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The house we bought this spring was built in 1889. Needless to say, it could use more insulation. We're loosing a lot of heat from the attic, so we've decided to raise the level of the attic floor by 8 inches and blow in insulation under the floors to add to the small amount of insulation already there. Here Matt's set the floor boards on the right side back on so he can work on framing the left. Once we have it all framed, we'll remove the floor boards again to blow in the insulation.
Here are the old square nails that have come out of the floor boards, placed in an old chimney plug.
In order to raise the floor we have to do some cleaning out of 'good junk' that was left to us by the previous owners. All the original windows are up there. We're holding on to those for now. There were old ratty rugs that needed to be tossed. There are old bricks from when the previous chimney was replaced.
However, the oddest thing was a large barrel full of walnuts. The previous owners told us about them and that they were reluctant to get rid of them. In doing the wiring for lights in the ceiling of the second floor saw walnuts in various places in the walls, so we imagine the mice are transporting them around the house. That's enough motivation to finally get rid of them, but having to move them around the attic multiple times was another good reason. Finally when it was moved, walnuts would come out of the bottom.
We ended up tipping it over on its side so we could shovel out the rest of the walnuts more easily. We shoveled them into 5 gallon buckets to carry them out of the house. We did at least 5 buckets full to empty the barrel. Here is the barrel tipped after a few bucket loads were taken out.
The bottom of the barrel only had a part of a piece of wood, and then was lined with burlap. It reads WW & SON, ARLINGTON, MASS.
I did crack one open and there was still meat in it. It was very hard to crack and I'm not risking eating unknown aged walnuts.
The previous owner said 50 years, but I'm wondering if they might be older because of the way they were packed. Any guesses? The walnuts went out to the compost pile where we put the weeds. We'll watch to see if the squirrels are less picky than we are.
We're also wondering about the purpose of a barrel full of walnuts. We have a history of the property deeds which is rather confusing to read, but in one part it mentions a tannery being on a connected piece of property. Maybe walnuts were used in tanning? I know they are used in dying wool. Now we're trying to think of a good use or display possibility for the old barrel. Any ideas?
Post Script: At the post-trick-or-treat gathering at the neighbor's house across the street, she said the walnuts were probably from the trees near her house. I guess someone stored them away one year with plans to husk and shell them and never did.
This week I got over 2 more pounds of tomatoes ripening from the green tomato box.
I picked 8 oz of kale, including some red kale that leafed out. It overwintered from the previous owners garden, went to seed,I saved seeds, and now it is producing again. 
I picked 11.5 oz of leeks, 6 oz of chard, and 1 pound of brussels sprouts (not pictured).
Now that the garden is winding down, I'll sometimes share what we're eating from what we saved from the garden. This weekend we roasted our first jarrahdale pumpkin. It was a 15 pound one. My husband cut it in half.
Then we quartered it and scooped out the seeds. I roasted it in the oven for over an hour until the flesh was soft. This photo is before it was baked.
The flesh was good, not stringing, not too strong either. The only downside was the seeds. They looked wonderful, but some how different. When we roasted them we found they were too tough.
We roasted apples and onions after the pumpkin was done and used them all to make soup with a stock made with apple cores and pumpkin scrapings. It was all pureed to a smooth soup. We had plenty for a gathering of 8 adults and 12 kids and still some left over to freeze.
Total this week: 5.08 pounds
Total this year: 441.69 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.
I also harvested chicory/italian dandelion and leek for a quiche.
Another 1 lb 9 oz of tomatoes ripened, along with a few hot peppers from the indoor pepper plants.
And I picked 2 pounds of brussels sprouts to accompany a dinner of smoked pork tenderloin and our own mashed potatoes.
The other harvests are slowing. I know the chard will be done soon. The leaves are smaller and more crinkled. I picked 6 oz of it this week.
I picked 4.5 oz of arugula, mizuna, mache, & claytonia to make a base for this Lentil & Pumpkin Salad. 
I used a small pumpkin and even smaller butternut. We really enjoyed it and will be making it again. We did put goat cheese and toasted seeds on top too, but its easier to see the squash in this photo.
