I can’t believe I’m writing this on Labor Day, 2013! Why, just yesterday we were commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and celebrating the Fourth of July!
I got a good bit of writing done over the summer, but did not make my deadline of completing the bare bones of a new book by Sept. 1. (It was an ambitious deadline, especially with all of the research I needed to do on the new setting-Revolutionary War).
What did I do when not writing? Well, the photo at right is one day’s harvest of beans, which I put into the freezer for winter eating. We’ve been eating beans just about every night for the past two months, and now have lima beans getting ready to harvest.
Speaking of beans… I’d be interested to know if other people have dogs that love string beans. My Shepard sits in the garden and waits for me to drop one so she can eat it. If I don’t keep my eye on her, she’ll eat them right out of the bucket!
This week (hopefully), I’ll be picking sweet corn, and I planted late broccoli just to see if I can get any before the first frost. I will also be digging potatoes today — which is another experimental crop for me. Last year I planted sweet potatoes, and had a great crop. (I also baked my first sweet potato pie).
And yesterday I harvested my first cantaloupe ever! It smells delicious. Can’t wait to see how it tastes! There are three more growing on the vine, but they’re still fairly small. I hope they get big enough to harvest before the first frost.
I don’t know how gardening became such a big part of my life. I started with a tomato plant or two — and now have no need to buy any vegetables — or much fruit. In addition to the aforementioned, I also had garlic, onions, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, asparagus and peppers; plus strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples and cherries.
Now that the summer months are behind us, it’s time to start thinking about fall and winter. Of course that means cutting wood every weekend, but at least it’s great exercise.
I don’t want to think about what is coming as far as cold weather, but I’m sure I’ll still find time to write–maybe even more time since I won’t be watching butterflies. Hope everyone has a great post-Labor Day week!