It’s been a long week… mostly due to being under the weather for the last three days, but I’m finally starting to feel a little better. Just an achy flu bug that required a lot of napping, fluids and 2 wonderful kids that don’t mind taking care of mom for a bit.

But we did get a chance to do a little yard work before that, and I took a few photos of the last real harvests of the Moby estate!

We pulled up our carrots, and they were so much more better than last year. I think we have mastered the carrots in our raised beds. They like the south side beds, near the water and constant sun and the nice thick composty soil. Next year we’re going to plant a ton of them because it’s what my kids love best!

We thought this carrot was particularly amusing.., it looks like it’s trying to run away! We have harvested about 15 pounds of carrots this year. A whole lot more than the first year for sure! This last batch went into the crock pot and was sure good. Fresh picked carrots are so sweet and good, it’s unbelievable. Gypsy likes to eat the little skinny ones! It’s fun, she thinks they’re great little treats.

Jessy and I cut up all our herbs and got them ready to hang and dry. Spearmint, rosemary and oregano. I’ve never really grown a lot of herbs before but I plan to do so more next year. I think one of my shadier raised beds is going to become a perennial herb bed. I want to try a few more plants and try to see what might work for us. We’re not super adventurous in the whole herbal seasoning world, but I’m willing to try and see how some of them work in our lives.

The tomatoes are finally coming to an end! How crazy… I don’t think I’m going to be planting 40+ tomatoes again any time soon. They were just too crazy! The plants were so huge and vigorous that they choked out all my fancy corn! That was a bummer. No, next year I’m going to be a little more picky. I know I want to grow the dark topped Black Krims and the Amish Paste as well as the Yellow Mountain Tomatoes. I wasn’t that happy with the Royal Hillbilly or the Mortgage Lifters. They were really small and almost bitter. I’m not sure if maybe they didn’t get squeezed out in tight quarters. All of these heirloom tomatoes really grew big and huge as plants. They crushed all my cages and dragged them over to the ground. I’m going to have to reconsider how to to support and separate them a bit more. I’ve been reading a lot about square foot gardening and I think that it might not be a bad thing for the smaller family garden.

Maggie really wanted to make raspberry jam this year and we missed the U-Pick-It season. So we watched for the fall season and unfortunately, around here, we didn’t get one for picking. But then we found a farmer selling pints at the farmer’s market for $1 a pint! Great price and local Michigan raspberries. (We’re right on the Michigan border) So we got a chance to make up 14 pints of raspberry jam! Yeah! The mushy berries were SO pretty, I had to take a picture!

I know I already wrote up our grand totals of canning and preserving this year and we were really pleased. We have a lot of good stuff for the coming winter and it’s always rewarding to crack open a jar of garden goodies that you harvested yourself. The girls have really gotten good at canning and all, and I’m so proud of them. They really enjoy it.

I really think the secret to enjoying canning and preserving is to do it in small batches. Just do one type of canning a day. And always do it with pals. When we get going, each person gets their job and it works out nicely. And we change jobs here and there, so it’s interesting and everyone learns how to do it all! And it’s just fun to chat, visit and laugh!

Well, tomorrow is the Glass City Opry! We’ve got David Davis and the Warrior River Boys coming from Alabama and they are a great band and very entertaining! I’m glad that I’m finally getting my feet back under me, but it was kind of nice to take it easy for the weekend, watch a little Deadliest Catch episodes and catch up on some napping!