A Mixed Dozen

There are always photos that I want to share, but that don't seem to warrant a post all their own.  Hence, the mixed dozen.

Matt's brother and sister-in-law gave us their old backyard fire pit.  We've just used it once, but I am super stoked.  I mean, really, a camp fire in your backyard?!  That's pretty darn awesome.

I adore having a craft room.  I've gotten so much more sewing done its just unbelievable.   So much better than having to pack it all out, set it all up, sew, and then pack it all back into storage again.   I am almost done with my second dress.  I think I'll be finishing it this weekend during my Thanksgiving break.

Its a little hard to see, but this ear of corn was growing a second ear of corn inside the husk with it.  Its the bit sticking up in the middle.  It had little kernels and everything.  The second ear is very wispy and wouldn't really have amount to anything, but I thought it was pretty interesting.

We're still eating fingerlings every day.  So far we've not had any go bad.  We have a couple crates of larger potatoes, which keep much better, in the cool of the basement.  Next year we're growing less fingerlings though.  They are a pain to harvest and store in comparison with a big potato.  They are sure tasty though.

We've dried a number of herbs for use over the winter.  We're pretty new at this undertaking.  Matt made himself a little tea-towel toga and oregano crown....very Roman, no?  He is so fun.

I love the freaks that come out of the garden, like this twisted double carrot.  These beauties never end up in the grocery store so unless you grown them you might never know how varied and interesting food can be.

Creamy potatoes and peas with corn--all the vegetables coming from our own yard.  I am thrilled by meals like that.

Last month I had some family visiting.  It was awful sweet to see my mom reading bedtime stories to my niece that I used to read as a little girl.  Oh, how I love Mother Goose and The Unicorn Who Had No Horn!

Matt is pretty enthusiastic about his garden, as you can tell.  This was taken during the big, end of season harvest of the tomatoes.  It was a good year for us.  I think we ended up with 170lbs of them.

A couple Make-It-Youself postcards which I've sent out.  Sending postcards is fabulous, if you ask me.  I dropped five in the mail today, in fact.

Two of Matt's aunts came to town last month.  They are a hoot.  We (Matt, me, the aunts, Matt's mom, Matt's brother and his wife) went out and hit up a couple local breweries, ate some tasty food, and laughed and had fun together.   Matt and I realized afterwards that because we almost never "go out," either for dinner or for a glass of beer, it is a really special treat when we do.  That makes me glad.  If I did it every day I don't think it would be so fun.  It would be more ordinary.

A fried, homegrown eggplant smiley face.  Again, Matt is so fun.  And a heck of a cook, too!