Well we worked hard this weekend! Sunday and Wednesday we finished pulling up plastic and drip tape on the pumpkin & squash field and the garden next to the house. Greg then spread manure and compost and disced it into the fields while I dug up and potted my Rosemary, Oregano, French Tarragon, Stevia and mint plants to take into the greenhouse for the winter. I had about 20 big pots in all. We plant these out in the gardens in raised beds with everything else so they are on drip tape and get watered and we have found them to do really well this way, but the problem is that they are not in permanent locations and some of them do not over winter so we have to dig them up each Fall. This way I also have them in January to take cuttings off of and root and get more going for Spring!

Wow! What a beautiful day! If you didn't know better you would have thought it was the first of October instead of November! It was sunny and in the mid 70's with a light breeze! Market was pretty good, sold quite a few apples, eggs, radishes, pepers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and baked goods. We have two more weeks left and it sure would be nice if the weather stayed this nice!
This afternoon after we got home we went out and pulled up plastic mulch and drip tape off of 9 of the raised beds. Now if only all the rest of the beds were done!
Yesterday we went over to Columbia for a little bit to the Small Farm Show and attended the Missouri Vegetable Growers Association meeting. It's always interesting to go to these shows and meet other farmers and hear what they are doing and to get inspired and learn new things! Everyone always wants to know what will we do in the Winter with no farming and marketing to do, well we go to conferences and meetings to try to get new ideas and net work with others who do the same things we do! The first conference on our list is the Great Lakes Fruit & Vegetable Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, then either the Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference in St. Joseph, Missouri or there's also one in Springfield, Illinois at the same time, we don't know yet which one we want to go to. Then there's the Small Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference that is usually held in Springfield, Missouri, but this year has been moved to the Lake of the Ozarks. Plus the Missouri Farmers' Market Association of which I am on the board, will have their annual meeting and conference, but that has not all been worked out yet as to time and location. And then there's always various workshops around the State that can be attended!

Market last Saturday was pretty good. We got rid of almost all of our pumpkins and a lot of our winter squash and sweet potatoes! I noticed that with the last couple of warmer sunny days our radishes have finally decided to grow and maybe we will have some mizuna next week!

We have got all the tomato stakes and twine pulled up and Greg mowed off all the beds. Next we will have to put the mulch lifter on the tractor and take up all the plastic mulch and drip tape. That is not a fun job.

Today I rendered about 20 lbs. of beef suet. I will use it later to make my lye soap. I didn't get any made last winter so would really like to get a batch made this winter. I also got our chest freezer in the house cleaned out, sorted and organized! That was badly needed as I could never find anything that I knew was in there!!!!

GREEN TOMATOES

I am always looking for green tomato recipes at the end of the season, because I can't bear to see them go to waste. I've made the usual relish and pickles, eaten them fried and even put them in stir fry dishes. Last year I found the best recipe yet, (I think), it's green tomato cake. It's just like a spice cake and very moist. I made a powdered sugar glaze frosting and dribbled it over the top after it was baked, it was sooooo good! Here's the recipe for those of you lucky enough to have access to green tomatoes.

GREEN TOMATO CAKE

2 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil or melted shortening (I used canola oil)
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup pecans or walnuts
1 cup raisins (I used cran-raisins, I like the tartness of them)
2 1/2 cups diced green tomatoes
coconut optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs & vanilla until smooth & creamy. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon & nutmeg; slowly beat into egg mixture. Blend well. Stir in nuts, raisins & tomatoes.
Pour into greased 9"x13" pan. Top with coconut if desired. (I just mixed into batter 1 cup). Bake for one hour or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.

I also found this recipe in this months Southern Living Magazine that sounds very good, but I have not tried yet.

