Army Worms.....

The last few weeks have been a challenge. Many of you may have either heard on the news or experienced yourself the wrath of the army worm (a cutworm variety). We have been battling them for a few weeks now and it looks like they have finally moved on. They didn't leave much vegetation behind. Our pastures fared okay but the garden took a beating. I've had to replant all my seedlings (broccoli, cabbage,cauliflower) except the collards...not sure why they left these mostly alone and alot of seeds. They decimated the Chard. Oh well, such as life. The birds are all well fed at least!!

Our pears are coming in and they are great. The tree is at least 20 years old and I do not remember the variety but they are the old timey harder baking pears. We eat them right off the tree (usually peeled) or make pear sauce with them...I'm sure they are good in any baking, but I don't bake much..

The Next Few Weeks

Most of the fall garden is in. The rest will be planted over the next few weeks. We put up some row covers over the broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and swiss chard to protect the seedlings from flea beetles and baby grasshoppers which are everywhere right now. I'm working on pulling up the last of the summer garden, spreading compost, and as always, pulling weeds my favorite!!

If the weather cooperates we should have some greens and lettuces in a few weeks. The arugula is looking great already.

The sweet potatoes we have dug so far are great. I tried 4 varieties this year. The Beauregard are the type you see in the grocery, orange skin and flesh. The others are Nancy Hall, Porto Rico and White Yams. They are light skin w/whiter flesh but are still sweet.