11:02 PM

To every thing there is a season. . . .a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which was planted. --Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

I just pulled the last jar out of the canner for this garden season. I made a batch of hot pepper relish with the last of the peppers. Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, what's left of the garden will go under the ground to await next year's planting. I am so glad to be finally done with canning!

This year I'm going to try something old-fashioned with the pumpkins. Instead of processing them all at once and trying to find room in the freezer for all that pulp, I'm going to store them in a cool, dry place to use as I need them. The corn I'm drying on the cob, still on the stalks. When the stalks are completely brown, we'll shuck and shell the corn and try grinding our own cornmeal.

We harvested about 30 pounds of the hottest onions I ever hope to cry over cutting. Today I found I could avoid all the tears by taking the cutting board out onto the porch. When the weather gets too cold for that, I'm not sure what we'll do. Abby tried wearing safety goggles, but she says that doesn't work well.

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. --Genesis 8:22

And now it is time for bed. I am still coughing, but I think I should be able to sleep tonight. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since getting this cold.