Posts Tagged ‘autumn’
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Friday, September 30th, 2011
I cannot believe that today is the last day of September. Wow. I also can’t believe that the garden is still going. I am just now starting to pick tomatillos!
Here is what the tomatillo plant looked like in mid-summer.
And now there are little hanging tomatillo lanterns with a tart green fruit inside.
I have been combing through cookbooks and websites to try to find fun tomatillo recipes. And I think tomorrow I am going to try for a tomatillo chicken stew.
I just think tomatillos are so elegant looking.
So fall is definitely here, but we are still having some fantastic warm temps in the 70s. I have been outside running or walking almost every night for the past 3 weeks. And we’ve also gotten our fair share of rain over the past weeks as well, which has greatly helped with growing grass. And now the tomatillos are ripe and ready to be picked. My own little fall harvest.
The garden is still doing its thing, and I take great comfort in that. It greatly helps with my denial that fall is here and that it is pitch black out by 7 p.m.
For reals.
Tags: autumn, exercise, gardening, gratitude, organic, running, tomatillo
Posted in The Daily Balance, The Growing Season | No Comments »
so many tomatoes, so little time
Sunday, September 25th, 2011
What have I been doing lately? Picking and eating tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes from our tomato raised garden bed.
And when I’m not doing that, I am watering the lawn (it’s that time of year again… the fall grass-growing project is in full effect!) And when I am not doing that, I am working. And then running. And then sleeping.
Yup, my schedule is pretty defined these days. We are two weeks into the lawn watering, so next week will ease up and I will be able to reclaim 2 whole hours of my day. I CANNOT WAIT!
But back to tomatoes. Their time is going to wind down very soon when frost comes, but so far we have had only one night when I had to cover the tomato plants with sheets. Otherwise, the temps are still fairly warm and humid here in Southern NH for early fall. So we continue to pick!
Just waiting...
Mortgage lifter heirloom
Orange grape tomatoes
Ripening romas
Here is a sampling of tomatoes picked over the last few weeks:
Cannot get enough tomatoes! In tomato love.
Off to peruse the garden on this lovely, warm, and finally sunny Sunday. Tomato recipes and ideas coming soon…
Tags: autumn, gardening, gratitude, heirloom, raised garden bed, tomatoes
Posted in The Growing Season | No Comments »
harvesting garden carrots
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
We have been harvesting our organic carrots that we grew from seed in our garden all-fall-long this year. Carrots take a realllllllly long time to grow. Here’s how our carrots looked back in May.
We planted them from seed starting in early April from an organic seed packet we also used in 2009. We chose a variety called Scarlet Nantes. We grew carrots last year and learned a lot about the ups and downs of growing carrots from seed in a raised garden bed.
This year we got pretty savvy. We planted using the rest of the seed packet, but this time we let our carrots sit and mature throughout the entire growing season. And it worked. Our harvest has been wonderful. In a year when not everything went swimmingly in our garden, our carrots have proven to be real winners.
Here’s one of our carrot rows.
We had a tremendous lack of rainfall this summer, and the carrot greens wilted and looked like they’d been chewed off by buggy pests. But the greens rebounded, so I decided to let the whole bed go. No plucking or de-crowding.
I finally started pulling carrots when the real-deal frost set in. Pulling the carrot beds up has been lots of fun.
Our carrots are all clumped together, and tugging at them to get them up is such a release. Totally rewarding. Some are long, some are short, some are stubby, and some sprouted, ahem, male carrot parts.
Once the carrots are pulled, I set about chopping off the greens to compost, along with the squiggly roots and carrot tops.
We’ve harvested several pounds of organic carrots at this point. And they have this crisp, fresh, gingery taste that is second to none. Their color is a bright, fiery orange. Organic garden carrots are simply amazing! I want more and more!
We eat them raw, of course. I have also used them in Sunday soups and stews like yellow split pea soup and turkey lentil stew.
But my very favorite way to enjoy carrots from the garden is roasted. Chop up your carrots into manageable pieces, generously drizzle with organic olive oil, sprinkle with dill, and roast in a 425°F oven for about 40 minutes.
The smells and tastes of roasted organic carrots from the garden are just about pure perfection.
Did you grow carrots this year? How do you like to cook them?
Tags: autumn, carrots, gardening, organic
Posted in The Growing Season | 3 Comments »
soggy sunday
Sunday, December 12th, 2010
It’s pouring buckets and buckets of rain here in Southern NH today. All day long it has been raining. Well, earlier it was a mix of sleet and freezing rain. But as the day has worn on, the temps have risen and the rain keeps coming.
I love it.
I slept in today, content to hear the drumming of a steady rain on the roof. When I finally got up for good, the temps were around 40°F. And they have climbed as the day has gone on.
It’s just after 9:30 p.m. and the temp is 52°F outside. I will take it! In fact, I just opened up a few windows to let a little fresh, warmish air in. Any time that the temps are “decent”, I will open up the windows to get the air circulating. Especially because I have been sick. It’s good to let fresh outside air in.
How long with this balminess last? Likely less than 24 hours. So I will savor this sudden heat wave of sorts. I know the midwest has been pelted with crazy snow this weekend. Surely it is headed our way next!
How is the weather where you are?
Tags: alone time, autumn, gratitude
Posted in The Daily Balance | 1 Comment »
getting into the holiday spirit
Monday, December 6th, 2010
We started decorating our home for the holidays this weekend. We don’t have a lot of decorations… most are hand-me-downs, but we do our best to liven’ up our abode. A little tackiness when it comes to the holidays never hurts, right? It’s the one time of year when you can totally get away with it.
It was fun to have some decorations up because we spent the weekend with a small house guest. Of the 14-month-old nephew variety. He loves anything with bells. Anything that jingles and jangles. Our mistletoe with a bell at the bottom was a big hit.
We engage in a little dinnertime conversation. You know, the usual—politics, social activism, environmental issues, celebrity pop culture…
When the little bug is over, it totally changes our normal weekend routine. And I mean that in a good way. We go to bed a little earlier because we know we’ll be getting up a little earlier. We actually use our dining room table. We keep the house much, much cleaner. And we just hang out. Playing.
We laugh a lot. And find all sorts of new toys to get excited about.
It was a gratifying, relaxing weekend. The decorations are up… the tree is up with lights on… and we are ready to bring on the holidays.
Tags: autumn, gratitude
Posted in The Daily Balance | 3 Comments »