On Tuesday morning I was up at 5AM and got started on my post. I finally finished it around 9:30AM after many stops and starts. The first start was to get the dishwasher loaded, the next, feed the cat, then feed me.
By the time my helper friend arrived at 10:30AM, I was loading the dishwasher for the 3rd time. He got some chores done and then started cutting up the parsnips for parsnip chowder. He was also cooking the bacon for the chowder.
These parsnips were harvested on October 17, 2025 and were the smallest ones so would fit in the fridge. The huge ones went into the sand box in the root cellar and the mice had a field day. These had been wrapped in a damp paper towel and stored in an unsealed vacuum bag in the crisper drawer.
There were just enough, once they were cored and peeled, to make the chowder. Once they were in water, we moved onto packing the last of the tomatoes up.
My helper friend said he’d take them home and process them for his freezer. He got a double layer big box and this small box. All that was left were the Kapija peppers. He got those cut up and into my freezer.
It had been raining all day and when he was standing at the island cutting up parsnips, we noticed blinking yellow lights out past my back 40. I wondered what was going on in the field behind the trees.
A while later, the mulch hay guy started mowing the middle pasture, and we figured it out. He’d done the back 40 first and had been over the sandhill when we saw the lights.
He finished around noontime and I got him paid and he headed back to the Christmas tree farm.
It was time for my helper friend to got pick up the shopping and do errands. When he got back, he got the batata he’d bought cut up. I had gotten 2 of the 1 cup bags of chopped Walla onions out of the freezer and sautéed them in the bacon fat. I thawed out the chicken stock and added it.
Once the batata was ready we got the vegetables in and got started on the cornbread.
We got that into the oven just before he had to go.
On his way to his car, he saw a flock of juncos. I don’t think I’ve ever had juncos here in October. When he went to get into his car, he saw the great blue heron in the middle pasture hunting. (I didn’t get a shot of either. This photo is from last year.)
I took the cornbread out when it was golden brown and let it cool. I had an early supper of chowder and corn bread. I got another load in the dishwasher.
I watched some videos and headed to bed around 8PM. It was still raining.
On Wednesday I need to get the last load in the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen before my #2 intern arrives at 8AM. We need to put away all the storage containers. Then we will harvest the butternut and acorn squashes and clean them up to cure in the office. And if there’s time, we will harvest peas and process them.
