RIP Fall Garden

We are saddened to report that Fall Garden has passed away. At the time of his death, he (she?) was surrounded by a hoard of fire ants and pennywort. Fall Garden ultimately met his demise due to the 20+ inches of rain that pounded him relentlessly for 4 days earlier this month. He is survived by the only vegetable bed that made it: the asparagus.

Fall Garden was laid to rest this past Sunday, October 25th, when his caretakers took steps to eradicate the pennywort and fire ants that actually seemed to thrive despite the flooding. He will be sorely missed. The pennywort and the fire ants, not so much.

A memorial garden, the Summer Garden, will be planted in his memory in early Spring 2016.

Water Water Everywhere


Whew. This past week our coast has taken a beating. A storm system that pretty much stalled over us dumped about 15 inches of rain in 5 days here on our little island. To say we are practically floating would not be much of an overstatement. In some places roads were impassable and business' over in town had water damage. Our ponds were just about filled to capacity and several other mini-ponds sprang up on our place. But, the sun is shining this morning and things are starting to dry out a bit. Just in time for hurricane Joaquin to make an appearance later on this week and drop another (possible) 10" of rain on us. I'm telling you, we need to start building an ark!

Our garden took a beating too. Everything is pretty much water logged and beat down. Hopefully things will dry out a bit today while the sun is shining. With the hurricane coming up the coast and the potential of so much more rain, we are not holding out much hope that our fall garden will have a bumper crop of anything.

With the threat of our first hurricane of the season I got to thinking about what we should do to be prepared, not only for hurricanes but for any disaster that may come our way. The website www.Ready.gov has lots of information on just about any disaster we may face, it's worth checking out.

As for us, during hurricane season we make sure we:

1. Have plenty of candles, and just as important, matches or a lighter. Candles won't do you much good if you can't light them.

2. We like to use oil lamps also. They seem to throw off more light than candles and we have several of them. Don't forget to stock up on lamp oil also.

3. Have bottled water.

4. Have our prescription medicines filled and that we have enough to get us through at least 7 days.

5. Have plenty of snacks and easy to heat canned foods (soups, stews, etc.) on hand. We are lucky because we have a gas stove. If we loose electric we can always heat stuff up on the stove.

6. Have an old fashioned can opener (not electric). You're going to have to get those cans open somehow, right?

7. We are coffee drinkers. A couple of years ago, we bought a french press. If we loose electric, we can heat water on our gas stove and using the french press we can still have coffee. Coffee = happiness.

8. We make sure that our propane tank on our gas grill is filled, that way we will be able to grill/cook meals.

9. Don't forget your pets - make sure your fur babies have enough dog food and cat food to get by on for at least a week.

10. And speaking about your pets, make sure you have a copy of their current shot records on hand in case you need to evacuate. Most places that you may evacuate to require that your pets be current on at least their rabies shot.

11. We also make sure that we catch up on as much laundry as we can before a storm hits. That way if we are without power for an extended time, we can at least have clean under britches and clothes to wear.

12. We make sure to fill up our gas tanks on our cars also. That way if we have to get outta' Dodge, we won't have to wait in line to fill up.

Here's hoping that none of us ever be caught unprepared for any type of an emergency.

Stay safe and GET PREPARED!