Good Day

Not much better than eating fresh baked sugar cookies ...

...on the porch ....

.... in January February (geez ... ) ....

.... with your puppy. (Yes, she got some, too).

Bloggers Block

I have come to the conclusion that I have been suffering from "bloggers block."  I have been having trouble coming up with things to blog about, thinking that what I write about needs to be big, important.  

But, I write best, when I focus on the simple things in life, the things that make me happiest, things that make our family "us."  So, I have started what I call a "Simplicity Project."  For the past few weeks, I have been more intentional about taking pictures of simple joys in our life that I often take for granted.  I hope to do a good job of sharing these things here.

Simplicity Project Pic #1: A shelf on our pantry, full of yummy things from our summer garden.  This past summer, I was more intentional about canning recipes that are meals, instead of just snacks.  So this year, in addition to the usual salsa, jalapeno jelly, and pickles, we have roasted garlic pasta sauce, tomato soup (thanks for the recipe, Sarah Koehn!), and bruschetta.  It has been a true joy to be able to go to the pantry in the middle of winter for a meal from our garden!  Next summer - TWICE as much pasta sauce!  

(Yummiest when eaten with some of our stored spaghetti squash, instead of on actual pasta ... and healthier, too!) 

Progress

Lots of progress to report on around our farm.  Over the course of the last two weekends, we have ...

Finished the High Tunnel!

All except the doors.  Those will be added soon ... 

 

And ...

 

 

Finished the greenhouse!

 

Whew!!  Feels GREAT to have these two big projects wrapped up!

 

Meet Marley

The newest member of our family.

She is just the best!  I don't know what we did before we had our little lab puppy!  (oh right ... enjoyed un-chewed belongings ... but that's a whole different post.)

Look out, Milo!

Puppy's in da house!

Deep down, I think Milo likes her.  He just doesn't know it yet.

"What?  You mean the cat's NOT an acceptable chew toy??"

Bruce likes his new puppy, but she is a little rambunctious for him.  I think it's a little overwhelming!

But I think they will learn to be great pals!

 "Finally.  Higher ground.  I think I'm safe ..."

Early Freeze

These last few years have spoiled us, in regards to our last freeze date.  I have almost come to expect that we won't have to worry about our plants until at LEAST late October.  Not this year!  Saturday we scrambled to harvest whatEVER we could before our first projected freeze that night.

Pears and the last of the apples were picked and moved under the stairs (temporarily) ...

Right next to the hibiscus and geraniums who are residing in our living room (temporarily) ... 

Green tomatoes, red tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers, jalapeno peppers and even a few eggplant were pick and took up their temporary residence by the back door.

I drew the line at picking the okra.  I could not FORCE myself to pick more okra at this point in the season.  

Right now, I'm still stick right in the middle of being disappointed that we lost all our plants, and relieved that the craziness of summer is almost over.  

On Sunday, the real work began.  Roasted peppers - yum!  I tweaked my roasted bell pepper spread and it is now DELICIOUS! 

(Okay, I know these look gross, but trust me, they are yummy!)  

Harvested the last of the basil for a huge batch of freezer pesto - YUM!

Lots of the ripe tomatoes were used for more tomato jam.  This weekend, I am going to try green tomato salsa verde.  Let's hope it's good ... because there are LOTS of green tomatoes.  :)

We also found a little time over the weekend for the Annual Udall Fall Festival parade.

The sirens on the fire engines were a little scary ...

But once the candy started flying, everything was okay.  :)