The Wheel Turns......

"Slowly the energy of summer has shifted, and we begin to see signs of the wheel's turning. The earth ripens and grows mellow~we can smell the warm and heavy difference in the air. All around us, plants once stiff with juice are softening and drying, going to seed. Everywhere are signs of the early harvest, with roadside stands and farmer's markets overflowing with produce. The light at sunset grows hazy and golden, and the nighttime insect's lullabye outside our windows are softer and less strident, weaving through our dreams. Summer has passed its prime." Celebrating the Great Mother.

Sassafras leaf turned orange-gold

Dogwood berries call to the birds

Eastern Tent Caterpillars getting ready to come out of their home
Bee Balm gone to seed.

Lammas Harvest

Sophie and I harvested some things from the garden today. We got a couple of beautiful sunflowers, some huge cucumbers, several lovely beets, three mini pumpkins, and three finger sized carrots that Sophie is just thrilled about.
We decided to make Demeter's Harvest Bread, we improvise the recipe from Laurel's Kitchen cookbook for basic whole grain bread. Ours was half wheat, half corn flour in honor of the Lammas corn/grain harvests. Sophie worked very hard on kneading the bread dough and we enjoyed watching it rise and smelling the delicious fresh bread smell as it baked.

We made out loaves round in reverence to the Great Earth Mother who is generous with Her bounty at this blessed time of Lammas.

Lammas Blessings

May the blessings of a fruitful harvest be yours on this Lammas Day.

Late Garden Update

This is our harvest basket oer flowing with yummy freshness from the garden. We are thrilled to have so much, this is one day's gathering of course. We have been enjoying tomatoes for some time now and the freshness of these heirloom varieties is amazing! Our yield was not as big as I had hoped it would be, so I didn't "put up" much. But I did freeze some things. We will have fresh-frozen stuff this winter. I am already making plans for garden expansion next spring. Now the garden clean up begins......

Sophie's Carrot Harvest

Sophie was so proud yesterday when we harvested her carrots! We got a lot of them, a huge armful for her. She planted the seeds and has waited most patiently all these 60+ days for them to be ready. These are Danver's Half Longs, and they did wonderfully well in our aged manure garden bed. We still have a few left that we are hoping will get a little bigger. The best part is that they taste even better than Sophie's favorites from the grocery.

Next up is tomatoes......

She shared her harvest with her grandma who was visiting from Atlanta this weekend.

Signs of Fall

In honor of September's dawning and with autumn just around the corner, I took a walk around the yard and gardens to see what early signs of fall there were. It was easier than I thought to see the Mother Earth begin Her preparations for Her winter sleep.






Here we have Bee Balm gone to seed.






Here is Purple Cone Flower [Echinacea] also gone to seed.









Mugwort in full flower/seed.















Some of the walnuts that the children of a friend gathered from beneath their tree and gifted us.













The rake....left standing after my son Jonathan, finished raking some of the first leaves that have already fallen, due in part of the drought we had in August.



















Rose hips~yum.....tea time anyone?














Autumn color, this is just the beginning......












Toad stools, faery umbrellas, mushrooms.....growing across the fence.















Our glorious, 10-12 feet tall sunflowers are now leaning like old ladies on canes, drooping with their heavy load of delicious seeds, for us and the birds.

First Fruits

Here is what I did with the apples from my friend Mari. I froze six quarts of cut up apples for the winter. I love to make hot apple pies and apple crumb cake and apple crisp in the fall and winter months. I also froze a quart of tomatoes from our garden. Finally, I made carved a semblance of a head for Sophie to dry and make an dried apple "Crone' for Harvest and Samhain. Now is the time to carve them if you want them to be dry in time for Mabon in September or Samhain/Halloween. Hope each of you are enjoying your own harvests of whatever kind. Autumn is in the air. Blessings.

Apples, apples, apple harvest

My beautiful and generous friend, Mari gifted my family with this gorgeous batch of fresh apples! How lucky are we? Her husband, Jason, went to a pick your own orchard and brought back all of these, with many to share with all of Mari's friends. So nice. I think they are beautiful and I am planning to freeze the majority of them for winter baking. Yummy!