Autumn Ingathering

We have been enjoying beautiful fall weather - perfect for putting the garden to bed and preparing for winter hibernation.  Today I picked and received a bounty of goodness - peppers and tomatoes from our small garden, pears from my tenacious garden growing neighbor Patrice and apples and plums from Maid Elizabeth (her new property has beautiful fruit trees).  We'll dehydrate our peppers, can the pears and eat the tomatoes and plums fresh.  What bounty!  The few apples Maid Elizabeth brought over today we'll eat fresh (they're sooo good!), however, this weekend we plan on taking our cider press to her house and pressing apple cider - such a perfect fall enterprise!

Peppers and tomatoes out of our garden

Pears and apples and plums, oh my!

Notice the fire bricks stacked on the end of the cook stove - we'll be putting them in the stove soon!

I still have ripening tomatoes.  I can only hope the weather cooperates long enough for them to ripen on the vine.  If so, we'll have enough to can and enjoy them this winter.  Our Hugelkulture beds have surpassed our expectations and we can't wait to plant a huge garden next spring, and hopefully reap a harvest that dwarfs this years offerings.

Almost ready

I hope you're enjoying this sweet season of ingathering.  May your storerooms be full to overflowing!