Let the Harvesting Begin

Gather the gifts of Earth with equal hand;
Henceforth, ye too may share the birthright soil;
The corn, the wine, and all the harvest home.

~E.C .Stedman The Feast of Harvest

I am actually getting things out of my garden!!! After a botched up year of late planting, then the constant rains and low temps followed by all the diseases, I wasn't holding much hope but I was wrong. Brings to mind the song from The Sound of Music, (with some additions)...

Nothing comes from nothing

Nothing ever could

So somewhere in the spring or greenhouse

I must have done something good

Or we can just chalk it up to blind luck that something actually grew. Regardless I was able to can 11 pints of beans, 15 1/2 pints of hot pepper mustard and 6 1/4 pints of black raspberry jam.I had to freeze the blackberries that are coming in because I didn't have the squeezo available. I might just wait until I have picked them all and then make the jam. But I digress...joining the berries in the freezer was 4 lbs of shelled peas and 8 lbs of shredded zucchini. I had some whopper zucchini and I am watching a friends house and picked some whoppers from her garden. If I get anymore I am going to try to make zucchini chips which I read are pretty good.

AND...the cucumbers are almost ready to pick and some of the beans were just starting so I should get lots more. The hot peppers are loaded as are the ground cherries. I have people in Philly and Jersey looking for paste tomatoes at a price that is not going to kill me. The tomatoes in the large garden did end up with the blight so today I am making green tomato relish with some of them so they don't go to waste. So far as the rest, I will pick the large fruit and see what ripens.

AND...I finished the baby smock coat, bought the buttons for it, but need the ribbon to sew it together. I made the hat from the kit with some color changes. I still have to block it. Because the boucle does not have the same elasticity as the rest of the hat, it puckered some. Next time I make it I won't use boucle, but it was a quick (one afternoon) and painless knit. I also worked on the crocheted afghans until my hand started to hurt.

AND...The duck has hatched out two ducklings. They are adorable!! There are more eggs under them and one has a nest under the berries which should be hatching soon.

So I am almost done with school shopping, the garden is being harvested, the turkeys are going to the butcher on the 19th, football practice starts for #2 son on Monday, I am back to knitting and crocheting warm things...it could only mean one thing.....FALL is coming. The leaves are already starting to turn.