Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Harvest Moon

Our harvest has been much more than this ridiculously fun Full Moon (Harvest Moon) lift ride.

This year it was warm for once. I know we looked all bundled but we are usually freezing our toes, fingers, noses and tushes off.

My mom came a while ago and showed me the ropes of canning. This is the real beginning of our story.

See our harvest of cayenne peppers! What to do with them all? Anyone have any other ideas then using their seeds for pizza toppings?! And this is all from one little lovely plant. He pleases us so much. One hard worker he is.

That is the window over my kitchen sink. So it makes for some fun decor as they're drying.

You probably want a close up of these cute little fellers. It's funny how much joy these little rock homes give me. I just stare at them as I do the dishes. Dreaming of a far-off homestead lined with fruit trees. While my chicks lay golden polkadotted brown eggs.

Hoping to make my backyard into my dream garden. Maybe next year.

Matty hard at work turning our tomatoes into sauce.

He is loving it

This is my favorite part - the pooper!

I'm busy making loads of fruit leather. This batch is nectarines - nothing added. SO yummy.

In the past few weeks we have added peach jam (local peaches), huckleberry jam(which we hand picked in the Wallowa Moutains of Oregon), raspberry jam (from our garden), strawberry jam (also from the garden), and salsa (much of it from our garden). Many more to come!!! A lot of it will be the same though, maybe I'll mix some up.

Dried apples, and Matt's roasted soynuts in the back.

Always loaded with fresh veggies.

And in different places through out the house (if you are lucky) you will run into some good smelling herb bundles left to dry (also from our garden)--here's oregano, rosemary, and lemon balm. I'm totally bragging - sorry.

Matt has been very diligent about saving everything--sage leaves

And has been collecting every seed and herd from our yard--sage, oregano, coriander, rosemary, dill seed

Tonight we had pizza with Matt's sauce!!

Oey with his pumpkin pie pizza. Don't mind the messy table. The kids have also been working hard at trying to find all of our Halloween decorations.

And this bag and box of apples is our next target. Applesauce!!!

9 comments:

moonshinejunkyard said...

i could cry. what bounty. what pure deliciousness. i see all those cans and jars and my heart just swells with the best kind of joy. OH AMY...CAN WE PLEASE BE FARM MAMAS TOGETHER??!!! let's get a homestead, stake our claim, grow our land to ripe abundance, raise babes and chicks and burros and ponies; and carry kittens in our apron pockets and fill baskets with wildflowers and sing songs all day long?!!!! please my dear. i love the joys you love.

Lisa said...

Amy, that is so awesome and inspiring. You truly are an example of living off the earth and enjoying all that has been put here for us. That is always my goal.

(p.s. I really like that first response from moonshinejunkyard.)

Whitney said...

Amy, you are beautiful! And everything looks so delish. I'm coming to Provo the end of April for women's conference. We must get together!!

Harris Family said...

I love canning! I wish I could eat all your yummy food. You are going to love eating it through the winter. We have no garden in Arizona- sand sand sand. I miss my garden. Did you guys move? are you still in Provo- did you buy a house?

mattbeatty said...

April: It's so fun canning/drying/etc. We did buy a house in Provo, just a couple blocks from where we lived before. We love it. We have a great garden and yard, so we can finally DO this, what we've wanted to do for years (but didn't have any space before).

Arizona must be really hard for gardening--is it even doable?

Katt said...

I want to come live with you! I think I've died and gone to heaven -all those fruits and veggies- YUM! I love that you're not letting them rot and waste. Pure delish!

Glory Watts said...

Oh man, you guys are already pro gardeners after one summer!! I've been having a tough time growing anything here! I had tomatoes growing out the eyeballs when I lived in utah, now we hardly get any! What gives?? We did get a bunch of cayenne peppers (didn't know what to do with those though) I'm sure you could give me some expert advice! Fruit Leather and Homemade Jam...My Favorites!!! We should get my homemade bread and that jam together! (I'm sure that's your next adventure after applesauce though) You guys are awesome!!

Heather...I LOVE that vision of yours, I can see it now!

Becky said...

Amy, I am so impressed by all this! Our garden was pretty much a dud this year, so I am so jealous of all this wonderfulness.

polly compost said...

OMGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE ad infinitum.