Up again this morning at 4 AM to a light rain at a balmy 56°. The rain has continued all day but is now a not quite so balmy 46°.

The last of my fall blooming iris managed to open in less than favorable conditions. This is her first year to bloom in a new spot since my big iris thinning project of last year. This one is called Suky.

A lot of the iris I moved still have not bloomed; I am hoping next year will be better.
One group is on the west side of the garage and just gets afternoon sun. That may not work. I may have to relocate them again.

I have started feeding the birds again this week. It didn't take them long to find the feeder.

To Do List:

Plant hemerocallis seeds and put under lights
Tidy up saved seeds and send to those who have requested seeds.
Clean off plant light stand on back porch to get ready for pots of hemerocallis.

Journal begins

I have been encouraged to start a blog...........may be a serious mistake. I am finding my way slowly through the maze and may need help along the way.

One reason I am considering it is I have found very few blogs about gardening in my immediate area. I did find one I liked very much that was just about gardening and what to do when, but it was in a more southern region of the Ozarks down in Arkansas and a zone warmer.

I have been keeping a daily journal, a very rustic one, for several years now where I list daily trivia of what I am doing and what is happening on the farm. It has been very helpful to me to find out when I planted certain seeds, when I put them in the garden, list new plants and locations, whether I milked Willow or not (more on her later).
canning and preserving things and how various things produced.

I also love sharing my gardens with others who share the same interests.

I hope this will be helpful to other Ozarks, zone 6, gardeners.

This morning began at 3 AM. I love getting up early but that was stretching it a bit! It was warmer out than yesterday, 51°.

I decided to milk my cow today because rain is predicted for the next three days. The days I don't milk I just let her calf and her adopted calf take the milk. They are thrilled with this arrangement.

It is raining outside lightly right now.

Today's picture will have to be one of harvest. The flowers are almost gone.

This was a new one for me and impressed me greatly. It is Long Island Cheese Squash, a moschata variety. It was very prolific and had the added plus of being very resistant to squash borers and squash bugs. That is good enough reason to grow it! It is extremely sweet and has dense flesh and makes outstanding pies. It just makes too much!

The taller version is the old-fashioned butternut squash.

I will be looking for new ways to serve squash this winter. Wonder if the cows will eat them?