Wrapping Up The Garden

First, I want to share some very lovely September and October harvest photos!   

The green beans, beets, tomatoes, the few raspberries, and corn were all wrapped up by the end of September. I also decided to pull the Pumpkins the end of September as well. The only thing we had left going into October were the carrots, and the new strawberry bed was still producing some big and juicy berries before we got our first frost. 

I was really excited when it was time to harvest the corn. I feel like we patiently waited forever! But ohh, the corn was so lovely and worth the wait.

We had two pumpkins.....and a surprise third one! The third one was mostly green, but I pulled it anyway. I used them as decorations by the front door on our porch. 
 

 

The carrots I couldn't wait to pull! I wanted to the end of September, but knew they needed a few more weeks. So I patiently waited until the middle of October. Sammy helped me pull them, and then, as per carrot tradition, into the bath tub they go! I was pretty happy with the carrot harvest, and look forward to plating carrots again next year! 

After the last pickings of all the veggies, I cleaned out the beds and tilled them up. The strawberry beds we will leave as is, and the raspberry bed we trimmed down. It's quite sad seeing the garden empty, but I'll enjoy the break until next season! 

The whole point to our carrot harvest was to pickle them. I have fallen in love with pickled carrots, and knew I wanted to stock up the pantry. We managed to make 16 pints, and 6 half pints of pickled carrots!

We also used our beets, combined with store bought beets, to can some picked beets, which I also love! We made 5 pint, and 6 half pints. That won't be enough for me though, haha, so we will buy more beets and pickle some more. 

Until next year! 

With love,                                                                                                             Mama Hauck

Pumpkin Carving Fun

We don't have any grand plans for Halloween this year. Sam, Molly, and Anthony will be flying out on Halloween to go to Minnesota for Sam's Uncle's funeral, and they wont be home until the 4th.  I will be staying home with Timothy. I think he and I will watch a movie, splurge on some popcorn, pizza, and chocolate muffins, and get in the hot tub. 

We didn't go to a pumpkin patch. We didn't go to town and do the Trunk or Treat. And now we won't even be together for Halloween. While I'm really sad this will be Anthony's last Halloween with us at home, and we didn't do our usual Fall fun activities, and we won't be together as a family and go out for trick or treating.....I do understand the importance of them making this trip. Again, I gave the kids a choice, and they decided. 

It's just hard knowing it's his last before college next fall. Even harder because October was so busy, we didn't fit in the pumpkin patch. Going through cancer treatment the year prior was hard, and Halloween wasn't the same that year either. So still having it not be the same this year had me really upset. I really wanted this year to feel like a normal year, and do all the fun things we normally did. It just didn't work out like that. 

All the lasts will be hard. 

We did manage to get some pumpkins from the grocery store though. And Anthony's friend, Raymond, was home from college for the weekend, so he joined us! Raymond is a mighty fine young man. He is attending George Fox University in Oregon, and he periodically comes home to Goldendale on the weekends. Whenever he is back home, and has the time, he comes out to see us, which is seriously so sweet! So we were super excited to have him over for dinner and some pumpkin carving fun! 

I really needed at least this one thing, pumpkin carving, to help my Mama heart not be so sad. 

 

The finished masterpieces, lol! Molly's rapper pumpkin had everyone rolling. 

With love,

Mama Hauck