Random Stuff - And a Gourd Tree

This is really a post of random stuff.  Our lives have been mostly random lately, and we try to see the goodness where we find it.

So....today Big Steve got together with another bluegrass friend for some picking.  And I spent a good part of the day enjoying lunch with my 80-something-year-old mother and her almost 90-year-old cousin.  It was highly amusing, informative, and the food was very good. Also, it was HOT here today, no matter how you slice it.  So I was trying to stay inside for as much of the day as possible.

After lunch, I did our weekly shopping, and considering the number of guests we have with us right now, a weekly shopping is no small feat.  And stopped at the nearest Ocean State Job Lots for rawhide and dog treats.  Do you have one of those near you?  If so, you can get dog goodies very reasonably there!

At any rate, it was a really blisteringly hot day, if you were out in it.  Especially, I think, if you were in in it.  I was both.  So I was a bit drained when I arrived home with a huge carload of foods and goods to be put away. 



So...the goodness of the garden and the dogs and the place after the sun started going down were pure gold, as far as I was concerned.  We have a sumac tree growing out of last year's compost pile.  No great surprise, as sumac grows wildly here in huge amounts, everywhere you don't want it.  What was a surprise was a gourd plant that decided to plant itself and vine itself onto the sumac into what appears to be a "gourd tree".  It's actually pretty cool...

I'm pretty sure (and surely hoping) that it will be putting out some of those pretty gourds around Thanksgiving for decorating purposes....

On closer examination, we found an actual pumpkin on the same plant.  Wow!  We didn't plant a pumpkin this year, but we always want a nice pumpkin for our dearest Lekya.  What an angel!!!  So we're hoping this will also turn into something substantial come October. 

I know it's small, and green, and in the grass just outside of the compost pile right now.  But personally, I have high hopes for this pumpkin.  We'll keep you posted!

On further examination, there is no doubt that the beets (the red part and the greens) all need to be picked and processed tomorrow (my back is already aching at the very thought of it):

I refuse to even acknowledge the fact that I saw tons of peppers hanging low off the plants...

And the tomatoes are officially "coming in" starting right now...



There's more coming in (cabbages and such) but I can't bear to sit at the computer any longer tonight.  It's just that after my rant on May 1, I felt I owed an update on the progress here. 

Tomorrow, I'll be doing a breakfast bulk cooking, and some pickled beets.  At least one recipe will be forthcoming tomorrow!  We are well aware that tomorrow is the Lord's day, but as Charles Ingalls once said, God understands farmers.

Love to you all!!!