Bringing in the Harvest

This is just a small sampling of why we've been so busy. Because of getting our garden in late due to the weird weather, everything finally came on all at once near the end of August. We have a very large garden and we I using every inch of space. It has been a fabulous year for tomatoes and peppers. God has blessed us richly in this area, now it is my job to bring in the harvest! The kids have been much more help this year. They helped me freeze four and half gallons of sliced carrots this year. Carrots are big job and it was nice to have some help. They also helped pick green beans and tomatoes and we had lots to give away to friends. We are making freezer salsa for the first time today with my mom. I'll let you know if it turns out well. 

This is what our salads are looking like these days. We are using fresh green chard, cukes, cherry tomatoes and my favorites are these "atomic red" carrots. Seriously, aren't they beautiful? Love the flavor, too! I'm going to miss all these fresh veggies. When we prepare our garden beds for winter, I'm going to see what we can do about trying to grow some lettuce and spinach throughout the winter. It would save us a lot of money and be healthier, too.

I've been making lots of healthy, whole wheat zucchini bread for breakfast and snacks. See the post before this one for the recipe or just click on this link. 

This kids and I decorated for fall on the first day of autumn. It seemed kind of weird this year since we are having such a late summer, but time marches on. This is the centerpiece for my dining room table.

I started looking for fall decorations at yard sales last year when we decided to celebrate fall and the harvest instead of Halloween. The kids don't seem to miss it at all since we've replaced the Halloween items with these beautiful finds.

Josiah decorated the covered porch entry. He used corn stalks from our garden, and placed dried corn beside the white pumpkins he grew in his portion of the garden. I thought he did a really good job.

Since we've been going yard saling the last few weekends, I've found some nice things and I thought I'd do a 2011 yard sale season "treasure" post next.

Hope to have time to catch up with all of you soon :)