Harvest & Hunting

Now that it feels cold enough to snow outside, I'd like to share some happy Fall photos!  Andy and I had fun with the garden this year, learning more about the soil before planting and trying a few new kinds of veggies, and I think it's safe to say that Harvest is Andy's favorite part of the whole thing.

We dug the potatoes (a bit too early), and were surprised at the quantity and size we got this year!  The plants froze back in May, but recovered and thrived all summer.

We tried bell peppers of every color, and they ripened brilliantly.  I couldn't help but take pictures of our colorful little collections whenever we went out to check on the garden!

Our experiments this year were eggplant...

...and tomatillos!

They were both intriguing to watch, and had beautiful blossoms.  The eggplant plants bloomed and bloomed all summer, but only produced that one fruit.  I checked it for ripeness just over a week ago and decided it needed a few more days on the vine...and then it was frozen to mushiness the next day!  Sad, sad.  My friend Kim makes this delicious Eggplant Parmesan that I had hoped to make with our wee little eggplant (and perhaps some extras from the market), but I'm afraid I've missed the season now.  We'll try again next year!

The tomatillos on the other hand went crazy!  They sprawled all over and were loaded with the fruit in awesome-looking husks.  We picked a gallon of them before the frost, and made some delicious Enchiladas Verde, and will soon make Salsa Verde as well!

Another new thing for us this year, harvesting the herb garden...  We have a lovely herb garden that was already established when we arrived, and we were clueless about them!  We've learned a little here and there, and this year we are drying the ones we could identify.  That's progress, eh?

 

Our tomatoes are still hiding from the frost in their little greenhouses, ripening rather slowly, but we're not ready to give up on them yet! 
For some reason, I'm not so fond of the whole harvesting/cleaning out the garden process, but! I do love what comes next!

And, both of us love the warmth of a good fire in the shop's wood stove...

...and watching the sun rise over waterfowl decoys while we hide out in camouflage.

Happy Autumn everyone!