We have been harvesting like mad — tomatoes, corn, squash, and pumpkins — fearing a frost will pop up unexpectedly. And, as I’m going in for knee surgery tomorrow for my meniscus tears, I wanted to do as much as I could before being kind of laid up for a few days, recovering. Now we can barely walk through the entryway and living room. Add two dogs and boy is it interesting! Will’s been picking feed sacks full of corn; Seneca Nation, the last Bear Island Chippewa, Simonet sweet corn, Starburst Manna (a gorgeous flour corn), and the last Papa’s Red (a bright solid red flour corn). He picks and helps shuck the corn and I rope it up. Luckily, the first corn has dried well so we’ve got that in crates. We also have two crates of beautifully marked Montana Cudu, which is a flour corn with white kernels with purple markings on the cap that sometimes resemble eagles. Our friends, Mike and Dara, grew that for us. They also took home several five-gallon pails of dry beans to shell out. Yep, we’ve got many more to pick!

Our house is getting overfilled with produce.

Yesterday, David, Elizabeth, and granddaughter, Delilah, came for a visit and to work on his cabin. We went out and picked several big pumpkins for them as well as some cute gourds. One pumpkin, a Big Max, was bigger than Delilah! She wasn’t impressed but sure liked the gourds, promptly grabbing one with a long neck and popping it into her mouth. Yep, she’s teething, big time!

Delilah liked the gourd better than the huge pumpkin.
Delilah loved the goats.

When we got home, David took her to see the goat “babies” who are now teenagers. Delilah loved those and reached out so they could nose her fingers, making her giggle. I think we’ve got another homesteader in the making! — Jackie

34 COMMENTS

  1. OMG she looks like David (yep, I remember pictures of David in the early issues of BHM). So glad to see Delilah gets outside, so many kids don’t these days.
    All that is left of the garden is tomatoes. Time to plant garlic and do some weeding (it never ends). Oh, and harvest cat nip so I don’t disappoint the felines of friends and family.

    • Can’t do that! Our cat, Mittens, would be so sad if we didn’t give her occasional catnip. We think Delilah looks a lot like David too. It’s fun that she loves homestead stuff and I can’t wait until she can walk and learn to do fun things with us.

      • I have more catnip than cats. It is a companion crop in the garden. So I share – all organic catnip – leaves only, no ground stems.

    • Home and hobbling around today. I’m sure itching to get in the garden!!! But I think I’ll give it a couple of days yet.

    • The surgery went well and I’m praying it will lessen my pain quite a bit. We are amazed at our harvest, considering the drought and heat.

    • Over with the surgery and hoping to heal quickly so I can get on with life. There’s still a lot out there to bring in!

  2. I had that surgery,not bad, up walking the next day, good healing to you! Pumpkins are beautiful!im planting some next year, had butternut squash come up voluntarily got 6 squash from it, last year pumpkins, were I throw seeds out my back door.

    • Yep, I was walking the day of the surgery but needed the walker yesterday. Today I’m fine without it. Whew! I absolutely love my squash and pumpkins. Our Big Max were fantastic this year!! Isn’t it fun to find a volunteer plant that surprises you?

  3. Will be saying prayers for you Jackie. Its a good time to be laid up anyway. Winter coming on. Lots of stews canned and plenty to do sitting down. Take care.

    • Thank you so much. I can’t be laid up too long as there’s still a lot of harvest yet to bring in. But I am taking it day by day so I don’t mess things up.

  4. Beautiful pictures of your produce and family. I will be remembering you in prayer for a complete healing of that knee.

  5. Please take many short breaks and
    Elevate that leg(knee) to help speed
    Healing. There’s many little jobs that
    Can be accomplished with sitting (leg
    Propped up). Best wishes, as always

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