Joy Riding on the Tractor

Hands down we have the most awesome neighbors ever, even if they have their quirks and eccentricities at times. Today our "neighbors in the rear" (they live behind and slightly south of us) brought over their tractor to move a couple rocks for us. Then they left it with us so we could do some dirt/compost moving and let the kids play on it.

Not only did both kids have a chance to drive the old Massey Harris, but they got to dig and dump dirt with it..and that is AWESOME when you are 7 and 5. Both kids are in heaven. Emilie has her pocket full of worms extracted from the compost she dug (it is honestly kind of gross seeing all those worms crawling all over one another) and Jack has his head full of farming dreams. Even Kevin, though he may or may not admit it, had quite a bit of fun driving the equipment....it's just like riding a bike, takes a few minutes to get back in the hang of it, but then you're golden despite the fact the darn machine leaks hydraulic fluid like a sieve.

As for me I've got compost spread on the garden, happy kids, and plenty of dirt to fill in the dogs' potholes in the backyard...what more could I want?

Pumpkin Harvest.

With the cold temperatures becoming a staple and several nights below freezing the garden is pretty much at the end of it’s yearly lifespan. The pumpkin vines been dead for a week now so we went out and picked pumpkins Friday.

As you can see pumpkins grew pretty well this year. There are several of them that look to be perfect pie pumpkins and even a handful of nice ones for carving. The kids had a blast picking them and then lining them up on the front porch (along with corn stalks they helped me pull), their home until they are eaten, carved, or composted later in the year.

Somehow, I don’t think this gets us a free pass on a trip to the pumpkin patch though…..

What did U-Pick?

Guess what I did this morning? No…nothing? Here I’ll give you a hint:

That’s right, I hit up the local U-Pick patch that the CSI Ag School runs out at the Breckenridge Ag Endowment Farm. Purple raspberries are on strong right now. Reds, which is what we have out in the garden, are still a few weeks out and Goldens are a few weeks after that.

Picked just shy of seven and a half pounds in a little over an hour. For the curious, no I’m not making jam anytime soon. We just don’t eat a lot of jam (Biscuits are usually are eaten with gravy round here) and I still have 2011 jars in the pantry so I don’t see the need right now. Plus, my mom, my sister, and mother-in-law all can jam and are generally willing to part with a few pints in a variety of flavors lest we run out.

These raspberries I’m just freezing whole. Well, I did leave several handfuls out for munching. Most likely they’ll end up in smoothies, raspberry ice cream (YUMMY!!), or pie later down the road.