It's nice that the weather has turned and it is much more Fall like. We've gotten down under 40F a few nights now and the days are barely in the 80s. Much of the garden is in the throws of ripening now and everywhere I look there is more that needs to be picked.
Morning started soaking before taking J to school.
The garden got hit by deer AGAIN and so I only got 16 lbs of squash picked. Seriously annoyed with the deer and I have now completely enclosed the garden in 7 foot fencing. I have been letting the big zucchini grow so wee can use it for stuffing and figured it was a good time to pick it. It alone weighs 3.5 lbs.
While in the pole garden looking for squash I noticed my biggest Pear Melon has ripened and turned color. The Pear Melon is a native of the PNW and are an orange fleshed melon akin to the muskmelons.
The freeze dryer finished its run and when I checked the trays the stinging nettle trays were perfectly done. I pulled them both and set the machine to run for another couple hours to finish the peaches off. The pre-frozen nettle finished in 21 hrs 46 min.
The tomatoes needed to be picked through and I got a nice number of larger ones on the bottom of the bucket with the cherry and Tsunshingo on top. There were a couple of tomatillos ready that I threw in the basket.
The peaches finished a little after 12:30pm and turned out perfect. I am glad I ran them a little longer as there were a few pieces that were still a little tacky.
Just under 24 hours of run time for the pre-frozen peaches is pretty good. The freeze cycle takes about 12 hours so it saves a good bit of time and power to toss stuff in the freezer first before running in the freeze dryer. The chest freezers are already running and have enough space so might as well take advantage of it.
12 ounces of slices is what came from the 3 full trays. They are absolutely delicious and a wee bit dangerous as they could easily disappear in short order. I will have to put them out of view so we don't devour them too fast.
While cleaning off a shelf that I have now set by the spa for a table I found this. It is the egg casings of some kind of insect. Little pieces of leaves and what looks like hops were all lined up in a groove of some plastic. I presume they are from this year since they don't appear to have hatched. I have them set aside and am trying to figure out where to put them.
I had the urge again to wander the upper pen and when I climbed into it and walked to the base of the eagle nest tree there was this beauty lying amongst the pine needles and branches. There was a smattering of smaller feathers throughout the pen but this was the crown of the wander.
With the deer troubles I went and put up blocks in every hole or low spot I could find.
I had to scrounge fence to make it work but I got the fence doubled in height so the vermin can't get over it.
Even right next to the shed had to have the height increased to ensure the monsters don't have any access.
Our evening as always now was spent soaking, then making dinner, then soaking again once the boys are in bed.
@stryeyz got a bunch of ground beef mixed up for jerky that we will be making today after she gets off work mid day. It had to sit overnight to meld the flavors.
I recently got a nifty led light strip that is 82 feet long. I put up the first half of it along the footing of the house. There is a little lip that it sits perfect on and adds so much light to the pathway. It has the movie theater walkway feel only a bit brighter. I will be running the rest of it along the base of the deck and the other 41 foot length will make it all the way around the deck. It will look pretty slick when I get it done.
This morning when I went out to open the spa for our morning soak I heard deer tromping in the creek bed and after a few well lobbed rocks I heard the crashing of deer bounding off. That gave me a nice smile.
Today @stryeyz is working half a day, I have my regular harvest to pick, the lights to put up on the deck, laundry, work on the design for a heated towel drying cabinet, and this afternoon I will be running a hose out of the house that I can use for topping off the spa with water from the filtered side.
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