Around the Yard: Harvest Happenings

Since our last "Around the Yard" update back in August, over one month ago, much has happened in the garden. We've done a lot of picking, pulling, hauling, washing, peeling, blanching, freezing, canning, dehydrating and eating. Work was organized around the weather and a little nap time. Supper often ended up being the same as lunch. Fingernails remained dirty and the creases in our hands seemed permanently etched with soil no matter how hard we scrubbed. Our bodies were sore and stiff most mornings. But, oh, how I love to walk into our storage room and just gaze at all that food - food that was (mostly) grown locally, organically and by us!

It was a tremendous amount of work, with many hours of panic and stress during a severe thunderstorm or sudden frost warning. There was disappointment too - the tomato blight before it turned around, the stubborn clay soil in which certain things simply refused to grow, the cabbage moths that devoured my beautiful Brussels sprouts and the cauliflower that, for some inexplicable reason, grew into gigantic plants but did not produce a head. But, each little failure provided us with an opportunity to learn and grow, and the successes far outnumbered any disappointment.

We had melons for the first time ever - watermelons, honeydews and cantaloupes. Our winter squash patch surprised us with more than enough to see us through the winter. We had our first crop of beautiful garlic. We are still eating (and canning) beautiful red tomatoes. Nothing compares to the sweetness of crunching on a raw homegrown carrot. And, my two year old has declared that he is now a farmer, just like his mom. That melts my heart more than anything.

Tell me, how was your garden this year?

Linked to Simple Lives Thursday, Outdoor Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday,