Garden Goodies

We have had a busy weekend. One word sums it up nicely...."Football"! We have spent much time watching our children play ball this weekend. However, we also have found some time to spend in the garden and even working on the hog pen. Here are the okra plants that are now in abundance in our garden. I also snapped a picture of our new bed of green beans. The red things in the background of this picture are the flowers in the neighboring bed. I have canned 8 quarts of green beans and 4 pints and 4 quarts of Pickled Green Tomatoes over the weekend. I also have frozen 5 quarts of green peppers and Anaheim Chili Peppers. I still have enough green tomatoes left for a large batch of fried green tomatoes as well as probably 2 more batches of Pickled Green Tomatoes. I think our regular tomatoes are finished for the season. We are still getting red tomatoes to eat out of hand, but the abundance is no longer there. I heard my husband say something about doubling our tomato production next year. (Now is not the time to share those thoughts with me. I am still tired of canning tomatoes and sauce. It was nice to can green beans because they are not nearly as messy)! Michael and the boys tilled up the watermelon bed and added more dirt/compost. I will be planting lettuce later this week in that bed. I want them to till up the Roma tomato bed next. The plants still look nice, but there won't be enough time to produce new tomatoes before the cold weather comes. We ended our weekend with a makeshift bond fire complete with a game of hide n seek for the children.

I am starting to really get in the mood for fall. This morning it was cool enough to have a jacket on outside. I was at the grocery store buying extra milk the other afternoon and I caved into a spur of the moment purchase. I bought 3 pots of mums for our front porch. I love fall flowers!!! I am always a sucker for fall flowers. I am also a sucker for fall food. To go with my fall mood, today I made pumpkin pie and whip cream for our family dessert.

grace and peace,

julie