It Comes in Dribbles

My early fall harvest, that is.

The peanut harvest is slow in coming. You can see the nodes reaching down from where the flowers had been on the peanut plants. I planted these in April, and just now they're beginning to send down what will become peanuts. This variety is Carolina Black.

Daily, I bring in collections of four or five tomatoes and a few peppers. However, it looks like in a week or so I'll be slammed with peppers. I can't wait. In this picture you can see a couple Zavory peppers and four Black and Brown Boar tomatoes.

I've now finished my winter squash harvest, and the squash are sitting in the shadiest and coolest part of the shed. Here, you can see some of them. The long-stemmed pumpkins are Winter Luxury Pie, the yellow acorns are Gil's Golden Pippin, the large pumpkin is a renegade Winter Luxury Pie (the sole fruit of one vine, perhaps accounting for its size?), the dark green are Uncle David's Dakota Dessert, and the mottled bells in the back are Seminole.

And this, relaxing in an old desk chair on the back porch, is Titan, the mighty sunflower. This week, I harvested two heads this size.

Also this week, I've harvested bunches and bunches of basil and sweet potato greens. Jars of fennelseed and coriander fill a bit more each time I go outside.

If you would like to see what others are harvesting across the spinning blue, stop by Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday.

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Going back to school jolts my consciousness every year, but this year, with two deaths of significant members of the school community within the first few weeks, has been particularly tough. I keep oscillating between reveling in my students and their quirks and sparks, and mourning people who, as a coworker said of them, "loved well." I'm thankful to have known both. Loving well, I'm going to be practicing that as best as I can.