Squirrel! Thinking of the Fall garden...and then I got sidetracked.

I didn't grow ANY of this. But I'm going to!

I don't know if having to think about the Fall garden right now is a relief or just plain mean!

We are in one of the hottest stretches of weather this week and next...over 100 degrees for days in a row then "cooling off" into the high 90's. I have been resisting the urge to complain about summer because, honestly, it's been pretty darn mild. So I was trying not to jinx it! But regardless of the high temperatures, it's time to start thinking about that Fall garden.

We got a late start on our Fall garden last year. It was the first time we had even tried planting anything to grow during the winter. We grew broccoli, chard and collards. I wanted kale but the big box store didn't have any. So I settled for collards. We ate the broccoli and the chickens ate the rest. But this year I plan on being better about "shopping" my backyard. I will find some good recipes for greens to have handy and when the food is ready, we will eat it. (That's the plan, anyway!)

You know, learning to live on what you eat and grow in your own yard takes some getting used to. Making the switch to locally grown, locally raised, non-processed foods is a process. For a long while I read and read and read and gathered a ton of information. Maybe too much, really...no processed foods, no chemicals for cleaning, all glass storage, grow your own, buy local, save money, grass fed, free-range, make your own fill in the blank.

Whew.

Honestly, it got to be a bit overwhelming. Reading blogs was inspiring...but it also got to be a bit frustrating. I couldn't keep up. I couldn't do it all. How come "everyone else" could do it ALL but  I kept running to the store for bread, detergent, meat containing pink slime, fish sticks, Clorox spray and mac and cheese in a box?

I'm a creature of habit it seems. I was raised using modern conveniences. And forming new habits is proving to be easier said than done.

It wasn't realistic for me to think that I was going to bake ALL of our bread using whole wheat flour that I grew and ground myself. Or preserve ALL of our food that I grew from organic seed. Or make every single cleaning supply using vinegar and orange peels. You get the idea.

I finally had to take a step back and put things in perspective. I decided that I would do what I could, what I enjoyed and what was feasible for my family. Then I could slowly learn the rest and apply what worked for us.

All of that to say...here's what I'm going to plant in the next week or so and hopefully we'll eat it!

• beets
• bush beans
• broccoli
• cabbage
• radishes
• kale
• onions
• garlic
• shallots
• sunflowers

How about you? Are you planning on growing anything over the winter?

(Oh...and by the way...I just sprinkled some homemade carpet fresh on my carpet. Baking soda and essential oil in a mason jar. Shake. Let sit for a few minutes. Sprinkle over carpet using a sieve.)