It has been raining and raining here, keeping us indoors except when absolutely necessary (walking the dog). But today, even though the sun didn't exactly burst forth in its radience, it was at least dry and relatively warm, and we were outside most of the day.
We didn't do a lot of harvesting, as there's not a lot left to harvest. I picked a pound of tomatoes yeasterday, and except a few carrots, herbs, apples and blackberries, that's all we've got going. Still, there was plenty of work to keep us busy. Today was all about getting the yard in shape for dropping temperatures. The patio furniture went into storage, the garden hoses, too. And the pool was battened down for a long winter's rest.
I did notice a lot that needs to be done in the garden, so even though I checked a few things off the list today, I added even more!
It is definately time to harvest the herbs. I'll freeze the dill and chives, but I'm not sure of the best way to save thyme. I've never dried herbs before. Maybe it's time to try!
I think it's time to cut my asparagus, but I'm not sure, this being my first year growing them. Everything I read says, cut the plants back when the ferns have died. The one on the right looks definitely dead, but not sure about the one on the left...
But look here what I found! My garlic is already sprouting! I am assuming this is okay. I mean, everyone says to plant them in October, and if its a warm autumn, then they're going to sprout before the winter. I'm sure it will be fine. Right? RIGHT?
Then it was time to do a little work in the kitchen. We have pulled up all of the pepper plants, and I pickled the last of the jalapenos. I got great results pickling my mild jalapenos with chili flakes to spicen them up, so I followed the same recipe this time.
Then I put the boys to work baking an apple cake. I'm searching the web for the very best apple cake recipe, and we'll try a new one every week until we find it. Today's offering was a Norwegian apple cake. Good, but not incredible. The search goes on!
To round off the day I tried a new experiment I read about on Pinterest: turning scrap apple peels and cores into pancake syrup. Sound too good to be true? Well, I can't tell you. Things went fine at first...
