Nov. 1, Fall in the Northwest means mushroom hunting like these delicious Chanterelles. We've also been picking Shaggy Manes and the Shaggy Lepiota that grows behind our chicken coop!

The growing season is almost over but there`s still plenty of work to do in the garden.

At least we saved a little money growing our own pumpkins this year! I couldn`t believe how expensive they were last year.

The grapes Julia gave us a few years back did really well this year. Wonder if we could make wine?

Is Fall here already? This pumpkin thinks so as it starts to turn orange just outside the garden fence. Who`s that hiding just on the other side of the fence in the bean rows?

August 29, This year we are freezing a lot of produce but also canning more than we have in the past. Here we have pickles, Dilly beans, beans and pickled beets.

This year we have had the best crop ever for so many things. Here`s the best, largest and most successful crop of onion I've ever grown.

Contrast this picture from back in May, the tomatoes are doing great this year.

Mom, Jude and Pete were here for a few days and mom pitched in to help with all the produce that needed canning.

No, we didn't grow these! So why are they here? Because the whole point of this years garden is to supplement our economy, (can't wait for a bailout ya` know). So we are taking what we can from the land around us and wouldn't you know? It's a Humpy year in the Skagit!

July 19 and the Raspberry's are ripe and the vines are loaded. Everything this year is heavy with fruit from our apples to the wild strawberry's around the house. Last week a neighbor stopped by to invite us to pick all the Bing cherries we wanted from their trees as there were so many they were going to waste.

Mid-July and there has been an explosion of green in the front garden. I'm tellin` ya, Mushroom Compost is the the trick! In the center of this picture you can see a single pumpkin plant that has 5 main vines and one has already escaped the garden growing over 12 feet!

June 29, This year our front garden has been turned over to vegetables. It's planted in later things so we haven't gotten any produce out of it yet but everything is growing really well. We'll get lots of potatoes, beans, squash and hopefully some Jack-O-Lanterns!

The garden has done better this year than I can remember. Of course, breaking the old record of 29 days without rain has helped this spring. The fact that I've been home more has helped too, keeping the weeds down and staying up on the watering. We've been harvesting all our salads for some time and now we are getting a lot more; carrots, peas, Bok Choy, Khol Rabi and more!

June 21^st, Julia comes up for the day and helps pick some peas for freezing. This year the peas are doing great and the rabbit population seems to be down so we are getting lots. We've already put up a lot of peas and some frozen spinach too. I've never before had enough spinach to freeze, amazing!

June 1^st and our garden is doing really well this spring. We are harvesting spinach, lettuce, chard, kale, Bak Choy, mustard greens, arugula and pea leaves. Everything seems to be going very well with only a few slugs spoiling the party!

This year rather than make a temporary rain shelter for our tomatoes we decided to grow them all in the greenhouse. We've grown a few in the greenhouse before along with some cantaloupe and eggplant. But the tomatoes are the only ones that have consistently produced well, so this year, no cantaloupe! Personally, I'm glad I wont have to build a shelter this year, why didn't we do this before?

May 9^th and it's time to transplant the squash`s from the greenhouse. Netty helps me to plant Pumpkins in the front garden! This year we have converted our front garden back to vegetables after the past couple years of flowers. The flowers were nice to have in bouquets around the house but we need the space for spuds, cucumbers, squash and beans.

April 27^th and the Tulips are blooming in the front. This year spring is a bit late around here, but things are now progressing with over a week of sunny days.

The main vegetable garden is all ready to go for summer. Up already are radishes, kale, spinach, Bok Choy and more. I'll plant tomato starts under the Cloche this week.

April 9^th and the Stinging Nettles are 6 inches high, perfect for picking. Nettles are a great Spring tonic and taste like spinach. They can be used for steamed greens or cream of nettle soup. Today I made a Nettle Quiche with a wonderful Wheat-free crust.

Recipe for crust:

2 cups cooked rice
2 eggs
1 cup shredded Cheddar

Mix ingredients and press into a greased 12 inch pie pan. Bake 20 minutes at 400.

Filling:

Saute 1/2 Lg onion in 1/2 cube butter
Whisk 1 Tbsp flour into butter and onions when onions are translucent
Steam enough Nettles to get 1 cup and chop them up a little
Saute 1 chopped chicken breast (optional)
In a Lg bowl combine above with 4 eggs
1/2 a Bell pepper, chopped
1 cup each shredded cheddar and swiss
1/2 cup 1/2 & 1/2
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Optional: garlic, parsley, other spices

Mix everything together and pour in baked shell. Cook 35 + minutes at 350

April 14^th, Our first plants for transplanting are up in the Greenhouse. Yesterday I added Jersey Green Sand to the gardens after I discovered our soil was low on Potassium. I have a new soil test kit that`s great, it measures the Ph, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. It was well worth the money.

This year we are feeling that it will be very important to plant a large garden and get out there early. We started by planting the Greenhouse in late February. These `beds` are 6 inches high and 2x2 feet. They have soil heating pads on the bottom. Photo taken March 5^th.