October

Autumn is always a busy time at Mist Cottage.

The canning projects are beginning to slow down, still garden peppers and cabbages to can, those aren’t big projects. I am considering pressure canning onions, Dilly Onions, as they require too much acid for my taste when canned in the steam canner. This will depend on the prices at the local store, if onions come on sale again I will can them, they may or may not.

Now that canning is slowing down, we slowly transition into winter preparations. I am casting my eye around the house, deciding what projects to tackle first, and what can wait.

Last weekend we did complete a long overdue project, closing up our Camp. We had not had the opportunity to visit our Camp since last May, so we weren’t sure what to expect upon arrival. Thankfully all was as we had left it in the spring.

The weather was wonderful for our visit. Attila worked hard at cutting the weeds down. While he was working on that I wandered into the bush, collecting fallen branches, dragging them to the clearing, and piling them up for eventual camp fires. We did not have a camp fire, deeming it too dry, and I had forgotten to check the fire hazard rating for the day. I have to limit my activities in the bush now, no more pulling down dead trees, or dragging whole trees out of the bush. I will miss doing those kinds of things.

We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch, sitting in the shade. It was so quiet that we could hear the leaves as they fell to the ground. That kind of quiet is seldom experienced at Mist Cottage, there are always vehicles and trains making a racket, although there are occasional quiet intervals.

We found evidence of a snake in the trailer, a shed skin, and little evidence of mice. The mouse house has become a restaurant! Perhaps we will get to the project of stripping the undercarriage of the trailer, installing insulation, and a rodent/snake barrier.

Back at home, we have been waiting for our supply of wheat berries to arrive. This year we decided to order our supply from Alberta, and have it delivered. We had been driving quite a distance to purchase these things in previous years, but this year we felt that the costs for our trip were almost balanced with the delivery charges from Alberta. Today the supplies finally arrived, plunked down on the front porch by the delivery driver. I opened up all the boxes, which were impossible for me to lift, and carried the items into the house one by one. It took a bit of time, but the job got done.

The process of freezing all the items for one ore more weeks has begun. The freezer is almost full, so only one item at a time can be frozen, so it will take months to rotate all of the items through the freezer.

I love the autumn!

Worldly

Weather

Updated on Tue, Oct 3 at 8:35 PM
21°C
FEELS LIKE 23
Clear
Wind 7 SW km/h
Humidity 77%
Visibility 22 km
Sunrise 7:07 AM
Wind gust 10 km/h
Pressure 101.8 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 6:46 PM

Quote

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.”
Charles W. Eliot
1834 – 1926

I have found myself unable to part with my books, even though they occupy a large amount of space in this tiny house of ours.