Late Fall & Early Winter Gardening
Cold hardy crops for late season gardening
While tomato season may end with the first hard frosts, there are many cold hardy vegetables that can extend the season well into autumn (and even into the winter months, for a harvest under the snow cover).
Each year we harvest fresh brussels sprouts for our thanksgiving table, fresh cranberries picked that morning and all manner of root crops well into the snowy season.
I know many of you out West, and in the South, are still going strong with your gardens, but we’ve entered indoor microgreens season. Sure, there are still root crops in the garden, and lots of wild edibles to forage in winter, but for the most part we’re hunkered in and living out of our preserves and root cellar starting this week.
Paid subscribers got a quick peak into what we were harvesting and preparing on our homestead the week of Thanksgiving, from cold hardy veggies to firewood processing to meal-in-a-jar canning.
Beyond what’s in the veggie garden, earlier this month I shared 5 different recipes with paid subscribers this past week for using late-season fruit, including Aronia, Autumn Olive, Husk Cherries, and Alpine Strawberries. If you’re a paid subscriber and you missed it, you can find the recipes here.
(Thank you so much for your support!)
If you’re not, the button below will give you a 30-day free trial, which is plenty of time to check those out and read through the archives.
Things You Might Need This Week
70+ Uses for Wood Ash ~ Heating season has begun, and wood ash isn’t a waste product, it’s a resource!
10 Luxuries We Have Off Grid ~ If you’re thinking about moving off grid, it doesn’t have to be an austere life. This time of year, the best thing about this place is the radiant heat through the floorboards that warms you from the toes up.
How to Grow Apple Trees From Seed ~ Save those seeds from your apples this autumn and learn how to grow them into full-blown trees!
Seasonal Preserving
Recipes to keep your larder full all year round…in season now:
Things I’m Loving
Chelsea Green Publishing ~ If you look closely at my book recommendation list, you'll notice that most of them come from a single small publishing house right here in Vermont. Chelsea Green works hard to seek out authors in homesteading, foraging, permaculture, and sustainable living niches. Right now, they’re having their holiday sale where just about everything is 35% and free shipping.
The Most Honest Family Cow Advice You’ll Ever Hear ~ This is by Quinn at Plow in Hope, and it is the best article on having a family cow I’ve ever read. There are no definitive answers regarding how to prepare for a cow, but she tackles the subject better than anyone I’ve seen.
What are you harvesting, preserving, building, or exploring on your homestead this week? I’d love to hear about it!
Leave me a note in the comments…
(Comments only, please. Emails tend to get lost in my inbox, and as much as I’d love to get back to each and everyone, my screen time is very limited…and things fall through the cracks, and emails get buried in my inbox. If you comment here, they’re all in one place, and it’s much easier to get back to every single one.)
Until Next Time,
Ashley at Practical Self Reliance
Hi Ashley -- thanks so much for all you do. In your latest newsletter I see that you are suggesting growing apples from seed? I am sure you know that apples are not true to seed and that trees are usually grafted. There is some chance that seeds will bring forward edible apples, of course. However, Johnny Appleseed certainly left a lot of sour apple trees in his wake. Was there something that I missed?
Finishing up the milking season, and making the last cheeses (a batch of Camembert and perhaps a blue cheese). Vacuum sealing my recent batch of feta. I'll use some to marinate in olive oil with spices for gifts. Have some left-over milk to make caramels, and left over cheve to make some chocolate truffles. One more round of canning for fig jam. Had so much, it will be on the list of Christmas gifts to give out. Still cleaning seeds from goose foot. I understand it can be used like wild quinoa. I'll need to research how to prepare it - likely several washings. Happened upon some lovely big acorns. Last year tried to soak some small ones to remove the tannins, but was never successful. Perhaps the bigger ones will work better.