Seed Savers, Creatures, & Garden Sweepers

With the first frost, foliage darkened and wilted, comes the need to "sweep the garden" for winter. We use mornings for studies and reserve a couple warm afternoons to pull vines, roll up fences, and collect what seeds we hope to replant next spring.

All the kids are required to help with this ritual. Some are more enthusiastic than others in the process, but naturally the discovery of a new creature that once called the tangled overgrowth home, piques their curiosity. They keep on for the possibility of uncovering yet stranger creatures.

Refuse is barrowed over to the compost pile (littles enjoy rides back and forth!) and seeds are spread out on sheets to dry. Our compost bin has sadly gone quite neglected the past couple months and took on the stench of a hog pen from too many greens that were added. Incorporating a good amount of browns -- dried leaves, newspaper, and sawdust -- twisted into the mess with a garden fork, will help balance the mix.

This fall the most exciting of the creatures, holed up under a pile of twisted tomato vines, was a family of prairie voles. They are recognizable by their docked tails and almost invisible ears, buried in velvety fur. Three babies scurried out and made a run for safety before the mama emerged. The boys were able to corral a couple of the babies to examine them, but I warned them not to stop the mama. I try not to instill unnecessary fear in their hearts about creatures -- if this is even possible with my children, they don't seem to harbor a whole lot of fear about anything -- but one of the baby voles was feisty and nipped a boy's finger. While it didn't break the skin, I thought a disturbed mama might.

New plants were also set out for next year. I planted the garlic from bulbs we harvested earlier this year and set out peony roots (thank you, Mrs. Vsetecka!).

For next year we saved pole beans, marigolds, gladiolus bulbs, and hyacinth beans. And, of course, pumpkin seeds were roasted for a tasty snack!