Join me while I give you a picture-heavy update on our semi homesteading life for September 2025 here in the Midwest. I’ll show you what is going on with the garden, in the kitchen, with the chickens, and with life in general.
September is still a warm month for us here in Illinois, and many of the vegetables in the garden are really starting to amp up production. That also means that I’ve started canning and preserving the harvest in addition to saving what seeds I can. The flowers are still blooming, trees are dropping nuts like crazy, and the chickens have started molting – all things that indicate that fall is right around the corner!
With these updates, I hope to do more of a “journal” type of post at least once a month to keep you updated on life here. Hopefully, it will allow you to get to know the person behind these articles (me!) and how we run our semi homestead a bit more.
This will allow me to share the loads of photos I take on my phone instead of having them collect dust in my camera gallery. (You can also look for updates on Instagram if you want to follow along with me there, too.) I’ll also try to link to posts that might be relevant to what happened during that timeframe.
Hopefully, you enjoy getting to know a bit more about our life here in Illinois and how the homestead is going – Both the good and the bad!
Our September 2025 Update For The Semi Homesteading Life
September always starts to indicate the closing of the summer season and the start of fall. We spent most of the month sweating and desperately hoping for a bit of rainfall. Unfortunately, the rain never really came, and our soil is as dry as can be.
However, despite the lack of rainfall, some of the plants in the vegetable garden are still producing and giving us plenty to harvest, especially the tomatoes and pepper plants. I can’t seem to give away enough peppers to friends and neighbors! We have had a few issues with sunspots on a few tomatoes, but otherwise, no other big issues with them.
The second planting of zucchini that I did is starting to produce a few here and there. It definitely isn’t that huge harvest that I’m used to with the first planting, but it’s enough to get us by.
The cucumber plants have definitely started to wilt and fizzle out. I have one variety that didn’t produce a single female bloom all summer long, but is now starting to produce. Unfortunately, the cucumbers it does grow are very sour inside and not edible. The chickens have been enjoying those as an extra treat!
Making Apple Cider
One of my favorite parts of September is when my parents’ apple trees are ready for harvesting. Last year, the trees got a heavy winter pruning, so there wasn’t a ton to harvest. However, this year, there was plenty.
One of the things we like to make as a family with the apples is homemade apple cider. We use my late grandpa’s old apple cider press and take the day to make gallons of the fruity drink. The flavor from this homemade cider is like nothing you get in the stores! It is so fresh and bright and just delicious!
Everyone gets to leave with sticky hands and plenty of cider to drink and freeze for later. It’s definitely a treat to open a jug of frozen cider to enjoy during the frigid winter months!
Nuts Everywhere!
This is what I consider to be a “nut-heavy” year. All of the nut-producing trees on our semi homestead are producing like crazy. While the squirrels are enjoying the results, it can make for a huge mess in the yard!
Every day after I do chicken and garden chores, I use nut rollers to pick up the walnuts. Sure, we can leave them to rot on the grass, but it makes walking a pain and leaves a black mess everywhere.
I HIGHLY recommend buying a nut roller if you are tired of spending hours bending over and picking up the fallen fruit one by one! They make picking up walnuts so much easier. There are other sizes available if you have different types of nuts to pick up from your yard as well. (Product Link: GARDEN WEASEL Large Nut Gatherer Roller)
Besides the walnut trees going crazy, we also have several oak trees dropping acorns. The local deer have been really enjoying those! Another type of tree we have dropping nuts like mad is a shagbark hickory. The squirrels seem to prefer this delicacy over the other types right now. You can just hear all the shells dropping as they dig out the meat inside.
Saving Seeds – September 2025 Homesteading Update
A task that I’ve been trying to be more diligent about this year is saving seeds from some of my open-pollinated flowers. We have many different types growing in the garden this year, so I am making it a point to save their seeds for next year. Not only can this help me save money, but it also takes some of the stress out of having to try to find and purchase new seeds.
Two of the easiest flower seeds to save are zinnias and marigolds. For both, you can get loads of seeds from a single bloom. For the zinnias, I like to tag the blooms I want to save using a piece of string or something similar.
And even though I know the plants are excellent self-seeders, I’m also saving a few coneflower seeds. I’d like to expand the area they are growing in since the pollinators seemed to go nuts over the native blooms.
Snapdragons are another one I am saving the seeds of for next year. I absolutely fell in love with a new variety I grew this year, Orange Wonder. I want to make sure I can include it in the garden again next year. Now I don’t have to worry if I can find the seeds online!
Flowers, Flowers, Flowers
As I mentioned earlier, the flowers are still putting on a beautiful show. We have loads of pollinators visiting the garden and even a few hummingbirds as they make their way south for winter.
The zinnias have been a favorite of the hummingbirds. I didn’t put up any feeders this year, but that didn’t stop the hummingbirds from visiting and sampling the zinnias. They especially loved the larger, single-petaled blooms.
While the pollinators don’t really prefer the nasturtiums, I still like to include them in the garden. Not only are they an excellent companion plant, but the blooms are tasty as well!
The marigolds this year have grown out of control! I planted way more plants than I usually do, and they really took off. I had a few taller varieties that grew around 3 to 4 feet tall and surrounded my tomato plants. While I like the way they help to repel pests, I’m not sure I enjoyed how massive the plants got! They may not make my “To Plant Next Year” list!
Miscellaneous Pictures – September 2025 Homesteading Update
As usual, I’ll leave you with some miscellaneous homesteading pictures. I take so many different pictures throughout the month that it’s hard to get them all on just one post so I like to do a photo dump at the end of my updates.
I’ve been trying to walk Reese, our mini Aussie, more this month. During the walks, I’m making a point to look at the plants and “weeds” growing along the roads in a different light. If possible, I snap a few pictures to capture the simple beauty that nature is.
I’ve had a few chickens start to molt towards the end of the month. I am definitely not looking forward to seeing piles upon piles of feathers in the chicken run, but I always love seeing their fresh new coats!
And, of course, you can’t have a fall miscellaneous photo collage without including one of a woolly bear caterpillar! You can find them crawling everywhere this time of year. So what do you think based on this caterpillar . . . Are we in for a doozy of a winter?!
Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
– Chelsea
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