Mid October gardening updates

We've taken a few week hiatus from this blog, to make a little trip to see family and friends out west.  It was a great time of catching up, taking long walks, last fall picnics, thanksgiving feasting, relaxation, and complete downtime without computers, blogs or emails.  I ready three satisfying fiction books in less than a week, something I (as a mother of a 2.5 year old with a busy homestead) have not done in several years.  Winter tends to be my reading time, and the reading I do seem to pick up then always leans toward non-fiction books about sustainability, or how-to books on gardening, herbalism, or permaculture...this holiday was a welcome change of pace.

Today we got back to business at the homestead, raking leaves for the compost, prepping garden beds for planting garlic and winter greens, storing herbs we had been drying in the greenhouse, and working on our front entrance path to the strawbale addition.  There's still lots to be done before winter.

Our hens have started to molt again, and as always, it seems they have chosen such a bad time of season to start - just when the nights are turning cold!  We still need to winterize their coop before it gets really frosty outside, including piling up strawbales for warmth around the outside walls, and hooking up their heat lamp again.  Although the holiday was nice, it's always good to get back to life at home, here on our little homestead!