The lawn may be turning brown, but Sylvia has kept the garden green and growing.
Those huge plants in the middle of the garden are zucchinis. Today, she is making rhubarb jam.
I’ve been doing some odd jobs. In updating plugins to this blog, my favicon was changed. My next project is to correct that unhappy situation.
Sylvia has been hard at work in the garden. You can see that clearly. The beans, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, cabbage, jalapenos and rhubarb are looking great.
On the right, the scene changes as you look through the asparagus, which we have stopped harvesting. Onions, beets, radishes, green peppers, butternut squash and potatoes are flourishing. Peas are out of frame to the right.
Here another view. We’ve been talking about laying down some mulch to discourage the weeds. If some purslane comes up, we will eat that succulent plant.
This afternoon, a pop-up shower watered the garden. It seems to have passed already.
Sunday evening, our friend Sharkey arrived on schedule. She did an overnight stay with us and left mid-day headed for base camp. She and her friend, Marie, will be hiking on the Buckeye Trail.
Sharkey & Sylvia love the outdoors.
I think we were all tired. While we enjoyed excellent conversation, it was a bit more subdued that normal.
Sylvia and I always look forward to Sharkey’s visits. In the [relatively] few years that we have known her, she has become a very special friend. We have discovered many things that we share in common.
We particularly appreciated her willing and able hands on Monday morning. Before breakfast, Sylvia and Sharkey did some weeding in the vegetable garden. Afterward, she helped us as we secured the fence–making it bunny proof. We are both very grateful for her helping hands and especially for her great sense of humor.
We’ve called the garden area along our foundation wall Granny’s Garden since Briana (granddaughter) gave Sylvia a sign with “Granny’s Garden” on it. Time and weather have destroyed the sign. The name remains.
This year, Bryant and Barbara came the Saturday before Mother’s Day and cleaned out that area, putting down fresh mulch. They also gave her a gift certificate to Flower Land and a beautiful handmade card. (Handmade cards are a tradition in Barbara’s family, and they do a terrific job each time.)
I went out this morning to check on the plants.
In addition to her new flowers, you can see a rose, giant garlic, mint and hollyhocks. (Yes, we enjoy fresh garlic–a lot!)
The mica is from Sylvia’s father. When we see it we think of him.
Holly and peony grow in the end corners. Barbara trimmed the holly bushes so they look great.
Once again we say, “Thank you very much.”
I went out this morning to see if our last crocus had poked up its head. I’m sad to say that it hasn’t. While I was out there, I did see other signs of activity.
I remember tiny burrows, like these four. They were in the “Granny Garden” the last year that crocuses were growing there. Unfortunately, I used the last of the Critter Ridder to evict woodchucks from under the garage and house. (I call them “Charlies” so I don’t use my name in vain.)
This observation, led me to another. Sometimes burrowing “creatures” enter our lives. They burrow under the surface where they feed on the roots of desired traits and objects that grow and beautify our lives.
I think it is time to reorder some Critter Ridder. Perhaps I also need to examine the soil of my heart to see if burrowing pests are at work there.
Yesterday, was not very nice and I let it show in the poem that I posted. Today was a different story. Sunny and nice if on the cool side. It was a great day for outside work and that’s what Sylvia and I did after lunch.
The garden is ready for winter. No, that garden is not freshly tilled. It has been covered in a thick layer of well composted manure. We have the most generous and well behaved neighbors and their two legged care givers are generous too.
With some help from the good Lord and cooperation from the weather, we are looking forward to a good harvest next year in the garden. I’m hoping that the jalapeños do well. This year we didn’t get any. Our parsnips also failed. (I think that was heavy spring rain.)
Two people are going to sleep very well tonight. At least, that’s what I believe. 🙂
It is mid-November. For the most part, deciduous trees have dropped their leaves. Does that leave your world looking drab? Look again.
A wise person once noted that beauty is where you find it. I’ll add that it is not hard to find. It may try to disguise itself, but beauty can be found. You have only to look.
Don’t forget to look where the light is a bit dim. Perhaps behind some sort of cover.
Beauty may lurk behind a fence, or even beyond. Hidden where you can’t quite focus. It is out there. You have to find it for yourself.
Sometimes, it appears with a seasonal type of feel. (Okay this pushing it a bit early.)
Where do you see beauty?
In the rush and scurry of this past week, I was unable to post a couple of images and stories. I’d like to share one with you today.
Looks like we’ll be enjoying butternut squash for the next year. Our garden came through for us once again. Sylvia will bake these and then, when they are cool, she’ll scoop out the squash and divide them into meal-size portion, putting them in plastics bags. We’ll form them flat in the bags, stack them on a tray and pop them into the freezer.
We had some problems with bags “gripping” onto the wires that constitute the freezer shelves. The tray keeps them in perfect shape. Once the food is frozen, we remove the tray.
In the garden, there are blossoms on the peas. However, there is only one pod and that is not developing. I was hoping to pick peas in November. Hmmm . . . Maybe if I plant them indoors. The walk-out end of the basement gets plenty of light, and it’s cool. Not sure if the days are long enough for their health.
Looks like a second touch of Indian summer this week. That’s very nice.
Not a lot happening in the garden these days, but the growing season is not yet over. On Thursday, Sylvia said, “You’ve got to get a picture of this.” I did.
Can you see the three blossoms on these peas? We are left wondering if we will pick peas in October. Wouldn’t that be swell?
I turned around, took a step and a half to check out the kale.
The kale is doing well. This is our first year to grow it in the garden and are very pleased with what we’re seeing. Oh, and eating too, of course.
Isn’t that pretty? When you’re served a meal with a kale garnish, do eat the kale? I do.
Shortly after I captured those images, Sylvia moved in with cutters in hand. She harvested some of the choice parts. Some of that bounty she coated lightly with oil and sprinkled on a bit of sea salt with lime. These went into the oven to become this:
Word of Warning: You may find kale chips highly addictive.
Mowing the tall grass on the low ground
The sun is shining and our neighbor is making hay on our low ground. The photo is from last summer. The only thing that’s changed is the garden, and this has been a different year for the garden.
Can you believe we picked peas in August? Yes, we did!
Sylvia did two plantings of green beans. It would have worked well if we hadn’t had bunny visitors. Nevertheless we were still picking green beans late in September.
Zucchini was poor this year. Instead of an over abundance, we had barely enough for the summer.
Parsnips must have drowned in the wet spring time. Fortunately, Sylvia froze some of last year’s harvest. Parsnips went well with last night’s shepherd pie.
We should have an excellent asparagus harvest next year, Lord willing. This summer, I blanched and froze some while Sylvia was with her dad. When we tried it recently, we found it to be very good.
We are already thinking about next year’s garden.