Busy, busy, busy!

 The garden is in full autumnal splendor. We've been harvesting lots of herbs, berries, corn, zucchini (courgettes), eggplant (aubergine), carrots, flowers, and tomatoes.

 We've also been eating lots of garden inspired meals. On Tuesday, we made eggplant parmesan with lots of eggplant, garlic and herbs from the garden. On Wednesday, we made garden harvest soup with zucchini cheddar muffins (awesome!). On Thursday, we made homemade herb noodles (using our pasta machine) with a sage (from our garden) cream sauce. On Friday, we made fish fillets in a mango sauce (not from the garden) with a stir fry of zucchini, snow peas, onions, and greens (from the garden!). And today (Saturday), we had a garden feast of stuffed zucchini blossoms, fresh corn, beans, and fresh salsa (Alex's specialty and very hot!). We often start our days with a fresh berry yogurt smoothie. Yum. I love garden goodness.

We've begun harvesting this year's crop of pumpkins. We have seven on the counter so far! I can hardly wait to make spicy pumpkin stew (Yes, Lisa, you can come to dinner!).

Barkley was night romping and ran into a tree limb, injuring his eye. He had to make a quick ($$$) trip to the vet for treatment. Here he his standing guard in the garden (he keeps the chickens out when they're free ranging), wearing his homemade collar guard. The chicken, who usually either ignore him or sit on him, were truly terrified. He finally got some doggy respect.

This past Monday was international talk like a pirate day. Ari and I decided to dress the part prior to our weekly Celtic dancing stint. It was lots of fun, matey! Arrrrrrr.

The sunflowers are finally blooming.

The tomatoes are turning red.

The squash keep on turning out produce.

The berries are ripening.

The garden spiders are claiming their territories.

The green house is resembling a jungle.

And we finally got the eggplant to grow!

In other news, I finished up my aromatherapy class at Bastyr University. My nose is all burned out from smelling so many essential oils in such a short amount of time!

We attended Alexander's high school open house. He seems to really be enjoying his program, and the teachers seem like a great bunch. He and David have been going to the football games. Go Vikings!

Anni has restarted all her school activities. She loves seeing all the other kids for her cooking group, but she really misses Alex. She and Barkley check his room several times a day.

Ari and David have returned for fall quarter in their college programs. David is taking astronomy and environmental science. Ari is taking logic, American studies, and archeology.

Today, we hit the farmer's market for apple pie jam, apple butter, apples (Can you tell Anni is going to learn about apples next week?), cilantro, jalapeno peppers, cantaloupe, and sweet corn. Then it was off to the book exchange to trade books, followed by a stop by the library to return and pick-up. When our local market ends at the end of October, we'll be making a weekly pilgrimage to Pike Place Market.

Tomorrow, Ari, my friend Lisa, and I are off on one of our weekend adventures. Stay tuned for details.

Hiking and Harvesting

We've been hiking a lot lately (since the arrival of the sun!)

 One of our favorite hikes is to the Wallace Falls, just off of Highway 2.

David and Anni check out the view on the trail.

David does a bit of rock hopping.

Anni is a happy hiker.

Alex and Ari are wondering if their game boys are missing them.

Mossy trees at the start of the woods.

The Wallace River is full of rocks, lots and lots of rocks.

Big rocks, small rocks. Flat rocks, round rocks.

(Sorry, I just had to go Zuessical for a moment.)

What is this strange thing?

Eek! It was the old wasp nest.

Here's the new one directly overhead.

Double Eek, eek!!!

Berries on the bush.

Ferns abundant along the lower trail.



The undercarriage of the fern with the (a-hem) reproductive structures.

Slug approaching mushrooms.

Slug devoring mushroom.

Go, sluggy, go!

(More hiking photos tomorrow)

Well, it's been a busy few weeks down on the funny farm, too. Summer's arrival in the Pacific caused the garden to go Kaboom! We are having what to do with the zucchini contests daily. Currently, there are 22 residing in my fridge! The raspberries and blackberries finally ripened, and the strawberries decided to bloom again! We also have 17 tomato plants spewing forth red, orange, yellow, and chocolate colored cherry tomatoes. The rainbow carrots are determined not to be left out of the action, with white, cream, yellow, orange, red, and purple goodness.

Here are the zucchini cheese muffins Anni and I baked using some of that zucchini,

along with chives from the garden and local cheddar cheese. They're a family fav.

Did I mention they were ginormous? That's Alexander's big 16 year old hand! He's enjoying his new program at the high school. He's a proud viking. David and Alex went to the school's first home football game last night. They shut out their across town rival! Go Viks!