Still Harvesting

Thanks to all you lovely Frugellers who have been following how we get ready for winter here on our Derbyshire Smallholding.
Dreamer reminds me of freezers, as she has two like me. As a postscript, I have two 12 cubic foot freezers which contain a few vegetables, but are are mostly used for Fish, Lamb and rabbit. Years ago I used to preserve Eggs for the winter too, in buckets, but I never have enough spare nowadays!
I have been extremely busy over the last few days as we get in the produce that will spoil if perchance we have a frost. D' was saying the other day "Do you remember the year we had a sharp frost in early September and lost all the beans, squash and  outdoor tomatoes?" So here is a picture of the produce from the onion and pumpkin garden. There are still leeks in this plot along with some courgettes, silver chard and a couple of small pumpkins and marrows. In the bags are the potatoes Ed and SIL dug up for us a couple of weeks ago

 If anybody doubts climate change, here is a pic of some of the sweetcorn we have just finished picking. A few years ago we were not getting cobs anywhere near as full or ripe as these. In fact there was a chance we wouldn't get a crop in some years. In the last 10 years the crop has been guaranteed

And here are ED, YD, EGD and SIL and Sam picking and sorting Damsons  this Sunday when they came for tea

And here is the harvest from two trees! We have several more trees, some of which have been picked and some we haven't even looked at!!(nor likely to) So if you are needing Damsons, give me a shout and we might find one or two.

The next pic - I told you there would be more photos today - is of something D. made for me. Can you guess what for?

Not too difficult was it? I needed something to stir some wine I was making in 5 gallon buckets, so I sent D. off to his workshop.

I don't have to tell you that the stirrer was made from a piece of Pallet!!!

Yesterday, we spent 5 hours going through the beehives. There is little honey but the bees are strong and healthy, which is more important. We needed to move one hive, so we took it to Gson's after dark and will bring it back tonight to the re-site. We will have to be quick with this as the weather is set to be cooler and if  the temperature drops below a certain point the bees cluster to keep warm and our moving them could break the cluster and they may die.
That's all for now as I have to go and wash out demi-johns for the wine
A Very warm welcome A Suffolk Girl, so glad you are following my ramblings.
Gillx