Harvest Blessings

My garden was probably about this most neglected this summer as it has ever been. With a full wedding season to do flowers for, still quite a few music students to teach each week, working part-time at the floral shop and hosting AirBnB guests I just didn't have a lot of time left to spend in the garden. But even with my neglect we were blessed with many things to harvest and enjoy. My heart just overflows with thankfulness.

I just love the beauty of the Eggplant and it's flower. These first pictures were taken in late September. Up here in Northern Minnesota we don't count on being frost free after the beginning of September but not only do I think we had a fairly long frost free time anyway but we at our place are specially blessed with a longer growing season because the river gives us a special micro-climate were we get a much later frost then even our neighbors across the road from us. Yesterday and overnight we got snow and I was quite sure that was the end of my garden but I went up to find the the tomatoes still weren't dead and I was able to pick more of them and the cabbage, brussel sprouts and kale look great. It is rather amazing to me.

I just love the beauty of all the different flowers that we can grow easily in our garden! Zinnia, Calendula and Nasturtium 

Mara had started a lot of seeds in her apartment to plant in our garden - including Cabbages. I normally just plant them from seed in the garden but this was our best cabbage year so I think they enjoyed having a head start.

This was a prolific tomato plant. They were small so a little tedious to use but still nice to have.

Mara gave me Gladiola Bulbs for Mother's Day. They were gorgeous!

The beans did well. Some got away from me and I will either save for seed or dry to use that way. But I was able to put quite a lot of green beans in the freezer and I am very happy about that.

I have been able to can some salsa and tomatoes. I am thinking I might manage to do one more batch still.

Another thing we have been harvesting just lately is Shaggy Mane mushrooms that decided to pop up heavily in a section of our yard. We have included them in several meals and both Mara and I have frozen some as well. They are delicious! I love mushrooms!

Megan made this custard the other day using eggs from our chickens and Milk from my parents' goats. It is always fun to make and enjoy delicious food that comes from our own homestead.

Seeds saved from the dill and some brassicas (which I plan to use for sprouting), Apples from my parents (I did have one tree produce a few decent sized crab apples this year and another one that was prolific in unusable crab apples) - we are thankful for all the apples that they share. I have been able to make and can some applesauce and dehydrate quite a few. I still hope to put up some apple pie filling. Also pictured is a basket of tomatoes and peppers. 

Not something from the garden but branches from our woods and yard have been frequently heating our home this fall. I love having a fire in the fireplace that leaves the house feeling so cozy!

A special part of the harvest is picking the flowers! :-) I love them so.

Last Saturday we went beyond the garden harvesting and butchered chickens. Our laying hens were over 3 years old and were not laying much anymore. So it was time to do something. I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the project but Thomas and Mara said they would help. What a huge blessing. We all learned some new things that we hadn't done when just helping before. It actually went pretty smoothly and I am thankful to have that job done. I cooked pretty much all of it down for quite a few hours (since they were old and tough) and then canned a bunch of broth with meat in it. That is a lovely addition to both of our cupboards.

Megan meanwhile was working on Apple Pies. We also found more mushrooms that day.

Those are all of my harvest pictures but I thought I would share some other fun fall pictures as well...

Last Saturday after the butchering some friends came over and we went canoeing for a while. It was so fun to get out on the water and enjoy the fall colors there. It was also great to spend time with my new friends. A totally fun experience.

After ladies Bible study on Sunday we had fun roasting Hotdogs for supper. Heidi is especially found of doing this and she requested it. I was super thankful she did as it was a a fun way to get outside and enjoy fall just a bit more.

I cleaned our Chimney earlier this week (one of those activities that I hadn't done before but really wasn't very hard). The view from the roof was beautiful! 

How is your Autumn going? Are you counting your many blessings?