Almost done

The garden has been very busy this fall, and Mike has found it a lot of work when the girls and I went back to school. Finally, however, it has begun to slow. This weekend I harvested the last of the herbs and the final green beans, peppers and kohlrabi. The girls picked the final raspberries, strawberries and rhubarb. We are still harvesting a lot of potatoes, beets, chard and tomatoes.

The tomatoes have had a good year because we still have yet to have our first frost. It was scheduled for last night, but didn't quite get there. That was a good thing, as the 43km winds made anchoring a tarp challenging. Although most of our tomatoes are in full swing, I harvest all the fruit in the front and pulled up the plants. That was nearly 40 pounds, and most of the tomatoes we planted are still on the vine.

Mike and I made salsa this weekend and canned seven liters of tomatoes. We also made bread, rhubarb muffins, tomato based soup, pizza, iced tea and green potato curry. We were so happy when the last red tomato was used Sunday, and there will be lots more ripe by tomorrow.

The flowers are doing well and Anwyn picked me massive bouquets on Sunday. She and Leora also helped me plan nearly 300 bulbs from my mom and dig up a bit more of the front lawn for transplanting. Mike did more work on the stone path to go with it, but has mostly worked on the greenhouse.

Mike has been lining the interior with bubble wrap for insulation, and has a large blue barrel filled with water to retain heat. So far this seems to keep the green house about 5 degrees warmer that outside at night. Leora's transplanted herbs are doing well there, as are peppers, cilantro and chard (in the ground).

Life remains really crazy for me. I am still doing two people's jobs, but my replacement Jay starts full time this week, which should help. My time in the yard has been great stress relief, but I'd like be able to really enjoy the last beautiful days. Last week we had 30 plus temperatures that shattered records and I saw very little of any of it.

Tonight our family joined James' family in a bike ride on the new designated bike lanes with 340 plus Saskatoon cyclists. It felt great to be out, although it was cold and windy. I definitely need more of these days before I am snowed in for the season!