things that make me excited in the fall

• raking leaves
• hot apple cider
• hot apple cider and donuts
  
• finding lots of worms living in my compost pile
• squash
• making soup
• eating soup
• perfect crocheting weather
• surprise 60 degree days
• costumes
• candy corn
• new sweaters
• morning runs
• leaves blowing across the road
  

Cold Air Warm Kitchen or Long Time Fan, First Time Canner

Way back towards the beginning of October, when early frost warnings were threatening, I decided to try my hand at canning the lovely harvested veggies that I had sitting around in piles to big to hope to be eaten in time.

All I did was hot process, the pressure process is still a bit intimidating to me, and all of the produce I had only required hot processing anyway. After digging out our old canner, making sure we still had all the pieces, scrubbing away the bits of rust that had taken to it, and stocking up on canning lids, rims and a jar tongs, I set to it. I turned this lovely basket (minus the green pepper) into tomato sauce, and a paper bag full of pears from the neighbor tree into pear sauce (which has already been sampled and is delish). I haven't tried the tomato sauce yet, as I've been working and traveling and sleeping and applying to grad school in every second of time since. But soon.

And while I was at it I finally revived my sour dough starter and baked a delicous loaf that disappeared altogether too fast.

Around here we always celebrate the last bit of summer and onset of fall with a Garlic Party. That's right, folks. A party dedicated to garlic. Pot-luck style.

This year my family contributed fettuccine alfredo with bacon and spinich, deep fried ravioli, papaya-lime-garlic goat kabobs, pesto stuffed mushrooms, and garlic and apple pie to the table.

Other highlights included rulon, Brussels sprouts, garlic and balsamic infused butter, ice cream, and macaroni and cheese. And as always, there was far too much deliciousness to even taste it all.

Now the last of the tomatoes have to come in, and I have to decide just how many more tomato sandwiches can be eaten before they go bad, and how many tomatoes should be frozen for soups and stews and sauces. We've been enjoying the last throws of the green bean harvests. And I'm interested to see just what exactly my Brussles sprouts decide to do now that the weather is cooling

I'm still confused as to why the CW (which I'm pretty sure was the WB before I left, and so continues to be in my mind) has decided to remake all of those mildly trashy teen and twenty-something night time soap operas from the early nineties - 90210, and now Melrose Place?

I rarely watch tv. And even more rarely do I watch the CW. But really? Did the world run out of material? It seems to me they have decent original shows. Or, at least, I love Gossip Girl.

Am I missing something?

Starting two jobs two months ago meant I had to put a lot of things on hold as I got my schedule figured out, adjusted to longer days and less sleep.

Now things are a bit more comfortable, and I've found time once again to run, read, garden, research grad school, keep up with friends, nap, study for the GREs, eat tomato sandwiches, finally start working on the motorcycle again, conduct cooking experiments, and put up new curtains.

And so it goes.

Guerrilla Pear Mission

The neighbor house has been vacant for a year and a half. Years and years ago, an elderly woman with a green thumb lived there and kept a wonderful fruit garden, the spoils of which she would often send over to my family. Now all that remains is two very prolific pear trees.

One wall of my bedroom windows (it's a sun porch, so it has three walls of windows) overlooks these trees, and for the past 4 months I have been watching the trees sprout leaves, flower, and start growing pears. Now the fruits are ripe, and my brothers and I were on a mission not to let them go to waste.Now to decide what to do with our booty.

And in July the Garden Exploded

While the weather in Minneapolis this summer has been cooler and drier than usual, the plants in my little backyard garden soldier on, and bounty is forthcoming!

Thursday, after returning from a Detroit/Love getaway, I returned to these beauties in the garden.
Unfortunately, I think that may be the total of the broccoli that I get to harvest this year. The other 4 plants haven't shown any interest in turning out heads yet. But maybe they'll surprise me in August. A little late for broc, but I wouldn't complain.

Meanwhile, the rest of the garden is looking something like this:Cucumbers crawling everywhere they can find an inch of roomZinnias drowning in tomato plants, and hey, those are some actual marigolds deciding to flower after all this time. These one's are real marigolds, not those psych out cherry tomatoesUnruly tomatoes breaking free from their cages and taking over the gardenGreen beans climbing right off the pole and into the lilac bushesPotatoes that are finishing up I think, and will soon be wilting their goodbyes and allowing me to harvestBeautiful basil bushes that I'm trying to keep from going to seed so we can use them for pesto in a couple weeksMore cucumber plants with lots and lots of flowers
Fresh asparagus growth after the rain
An old rhubarb plant that I'm slowly coaxing the new growth from. No harvest this year, but I'm hopeful for next yearSpearmint starting to take hold
A blooming bicycle. I can't take credit for this one, it was a donation from my neighbor's ridiculously beautiful garden which he is spreading from his corner onto oursStrawberries sending out shoots
The earth box tomato. With just the hint of red starting to break through
Peppers. Anyone know which sort?
And cucumbers that are hailing the start of pickling season.

Not too shabby for a girl's first real attempt at backyard farming.