Simple Living With Nature

Grow Forage Cook Ferment logo
  • Grow
  • Forage
  • Cook
  • Ferment
  • Herbalism
  • Homestead
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Books
    • Healing Herbal Infusions
    • Wildcrafting Weeds
    • Simple Mead Making
    • Herbal Immune Support
    • Dandelion Recipes
    • Edible Flower Recipes
    • The Backyard Forest Garden
    • Healing Kitchen Herbs
    • Botanical Holiday Cocktails
  • About
    • About Me
    • Contact
  • Foraging Course
  • Subscribe!
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home » Updates & Recent Happenings » Updates and Recent Happenings: Last Harvests and Winter Garden Prep

Updates and Recent Happenings: Last Harvests and Winter Garden Prep

May contain affiliate links or sponsored content. Please see my privacy policy and affiliate disclosure.

Originally published on November 14, 2015. Last updated on March 9, 2019

31 shares
  • 31

Well, it’s the calm before the storm right now, literally. We are supposed to be getting our first real storm of the season this weekend. Yes, we’ve had some rainy days, but this one is predicted to bring strong winds, cold temps, and possibly even some snow. At some point along the line it seems as though a switch was flipped and we went from pleasantly warm to super cold just like that. It’s ok, though, I really do love the changing of the seasons, and the cold doesn’t bother me too much as long as I get some sunshine on my face every once in a while. That’s part of why we decided to live in Southern Oregon versus the Portland area or the Willamette Valley, as they rarely have a day without clouds unless it’s summertime. I need my vitamin D from time to time! Anyways, much of our free time this past week has been all about last harvests and winter garden prep in anticipation of the colder temps that are coming our way.

cherry tomatoesWe finally harvested the last of our orange cherry tomatoes, which really were the star of the show this past summer. I’m definitely saving some seeds from these guys because they were sweet as sugar and super productive. They were still ripening on the vine until the day we took them out, which was just a few days ago! The tomatillo harvest pales in comparison.

basket of tomatillosThere were tons of flowers on the plant, I just don’t think they had enough time to fully ripen. I had high hopes of making a fermented tomatillo salsa this fall, but I’ll have to improvise. I’m going to use this handful of tomatillos along with a whole bunch of green cherry tomatoes and hope for the best! I’ll let you know the results, of course.

jar of green tomatoesJoel built some cool “heat sinks” out of random bricks and cement blocks around some of the more temperature sensitive plants to help keep them warm.

brink heat sinksThe yarrow and artichokes got some of the same treatment.

yarrow and artichokeCosmo the kitten (who doesn’t look much like a kitten anymore, even though he is still only 7 months old) supervised the whole situation to make sure we were doing everything right.

cosmo and thornsI’m still in total awe that we have roses blooming in November. I know I’ve said this before, but it really does blow my mind!

pink roseI found this pretty pink wildflower nearby as well, although it looked a little soggy.

wet wildflowerAnd when I went for a walk this morning I realized that we are coming into the cold weather foraging season, which means there’s not a lot out there! But, don’t get too discouraged, as there usually is at least something. Even evergreens like this Douglas Fir tree have some beneficial edible and medicinal qualities.

douglas firWhich I will discuss in a later post sometime this winter, I’m sure.

That’s about it for this week! Hope you all had a lovely week yourselves. Maybe next week I’ll have some snowy pictures for you…

  • Join My Free Foraging & Herbalism Email Course!

  • This will also subscribe you to the Grow Forage Cook Ferment newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please see my Privacy Policy.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Previous Post: « How to Make Hard Apple Cider Jelly
Next Post: How to Make Fermented Cranberries »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Robin Jozovich says

    November 14, 2015 at 10:06 am

    Loved this, Collen! Cosmos is so pretty!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Hello there! I’m Colleen.

I want to inspire you to live seasonally, become more self sufficient, and protect your health. I share information on foraging and wildcrafting, fermenting and preserving, cooking whole foods from scratch, permaculture gardening, and making herbal products. And that’s just the beginning! Learn more.

My Books

Spring Favorites

purple dead nettle uses benefits look alike

Foraging for Purple Dead Nettle: an edible backyard weed

50+ Dandelion Recipes: Drinks, Sweets, Soap, Remedies + More!

A jar filled with lilacs and honey, surrounded by fresh lilacs.

Lilac Flower Infused Honey

Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey)

Popular Posts

How to Make Soap For Beginners + Calendula Soap Recipe

10 Reasons to Grow Mint (Without Fear)

How to Make and Use Dandelion Salve

What to Forage in Spring: 20 Edible and Medicinal Plants and Fungi

how to make mead

How to Make a Gallon of Mead: A Simple Mead Recipe

How to Make Hard Cider: Homebrew it!

Fermented Honey Garlic

8 Easy to Identify Edible Mushrooms

Mountain Rose Herbs
×

Join list.

More info

Footer

Explore

  • Grow
  • Forage
  • Cook
  • Ferment
  • Herbalism
  • Homestead

Learn To Forage

The gather + root online foraging course will help you to safely identify, harvest, and use common edible and medicinal plants with confidence.

Enroll Now

As Featured On

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Affiliate Disclosure
  • Amazon Affiliate

Copyright © 2025 Grow Forage Cook Ferment & Cocos Creations LLC.

31 shares
  • 31