‘Tis Autumn! and the short’ning day,
The chilly evening’s sober gray,
And winds that hoarser blow;
The fading foliage of the trees,
Which rustles sere in every breeze,
The approach of Winter show.
~Bernard Barton

Your days are numbered, you’ll need to get busy …

– add leaves to garden to till under in spring or compost them to add in spring
– start watering Christmas Cactus
– dig late crop potatoes for winter storage
– lime lawn or garden, if needed, check soil test
– apply lime sulfur to peach trees to prevent peach leaf curl
– mulch late crop carrots, turnips, and parsnips with straw for later fall and winter harvest
– cut roses back to two feet to prevent wind whipping
– spray rhododendrons and azaleas to prevent wind burn and/or erect burlap wind screens
– apply calcium-sulfate to lawn areas susceptible to road salt damage
– purchase Ohio grown poinsettias
– harvest greens, turnips, parsnips, and carrots for your Thanksgiving dinner
– purchase Ohio grown Christmas trees

         And for that “chilly” evening, put a big pot of “chili” on in the morning . . ….

                                    Carol Bessemer’s Simple Slow Cooker Chili

Brown 1# of ground beef with chopped onions (amount of your choice).

Put meat, onions, 1 (46oz.) can of tomato juice or 1 ½ qts. of your own homemade tomato juice and 1 (30oz.) can of light or dark kidney beans into crockpot.

Cook on high in crockpot for 4 hours and then low for another 2-3 hours.

Add salt & pepper to taste.  Add paprika to taste.

Add ¼ cup of sugar to cut the tomato acid.

Variation:  Don Bessemer likes to have added:  1 cup of minute rice during the last half hour of cooking.