Some say it might be the end of the world. Some say, plant some cabbage. I think I will opt for the latter on this rare, special day of the total solar eclipse in the USofA.

Though a number of our Wolfe families are suffering bad deer damage in their summer gardens, even with using tricks of the trade, there is still hope for fall gardening. Lessons have been learned about the value of fencing, electric fencing, and double depth fencing for many and hopefully folks will continue to look into optional funding offered for such farm fixes.

I dug the garlic at the demonstration garden at the Wolfe Extension office. After harvesting, I fertilized the beds with our organic 3-4-3 fertilizer. In one area I planted (late) sweet potato slips. In another part of the bed I planted buckwheat cover crop. And in the last section I am planting fall crops- some of which we will eat at our final meeting/Harvest Dinner celebration in October.

Canning time in Kentucky. This mess of tomatoes made 25 pints of salsa!

Extending the Growing Season Class with UK Horticulture professor, Krista Jacobsen- very informative!

Gardening friends and foes. A friendly toad sits by a raised bed. Helen holds tomatoes and beans in her shirt next to her volunteer porch cherry tomatoes. We broke goose beans, an heirloom she has had for years, that she will continue to use for seed. Last, you see deer damage at the Phipps– even though they have electric fencing, it runs on battery and when the battery runs out, the deer know it. Mr. Phipps swears the deer can smell the electricity.

On a site visit with the Yoders, we ventured into the high tunnel to harvest tomatoes and peppers where this beautiful big spider helps keep the insect population down. The Yoder’s are participating in the chicken section of our program: this is their first chicken tractor but they have plans for tractor #2 coming soon.

Miss Bree Rose is excited about her cabbage and broccoli, especially since summer crops are dying out. Flowers harvested for tea: calendula, chamomile, California poppy, and bachelor buttons. Beautifully ripe concord grapes: like I said, it is canning time in Kentucky. A butterfly enjoys the zinnias. And the last photo shows  that even when the tomatoes are dying out, it is a good time to have friends over for croquet and a delicious tomato pie!