"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Fall is Here

 It's officially "fall" here now.  Woke up to 40°F and boy it is very chilly.  The leaves are turning even more, and more are falling.  The tomatoes are done for the garden season too.

5 pints of Lemony-Basil Tomato Soup was canned.  I normally get about 2-3 batches canned, but not this year.  I am thankful for what we did get.  The cold weather has started to diminish the amount of herbs we are getting from the herb garden now.

There are other goals now that the tomatoes are all processed. We will need to pull everything left in the garden(s), and do other prep work to put them to "bed" for the season. 

I still have apples to process, but they are in the fridge for now.  I need to get caught up with other work and I have a strainer full of garden bell peppers to dice and freeze.

I totally forgot that I planted several rosemary plants inside the garden this year, so I will need to process those (have no plans to try for the umpteenth time to keep them alive all winter indoors).

I now have a container labeled "canning" that holds old towels, and hot pads, and one apron.  It is now where I will be keeping all those items involved with canning.  They will not be taking up space in my kitchen, and I can grab the container when needed.  If you have canned with tomatoes or anything that stains or splatters, you'd understand why I would only use the older items to can with.  

In the meantime, I am writing up a plan for winter.

Fall is Here  ©  October 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

2 comments:

Katie C. said...

I too have trouble keeping my rosemary plants alive through the winter.

I have a TON of huge green tomatoes on the vine still. We planted late this year due to the weather. Do you think they can handle 40 degrees?

Is your soup recipe from Ball?

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Katie, I have tried to keep rosemary alive indoors for years, but someone told me to just use a spray bottle for watering. Not sure about that idea. The soup recipe is from a Better Homes and Gardens canning book. Sorry for not sharing that tidbit. I am thinking the tomatoes will handle 40 degrees, but after a frost most likely not. We have zero green tomatoes. Everything just started dying.