Autumn.

After that first batch of canned tomatoes (which failed, by the way), I learned a good bit more about canning and have successfully canned a lot more things. Jams seem to be my specialty:

Tomato jam
Hot pepper jam
Peach jam, both regular and low sugar
Halved peaches in light sugar syrup
Tomatoes

The last two batches of tomatoes were a success. I had posted frantically on Ball's Facebook page about the first batch failure, and one of their experts gave me the advice I needed to have successful batches thereafter.

The hard frost came night before last, and the garden officially shut down. I picked all the green tomatoes and all the peppers the day before the frost, and all are ripening in big trays here and there around the house. I'll probably pickle and can the peppers, and we'll use the tomatoes for sauce for freezing.

Hay delivery was last week. I have to run over to Four Star Farm in Northfield this week to pick up my winter bedding straw. We'll clean up around the barn and hay shed and then we'll be ready for winter. I had Cupid and Io shorn a second time this season. They're longwools and this year they put on a heck of a lot of wool over the summer despite the heat and drought. I had Kevin Ford come out and shear the two sheep. He uses hand shears, the old fashioned way. He's a great, great shearer.

We almost lost Molly three times this year. After she contracted Lepto--and survived it by some freaking miracle--she had a complete wool break. That means all her follicles and cuticles stopped producing and severed off any wool or nails that were growing. Wool break only happens when a sheep is under incredible health stress. All her wool fell off and she looked like a pinky mouse, poor old girl. We made a cover for her out of thrift store t-shirts to protect her skin from sun and biting insects while the follicles and cuticles recovered. Her wool is growing now, thank goodness, though we are keeping her in an old microfiber fleece sweatshirt to help keep her warm. She'll wear that all winter. Her feet also suffered from the break, and I've had to carefully trim her toenails so that her feet don't get damaged while the old dead nails move outward and are replaced with new nail material. In another couple weeks, she'll have all new toenails. It's been very challenging for dear old Molly.

We've all been sick pretty much since the start of the school year. LW has come home with everything the other kids are sick with, and then we catch it. This last bout has been the worst. I ended up at the doctor last Friday; we thought I might have walking pneumonia. Fortunately, I don't, but I'm now on an inhaler to help my lungs heal.

Yesterday we had a little run-around party for LW. It was originally scheduled for the Sunday previous, but we were all too sick then. Her birthday was at the end of September, and I sent home-made mini-cupcakes to her preschool class for the kids, and did a little puppet show for them using Sweetie, one of our professional-grade monster puppets. The children LOVED Sweetie. At yesterday's party, two of the children were from LW's preschool class and they asked me to bring out Sweetie again. I also brought out another monster puppet, a full-body one with eyes that open and close. We haven't named him yet.

We made a big leaf pile for the kids to jump in, made a small castle out of hay bales for climbing on and running around, I put up my old backpacking tent for them to dive into, there was a sand table, kick balls, toy trucks, and a wagon big enough to pull around with three kids inside. We had grapes, fish crackers, juice, and birthday cake. Every child went home with a pumpkin, and they got to feed the sheep. It was a no-gift party, which I prefer. Everyone had a good time, there was no chaos, just a lot of good old-fashioned fun.

Back in September, I worked as a temporary factory worker at the new candle company in Bernardston. I was hoping it might turn into a permanent position, but it didn't. And the job search goes on.