fall color and halloween decor

harvest moonfest, fall veggies and jack frost carnage

 the first frost hit thursday the 4th of this month. there was about a week of cool weather with temperatures right around freezing every night, and eventually all my non-hardy garden plants died, except for the ones i brought inside and the ones i covered with blankets. all my tomatoes, basils, and both naranjilla plants are still alive. now it's warmer again, but very fall-like.

 the last saturday of september, right before the weather turned chilly, i hosted a harvest moon celebration. homegrown veggie cookout, tomato tasting, vegan potluck, and so much beer. it was a fabulous time and the weather was perfect--low 80s/upper 70s to start, and stayed in the 60s late into the night.

 this is the tomato tasting table. i put out samples of all the varieties i had ripe at the time. the crowd favorite was chocolate stripe, a strikingly beautiful, salty, super-flavorful beefsteak (my favorite too):

 i made wild rice, homegrown veggie salsa, and grilled squash and potatoes. victoria and kim brought a very tasty and complex savory pineapple salad, jeanne and kyle brought some huge, fancy homegrown eggplants for the grill, andrea brought a fantastic vegan huckleberry crumble made with berries she picked herself. there was way too much delicious food.

 unfortunately i didn't get photos while guests were here. it was a challenging day, i'd had a cold for a few days in the week leading up--so instead of cleaning house/yard and prepping as planned, all week i was letting dishes pile up and being tired and unmotivated. i ended up having to do everything on saturday, starting at 7 in the morning and finishing minutes before people began arriving. it put me in such a surprisingly good mood though, since i'd already gone past the point of exhaustion, i was deliriously happy the whole evening.

 poor little potato was stung by a wasp during the party! i hadn't noticed there's a wasp nest at the base of the apple tree, and he stuck his head right in there and got stung on the ear. it was the saddest thing. he didn't yelp or cry, but he ran around like he was on fire, shaking his head and looking horrified. after a while he calmed down and was just deeply, deeply sad the rest of the night. he sulked around the yard throwing himself at peoples' feet for sympathy. he was fine the next morning, and the swelling went away after just a few days. but he's still afraid of the apple tree.

 recent harvests and garden photos:

 nepalese bell peppers have elegant flowers. the peppers themselves are crazy looking:

 my giant pot of basil is taking up more than its share of space in the mudroom. i was planning on keeping it into the winter, but now i think i'll harvest and preserve it or try to use it up fast.

 corno de toro gaillo and sweet bell peppers. they started turning ripe colors after i brought them inside. best bell peppers i've ever grown--heavy, thick walls, delicious.

 anatomically correct japanese black trifele tomato.

 udumalpet eggplant.

 tomatillos are so very pretty.

 my apple harvest this year was completely non-existent. the squirrels stole every single apple.

 i didn't even know squirrels liked apples that much. i'm at peace with the lack of apples, because the squirrels left all my other plants alone. didn't take a single tomato. i'd much rather have tomatoes than apples.

 i can't believe summer is over and it's almost halloween. has frost hit yet where you are?

the last of last year’s garden (i really should be packing)

i never posted pictures of the end of my garden last year. my energy was being eaten up by everything else going on, and my gardening enthusiasm waned.

big news: i have a new garden to play with this year! i found a wonderful house in the north end. it’s on a double lot, a yard nearly twice the size of what i’m used to, and it already has a huge organic garden worked by the previous tenant who sounds like she was quite the hardcore homesteader. she moved to live on a 5-acre subsistence farm in nampa.

i’ll no longer have to squeeze my garden into nooks and crannies to avoid landscaped areas and shadows from overgrown trees--although that honestly was a fun challenge, and i’m not sure i’ll know what to do with myself having a big, uninterrupted open area. there are a lot of trees at the new place, but only one of them (a giant apple tree smack dab in the middle of the yard) poses much limitation on the space.

part of the yard is fenced off for keeping chickens. there’s even a coop. it’s entrapment! i can’t have an empty coop in my yard! i harbor some reservations about keeping chickens, but i think i’m gonna go for it. there are so many signs that it’s meant to be. first the coop, then there was a free backyard chicken class yesterday, and directly from there i went to an antique store where i found a cool old chicken feeder…i still have a lot of research to do, but knowing me, i’ll probably pick up some chicks later this month.

i’m jumping into so much all at once right now and trying not to overthink for once. we’ll see where all this takes me.

the house itself is fabulous too—two bedroom/one bath plus a combo laundry room/mud room off the kitchen, hardwood floor in the living room and kitchen, with tons of bright, sunny windows throughout. it was built in the 20s but it’s completely renovated, with damn near everything replaced within the last three years or so: new windows, insulation, roof, gas furnace, bathroom fixtures, fridge, washer and dryer, and fresh paint as of yesterday. all it needs is new curtains!

outside there’s a covered porch with storage cabinets against the house, an old shed, fire pit, and the whole back yard is fenced for andy, he even gets to use a doggy door if he can figure it out/fit through it. the front of the house is partly covered in ivy and has cute shutters on the windows, with a big weeping willow hanging over the unpaved driveway. the location is perfect: quiet street, close to foothills and lakes and the river, one block from a lovely park, less than half a mile from lots of my friends (including jason just two blocks away), and it cuts my commute down to about 10-15 minutes.

all that and under budget by like $100/mo after utilities! i’m so excited and overwhelmed. i’ll post pictures once i’m all moved in. i need to start packing today.

now back to the garden photos:

above is everything i gleaned right before the first frost hit on october 25.

trellised tomato plants as of early october, after i trimmed them out to encourage the stragglers to ripen.

a few late harvests before the big glean.

solar yellow and lunar white carrots.

last september my mom picked all her hops from around the cabin and brought them to a local brewery. i guess fresh green hops are hard to come by, and they went nuts for them. they brewed a whole special batch using her hops and later gave her a growler of it to take home. it was super hoppy!