Harvest and Farewell

The garden is great this year in spite of the drought and neglect it has suffered.

 

Our overgrown cucumbers get fed to the chickens and are one of their favorite treats.

 David loves to play in the garden and is particularly fond of the little frogs that live in the water barrels.

 Beans are so easy to grow! We made three teepees of bamboo and planted beans at the bottom of each pole. I am particularly fond of a recipe shared with me by my friend Judy, for szechuan beans. Deep fry beans for 4 minutes, layer in a dish with minced raw garlic, crushed red pepper, and soy sauce. So good!

 Our darling Silky mama has hatched her chicks! She is doing a wonderful job with her babies and David loves to handle them and "put them back with their mommy" when he is done holding them.

 peep peep

 I have been harvesting like mad and canning pickles, tomatoes, jam, juice, and applesauce. I harvested part of this year's lavender crop which makes me think of my Aunt Peggy who grows lavender in her garden down in Georgia.

 We also had the pleasure of sailing a few times this summer.  When I first moved to this island I was really interested in sailing and having a boat, an idea that was shuffled aside in favor of having pets and a garden.

I had forgotten what it feels like to sail.

 On the crafting front I am getting excited about quilting now that the weather is starting to cool and the smell of Autumn is in the air. I finally used up my fabric scraps and stuffed them into a pillow.

Forgive my shoddy portraits, I had to twist someone's arm!

 It is heavier than a pillow stuffed with polyester or feathers but it is super comfy, and I got to revisit fabrics from almost all of the quilts I've made. A friend of mine said that her grandmother had an ottoman stuffed with fabric scraps, and occasionally she would open it up and rummage for scraps for sewing projects.

 Would that we could eat like this year round. The garden is full of ripe peppers and tomatoes, the chickens are laying, the goats are giving milk, the apples are starting to fall, and the grapes are incredible. In January I am going to be very grateful for a can of tomatoes and a jar of homemade grape jelly.

Because it is starting to be too cold for David to swim in the ocean, we lit the old pasteurization vat hot tub to warm it up enough for David to keep learning to swim.

The tourists are mostly gone and tonight our community is gathering to honor and celebrate the life of one of our brave sisters who has ended her battle with cancer. Just last spring I was blogging about how great it was to sing with her and showing pictures of the love blanket we made. Her gift of friendship lives on in my heart and I am going to do my best tonight to sing some of the songs we sang together, without crying.

The Parting Glass

Love you Constanze.

Thank you for visiting my blog and please come back for more. I have more time to post with the days growing shorter. 

May joy be with you all...