1st week of Month 2007

Pumpkin Tree How pleasant to have some blustery days that force us to stay indoors. Our family took a trip to the library and came home with armloads of books - reading season has officially begun. I'm not quite ready to start looking through garden idea books yet though, my brain needs a rest and I think I'll work on some creative and crafty pursuits for a while. Last Saturday we had an interesting day teaching children how to make corn husk dolls at Lehmans store. I found that many children had never husked an ear of corn before so I was glad I brought some along to add to the experience. We also had many "nostalgic adults" participating with school teachers wanting to teach their class this old time craft, grandmas learning so they could do it with their grandchildren, college students from South Korea and Hong Kong adding to their cultural experience and others.

Turnip One of my fall plants gives folks the impression that I've been doing some crafting but it really is a natural occurrance. The plant is named pumpkin tree but is really an eggplant and after I trim off the leaves and spines it appears like little pumpkins attached to a branch. It lasts for several weeks as a fall decoration and makes quite a conversation piece. I saved seeds from the plant and am selling lots of mini packets to people wanting to try this curiousity for themselves. Some other things we are still harvesting in November are root crops like this turnip. Some root crops like carrots and beets will get mulched with shredded leaves and dug as needed and the cold weather actually increases the sugar content. Others like potatoes get stored in the basement and my family is very thankful I saved enough potaotes to last us beyond December this year.

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