.
The pigs stand on the stalks and rip the leaves off then chew on the stalks.
There are piles of windfall apples from a weekend of storms and what I don’t turn into apple sauce goes to the pigs.
The tomatoes that are split from the rain go to the pigs. The rest is made into summer sauce.
The wild plums from down in the Fellowship Forest are being prepped for Sloe Gin and the pumpkins are huge – though still growing. Not ready to harvest yet. They will be fall pig and cow feed. Plus pumpkin soup for the freezer.
The plum discard goes to the chickens.
And the firewood is trickling into the Wendy House and needs stacking.
Next we will prep the ground for garlic. And plant the fall greens. I need to start getting the glasshouse ready for winter too! Plus the fish barrels need sorting out for the fish to overwinter in the basement.
And another load of hay. So now we work. Hard. Harder. In the race towards winter. May I tell you again that I hate the winters here? Here being central Illinois.
Him indoors found these drums for me while going through a friends garage. Now they are being re-used as grain bins. Read what they used to contain! And laugh! They are the perfect size for me!
No need for new stuff!
Have a great day!
Celi
HERE is the latest Sustainable Sunday Newsletter. With a great roundup of all the animals.
HERE is the walkabout from JUNE if you would like to do a comparison.
The Kitchen's Garden 
22 responses to “Sweetcorn, pumpkins, tomatoes, apples and wild plums.”
Fat little hogs and duck patrol! Those animals will be well fed.
They are fatties. I am taking them for a walk every day going forward so they can learn to graze. So far they are just rushing about confused!
Ha ha – four mad piglets off the lead!
yup!
Yikes! Seeing your firewood makes me realize that we need to “get with the program” down here to get ours put in for the winter! We have trees that were downed by the tornado that came through in late May. We just need to cut and split them. They won’t be well seasoned though. Fortunately we do have some left from last year. We used to throw everything we didn’t use from the garden to the goats, but they were all rehomed last year. Now everything goes to the chickens or into the compost.
Pity the tornadoes don’t split and stack!!
It seems so early to be thinking towards winter. Although this whole spring/summer has been about a month to 6 weeks ahead of its usual timetable. Things are blooming now that usually don’t come along until well into September. And the growth rate of shrubs etc. seems to have gone through the roof this year. I’m having a hard time keeping up with deadheading perennials and cutting back shrubs that have grown a foot since pruning right after their spring/summer bloom. I keep a list of jobs that need to be done so I don’t just mooch around trying to decide what to do each morning. I go out and get three or four things taken care of and while doing that find at least that many more that I need to put down on my list. And then there is the list of things that I want to remember to move entirely or at least divide which has to wait for cooler weather. I may never climb out of this hole I’m digging for myself!
I remember going on a garden walk with a really amazing head gardener for a castle in Kent and she said – make sure to sit in your garden too – she said I can always tell a gardener they are just itching to weed or dead head or straighten a row!! Or stealing tips. We had a laugh!
Being a farmer means there is never an end to things to do- the chores re-energize themselves in a cycle. John does have an eye for finding useful things. Did he bring a cannon home along with the empty powder barrels? It could be a lawn ornament out by the pond to add interest 😉
No canon!!! Ha! But he has discovered an old coal range. I am hoping to look at it soon.
Now that’s a find! Let us know how it turns out.
I will!
The race toward winter is the hardest sprint in the season. We are right there with you.
You and I have one eye on winter all summer. Oo – that’s a good subject heading! A gift! Take care with all that hay to stack
As soon as it gets dry we will be wringing wet stacking it 🙂
Yes, I’m in Southern Illinois and the race towards winter is real this time of year.
You get it!! Hopefully we get time for some more broccoli!
Good morning Cecilia…You truly adhere to the old adage”Use it up, Wear it out,
Make it do, Or do without.”
Have a beautiful day,
Jo
Yes! It hurts me to throw things away!
Good lord! There is no rest on your watch! 😉 It was fun to see the Pop Pops after seeing them in the walkabout today. Well – I only got to SEE it today. I was a little worred about where the ducks had got to. But saw them in the write up photos. May I ask … why is your woodshed called the ‘Wendy Shed’? (Asking as a ‘Wendy’!) The canon explosive powder did make me laugh!
When I was little we had a wee play house and it was called the Wendy House. Here is a sweet link to explain the name.
https://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/blog/guide-to-wendy-houses/#:~:text=Explaining%20What%20Wendy%20Houses%20Are%20and%20Their%20Origin,-(Image%20Credit%3A%20Geograph&text=They%20resemble%20traditional%20houses%20but,Wendy%20Darling's%20home%20inspired%20them.
I wondered if Peter Pan’s Wendy was in the works! I think that is why I (and many my age) ended up being named ‘Wendy’. There were three ‘Wendy’s’ in my kindergarten class! No so many ‘new’ Wendy’s these days. Love that name for the play house!