The vegetable garden has provided, enough so that I feel that I've reached my vegetable quota and then some. And just as I feel that I can't eat any more vegetables, the zucchini is ready! A gardener has to remember all of this when it's winter, when the seed catalogs arrive, when we wish we had more fresh vegetables.
With more time to process these delicious vegies, I have discovered pickled beets. Definitely not the same as what my mother served up, and I would proceed to sneak to the dog under the table (not sure if she actually ate them), but perfectly delicious slices of beets with a texture that is not mushy or crunchy but very satisfactory. At this point I have made 8 batches of pickled beets, more than anyone should actually make without overdosing.
Other plans on this 3 plus acres is expansion of a meadow, this time smack dap in our front yard. The wet meadow is coming along very nicely, and with 6 inches of rain in a week, most of the perennials are very happy in their space behind our house. So the expansion has begun in front, we stopped mowing and today dragged a York rake through the existing turf to rough up the ground. I spread seed of native perennials and grasses, knowing it's not the best time; many will wait till next spring to sprout, but it's a start. A few islands of sumac or Rhus typhina run along the edge.
During spare evenings and mornings I have had the privilege of helping over at Woodhenge Gardens, the home of Margo Reed and Jim Murphy. They are daylily hybridizers with more daylilies than I dare guess. The seedling bed alone is 800 feet long and very wide! When I can help, it's in the display bed, the daily removal of spent flowers so visitors have a better view of what's open today. That alone takes hours with 2 or 3 people, but it's something I used to do at my own nursery - on a much smaller scale! I find it very satisfying.
Daylilies with patterns in the petal are something they are working on. These are 2 that I am fond of:
Aside from that, I drove 2 hours to pick sour cherries, the orchards in this area only have sweet cherries. I make Cherry Bounce with only 3 ingredients; sour cherries (whole), fill a quart jar almost to the top, add 1/3 or 1/4 cup of sugar, fill the rest of the jar with Brandy (I prefer Christian Brothers) and wait. So the cherry bounce is processed and will be ready to taste come Thanksgiving.
Life is good!