Hello Autumn! Time is flying by, as usual, and here it is mid-October already (or close enough anyway). The weather has been beautiful though and we had a really nice Thanksgiving Weekend. Always nice to have an extra day off and have the sun shining!
Sunday I made a big batch of salsa in my new giant pot. Six pounds of tomatoes…
This was a combination of tomatoes from our garden and from the farmer’s market. I had a big container of Habanero peppers that we’d bought at Stirlings the weekend that Mom was visiting (also when I bought the giant green pot!) and I figured I’d need a lot of tomatoes. I still didn’t use all of the habaneros, but it all made a decent amount of salsa.
I wore gloves to chop the tomatoes and the habaneros, as I always do. I chopped those red banana peppers without gloves though, because they were labeled Sweet Banana Peppers when I bought them, but I think they had some zing to them. I also think there may have been a hole in one of my gloves when I was chopping the habaneros. Both of my hands were stinging when I was finished all the chopping, but my left thumb was burning and painful. We haven’t tried this salsa yet, but it may turn out to be extra hot.
Sunday I was out in the garden for a bit. I decided it was time to pull the rest of the carrots. Mom and I had picked pretty much all of the tomatoes the weekend before, and most of the plants are pretty much done. The grape and cherry tomatoes haven’t quite given up yet though.
I also found some green onions and bunching onions that I’d forgotten about.
And I picked a cabbage. I planted cabbages & lettuce in the spring, but the slugs were so bad that we didn’t get much lettuce and I didn’t think I was going to get any cabbage. But the slugs died off and the cabbage tried to rally.
This one looks sort of like it is supposed to – the variety is called Caraflex and it grows in an oval sort of shape, which I thought would be a good choice for a small garden.
I figured I might as well pick this one and try it out.
I picked the center part with the least raggedy leaves.
Meanwhile, the cats were hanging out. Zappa was watching for things to chase, and Frank was sticking close to the gate, hoping to make a getaway.
I started collecting my tomato cages and other supports.
Zappa came to check things out…
…and Frank maintained his guard of the gate.
I don’t know if you can see this at all, but there was a bird that kept coming to the sunflowers. It was hard to see, the wind was blowing and the bird kept moving, but I pointed the camera and hoped for the best. You may have to click on the photos to enlarge, but the bird is on the back of the plant.
Anyway, it’s getting late and I want to try and get in a bit of piano practice before bed. I finished of Scarborough Fair last week, which I will miss playing because it does sound so pretty! But I started a new song which is fun and familiar.
A simplified, shorter version of course, though it is still a challenging one. I’ll have fun with it though!
