This Year's Garden

Pumpkin patch in foreground

Our garden is flourishing this year!  And I am very happy to have a drip system set up this year- last year I had to water with the bubbler, and spend half an hour to an hour every day out there.  The weather was fairly cool this year until mid June, so between that and being busy with three children, we got a later start than usual this year.  We have lots of pumpkins, carrots, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, one tomatillo plant, cucumbers (my favorite!!) and beans.  We had zucchini, but it fizzled out already. 

All the credit for this garden goes to my husband - I didn't do a bit of it! He is a sweetheart. 
I am posting lots of pictures, at my mother's request!

Fresh tomatoes

Cool, crisp, juicy cucumbers

Rattlesnake beans - so sweet right off the vine!

Pumpkin vines twirling and swirling

We planted way too many radishes!

Lettuce and peppers

Tomatillos - first time growing these

A summertime rainbow!

Wordless Wednesday - Pumpkin Patch Prettiness

A Visit to My Garden

Mums are in full bloom!

Only one rose...we never have very many, it's too shady where they are.

We still have some cherry tomatoes, as well as regular size.

Pretty and sweet rattlesnake beans, flowering and producing for the second time!

The three big pumpkins we harvested this year...only the biggest remains...I've been baking!

The Changing of the Guard

Today I am linking up to A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, and the post, It's all about fall.  I love fall! I live in a warm part of the country where fall comes very late usually, but this year we have been blessed with cooler temperatures.  I soak up every fresh fall breeze that comes my way!

I wrote a fall poem ages ago, back in 1997, that I would like to share with you....

The Changing of the Guard

What is Autumn?

Autumn is a sharp breeze of clear fresh air.

It is the vivid colors seen throughout the trees:

the crisp sound of dried leaves
that gradually

sifted

to the ground.

Autumn is stepping out to a refreshing morning
full of passions
and feeling joyous!

Autumn causes one to enjoy 
the glory and majesty of nature

Being a child is Autumn...

It is the happy ending of a story.

Fall is the Changing of the Guard

or sitting on a bench
and letting the sun seep through your limbs,
having the cool air
push the haziness from your brain,

savoring every honey gold drop
of Autumn.


Also, check out my post on Pumpkin Muffins for a link to a very delicious recipe! Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins.
Changing of the Guard Photo from FreeFoto.com

Delicious Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Well, even though I had wanted to make tomato preserves, and pumpkin whoopie pies yesterday, I was unable to! We have a gas leak, so the utility company shut off our gas, and of course we have a gas stove...it won't be repaired until Wednesday night! No hot showers or doing a hot sinkful of dishes either! Good thing is, the weather is hot enough anyways. Also, I had already done my bread baking and pie making on Sunday. If you want a great homemade pumpkin pie recipe from a real pumpkin, here it is: Mrs. Siggs Fresh Pumpkin Pie.  This recipe made a moist and flavorful pie...I prebaked my crust a little bit, to keep it from getting soggy, and I added a pinch more spice than called for. My pumpkin was stewed, and once I pureed the pumpkin and once I didn't.  It was a bit better when pureed.  Everybody requested seconds! :-)

Mmmm...muffins!

I decided on the pumpkin cream cheese muffins that I found here: http://www.bakedperfection.com/2008/10/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins.html  They are delicious!!

I've linked up to Tasty Tuesday Parade of Foods on Beauty & Bedlam, as well as Tuesdays at the Table at All The Small Stuff. 

And linking up to 

Is it Fall Already?

It isn't fall yet, but it has been a cool summer, and my garden seems to think it is fall...pumpkins are maturing, sunflowers are dying, and the corn has long since met it's last days.  Time to head to the cookbooks to find a recipe for this "Cinderella Pumpkin"...maybe some pumpkin-cream cheese bread? Yum!