Too busy to blog? You’d think so, being as I missed last Friday and didn’t even realize it until probably Sunday. Oops! But here is a list (partial, I’m sure) of what September is like on the farm.
We’ve extracted honey! Although we sold most of our hives last year and this wasn’t a “good honey year” weatherwise, extraction takes place in late summer, regardless. And I have the stings to prove I put in my time! Today I’ll get started bottling the liquid sunshine.
Tomatoes! So far, I’ve mostly canned pasta sauce. I start with a base of homemade roasted tomato sauce (made with plum tomatoes), pureed, and topped off with tomato pieces. This simmers in an open heavy dutch oven on my stove top with another batch in the open slow cooker. I add fresh oregano and basil shortly before canning the quart jars. I have quite a few jars of tomato pieces left from previous years so most of my upcoming tomato canning will be roasted tomato sauce and barbecue sauce. I also need to run a load through my dehydrator.
Plums are in the dehydrator right now. I’m on the second batch of Italian plums, aka prune plums. These little beauties are a favorite snack. I have enough frozen plums for another year of smoothies, so doubt I’ll freeze more.
Potatoes, beets, and carrots still need to be dug, and squash needs to be picked and brought into the cold room. We’re watching the weather forecast closely every day, but we should be good for another two weeks at least before heavy frost, so we’ve been putting this off.
In my writing world, September has been busy as well.
Angela and I have launched Snowflake Tiara. We’ve been busy guest blogging, doing interviews, and letting folks know our duo of Christmas novellas is ready for reading and reviewing. We have some fun promotions coming up later in the fall. If you’d like to know about these in advance, you should be on my newsletter list!
Majai’s Fury is FREE right now (until Saturday night, Sept 20) on Kindle. I’ve been working hard getting word out to those who might enjoy this fantasy novel. Until this promo, I’ve had the price set at $0.99. After the promo it will be $2.99, and will be available on Nook, iBooks, and Kobo in mid-October.
I’m busy editing Sweetened with Honey (Farm Fresh Romance 3) with the input of several beta readers. It’s off to my final editor by the end of the month, and should be for sale November 1 or 2. The cover will be revealed in my next newsletter.
I’ve started writing Dandelions for Dinner (Farm Fresh Romance 4), which I’m planning to release in February or March. Admittedly, this is the project that’s been getting short shift in September! I only have so many brain cells… and so many hours in a given day!
There you have September in a nutshell, at least the first 2/3 of it. What does September look like in YOUR little world?