Now THAT'S a sweet potato!

We didn't get many but considering that many of them are almost this size, I'll take it!  

Add these to the 100+ pounds of winter squash and we'll be all set for our beta carotene requirements for a while!

Oops

So... I think it's time to repot the spider plant.

I'm just glad I was able to get it out without breaking the pot.  I really should be more mindful of the houseplants.  But a bunch of them are getting repotted prior to bringing them in for the winter.

I also dug a little bit of thyme to join the basil and marjoram on the windowsill. Love my fresh herbs!.

Swaps!

My brother has been trying his hand at making bacon!

Thursday evening he came over with a three pound slab of double smoked applewood bacon.  I sent him off with a couple of crookneck winter squash and a few late season tomatoes.

I definitely think I came out ahead on this trade!

so... this thing happened yesterday

My baby girl got married!

The joys of saving seeds!

Ah, part of the fun in saving seeds is that you never really know what you're gonna get.  

I'm having a not-so-hot year for peppers.  They have been very slow in producing.  So today I finally picked a green bell pepper to use for dinner.  I wanted something to add more pepper but balance out the heat of the jalapeño I was using.  I dice up half and toss it into my recipe and pop a strip from the other half into my mouth.  

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this pepper had some HEAT!  Still sweet like a bell but with a lovely slow burn.  I'm guessing that it crossed with one of the many, many hot peppers we grow every year.

I think our enchiladas will be a little more spicy than intended.

Heirloom Amana Orange Tomato

This is, hands down, my favorite tomato.

Amana Orange-  weighing in at 2 lb 2 oz of deliciousness!

More flowers!

The pollinator garden is in full bloom!  So glad I planted this next to the garden when we moved in.  There are so many bees and butterflies!

Some gratuitous flower photos

Yes, I've been bad and haven't posted here in, like, maybe forever?  But things have been  busy.   My middle child graduated from high school last weekend and my daughter and her fiance are home for the week.  The garden is in and things are progressing.
The weather has been varied and unpredictable, but this morning, the air was cool and the sun shining on the rain-soaked flowers.  Beautiful!  I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

Done!

I finally finished the very hungry caterpillar quilt!  There have been many interruptions but it's done.  Good thing, since the baby arrived on Mknday.  This will be going to lovely little Ramona in Texas along with a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

I know all the mistakes - a row put on upside down, points that don't match- but I'm still pleased with it.  It has been a while since I have done any quilting.

Work in progress

I'm working on a baby quilt for V's editor. I cut it out on Sunday afternoon and stitched up the blocks this afternoon on my day off.  

So far I'm quite pleased with it.  I haven't done any quilting for a while and I have forgotten how much pleasure I get from the precision work.

I've rearranged the blocks several times since this photo was taken.  I think I finally have it but I'm gonna sleep on it tonight and hopefully stitch all the blocks together tomorrow after work.  

It's a start!

I discovered that a couple of our sweet potatoes (that we got from our friend Roger) had started to spout.  So, they are now in jars on the windowsill.  I haven't grown sweet potatoes for years and never had much luck.  But maybe this will be the year!

So, we've had some snow

The latest winter storm, Linus, dropped about 13 inches of snow on us on Sunday.  

 It's been cold but it is so beautiful, I just had to share.

I know I said I'd be better about posting.  I've just been busy with other things and nothing post-worthy seems to be going on here.  We've all been passing around respiratory crud, work has been super busy and it's winter so there is nothing going on outside, other than we've started to get a very few eggs from the hens.

So, hopefully I'll post more when it gets warmer and there are more exciting things going on here.