Universal Craft Blog Directory

Click the button above to add to the ultimate Craft Blog Directory.

Come now - spread the love.

Fall Flowers around the Yard

Finally - the sun has come out and we can have some proper fall weather, cool and crisp when it's early and late and sunny and beautiful during the mid day.

Even though the weeding has gone by the way side, the summer flowers have continued to stretch toward the autumn sun.  I captured a bit of the splendor.  Enjoy!

Crochet Tutes Coming soon...

I've been crocheting.  Really, I have.  I've been taking photos along the way with the plan to post tutorials about the projects as well... but, I'm not done.

Here's a sneak peek...

Garden Keeps on Growing

With all the rain we had this year I figured my garden would produce a bumper crop - but then, it didn't.  The squash bugs ate through the cucumbers AND the zuchini - irritating little buggars kill my vines every year!!!  The tomatos, eggplants and bell peppers had a lot of little green things that the squirrels seemed to enjoy a single bite of.  Nothing seemed to be rippening. UGH. I've been gardening for years and I do love to eat things right out of my own soil, but really, I just wing it when it comes to real veggie garden knowledge.

However, even the dried up leaves and knarly vines keep producing stuff - so I gather and I cook!

Here's the collection from a few weeks back (turned into an awesome vegetarian shepherd's pie):

Then, another loot haul from yesterday...

Next year - I'm not giving up, but I'm going to try some new things... onions, garlic, asparagus - maybe the squirrels won't like those things - they do tend to leave my yummy jalapeno peppers alone!



How to Grow Pumpkins

Last year in late November my husband said... "What's this pumpkin out here [back porch]; is it something you're saving?"  Just then he lifted it from the table and the rotten guts spilled out.  I'd put it out there a month before and it rotted.  He scooped the mess between a few pieces of card board and threw it into the area of the yard where we chop wood and let it age.

The soil is pretty good in the mostly unused corner of the yard since so many logs lie there to dry out.

 

This summer when I was hanging the laundry I noticed a long, viney plant wending it's way between the fence posts toward the driveway.  Looking over the fence, I saw that it was a squash variety of some kind.  I figured it would just die, it looked weak and spindly.

On through the summer it grew, spreading in several directions and then producing yellow flowers.  I wasn't sure what it was.  Soon the flowers disappeared and little green orbs came out.  My husband shouted to me one day that he thought we had watermelons.  Hmm I thought, little late in the season for those to be just budding.

On it grew.  We've had A LOT of rain, so I've been hanging the laundry INDOORS - this week I visited the laundry line and low and behold, PUMPKINS... 5 or 6 of them.  They are mostly turning orange now though they are small.  I saw a squirrel scratching at one.

I called my youngest son outside, took some photos of the cute little babies on the vine and let him have a go at them with the garden loppers.  We snipped off three and decided to see if the others would still grow some more.

Aren't they cute?  The coolest thing about it was that I wasn't even TRYING to grow them - LOVE IT.  I guess there are good things about pumpkin goo being too much of a mess to make it all the way to the compost bin!

Happy Halloween