Busy, Busy

Today flew by. I didn't get several of the things on my original "to do" list done but I got lots of others done. It was such a beautiful day that V decided that we should burn some of the brush that has accumulated over the summer. So, we were outside most of the afternoon tending the fire. We kept it fairly small since there was a little breeze and there is lots of dry grass about. While we were out and about, since we started the fire in the barnyard, not too far from the garden, I decided to get started cleaning out the garden. I gathered frosted tiny pumpkins and pattypan squash and started pulling the tomato supports. I got just over half of the tomatoes pulled. I probably would have done more but we ended up having visitors.

Our friend Jim stopped by with two other friends who were interested in getting pumpkins. All of these people had already had the experience of one of our fabulous pumpkins and came back for more. So, between the three of them (and picking up for another friend who was working today) we parted with seven pumpkins! Woot! I've got 4 reserved in the house for us, one for the guy who is the food writer for the local paper (maybe we'll get a feature!) and still have at least 6 more in the shop. I'm still waiting for one other person to come pick up some (tomorrow or Monday) so hopefully I'll have a much more manageable number. I've still got some leads out there to give away some more. They need to find homes or be moved into the house because it's getting far too cold for them to remain in the shop. It was kind of fun to see the expression on their faces when they saw the pile of pumpkins and learned that they all came from two little seeds. I gave up weighing after a while but our best estimate is about 450 pounds of pumpkins. Yowza! The bounty of nature is AMAZING!

It felt good to be putting the garden to bed and now I'm tired, a good tired, from working outside in the fresh air, laughing with friends and eating good food (and of course, getting to burn things!!). I've still got some more to do but tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day. Of course, we still haven't carved pumpkins for Halloween- we're a bit behind the times. And it's my turn to take the children trick or treating tomorrow night.

J16 is at a birthday party for one of her friends this evening. She chose for a gift, a jar of the July Gelatinous Yum (peach jam) that she and I made this summer. What a great gift, although I was somewhat reluctant to part with it- that means less for us to eat! She is hoping to be able to practice some of her bellydance moves at this party. This particular friend (who is a Muslim of middle eastern origin.) is the one who got her hooked on bellydancing a few years ago.

Well, I've got to get the dishes done so I don't have a mess to clean up tomorrow. I've got plenty enough other things to do.