The Headleys House: September 2012

It's All Over

I have never been so happy to see that our garden froze!

No More Zucchini!

I AM SO HAPPY!

Is it okay to be happy that the plants are crisped up and fried?

Oh, so sad!

I almost feel guilty to be glad that the growing season is over.

We have had a busy summer with planting, weeding, feeding,

and watering.

I am tired of our kitchen counters and fridge loaded with vegetables.

I am thrilled to see that our pumpkins are beautiful.

They look like real pumpkins.

I know that is a wierd statement, but we had no idea

what to expect when we planted the garden back in May.

We had to pick all the pumpkins including the green ones

because the sweet deer have been snacking on them.

They have destroyed quite a bit. This is all we have left.

I hope the green ones orange up.

These apples taste very sweet and crunchy.

I think we will be making some applesauce.
We still have a row of beets to harvest as well as a row of potatoes.

The Pumpkin Master.

The Pumpkinator.

Especially because it was handcrafted by the very son who claims to NOT be creative. He often wonders how he could possibly be that way surrounded by an artistic family. I keep telling him it is in his genes. I don't think he believes me.

I love this little gnome.

My grandfather would call these and little children ge-nom-ies.

It took me years to figure out that he was calling us little gnomes.

This little gnome hangs out in our nature basket that holds all sorts of neat woodsie finds.

Fall Colors

We LOVE it here!

Even if we don't know where the road is taking us,

atleast it is beautiful along the way.

Our quality of life is so much better living among these red and orange trees.

I wonder if these two have been eating anyones garden lately.

They kind of look guilty to me.

Camping in Smithfield Canyon

We realized that Autumn temperatures are upon us

so we decided to squeeze in a camping trip.

Just and overnighter. Here is the funny part.

We drove 9 miles from our house to camp in a beautiful canyon beside a flowing creek.

I picked Victoria up from gymnastics at 6 pm and we were in our campsite at 6:40pm.

Daphne was inspired to construct fairy furniture.
Pretty impressive.

We needed to just hang out and do whatever came to mind.

For Kaleb, that was exploring every nook and cranny of the creek.

I love this picture of Jared. I can see him just like this when he was little.

I love that my kids will fiddle around in their surroundings

and not get caught up with worldly things.

Victoria is still small enough to conveniently grab a seat in her Daddy's lap.

I sat beside the creek

And kept watching this single strand of grass swaying in the breeze.

There is just something about running water.

Kirk and I would go to the beach all the time to just

watch the waves when we lived in California.

I would go almost every day if I could make it.

We have been missing the boisterous sound of water all these years living in the desert.

See, I'm here.

Moose

We were just driving through Logan Canyon admiring the fall colors when we spotted a moose grazing near some people fishing. No one seemed to be concerned. And definately not this moose. At first I thought it was a horse but then I got a second look and realized it was a moose.

I love it here!

Not every day you see a moose.

Almost DONE!

I have to say our garden is coming to an END!

Aren't these the most beautiful carrots you have ever seen.

They are quite puny but tasty. My cousins grew much bigger.

I don't know what our problem was. I am just thankful that they actually grew.

They grew in all shapes and sizes.

We were picking apples in the back when this little garden snake pratically slithered over my foot.

Kaleb has come across this little snake several times.

I have to say that not too long ago I would have freaked out at the sight of this creature.

I have become desensitized to snakes, praying mantis',

grasshoppers, spiders, beetles......definately grasshoppers!

Here is one happy Apple Man!

Kaleb loves apples. When he was a toddler, I would catch him eating an apple until there was nothing left. I don't even know how he would get the fridge door open. But he would.

Sometimes I would find the fruit drawer open part ways with the fridge door open.

Always an indication that Kaleb was in the fridge getting an apple.

As Kaleb and I were picking apples, we both were amazed to see where we are today.

Who would have thought that just a year ago we were packing to move.

We love living here. This is the life that Kirk and I wanted 25 years ago.

I guess it took us a little while to get here.

It took a lot of listening, praying and perseverence.

It is an absolute miracle that we are even living here ........

picking apples.

Fire!

Things are done differently here than anything we have ever seen.

We were driving home and saw smoke in the direction of our house but didn't hear any sirens.

The Farmers were out burning the fields right next to our house.

It was a little freaky but very controlled.

We felt reassured that they wouldn't be burning the field directly behind our house.

I think the vinyl fencing would melt.

Not a good thing.

So now at night when the air gets damp and heavy,

it smells like burnt straw.

Preserving our Bounty

Believe it or not.....we grew WATERMELON!

And this one didn't taste half bad. The ones that we just piced a couple days ago are much sweeter. It could be because it was much riper. In fact, it had rolled from the back of the van to the front and split on the bracket to the seat. It made a popping sound with the impact.

That one tasted really good.

I still can't believe that we grew them ourselves.

We canned peaches for the first time.....EVER!

We bought a half bushel in Brigham City at one of their numerous fruit stands.

I had to hurry up and do something with them before the kids ate them all. Everytime I turned around someone was eating a peach.

We got 12 quarts plus filled bellies many times over.

We had SO MANY CUCUMBERS!

We love cucumbers and didn't want any to go to waste.

SO.....we made cucumber relish.

It was really neat to put my mom's cast iron grinder to use. When we were kids, my Mom would pack a lunch to spend a day at the beach. She would make bologne and pickle sandwiches with that grinder. It would totally gross me out. I have made it an oathe to never buy bologne and feed it to my family let alone grind bologne and pickles together. My mom and sister loved it.

I didn't.

But this cucumber relish is very tasty and great on hamburger patties and all sorts of hot dogs.