I cleaned up the vegetable garden

 The gross powdery mildew covered squash vines have gone to the compost, I've harvested lots of potatoes and squash, and the vegetable beds are clean! It was a pretty good harvest, especially for the potatoes that weren't purposely planted. Now the cover crop is starting to grow! It was kind of late to add cover crop seed, but they started to germinate, so I guess it was warm enough. 

I still want to grow some greens through the winter, but that hasn't been a priority for me. I need to get the row cover figured out which doesn't have to be anything special; done is better than perfect. Another thing on the list is digging up dahlia tubers and dividing. They have survived winter before, but I want more flowers next year so dividing them is a must. I think they will need more space though so another thing on the to do list is making more raised beds. It's unfortunate that the soil here is filled with so many rocks, planting them in the ground would be so easy if there wasn't much ground prep.

How was your last harvest? Do you have any new plans for your garden?

I made a digital planner and am selling it!

Like the title says, I made a digital planner and am selling it! This is the first digital product I am selling and I'm very excited about it. It has a minimalist design with a year overview, monthly calendars, and weekly planner pages. The special part of my planner and what makes it a gardening calendar is that it includes seasonal landscape gardening tasks so you can know the best time to prune your shrubs or divide your perennials and remember to do it! Digital planners are best when using a tablet and stylus, but I've started to add important dates to my copy using my phone and finger to write. A larger screen and a stylus would make my flower doodles look a bit less wonky (probably). 

Please consider supporting me by purchasing this 2023 digital gardening planner.

I Burnt the Pepitas Twice

October's Craft Book Club book was Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu. It is an anthology of twelve short stories and I was inspired by the story #ClimbingNation to make a hiking food. You need to read this book! The stories are so varied and each new world comes alive with the imagery. In #ClimbingNation, a woman goes to the funeral of an Instagram-Famous-Climber who has died recently from a climbing accident. I don't want to spoil anything, but some people at the funeral blame the climbing partner for the death and the revenge is shocking.

The trail mix I made includes pretzel twists, M&M's candy, and Honeycomb cereal (which I don't think I'd ever eaten before). It's heavy on the sweets because the roasted, salted pepitas I wanted to add to the mix burned both times I tried making them. The first time I set the timer in the kitchen, left the room, and didn't hear it when it rang. The second time I remained in the kitchen, check after 10 minutes, thought it needed a few more minutes, and those few more minutes were too many.

Our next read is Nordic tales : folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark Illustrated by Ulla Thynell. I started reading it over the weekend and there are lots trolls. Have you heard any Nordic fairy tales?

Pumpkin Patch

Over the weekend I went to a pumpkin patch! My favorite time of the year! There were so many varieties and I ended up buying only sixteen so I'll have lots of seeds to save and clean and eventually plant in my future pumpkin patch. Here are a few photos from the farm and some of my new pumpkins.

Slowly Knitting

I hoped to have the Mickey and Minnie Mouse scarf finished, but I would have had to devote more time to knitting these last two weeks. However, I have made more progress than my first attempt. Not much more, but still more. I used up all the yarn I frogged and have already undid a knot that developed when pulling out more yarn from the center of the ball! Very exciting!