Finally Fall

After weeks and weeks of warm weather, it seems that Fall has finally come.  This week we have had cool nights and days, and even some frost in the valley one morning.

Yesterday was misty all day, but I decided to get some things finished in the garden anyway.  I came in damp and muddy, but I got my squashes and flint (Indian) corn harvested.  I spread leaves that my dad swept up and grass that I swept up.  We need to put a LOT more leaves and compostables on the garden yet this fall, but all in good time!  There are still some carrots out there and basil to harvest.

I had 2 butternut squash plants, which went crazy.  Here is my harvest - I will be sharing for sure!  The flint corn came from a cob of corn that I had been using for years to decorate with, but it got dropped several times, and all of the kernels were loose.  I decided to plant some of it, and this is the result (keep in mind that we only got a half dozen ears of sweet corn from the garden this year - apparently not a good corn year in general):

There were a couple of squashes that needed to be used right away, so I started some Curried Butternut Squash soup in the crock pot (this still needs to be blended with a can of coconut milk):

I picked up an eggplant when grocery shopping last week, so I stuck it in the oven to roast with a few cloves of garlic so that I could make one of our favorite dips, Melanzzano.  JP and I first tried this in a restaurant in Alaska that we visited in 2000.  I have googled this recipe many times, and merely find that "melanzano" means eggplant in Italian.  I guess it's a bit similar to Baba Ganoush.  I roast an eggplant cut in half and drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, along with 4 large garlic cloves, likewise drizzled at 350* for about 40 min.  When cooled, I scoop the flesh out of the eggplant peels and whirl it in the food processor with 1 cup grated parmesan, 8 oz cream cheese, and 1/2 cup olive oil until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

While on the vegetable kick, I grated up the last zucchini from the garden (which has been lying on the kitchen counter for several weeks) and made Zucchini Brownies with Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting.  Although it's a tried and true recipe, L and I plan to "taste test" them this evening, before sharing them with my parents at dinner tomorrow!

With the oven and the crock pot on for several hours, the house has stayed nice and warm on this dreary and chilly day.  You can smell roasted garlic, curry and chocolate, depending on where you stand.  Just don't hang out in the breezeway - it smells like something died out there!  I spent a couple of hours yesterday clearing the entire thing out, shaking out all of the coats and shoes, wiping down doors, baseboards and shelves, and mopping (twice.)  Thankfully the only dead things that I found were spiders and stink bugs.  In any case, it is super clean now, and I feel like I've had a couple of very productive days!

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Boost

I got my Pfizer booster shot last week.  I didn't quite have the strong reaction that I got last time - no fever this time, and bad headache and joint pain weren't as severe as I remember from January.  I was down and out for the whole next day, but am feeling fine now!

We have done some other things to boost our spirits up here on the hill this Fall.

We were gifted a rooster.  He is not the brightest of all birds - it took 3 days of me stuffing him through the door of the chicken house twice a day for him to figure out how to do it on his own - but he is quite gentle and has a lot to say.

The black walnut tree in the chicken yard was well endowed this year.  I have picked up half  a trailer load one time and half a tractor bucket full another.  It needs to be done again.

The hens are laying quite well.  I found this enormous egg last week:

When I cracked it open, it had 2 yolks!

Besides being great layers (we get almost 3 dozen eggs weekly from our 5 hens), the hens also seem to be good excavators.  They scratched such deep holes in the dirt near their door, that it took 4 layers of stones to get them closer to the opening so it wasn't so hard to go in and out.  Luckily we have no lack of big rocks to use.

L volunteered to help out the band in a couple of competition parades last week.  She has also been really busy with the Fall theater production, AND spent the night at the hospital last week for a sleep study (the sleep apnea has been corrected - hallelujah!)

J has been home from YSU for 2 separate weekends.  Most recently, she came home last weekend to take in the Renaissance Festival.  It was an interesting visit, and she went back to her dorm afterwards with a reproduction sword.  

JP stays busy hauling water and mowing grass (and hoping the grass will soon stop growing!)

I have been pulling plants and weeds from the garden and mulching with grass clippings (so I am hoping for the grass to continue growing!)  I got the pool whipped into shape and then closed down for the winter - it takes all 4 of us to get the cover on every year.  

We have somehow slid into Fall, and my brain is still trying to adjust - I'm working on that.  In the meantime, there seems no end to the other work around this place!

Happy Fall!