The house we bought this spring was built in 1889. Needless to say, it could use more insulation. We're loosing a lot of heat from the attic, so we've decided to raise the level of the attic floor by 8 inches and blow in insulation under the floors to add to the small amount of insulation already there. Here Matt's set the floor boards on the right side back on so he can work on framing the left. Once we have it all framed, we'll remove the floor boards again to blow in the insulation.
Here are the old square nails that have come out of the floor boards, placed in an old chimney plug.
We ended up tipping it over on its side so we could shovel out the rest of the walnuts more easily. We shoveled them into 5 gallon buckets to carry them out of the house. We did at least 5 buckets full to empty the barrel. Here is the barrel tipped after a few bucket loads were taken out.
The bottom of the barrel only had a part of a piece of wood, and then was lined with burlap. It reads WW & SON, ARLINGTON, MASS.
The previous owner said 50 years, but I'm wondering if they might be older because of the way they were packed. Any guesses? The walnuts went out to the compost pile where we put the weeds. We'll watch to see if the squirrels are less picky than we are.
We're also wondering about the purpose of a barrel full of walnuts. We have a history of the property deeds which is rather confusing to read, but in one part it mentions a tannery being on a connected piece of property. Maybe walnuts were used in tanning? I know they are used in dying wool. Now we're trying to think of a good use or display possibility for the old barrel. Any ideas?
I picked 8 oz of kale, including some red kale that leafed out. It overwintered from the previous owners garden, went to seed,I saved seeds, and now it is producing again. 
I picked 11.5 oz of leeks, 6 oz of chard, and 1 pound of brussels sprouts (not pictured).
Now that the garden is winding down, I'll sometimes share what we're eating from what we saved from the garden. This weekend we roasted our first jarrahdale pumpkin. It was a 15 pound one. My husband cut it in half.
Then we quartered it and scooped out the seeds. I roasted it in the oven for over an hour until the flesh was soft. This photo is before it was baked.
The flesh was good, not stringing, not too strong either. The only downside was the seeds. They looked wonderful, but some how different. When we roasted them we found they were too tough.
We roasted apples and onions after the pumpkin was done and used them all to make soup with a stock made with apple cores and pumpkin scrapings. It was all pureed to a smooth soup. We had plenty for a gathering of 8 adults and 12 kids and still some left over to freeze.
Yesterday I saw a few snow flurries as I went to work and they persisted into the afternoon. However I was still surprised to find a dusting sticking on parts of the garden this morning. Here is some on the bok choy and then the cold frame. It seemed to slide right off the kale and brussels sprouts.
It is interesting how they stuck to the rows more than the paths.
I'm wondering when the ground freezes. I need to harvest carrots and beets before that happens but would rather store them in the garden as long as I can. Winter isn't too far away.
On Monday I harvested all the peppers. In all it was a disappointing year for peppers. The high heat in mid July caused all the blossoms to drop and then the next set didn't have enough time to fully develop. I picked 5.5 oz of hot peppers and over 1 pound of green peppers. I cut and froze the green peppers. There were a few tiny eggplants as well. I strung the hot peppers to dry. 
Also picked one pound of golden beets on Monday. I roasted these to make beet gnocchi.
With the garden clean up on Wednesday I picked all the beans on my pole beans. I didn't do well picking these as green beans. We found the ones I did pick to be tough. So they went to seed. You can see the container full on the left. I picked kohlrabi. And one brussels sprout plant had been broken mid way up and wasn't doing well so I harvested the whole thing along with other sprouts that were beginning to open for a total of 8 oz.
I shelled the beans in front of a movie on Friday night. They weighed 1 pound 6 oz, though they will weigh less when they dry.
In the wet rain on Friday I picked 2 oz of carrots and 6 oz of bok choy and a 3 oz of a chinese green that looks similar to chicory. They all went in a stir fry. I'm happy to have the success with bok choy now because in the spring it bolted and was so eaten by the slugs that I didn't get to enjoy any.
Tomatoes continue to slowly ripen in doors. They are in a cool closet. I brought 5 pounds down that had turned color and we had a large pot of fresh sauce made with them on Saturday night.
Total this week: 9.15 pounds
