Garden Bloggers Muse Day - October 2008

Gathering Leaves
by Robert Frost

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?


Unlike Frost, I have a definite use for the seemingly hundreds of thousands of leaves that will start to cover the ground this month. As an aside, have you ever tried to estimate how many leaves are on a tree, I do it every year because there are so many, I want to know how many! Back to my multitudes of leaves. We will rake them up, using a tarp or plastic garbage can to help transport them, and then dump them into the garden to be tilled in and allowed to work their magic on that soil. Sometimes we use the shredder to help them on their decomposing way but not always. I guess it depends on how much time we have to deal with them. I know a lot of people don't enjoy raking leaves, but it doesn't bother me.

Happy Muse Day! Head to Sweet Home and Garden Chicago for more muses.

A Sweet Trip to Hershey PA

Last week we took a trip to Central PA to visit Hershey and Gettysburg. Our first stop was Hershey and the beautiful Hershey Gardens. The Hershey Gardens are right next to the luxurious Hershey Hotel and right across the street from Hershey Park. If you are in Hershey you shouldn't miss them, they are spectacular.

When you first enter the gardens, you are amidst the huge rose gardens. It's fabulous, with a pond, gazebo, and rose arches. These are rose gardens like I can only imagine having. Remember, when visiting professional gardens to constantly remind yourself that it is impractical to think that you can recreate this at home. Maybe you can recreate 1% at home but don't belittle your own garden for not measuring up to the professionally tended gardens in size, variety, or lack of weeds :)





The Japanese Garden was very peaceful, with a reflecting pond and gurgling brook. It was so peaceful that it was here Lillian dozed off for her nap.


The Herb Garden area was another favorite of mine. It featured a fig tree, laden with figs. The herbs were divided into groups such as culinary, medicinal, and dyeing.


We saw many elements of whimsy throughout, like this bunny peeking out from some grasses in the Ornamental Grass Garden.


These False Autumn Crocus (Colchium speciosum) were a burst of color.

The Seasonal Garden was awash with color galore and mounds of mums for fall. I particularly like the hedge rows dividing the areas.




There is also a wonderful Children's Garden, Arboretum, and Conifer Collection which I will talk about in subsequent posts. I don't want this to get too long and this way I can post more photos :)

After we left the gardens, we stopped at Hershey's Chocolate World (just five minutes away) to take the Chocolate Factory Tour and load up on some sweet Hershey's chocolate. This was a quick stop, but well worth it!

Storm Damage from Ike

Here are some pictures my husband took of the storm damage we sustained when Hurricane Ike raced north. I haven't had a chance to take the tour yet but these pictures speak for themselves. And they are saying we have a lot of work to do to clean up from Ike!

Queen Autumn

I posted this on my other blog but thought I would share it here as well.

Queen Autumn

Autumn robes the trees
In fiery reds and golds
Signaling her reign

Today is the first day of my favorite season - Autumn. My favorite because the weather (at least where I live) is, in my opinion, the best at this time of year- nice warm days, cool nights, low humidity. It's also the time of year we usually go on vacation and so the memories of those past trips always come rushing back when the days start to get shorter. And since my daughter was born in the fall last year, there is a new reason for me to enjoy it.

Not to mention that the changing of the leaves is one of nature's most beautiful annual events. I could drive around leaf watching for days. Of course instead of driving, hiking is really the preferable mode of transport. To follow where the peak fall colors are, visit Dave at The Home Garden. He is coordinating a tracking of the timing of the peak colors.

Enjoy the fall days and the changing of the leaves. These days are fleeting and it won't be long now when the reds and golds are replaced with white and ice.

Veggie Garden Update ~ September 2008

Well it looks like I will get this in under the wire for the 20th. At least, if I type fast.

I have to admit that I haven't been paying too much attention to the vegetable garden as of late, only because there has been so much else going on with Ike and the power loss and our roof / garage project. We are also planning a little trip for next week, so that has taken most of my internet time. But I was able to take a tour today and here is what I found.

The beets and carrots are still there, and getting bigger. They deer haven't been bothering them as of late and so they have actually gotten some tops back. I think I will leave them in the ground a while longer and hope they get a bit larger.

Here was the best surprise. Some of the eggplant had gotten quite large. I will be able to pick these once we are back from our trip.

Here's a little pumpkin. We have several this size. All of the larger ones didn't make it. They were eaten by some creature. So we'll be off to the pumpkin patch to buy some in October.

This picture of the asparagus reminded me of Christmas. Surprisingly, I saw Christmas decorations on display already in the stores. That's a bit much I thought. Let's get through Halloween first.

This is not from the vegetable garden, but it is edible so I thought I would include it. Here are two lemons growing quite nicely. Too bad the plant will have to come inside soon which will rob it of the precious sun it so needs.

Sausage and Butternut Squash Stew

In conjunction with A Way To Garden and Dinner Tonight's continuing food fest, I am posting one of my favorite fall recipes ~ Sausage and Butternut Squash Stew. The topic of the food fest being winter squash and pumpkins of course.

Unfortunately, all my squash were eaten by beasts roaming my garden at night. But there is always a great selection in the store and farmer's markets this time of year. So if you end up with some Butternuts and you want a different way to cook them, try this recipe. It's an easy crock-pot one too! Feel free to add whatever vegetables you like to this stew. I've used sweet potatoes before in place of the squash and it turned out just fine.

Sausage and Butternut Squash Stew
From "giant book of super nutritious recipes" by Carol Heding Munson, Sandra L. Woodruff, and Bob Schwiers

1 1/2 pound Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 medium potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 slender carrots, sliced diagonally 3/4 inch thick, or 12 baby carrots
1 cup frozen cut green beans
1 can (14 ounces) fat-free beef broth
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 pound low-fat turkey sausage or light kielbasa, cut in half lengthwise and thickly sliced
4 small onions, halved
1/4 cup cold water
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
Snipped fresh parsley, for garnish

Combine the squash, potatoes, carrots, beans, broth, vinegar, pepper, and rosemary in an electric slow cooker.

Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat; add the onions and cook until the onions are lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer the sausage and onions to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW until the vegetables are tender and the flavors have blended, 6 to 8 hours. In a measuring cup, mix the water and cornstarch, and pour the mixture into the stew. Mix well and heat (should be boiling) until the liquid has thickened. Garnish with parsley.

Ooooooooo Went the Wind...

"Ooooooooo went the wind. And out went the lights. And five little pumpkins, rolled out of sight." These lines are from one of my daughters books. You may wonder why I am quoting children's books. One reason is I am at the library. The other is, that is exactly what happened the other night as Ike raced North.

Although Ike went up through Ohio, we got blasted in Western PA with up to 79 mph winds. It was amazing how the trees were bending in the wind. Luckily we didn't have any damage to the house. Just some branches down right around the house. Up in the back of our property is a different story. There are several trees down and it will take a strong effort to get that cleaned up.

Of course, I have no pictures to show you at this time because we have no power. And it's not expected to be back on until maybe Thursday or Friday morning. I hope I am pleasantly surprised when I get home to find us connected to the power grid again, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, we have our generator to keep the freezer and refrigerator good and cold. And since we have a well, we need it for the pump to work so we have water. These are the main things. With electricity I would be able to connect at home, but we haven't phone or internet either.

It could have been worse. It's just a few days of inconvenience. Once I'm back online, I'll be catching up with everyone and posting some pictures. I hope you are all safe and sound.