November 2020
Peppers are Pooped Out
It has come to my attention that my Central American "Culebra Negra" peppers are not at all happy about the cold weather. It's the end of November so we've had a couple of near-freezing nights with 34° to 37°F lows right before dawn, but nothing that I would consider a hard frost. The Hidden Lake Hot Cayenne/Thai hybrids are still flowering and fruiting quite a bit, but the Culebra Negras are a different story. Seems these poor plants, with their burned and shriveled leaves, have a lot less tolerance for the near frosty temps.
Thanksgiving Day Prep – Homemade Stuffing
We don't grow wheat or make flour, but we do make bread, and, along with some herbs from the garden, a base for amazing for stuffing for the Thanksgiving turkey. The recipe is simple and straightforward. Once you've made your own croutons you'll never go back to store bought.
Bakery-Style French Bread Recipe
Ever wonder why bakery fresh French bread is so dang delicious? It's an old baker's secret, pre-fermented dough. Here's how to make amazing bakery-style French bread at home.
Thanksgiving Prep – Green Beans
The best green bean casserole calls for fresh picked green beans, so we're picking the last of the pole beans. It's not easy to keep them growing this late in the year, but I've found that these Forex beans will produce right up to Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Prep – Sweet Potatoes
Short of the turkey, everything for our family's Thanksgiving feast is grown here at The Acre. It takes a few days to harvest everything and bring it all together, so we always start with the stuff we need to dig up. This morning is was sweet potatoes, red and white varieties. This is way more than the four of us will eat, so we'll store the small ones to plant is spring, and share the extra big ones with our neighbors.
The Passion Fruit Ate My Patio Cover
Went up on the roof yesterday to clear the rain gutters and finally got a look at how the passion fruit had grown over the summer. It's hard to believe the giant green monster that's eating my patio cover was a tiny plant in a 4-inch pot not too long ago. Obviously it's quite happy where it is.
Last Spider of the Season
All summer the garden is thick with big, fat orb weaver spiders. By mid-autumn, they're all but gone. Here's one of the few left weaving a web backlit by the sun setting over the Pacific.
Video: A final walk through the hanging gourd garden
Winter is well on it's way and the wind and weather are taking their toll on the hanging gourd garden. Here's a final walk through the garden before it's gone for another year.
Tom Thumb Peas
The near freezing weather has ended pretty much everything in the veggie garden but these Tom Thumb peas. The plants are tiny, but they kick out a whole lot of peas.
Video: A Fallen Agave
The first real rains of the season blew down this 20 foot tall agave flower the woodpeckers had stuffed with acorns.