ARNOLD'S FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 whole green tomatoes
2 cups apple juice
5 eggs
1 dash Tabasco
2 cups cornmeal (seasoned with salt & pepper)
2 Tbsp. basil
Cut the tomatoes int 12-15 slices. Coat slices in flour. Dip in mixture of apple juice, egg whites & Tabasco. Dip into mixture of cornmeal & basil.
Fry in oil until brown

We've been making applesauce and digging sweet potatoes. Finally got all the sweet potatoes dug, but I think we'll have more applesauce to make! We are going to go Persimmon hunting this evening and see what they look like. I'm not sure there's very many this year like there was last year, we'll just have to see!

Market was pretty good today, and the best part was the sun was shining and it wasn't raining!!!! We weren't sure how it would be as it started out cold and it is MU Homecoming weekend. We got rid of a lot of pumpkins which is good because loading and unloading them gets very tiresome! Plus after Halloween no one is interested in them any more! We sold quite a few apples, sweet potatoes and winter squash. We also had dried apples, dried peppers, jams, baked goods, eggs, peppers, radishes, swiss chard. tomatoes and parsley.

BABY CHICKS HAVE ARRIVED!!!

This morning I recieved a telephone call from the Post Office at 7:00 a.m. to tell me that our chicks had arrived, so away I went to pick them up. Such a dreary cool day, I didn't want them to set around and get chilled. We ordered 150 chicks and they sent 155. They always send a few extra in case some don't make it in shipping. Chick like it warm, around 95 degrees, like me! As I took them out of the box I had to dip each one's beak in water to get them to learn to drink, and then tucked them under the brooder.

It's fun to watch them once they get their bearings and start to run around. They go full speed for a few minutes then suddenly stop and take a nap!

APPLE FIGURES & TIPS

Since it's apple season I thought you might enjoy some of these apple statistics.
The six top apple-producing states in the United States are Washington, New York, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The 2000 U.S. apple crop was estimated to be 254.217 million 42-pound cartons.

The largest U.S. apple crop on record is 277.3 million cartons, harvested in 1998.

In 1997, there were 9,000 U.S. apple growers and 453,200 acres of commercial orchards.

Apples trailed only oranges and grapes in the amount of U.S. acreage committed to fruit production in 1997.

In 1999, the average U.S. consumer ate an estimated 18.7 pounds of fresh apples and 29.7 pounds of processed apples.

In 1999, the People's Republic of China produced the world's larges crop of apples. The United States was the world's second largest producer, with Turkey, Italy, and France completing the list of the world's top five apple-producing countries.

The United States, New Zealand, and Japan are the leaders in apple breeding.

APPLE TIPS WHEN COOKING WITH APPLES

1 pound of apples yields 4 cups when chopped or sliced, and 1 1/2 cups of applesauce.
1 pound of apples may contain 4 small, 3 medium, or 2 large apples.
Apple juice and apple cider can be used interchangeably in recipes.
2-2 1/2 pounds of apples will suffice for a 9" or 10" pie. That means 9-10 small apples, 7-8 medium or 5 large apples.
Overripe apples, once the bruises have been removed, make good applesauce or cider.
Under ripe apples can be chopped, diced, sliced, and grated for sauteing with vegetables or for putting into cakes, muffins, pies, and other cooked dishes.
Sliced or cut apples will stay white longer if dropped into a bowl of water containing 2 Tbsps. of lemon juice. (Cortland & Golden Delicious do not discolor as quickly as other varieties.)

APPLE VARIETIES & THEIR BEST USES - (These are just a few of them, there are lots more!)

ALL-PURPOSE: Braeburn, tart-sweet; Cortland, pleasing tartness; Empire tart-sweet; Fuji, sweet, slightly spicy; Golden Delicious, sweet; Granny Smith, tart; Ida-Red, tangy-winey;
Jonathan, slightly tart; Jonagold, sweet-tangy; McIntosh, tart-sweet; Mutsu or Crispin, sweet; Winesap, tangy-winey.

COOKING: Rome Beauty, tart-sweet



EATING: Gala, sweet; Red Delicious, sweet

The above information came from "Apple Cookbook" by Olwen Woodier.