There is a bountiful feeling in the harvesting of fall!
Such an abundance as we store away food for the winter.
Such an abundance as we store away food for the winter.
We got a lot of clean up done in the garden this week, taking advantage of a few sunny days. I love the feeling of starting with a fresh garden in the spring, watching it grow into a wild jungle in the summer and harvesting regularly, and then pulling everything up in the fall. There is something so satisfying about pulling the plants up, leaving the garden beds fluffy earth again. There is fun in creating/building and there is fun in tearing down and starting all over again. You know what I mean?
We harvested the last of the zucchini and pulled up the zucchini plants. We harvested the onions. They were small, since we don’t get much sunlight, but they were flavorful.
We harvested the gourds Jeff had planted. This was probably what he was most excited about in the garden this year.
See how tiny they are? He researched how to cure them and has lots of ideas for fun things he wants to make out of them.
Jeff harvested all the squash flowers before we pulled the plants up. He put them in a stir fry and a soup. Yum!
We ate a few apples off our tree. There weren’t many this year, but they made for a good garden snack in the sun!
We harvested all of the winter squash and what a nice big pile it made! We mostly had butternut squash. There were a few acorn squashes and Pennsylvania crooknecks. There were also some gourds in the pile. (Jeff might make those into birdhouses, we’ll see.) We pulled up all the squash vines and put them in the compost. With all the cleaning up, our compost pile was over Jeff’s head.
And we discovered a few cucumbers that had been hidden. (See them on the left?) They had grown pretty massive.
We marveled at our harvest pile. We were excited! It feels so good to grow food!
We marveled at our harvest pile. We were excited! It feels so good to grow food!
We brought all the winter squash indoors to dry a little by the woodstove.
Jeff cooks the seeds in home-rendered lard for a snack. He loves them.
We left the chard, which is still going strong. We also have plenty of kale and celery to harvest still.
The collard starts (for our winter garden) have been getting mowed down by slugs. Our other winter starts are still in the greenhouse, where they are more protected.
The collard starts (for our winter garden) have been getting mowed down by slugs. Our other winter starts are still in the greenhouse, where they are more protected.
There’s a few sunflowers still blooming. I bask in the last days of their beauty.
Most of the sunflowers are drying by the woodstove, ready to harvest the seeds for eating.
The garden is quieting down for the season.
Jeff and Bracken harvesting some more comfrey for our herbal salves.
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Dreaming of… pruning all our fruit trees, planting garlic (wondering if it’s too late?), propagating elderberries to plant here…
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Dreaming of… pruning all our fruit trees, planting garlic (wondering if it’s too late?), propagating elderberries to plant here…
Oh, glorious October!
Ah! I never commented on this awesome display of garden bounty! I am totally in awe at the amount of winter squash that you guys harvested! That is SO COOL! All the other stuff is beautiful too. What a bounty.
Congrats!!
I love seeing what you guys grew 🙂
And definitely not too late to plant garlic!
Thank you all for your comments.
Glad to hear there’s still time to plant garlic!
Hi! I haven’t commented before, but I just love your blog and your graceful, sweet writing. I just wanted to say it is certainly not too late for tucking some garlic into the garden.
Wow what a mountain of squash! Yes, October is indeed a glorious month.xxx
Not too late to plant garlic! I’m planting mine today, and shallots too.
Yay! How beautiful! I know what you mean about pulling the plants up and starting over – it’s like finishing a painting and getting a wole new canvas. 🙂
Awesome post!