Fall Harvest and a Hiatus

As a few of you may have realized, I've been on a hiatus for the last month or so.

My cousin Chandra wondered if my sister Tamara and I were hiding out together.

I wish that had been the case, as then I could have been eating around the world with her! http://thegreenhousediaries.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately, the real reason is a lot less glamorous.

For the last few months my hormones have decided to dance the hokey pokey pretty much non stop.

This has left me anxious, tired, and out of sorts.

Not exactly the best frame of mind for blogging!

But Fall has arrived and, sadly, is scheduled to leave again tomorrow afternoon, as a huge windstorm bringing cold temperatures and the likelihood of snow, is set to blow in, which had me scrambling to get some harvesting done in the garden today.

Luckily for me Jesse slept in and missed the bus so I was able to put him to work.

He spent quite some time chopping up all my sunflowers so I would be able to compost them.

A few of them even survived the frost!

I harvested potatoes, which was pretty exciting, although they do have a bit of scab which was disappointing.

I had planted two mini pumpkin vines in the front garden and as you can see they went a little crazy.

Frost hit them a few times in the last few nights so it was time to pull them out.

All those leaves and this is my harvest. . .

Hmmmm. . .

Maybe not the best use of a small space!

I'll have to try something else next year.

Happy fall everyone.

Never Doing Things The Easy Way

Jesse's out in the garage right now, building me a small plant stand.
His plans are rather ambitious and I was thinking about how much easier it would have been for him if he had kept it simple.
But he doesn't want to make something simple, he wants to make something beautiful.
It occurred to me that I may have passed on an inclination that will make his life more complicated than it could have been.
I can't seem do do things the the easy way either.
If I'm going to make jam for the first time I will of course research jam making and use the jam recipes from a recipe book full of blue ribbon winners, because if I going to do it, why not make the best jam possible?
Of course, when chatting with others about all the steps involved in making blue ribbon winning jam, most looked at me quizzically and said, "I just use the recipe on the Certo box. It's easy."
When renewing my garden this spring instead of doing one bed I did the entire back yard!
And then there are the plans for the community garden. . . .
It was my idea to begin with.
I inspired others with this vision.
Then we began to find out just how much work was involved.
Slightly daunted we forged ahead.
Complications arose,
I started driving Ev crazy with my flip flopping over whether to continue or not.
We finally decided once and for all that we would not go ahead with it.
Being who I am I couldn't leave it at that and agreed to meet with the outgoing city coordinator, (who had been helping us with the process) as well as a few other people involved with revitalizing our neighbourhood so as to keep the dream from dying entirely.
You Know. . .
Put it on hold for a few years. . .
Are any of you snickering yet?
As you've probably guessed the garden is back on again, although moving just one step at a time.
The woman in charge of revitalizing our neighbourhood was very enthusiastic, assuring me that money would be easily available and that she was more than willing to help out in any way she can. And telling me that the garden can be made in a few smaller steps rather than one large one.
So. . . .
I am so sorry Ev!!!
I promise this is the last flip I will ever flop on this project!
*Disclaimer:
(Unless something totally unforeseen comes up.)
Sigh. . .

Check out Ev's post on this same subject. http://achaoticlifestyle.blogspot.com/

Getting Ready For School.

Every year at the end of August I visit my hairdresser.

After all, I couldn't start the new school year off with an old haircut now could I?

This year I told her I was looking for something trendy and maybe a little funky.

This is how it turned out.

I just hope I'm able to style it like this myself.

I'm pretty sure Theresa (also my neighbour and 'mom' of Jada's friend Diesel) would not appreciate me waking her up every morning at 5:30 to do my hair before I go to work!

In The Garden

While watering my little veggie garden yesterday, I noticed a flash of red.

I peered through the tangle of tomatoes vines to get a better look at the poor tomato plant who had became overshadowed by her rather rampant neighbours.

Look at what was hiding in there. . .

Can you believe the size of this tomato?!

I've been staring at it all morning trying to decide the best way to enjoy it.

I'm thinking that, chopped with basil and onion from the garden, plus a bit of olive oil and some garlic rubbed baguette , we'll be savouring some rather tasty brushcetta with our dinner tonight.

Yum.

New Interests

I know, I know!

I've been rather quiet again, but the thing is. . .

Well. . .

I'm developing new interests.

And they are time consuming!

One of my new interests is growing food. We revamped the back garden this spring to add more food and we've been enjoying strawberries and honey berries along with these lovely little items. . .

The little fingerling potatoes were grown in pots. I also have several plants in the ground and so hope to enjoy several more meals with home grown potatoes.

For dinner tonight we had broccoli, tomatoes and potatoes from my garden and lettuce and a patti pan squash from Ev's garden. Add some ham and a jar of applesauce which we canned last fall and. . .

Yum!

Although, Ev, we found the squash rather disconcerting.

I mean it doesn't really have a whole lot of taste ! (Mind you Jesse thought that when he had it raw it kind of reminded him of peppers.)

I decided to fry it as I didn't think Henry would eat it raw. I sliced it, dredged it in flour with salt and fresh black pepper and then fried it in butter with a little garlic.

The disconcerting part was the texture! I mean it was soft and smooshy and you were waiting for a horrible taste to follow.

Only. . .

It didn't! It just had a mild hint of garlic taste!

Odd, very odd.

I might have to try stuffing them and then baking them. I'm thinking that cheese would be a good match.

Adventures in food continue. . .

Quiet Sundays

Glimpses Of The Back Garden