TO DO (List) Like There’s No Tomorrow

White sheet curtain to block the sun’s heat. Today we’re in the 90s, while yesterday we barely made the 70s.

Things we need to do before winter (update TO DO LIST in sidebar):

• attempt compost tea
• top dress beds with compost
• install last rain barrel (for toilet flushing)
• pull poison ivy all over
• restart Starbucks coffee grounds deal
• build and start worm bin
• replace porch roof
• clear ground for more beds, build beds, start digging
• build shed next to veg garden
• design and build hoop house
• design balcony greenhouse
• buy high pressure canner (probably the 23 quart Presto) and book
• clean all canning jars and equipment
• buy outdoor stove and/or build rocket stove
• build pantry for canned and dried foods
• designate/build root cellar
• investigate rain barrel to toilet tank connection
• plant compost crop in terrace beds
• buy winter cover crop
• order berry bushes, fruit trees
• build us one of these:

The children’s tower at Elm Bank, Wellesley, MA

• decide about trees up front: if we remove them (all) we open a lot of space and sun for the veg and permaculture garden, make room for nut and fruit trees, a pond and grey water filtration system, make the solar hot water system on the roof viable, and triple if not quadruple our fire wood supply (wood for 10 winters: not to be laughed at). But it costs, and it necessitates the kind of landscaping for which we need to hire men with equipment…
• organize emergency supplies
• build solar oven
• okay, I’ll stop here.

These are the first cherry tomatoes (Sungold). I doubt we’ll have many: the plants are mostly stem and leaves, but we’ll gladly take what they give us! Next to it the first three red kidney beans, dried in the pod. Next year I plan to greatly expand the dry bean section, if I have room.