Harvest time.

See that little bit of red? That is my wheelbarrow. My totally normal-sized, not-miniature-at-all wheel barrow. The giant UFO sized disks are sunflowers. Ahh harvest time, so rewarding, so overwhelming...

Because seriously, what do you do with a wheelbarrow FULL of sunflowers? The Personal Assistant and I delivered sunflowers to three families with little kids to spread the fun. We spent two mornings pulling the seeds off of two of the moderate sized ones. I used some more, and some gourds we grew to decorate the mantle. I am not very good at decorating, but I tried. That big sunflower is about 16 inches in diameter, it is not the largest.

I now have 2 quarts of seeds to roast, and half a wheel barrow of sunflowers.

Turns out, the sunflower seeds were a great sensory activity. My guy counted seeds, dropped seeds, talked about the texture and colors, and even fed his imaginary pigs. (Where does he get this stuff?!?)

I don't know what to do with the green onions. They started out as little scraps that I re-grew in water...

...and now they are huge, just HUGE.

I will probably cut some down, chop and freeze them, and give away as much as I can before the frost comes. I want to leave the roots in place so they can come back next year. (I need a bigger freezer.)

The tomatoes have been overwhelming this year.

Those are 4 and 5 quart bowls respectively. This has been happening about every other week since August. I should be canning them, but I am just too tired. So we've been eating a lot, and I have been drying most of the cherry tomatoes for use over the winter. It is slowing down though, the other day I saw two and went out to pick them and came back in with only 4 quarts. I have been foisting them on friends, (ding, dong, ditch with tomatoes) and I have begged my neighbors to come and take some, but so far one lady has stopped by for one tomato.

This was the spring oregano harvest, with my kid for scale.

I tied it in bundles and hung them from the mantle. I gave away as much as I could, but still had a ton left, and have probably about as much out there again...

...along with as many chives,

 

lemon balm,

and parsley.

The rosemary, thyme, sage and mint can wait. Thank goodness.

Please don't think I am complaining, I am more worried that I won't get it all in and it will go to waste. So, if you are one of my neighbors reading this. Please, get off your butt and get over here and steal help yourself to some food!

-Jen

 

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