Summer's still here, but not for long...

It's harvest time!!! The potatoes I planted in the wine barrels didn't do so hot this year- I suspect the quality of the soil, but check out the size of this volunteer from last year!!
This is a Yukon Gold that I obviously missed during last year's harvest. It grew three of the largest Yukon Golds I've ever seen.

I also had a Norland Red volunteer as well, which outdid itself too! The carrots did much better this year; I've been pulling them as I need them and they're so sweet tasting!

Here are the potatoes I planted in the wine barrels. Not much for size, but I did get enough for a few dinners and they tasted great. I'll just tell people they're a mini-variety or something :-)

I caught a glimpse of one of my preying mantids while watering the strawberry pyramid. Look at how big they've gotten! I'm really hoping to see some egg sacs appear in my garden this year. It's been doing a great job keeping white fly infestations down on my strawberry plants.

I finally potted up the succulents I bought at Gardenpalooza in April. I found this plant stand on CL for $20 and got the pots at Al's nursery in Woodburn. So far, they're really happy and starting to root nicely.

Also, my toad lilies are blooming this year! I planted them last fall and have been waiting patiently to see what the blooms look like. I liked them because they looked so much like orchids, but without all the hassle. Very pretty!

My onions also did much better this year than last year. I planted seeds instead of onion sets this year and they've really made some nice bulbs. I've used a lot of fresh onions in cooking and when I canned salsa last weekend. It's very convenient just to go out back and harvest what you need.

So...it's September and I'm still harvesting carrots, onion, and tomatoes, but Fall is in the air, I can feel it!

Gosh, it's been a while...

Hello loyal followers! Sorry I've abandoned you for so long...
Just a quick recap of what's been going on at my house! Mom did her annual cherry pitting this year, with pretty stellar results. We put up three jars of Bings and three jars of Rainiers.


My strawberry pyramid really took off this year and produced enough strawberries to make a few batches of strawberry jam!

Some home improvement: I ripped out the corner cabinet that used to be perminently installed next to the old stove and replaced it with a cart off of CraigsList! It moves away from the stove so I can get everything clean and it provides much better storage and surface area. It's been great for canning!

More home improvement: we ripped out the carpet in the frontroom finally! I still have a ways to go before I can afford to repair and refinish it, but just having the nasty old carpet out is a big improvement. Although, it breaks my heart that someone would PAINT original hardwood floors- why, WHY?!?! The good news is that I don't think the floors in the bedrooms are painted, since the hallway was also spared. Someday soon, the carpet in those rooms will disappear as well...

Here I am pulling up sections of carpet and padding with Mary's assistance. Getting the carpet up wasn't what took the time- it was all the tack strips and thousands of staples! We were at it until dark.

You can see Mom's enthusiasm about pulling staples, even though ripping up the carpet was her idea...

And here it looks, done! Much better- the improvement in air quality alone made it worth it.

Here are a few shots from the scarf dye-day we held at my house. I attracted quite a bit of attention by wearing the scarves I dyed at Mom's house last summer, so there were a lot of Kettle ladies that attended the dye day at my house. Behold our creations!

My three. The one on the left has inspired a new colorway for Tanglewood Fiber creations: Becky's Blackberry.

How Alice felt about the excitement:


So, sorry again that it's taken me so long to post. I'll try to be more prompt in the future!