More than one type of Harvest

What a satisfying day this has been. I spent it with people I love, doing things I love, eating fresh things from the yard. It really doesn't get much better than that.

I started my day at 7:30 with a quick breakfast and a trip to have a morning "coffee" with Jaime and Erin. The trees were a beautiful golden colour interlaced with splashes of apple red. By the time we were done, I felt so peaceful and happy that my grocery shopping didn't even dent my zen like calm.  I picked Anwyn up and came home to do a flurry of the weekend chores: three loads of laundry, picking, watering, homework with the girls, and a bath. By 1 I had read my book, loved the leftover root veggies for lunch and was taking laundry off the line.

Perspective is everything. Remaking my bed downstairs I was happy to have fresh sheets, not oppressed by folding all the laundry. I made squares, and felt happy to use some of the zucchinni, apples and raspberries I had frozen, not mad about the dishes. My house is 25C and I have 5 loud girls over who I just taught debate to for two hours, but I am happy. I'll even be happy when 4 of them sleepover tonight. . .

Today I spent time in my yard, and I am cooking a great pasta sauce full of my fresh ingredients for our supper. I picked fresh flowers and celebrated the fact that the new windows open so widely the house will cool quickly. It's a good day, and I have more than one type of harvest. As the girls giggle together over the veggies and dip they are making, I feel very blessed.

Storage

This time of year, most of gardening is about the storage.  Once again we had our first frost while I was gone at Elkridge, but it has only frosted twice so far, and today it was hot again (nearly 30C). As a result of the warmth, I haven't brought many tomatoes in, but I did bring in anything long and vine like. In addition, we've made 3 batches of salsa and lots of pickles. In the garden I still have beets, chard, spinach, kohlrabi, tomatoes, strawberries, carrots and potatoes.

So far I am storing in the cold storage:

• 13 squash
• 4 medium pumpkins, 7 small
• 23 liters salsa
• 21 liters dill pickles
• 12 500 ml jars rhubarb BBQ sauce
• 14 250 jars of raspberry jam
• 7 small jars taco sauce
• 4 500 ml raspberry sauce
• 6 500 ml saskatoon berry sauce
• 7 500 ml jars chutney
• 7 250 ml jars of apple sauce, and 3 500ml apple sauce

Frozen:

• 1 bag jalapeno peppers
• 1 bag habanero peppers
• 1 bag red chili peppers
• 5 small jars pesto
• 16 cups strawberries
• 32 cups rhubarb
• 40 cups apples
• 34 cups raspberries
• 8 cups zucchini
• 26 cups saskatoons
• 12 cups basil
• 3 cups oregano
• 4 cups mint

Leftover from last year I have 1 jar pickled beet, 2 jars apple sauce and 1 jar jam.  Not bad, really. My family will eat almost all of it by June next year, and we ate as much of our harvest as we could this summer.

My harvest was similar to previous years in many areas, although I got a lot more peppers and tomatoes this year than either of the last two.  We made dramatically more pickles and salsa, but I froze similar amounts of spices. I am really glad to have this blog as a comparison point, because it helps me know what to grow and how to save it.  For example, if I look at my harvest in 2009, I can see I almost had enough salsa with 18 liters.  I knew how much more to make this year as a result.

Arches

This time of year, the yard is not all that pretty. The major cycles of blooming are done and the beauty of fall colours is still about 2 weeks away. I am still enjoying a number of annuals, especially sweet peas, but my favorite elements of my yard right now are forming arches of flowers.

It all started with my white Clematis, which blooms in late summer each year.  The girls have it climbing over their new fort, and the arch from the living wall to the fort roof is covered in tiny clusters of white flowers.  Those same flowers run up beside my front door, frame my fountain and cascade down the retaining wall in my front yard.

Unlike my Clematis, which just keeps extending each year, my Morning Glory are always in different places and different shapes. I have some of the best shapes ever this year.  Here are two of my favorite pictures:

Currently blooming:

• squashes and gourds
• sweet peas
• sunflowers
• yarrow
• cone flower
• flox
• speedwell
• stonecrop (a favorite fall bloomer of mine)
• tomatoes and peppers (they don't know they are a week from last year's snow storm)
• daisies
• white clematis (just finishing)
• orange lilies
• orange and yellow roses.

Currently eating

• beans (just finishing)
• zucchini
• tomatoes (all types)
• peppers (all types)
• spaghetti squash
• pumpkins
• all herbs
• chard
• fall spinach
• cucumbers
• carrots
• kohlrabi
• potatoes
• beets