Weather has begun to cool and we’ve had at least two minor frost events in the last week. This means that everything except cole crops have stopped growing. Good. We are burnt out due to produce overload this year.

Pumpkins went in the ground a bit late and therefore are slightly behind in ripening. Still some green to be seen through-out the patch. The “plan” is to begin setting pumpkins, corn stalks and gourds out this weekend. The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny all week and that should aid the ripening process.

I’ve spent the past two evenings hanging tobacco in the green house also. All of the Virginia varieties have had their leaves removed from the stalks and tied in bunches and hung.

About half of the Burley has received the same treatment since space is at a premium. This is an experiment more than anything and I doubt I’ll have any dried down in time to sell this fall. I most likely will leave it hang all Winter and offer leaves for sale in the Spring with seedlings.

So aside from cleaning up the fields, pulling plastic, plowing and planting a cover crop we are quickly wrapping up 2011. The Winter will be a welcome break from the hectic schedule we seem to maintain during the “season”. It will also allow me to focus on a few of my other hobbies.