Fall Loves

The garden was nipped with the first touch of frost last night, yippee?  Fall is my favorite month of all.  I love how it slows down, cools off, and eases us into the dark, cold icy winter.  I don't know what it is about fall, but it is such a nostalgic time for me.  Maybe its that after the hustle and fullness of Spring and Summer, I can now actually sit down and THINK for a minute.

Right now, my pumpkins are freezing.  I love, love, love pumpkins and usually am able to grow some pretty decent pumpkins.  I hoped to have a lively pumpkin patch this fall, but we camped out in Telluride the week we should've planted pumpkins,

Instead of planting pumpkin seeds, we were turning our teeth black with slushy syrup, dancing, swinging in hammocks, getting our faces painted and oh yes, there was the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, where we saw KD Lang.

Francesca with a beautiful black grape slushy smile.

Julian and I dancing.

Cecilia in the hammock at camp, or "cramp," as we now refer to camping with masses of festivarians.

Julian with an ice cream face and Cecilia and Daddy dancing in the background while Francesca daydreams.

KD Lang rockin' out.

Julian with freshly painted face, compliments of Cecilia . . . a doggie?

So I planted the pumpkin seeds too late.  Most of our pumpkins are still sitting in the field now, big, green and shivering.  We were able to pick some little pie pumpkins and mini pumpkins, but the larger ones are still green.  This is my worst pumpkin season ever.  Last year we had quite a few big pumpkins, and tons of gourds.

This was last year:

Last year's pumpkin and gourd harvest, birdhouse and ladle gourds.

Basicly, I have only flowers and basil to show for this year.  Our garden was too enormous this year.  We spent a lot of time mowing weeds where we never had time to plant anything.  Next year we'll scale it back considerably and plant orchard grass for the ponies on the South end.  Its all about the learning curve and reflecting on our triumphs and missteps . . .

Next year, with a smaller garden, we'll be intimate partners again.  No more lawn mowers and weed whackers in the garden!  The horror!  More happy garden spiders who stay all summer, like last year.

See, I told you Fall makes me so nostalgic.  Ah, the memories.

Oh, and there's that cute little gnome again!  (I couldn't help myself.)

Yesterdays gnomes, today's cave boys.