So Long Summer

It's official. Summer is over. You may have thought that happened weeks ago when school started, or last week on the first day of autumn. For me, summer is over when the following things occur:

picking the last bits from my garden

starting a fire in the fireplacepicking 'beautiful, crispy' apples (Kohens descriptors, not a bad vocab for a 3 1/2 yr old!)fall sunsets across the riverWe are supposed to have frost/freeze the next 4 nights. I am leaving tomorrow afternoon for a meeting in Bemidji and won't be back until Thursday night. For this reason Koe and I took some time after dinner and went and picked the last of our garden produce. This consisted of acorn squash, pumpkins, zucchini, peppers and a few stray cucumbers. We left the swiss chard, and carrots. They'll get picked this weekend when I hopefully have some time. The last harvests are a time of mixed feelings for me. I'm always surprised at the numbers of squash and pumpkins that have hidden and snuck by me to grow into sizeable fruits. I am also sad that I won't be able to enjoy the beautiful freshness that my backyard garden provides. I'm not looking forward to buying bag lettuce, or bland fake green cukes. It's also a time to look ahead. I'm already planning next spring's garden. Grandma Butchy is busy collecting seeds from the hierloom tomatoes taht I brought back from the Rochester Farmer's Market. Did I tell you I spent 5 dollars on ONE tomato? Crazy, I know. The craziest part is that my husband who strongly dislikes tomatoes let me do such a crazy thing. If you have a favorite heirloom tomato, share! Grandma and Grandpa are sticking around this winter, the first in a long time, so she is planning on starting a bunch of seeds for our gardens.

Ok, I've procrastinated enough, I better go and finish cleaning the kitchen, do some laundry, pack some clothes, get some clothes ready for my boys... yeah, I don't want to think of any more!