How did it get to be Christmas already?

What a summer it was!

The garden expands each year, and I find myself almost living inside that wonderful fence, with little Koukla who loves to hang out in the garden with me.

The biggest news about the garden happened in April:  I got a real greenhouse and we replaced all the wood chips in the pathways between raised beds with good old-fashioned sand.

First the greenhouse!  This pic was taken before I moved a ton of pallets and supplies inside.  We added two rain barrels to give clean chlorine-free water to all the seedlings, and they love it.  It only took 4 years to get this, and not a moment too soon.  Love love love my new greenhouse!


Also in April, it became clear that 4 years of adding wood chips to the garden paths had been a bad idea.  Even through thick landscape cloth and several inches of chips, the weeds prevailed and it was either pour concrete everywhere, sell the farm (!)  or find another solution.  We had the guys remove all the chips and their weeds, bring about 3" of clean sand and spread it around between the beds.  It's beautiful and now gardening is like a barefoot day at the beach.

There are no words to describe how prolific the garden was this year, in spite of drought and heat.  Tonight we're eating carrots and potatoes from the garden, and nearly every night we have something wonderful from the freezer or pantry that our little plots produced.  Below are just a scant few samples.  I was out there some days from morning 'til night, mostly just enjoying being in the presence of so many tiny miracles, all summer long and well into the fall.

And just a small brag:  My dad's famous French tomato seeds (which I've been planting and saving for almost 30 years), such late producers but OMG they're two pounds apiece!  BLTs in November?  Not bad, if I do say so.

We decorate for the holidays with amazing fruits and veggies on our plates, and count our blessings every day.  We wish you all the best, warmest, merriest holiday season full of good friends, loving family, and feasts of insane deliciousness.

Dee & Bruce