Color in the garden

Red tomatoes.  And yellow ones too.

Finally!  Might be my favorite thing to come out of the garden because it means sweet snackin' cherry tomatoes and tomato sandwiches and tomato + basil pastas and fresh salsa and (a new discovery-thanks, gina!) tomato jam!  



Black beans (almost)

This is proof for my neighbor who scoffed at my black bean plants.  They happen to look just like green bean plants.  She just wasn't believin' what I was growin'.  See and believe, sistah!

Yellow squash

as big as my head when one hides from me long enough.

Orange pumpkins

several kinds...my renegade jack-o-lanterns

We have maybe a dozen of these sugar pumpkins that I can't wait to eat up in soups and pies and curry.  But not all at the same time.

More renegades.  I don't know what kind they are but they are so cute and tiny.  And yellow!  Anybody else know what they might be?

We'll have enough to start preserving soon!

++++++++++++++++++++++
I was able to talk to Gina and get the recipe we used for the Tomato Jam.  It is sooo good!  Try it on cream cheese with crackers, spread it on a sandwich or wrap, add it to the top of your dinner roll or cornbread.

Tomato Jam
5 lbs. tomatoes chopped
2 small onions diced
1/2  cup dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar (*the original recipe called for 2 cups but we thought that made it too sweet)
juice of 2 lemons
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp smoked paprika (*original recipe calls for 1 tsp)
1 1/2 tsp cumin (*original recipe calls for 3/4 tsp)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
chopped jalapenos to taste (*our addition-makes it more like a pepper jelly)

Throw it all in a pot and allow it to simmer until it becomes syrup-y (approximately 3 hours but it depends on the juice level of your tomatoes).

You can see we took the liberty to experiment with the recipe a bit.  That's what makes cooking fun for me, just being creative.  So, throw in what you like and let me know how it comes out.  You may just discover the next best thing!

Halloween 2011 Recap

This was the year for Potter costumes!

 Here is the crew before going out trick-or-treating.

The kids had several opportunities to dress up so there was more than one costume worn.  Dylan was a cowboy and batman but not "inny yon" like he said he was going to be for the last two months.  Trek went from Mad-eye Moody to Spidey.  Joe stayed with the Harry Potter theme but swiched from the Slytherin house to the Gryffindor house.  Jono wouldn't let us help with his costume but based on what he came up with we declared him Lockhart.

Bring on the candy!

We also did some pumpkin carving with some friends.

Didn't they turn out great?!

Pumpkin seeds were saved for roasting with this recipe.

How was your Halloween?



How Tall This Fall?

I know I just posted about how much my kids have grown

but just look at this please.

The one on the left is 2007 (a couple months after we moved out here) 

and the one on the right is this year.

It just confirms what has been hitting me lately...

that I need to be grateful each day for the time I have with my kids because they will be grown and gone before I know it!

"I try not to let the good things go by unnoticed."

-from Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

Lord, help me to notice and remember the good things

and not focus on the little, fleeting frustrations.

At the Pumpkin Farm

This has been an annual trip for us since moving to California.

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm.

Aren't these pumpkins beautiful?!

It is quite the operation.

They have talking chickens that say things like:

Why did the rubber chicken cross the road?

'Cause he wanted to stretch his legs.

Ba dum chick.

What is a chicken's least favorite day of the week?

Fry-day!

Ba dum chick.





The big kids got to try out the corn maze for the first time.

I made Jono go with them.  I am directionally challenged so put me in a corn maze and you won't see me again until the new year.  I probably shouldn't have revealed that tidbit.  It could probably be used against me.

There are animals to pet and feed.  The piglets had not been born yet and that is the only time pigs are ever cute so I purposely neglected to take their picture.  But the goats were pretty sweet.

 

We accessorized a couple shirts for the occasion with puffy ghosts and iron-on letters that I had found on clearance last year.  Amazingly, I was still able to locate that stuff to use it.

Trek was so proud of his letters.  He kept saying "O-O-B spells boo!"

The finale was trying to get a cute family shot in the giant pumpkin patch...

So maybe not.

It was a good day with the fam even if they wouldn't cooperate for the picture.

We came home with several sugar pumpkins for baking.

Any pumpkin recipes you'd like to share???

Last Minute Costume Ideas

We happened to be in Ukiah for their annual Pumpkinfest!

It was cute.  They had a hometown parade where all the local peewee teams and dance classes and karate classes had a float.  And--what a stroke of genius to do this kind of thing in the fall instead of a Christmas parade.  You know the temperature is guaranteed to drop below freezing if you even think about scheduling a Christmas parade.

If you are looking for a last minute Halloween costume, you might find some inspiration in the following pictures.

1. Mariachi band member  2. Shriner  3.  Scary Hobo Clown  4.  Zombie Roller Derby Girl or Super Roller Derby Girl  5. Any Star Wars character  6. Super-serious Dirt Biker

There was other entertainment.

We watched our lost balloon fly away.

We played in the bounce houses.  Always fun.

Climbed the rock tower.

With the very foam-muscled purple superhero. 

I would have thought he was the LSU Superfan but he didn't have a cape. 

And that, folks, is costume suggestion number 7.

Autumn Orange {the pumpkin harvest}

I wanted to wait to harvest the pumpkins when we had all the kids there at the same time.

Amazingly, that was hard to do.  My kids aren't that old.  It's not like they are driving themselves places.  We might have to re-evaluate.  I like us together.

They each picked one and carried them over to the hay bales.
Dylan picked the squash because they were easier to carry but it's all squash really.

Yea! That was fun.

Then we played with the camera a little.

This one of Abby...Jono put his sunglasses over the lens of the camera.  She's pretty much amazing in any tint.  I'm allowed to say that, right? She is my daughter.  I can be just as biased as I want.



I love this series of Joe.  He was trying to bury himself with the pumpkins. 

He's such a goofy kid and a lot of fun when he's not trying to be Mr. Tough Guy. 

The last picture is his favorite. 

Of course.



Oh!  One last Autumn Orange...

the holiday truck in Forbestown!

They grew their pumpkins up onto the bed of the truck.

And.  There's a goat.

Love it.

If you missed it the past couple days, here is Autumn Red and Autumn Yellow.

Canoe Garden

Usually you use water craft like this:

But what do you do when they get old and leaky and unpatchable?

You stick them in the barn and leave them for 10 years or so.

This summer we repurposed a few of those old canoes in our garden. 

This one grew lettuce and peas.

This one grew squash and pumpkin.

It grew.

And grew. 

And grew.

All the pumpkins that showed up in our garden were renegades.  I suppose from the seeds of pumpkins that we composted last year.  So, I have no idea what varieties we have.  But they look really cool.

Anybody know what they are?

I can't wait to decorate with these little guys!

Happy October!

By the way, look for a Halloween craft DIY later this week.

And as usual, there is a kids version and a me version!

How to make a good cyclops pumpkin

by Abby

First you have to put only one eye (Duh). It has to look a little funny. You have to name it. I named mine Tyson but I'll give you some ideas like Kallob, Seth, Ira, Dan, Backondorf, Jason, Percy, Travis, and Foalan. The rest you do on your own!