The garden, it seems, is starting to wrap up for the season. The cucumbers were done producing so Jeff started pulling them up and I finished pulling up the rest of them yesterday. While I did some garden clean up and weeded, Bracken “played pioneer” and took a washboard and soap and did some laundry. (A bar of soap would be more satisfying, but we quickly grabbed some Dr. Bronners liquid soap. Our washboard is from Homestead Drying Racks and I would highly recommend that for a fun outdoor activity for kids when the weather is nice. Going to the Living History Festival and Fort Umpqua Days inspired that activity for us, along with all the pioneer books that we read constantly. I’ve also seen a small clothes rack and similar set up for kids at a nearby Waldorf school, I’ve seen many children enjoy that hands on process of washing the clothes and hanging them to dry.)

When Bracken and I returned from Iowa, Jeff had all the concord grapes harvested and waiting for us. We couldn’t wait any longer to harvest them because some animal was eating them fast as can be and they were quickly disappearing. (We’re still curious about what kind of animal it was because they would carefully pluck each grape off the stems, instead of pulling down the whole clumps bear-style.) The grapes are such a treat, flavorful and delicious. Jeff grew a bunch of squash vertically this year, and in pots no less, yet they have been exceeding our expectations and most of them have grown huge. Before we left for our fiber festival this last weekend, I gave away zucchini to our friends. I was too busy tying buttons on cards and had no time to process it. I thought it would be difficult to find homes for (you know how zucchini is, there’s so much of it), but I was glad that it was happily received and that so many of our friends needed some. We’ve pulled up a few zucchini plants, but most of them are still producing, just more slowly now. The green beans have slowed down too.

There are little hands around here that are constantly collecting seeds, most recently aster seeds. We didn’t grow those beautiful onions, those were a trade with a neighbor. With so many onions, Jeff has been sauteing them and adding them to every meal it seems. Usually we make our onions last and only use them in the occasional meal, but we’re eating our fill of them now and loving that. Aren’t those black and white bugs funny looking? We saw them in our yard years back and have all been hoping to see them again. This year we saw not only one or two, but five. And we saw them in the same spot we saw them years ago. (They’re called Banded Alder Borer Beetles. Try to say that ten times fast!) That’s a bug my Grandpa K would have loved to see! Those little green caterpillars like to eat our kale and I often feed them to our chickens. Bracken has put a few in his bug house with food for them, hoping to watch them make chrysalises and hatch out. As we clean up the garden, we’re deciding where we want to plant garlic this fall. And the garden continues!