Help arrives!

October 12 - Sara's parents paid a visit and "relaxed" by working around our home and garden.  Elvin trimmed the hedges and attached the last board from the front porch re-hab project.  All 4 porches were power washed and re-stained this summer. The front getting a new kick plate board.  The squirrels did more than kick it - they ate it!

Sara and Carol finished putting mulch around the plants in the side garden (out the living room window).  Sara continues to try to get rid of the snow on the mountain that takes over each year.  This year she got more serious, with a a hand tiller tool and all!

Then all three proceeded to rake up the pine needles and take them over to Nammah's garden for her paths. Years of "research" with different path material has found that 4 out of 5 paths prefer pine needs to any other material (straw, leaves, wood chips, plastic, newspaper, cardboard, etc.)  In order to put them down, they needed to de-brush the "there used to be a path there" next to the road. There were small trees growing amidst the weeds that we just avoided this summer.  The Thomsen family took them down!

Meanwhile, back at the house, I got caught up in the kitchen.  I DID take an outside break to empty the water barrels and hydrate the parched trees and bushes in the yard and roll the barrels to their winter home alongside the garage. Otherwise, I cooked a roast with garden vegies, plus roasted brussel sprouts and beets for dinner. There were some tomatoes on the way out so Carol cleaned out the bad spots and I ended up making 10 jars of salsa and 12 jars of hot pepper jelly (half with raspberries).  That ended the hot peppers that were getting a bit rubbery.  Still lots of tomatoes reddening in the studio.  I roasted a pan tonight. We'll need to get creative with them this year in order to use them all.

p.s. one month since the green tomatoes were brought in for ripening.  Looking more like the colors of Christmas now as Carol Thomsen picks her favorites! Who needs the supermarket anyway?