Changing Seasons

It's cooled off a lot here this week, I had to close the windows last night, so we didn't freeze...and turned the heat on this morning cause I was cold. It's suppose to warm back up, but that just goes to show you that the seasons are changing once again...Autumn is coming, with it's cool crisp air and the beautiful fall colors.

Our garden is winding down now, we are still getting things, but it's slower and some aren't getting as big. The Okra is still producing, enough that we are still passing it on to a friend or two who wants it, since we have plenty in our freezer.

I finally managed to get a photo of the Okra blooms yesterday, I'd been wanting to for the last month or two, but never managed to do it till now. I thought they were the prettiest things, with their creamy petals and beautiful maroon center. They are even prettier in the sunshine. :)

I can't believe how TALL the Okra has gotten! I had no idea what Okra actually looked like, as I've never seen the plants before. DH talked to a friend in town, who has grown some in the past, and he said he's seen it 6 feet before, but not usually...and this is over 6 feet, because it's over both mine and DH's head, and we are both over 6 feet ourselves. (I'm 6'2" and DH is 6'6".) Course not ALL of it is the same height, some of it got set back cause the cows got out and had to tromp through the garden last spring, but it's still produced quite well and is several feet tall even so. I was wanting a photo of DH standing beside it...but haven't managed to get one of those yet.

I brought in a bunch of cantaloupe last night, but they are mostly smaller now, not near as nice sized, but still yummy! We have had a really nice big bunch of them, I'm so thrilled with how they did.

I've even been still getting some zucchini and cucumbers, although not near as many, but least we are still getting enough to eat, and sometimes to pass on to friends.

DH said he counted 25 pumpkins in our pumpkin patch (don't think that included the two I've already brought in)...who knows if there are some he missed *giggle* Yes I planted way to many of them, but we wanted some for the animals and I didn't know what I was doing (or how many they would give us) so I planted a bunch.

Now hopefully the cows will like them, because if they don't, we will have them coming out our ears and then some! LOL Course even so we may, just because we don't have a root cellar to store them in, or to many other places we can store them, that doesn't freeze, but we will see how it goes. I know we will be giving my parents a few, cause Mom wanted some for pies and I'll can two or three of them, but it sounds like there will be a bunch left for the animals too. LOL

All in all I'd say this has been a successful gardening year, even if weeding didn't happen for the past couple months with canning and DH's surgery and everything else going on. Praise God for helping my black thumb not kill everything off...maybe it's not quite as black as it was. LOL

Between our garden and a friends garden, we've had a good year for stocking up on food this year! Praise God for his bounty! :-))